mr. menendez: mr. president, i came to the floor in the first instance to support senator boxer's unanimous consent request on the u.s.-israel strategic partnership, which as she has pointed out has -- you know, we don't get in this institution very often 81 members to agree that there is a course of action that we want to take, but she and senator blunt have acquired 81 cosponsors, including myself, and a majority of the senate foreign relations committee to do exactly that. and given the current situation in the region, i think the legislation sends the right message at the right time. you know, israel clearly has a right to self-defense, and no country should stand by while thousands of rockets are being launched at it and a terrorist organization next door digs tunnels to funnel fighters into its country to kill its citizens. that's what's happening. now, part of the effort of this legislation, the u.s.-israel cooperation, well, one example is the antimissile system called iron dome which is an exa

mr. menendez. >> supervisors, my name is connie ford and i'm one of the vice-president's of the san francisco labor council. i am actually quite proud here to stand here before you. the labor council, other unions and many other community organizations work hard for this calling us the coalition for the fair campaign, we got in the streets and negotiated with the mayor and with everybody's help we have come up with one of the most exciting minimum wage initiatives the country has ever seen. many of us were there 10 years ago and now we are awe fully proud. i just want to caution you about ted eagan's good report that in a week uc berkeley is going to produce another report, like the glass is half full and half empty where ted eagan said that 60,000 workers are going to benefit from this. we understand that over 100,000 workers from uc berkeley will benefit where ted eagan says the city will flow by the dollars. uc says 10s if not hundreds of millions of dollars will benefit over time. this is really important for the city and when supervisors campos talks about comparison to uganda, it's abou

mr. menendez. >> supervisors, my name is connie ford and i'm one of the vice-president's of the

mr. menendez: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: mr. president, we're here today to address a refugee crisis in america. now, i nevada thought that i would have to use those words on the floor of the senate, but there is no other way to describe what is happening on our southern border. what is happening in central america, the violence, the kidnappings, the failure of the rule of law, is the root cause of the problem and is threatening tens of thousands of families and thousands and thousands of children, causing a refugee crisis that is simply unacceptable, unacceptable in america, unacceptable in our hemisphere. now, let's be clear. it's being caused in large measure by thousands in central america who believe it is better to run for their lives and risk dying than stay and die for sure. it is a nearly 2,000-mile journey from these countries to the u.s. border. these families are not undertaking this journey lightly. my republican colleagues make it sound as though parents a

mr. menendez: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: first of all, let me say i'm really moved by senator booker's passion, senator nelson's clarity of thought and my colleagues who have joined here. and i'm compelled to join them because we do have a crisis, but we also have, from my mind, a clear moral and legal compass that we need to follow. we have a refugee crisis on our southern border which i would argue requires an emergency response domestically and the urgent recalibration of our foreign policy. why do i say that? because as i have argued for several years in the foreign relations committee that the continuous cuts that we have had in the programs that are in our national interest, in our national security was going to bring us a day in which we would rue the consequences of those cuts. and so here we are with honduras having the number-one murder rate per capita in the world and the other two central american countries from which these children are fleeing in the top five in the world. and as senator nelson so well

mr. menendez: madam president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: madam president, i come again to the floor to speak about one of our greatest national security challenges, which is a nuclear armed iran and the latest conflicting remarks coming from iran's leaders. let me say at the outset as i've said in the past i support the administration's diplomatic efforts. i have always supported a bipartisan two-track policy of diplomacy and sanctions. at the same time, i am convinced that we should only relieve pressure on iran in exchange for verifiable concessions that will fundamentally dismantle iran's illicit nuclear program. and that any deal be structured in such a way that that alarm bells will sound from vienna to washington to moscow and beijing should iran restart its program any time in the next 20 or 30 years. now, i'm gravely concerned by the recent remarks of the supreme leader, the ayatollah whose views about what iran is willing to give up in a deal seem to undermine the position of iran's negotiators in vienna and curtail their

mr. johnson? >> chairman menendez, senator corker, thank you for this opportunity to testify on the conditions in central america that are driving out minors as well as adults. while overall apprehensions at the u.s. southwest border are a quarter of what they were during the migrant waves that took place 13 years ago, the uptick of central american rivals is worrisome because they're unaccompanied children that are among the migrants and are taking extreme risks. that highlights the citizen insecurity factor as a driver, and the presence of criminal trafficking organizations. as you have already heard today, the region has persistent security challenges, so i won't add to the list except to say that there is a good case to be made for focusing attention on the conditions that compel people to leave their country. 30 years ago, after prolonged periods of civil conflict, these countries chose to exchange military rule for civilian elected leadership. no question it was the right decision. but at u.s. urging, it meant reorganizing government, adopting democratic behaviors and building a base of pub

mr. johnson. >> chairman menendez, senator corker, thank you for this opportunity to testify on the conditions in central america that are driving out minors and adults. while overall apprehensions at the u.s. southwest border are a quarter of what they were during the largest wafers of mexican migration that took place 14 years ago, the current uptick among central american arrivals is worrisome because of the unacandidate children among the migrants and are taking extreme risks. that highlights the citizen insecurity factors as the driver, and the presence of criminal trafficking organizations. as you have already heard today, the region has persistent security challenges, so i wasn't add to the list, except to say that there is a good case to be made for focusing attention on the conditions that compel people to leave their country. 30 years ago, after pro locked period -- prolonged period of civil conflict these countries chose to exchange military rule for civilian elected leadership. no question, it was the right decision. but at u.s. urging it meant re-organizing government. adopting democ

it was just days before the 2012 election senator bob menendez of new jersey was up for re-election and mr. carlson's own publication ran what they described as a scoop. complete with the two obscured face video interviews with women who they said had been paid for senator menendez to have sex with him. so much for not caring about hooker scandals, right? this one was a democrat. so much for that. mr. carlson's website ran with it big. they pushed the story hard enough that it was picked up as a tucker carlson scoop all over the fox news channel. multiple shows on that channel. and lots of fox news channel's radio shows, too. again, this was days before the 2012 election. it also got tons of online traffic from the conservative mega website the "drudge report." as a result of the allegations, the fbi sent investigators to the dominican republic, alleged site of the senator's alleged hookering to investigate those charges. but a funny thing happened on the way to that conservative media scoop. bob menendez did survive the last-minute onslaught of allegations before the election. s he re-ele

mr. thomas. >> thank you chairman menendez and committee members, i appreciate the opportunity to be here. we have a little bit different story to tell. we are not over 100 years old. as a matter of fact, we are just over 30 years old now. when the voters of north texas voted to dedicate a 1% sales tax in 1983 to create a transportation agency. today, we operate bus, light rail, commuter rail, fair transit services and hov services in the north texas region covering 13 cities and 2.4 million people, providing, roughly, 107 million trips annually. i would also like to add we operate the longest light rail system in north america. so, as you can see, we have had very rapid growth, opening the first light rail segment in 1996 now operating 85 miles. later this year, we will add an additional five miles as we go to dfw airport. we will open it early and under budget. the oldest segments are only 18 years old, our state of good repair is controlled by a 20-year finance plan we adhere to. the financial plan, by policy, ensures we balance revenues with the operational expenses, asset management

mr. president. this resolution is sponsored by me and the republican leader and senators menendez and corker and others. i want the record to reflect here that senator mcconnell and i have talked about this personally and we agreed without any hesitation what this legislation did. mr. president, i have always been a supporter of the united nations. my whole career. mr. president, what i saw last week disgusted me. as a u.n. human rights council in geneva voted to adopt a resolution accusing israel of human rights violations on the ongoing gaza conflict, the resolution was so incredibly one-sided in its anti-israel bias that it makes zero, none mention of hamas and the atrocities hamas has committed by indiscriminately barraging israel with rockets and using palestinian civilians as human shields. hamas perpetrated this conflict, mr. president. they wantonly fired rockets, and they don't care where the rockets go. hamas has fired almost 3,000 missiles during a three-week conflict. in fact, the very day that the united nations human rights council exonerated hamas, they fired dozens of rockets into israe

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator? >> i want to thank senator menendez for chairing this hearing. senator kaine and corker, as well. and thank the witnesses for your testimony. i will follow on senator flake's questioning in a moment. i share the administration's ultimate goal, as you've just been testifying to, of encouraging the creation of an inclusive iraqi government supported by all of iraq's different sectarian groups that has some hope of a secure and stable iraq going forward given how much has been sacrificed over how many years. i'll renew a theme you've heard from several senators, that i do not support a return of active u.s. combat troop presence in iraq. i am concerned about the security of our embassy and personnel. and i'm very concerned about the region and about some of our vital regional allies. so first, i think we do need to we'll do defeating isis and the regional threat here in a regional context as you've testified. and i think it's imperative that we have to find a way to move forward that has some reasonable chance of resolving the ongoing crisis in both

mr. secretary. >> thank you. good morning. chairman menendez, ranking member corkers, members of the committee, i thank you for inviting us to discuss the situation in iraq with the focus on the u.s. response since the islamic state of iraq attacked mosul nearly seven weeks ago. let me first review the bidding on why this matters. isl is al qaeda. it may have changed names, may have broken with senior al qaeda leadership like zawahiri but it is al qaeda and doctrine and ambition and its threat to u.s. interests. should there be any question about the intentions of this group, simply read what its leader says, and it is important to pay attention to what he says because we cannot risk, underestimating the goals, capacity and reach of this organization. baghdadi on may 2011 eulogized the death of osama bin laden and promised a violent response. training camps in syria are named after osama bin laden. in his audio statements, he issues veiled threats against the united states promising a direct confrontation and in his feud with al zawahiri, he is

mr. secretary. >> thank you. good morning. chairman menendez, ranking member corkers, members of the committee, i thank you for inviting us to discuss the situation in iraq with the focus on the u.s. response since the islamic state of iraq attacked mosul nearly seven weeks ago. let me first review the bidding on why this matters. isl is al qaeda. it may have changed names, may have broken with senior al qaeda leadership like zawahiri but it is al qaeda and doctrine and ambition and its threat to u.s. interests. should there be any question about the intentions of this group, simply read what its leader says, and it is important to pay attention to what he says because we cannot risk, underestimating the goals, capacity and reach of this organization. baghdadi on may 2011 eulogized the death of osama bin laden and promised a violent response. training camps in syria are named after osama bin laden. in his audio statements, he issues veiled threats against the united states promising a direct confrontation and in his feud with al zawahiri, he is

mr. secretary. >> thank you. good morning. chairman menendez, ranking member corkers, members of the committee, i thank you for inviting us to discuss the situation in iraq with the focus on the u.s. response since the islamic state of iraq attacked mosul nearly seven weeks ago. let me first review the bidding on why this matters. isl is al qaeda. it may have changed names, may have broken with senior al qaeda leadership like zawahiri but it is al qaeda and doctrine and ambition and its threat to u.s. interests. should there be any question about the intentions of this group, simply read what its leader says, and it is important to pay attention to what he says because we cannot risk, underestimating the goals, capacity and reach of this organization. baghdadi on may 2011 eulogized the death of osama bin laden and promised a violent response. training camps in syria are named after osama bin laden. in his audio statements, he issues veiled threats against the united states promising a direct confrontation and in his feud with al zawahiri, he is

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator coons? >> thank you, chairman menendez. thank you. to ensure we completely eliminate any pathway or iran to acquire nuclear weapon and that we succeed in dramatically limiting their nuclear program. but i remain deeply concerned about some critical and unresolved issues in these negotiations. the status of the iraq heavy water reactor, future of the richmond facility, iran's ongoing ability or hopefully lack thereof to enrich uranium and the military dimensions of the program including in particular those carried out at the parchin facility. that's why i joined chairman menendez and others in calling for a robust and aggressive and thorough investigations and verification regime that would include full compliance and access for inspectors that's been unprecedented. we also called for full iranian disclosure on the military dimensions of the nuclear program and enforcement mechanisms for a future deal. i'm convinced if there is success in negotiations, whether in november, or after the rei o reimpposition of sanctions. we'll be in a di

mr. graham: i believe the body has come to agreement on my resolution along with shore menendez -- along with senator menendez standing behind this conflict with israel with hamas. as i speak, apparently there is a ground action going on by the realize in gaza. from my point of view, do what you have do to defend yourselves. i can't believe they've actual whraited this long. i can't imagine what the american response would have been if one rocket had come from our neighboring nations toward our country. we would not be so restrained. a two-state solution seems it be a very reasonable approach. the problem with hamas is the president of the senate -- as the president of the senate knows, the presiding officer, is that hamas doesn't recognize israel as an entity. pretty hard to negotiate with somebody who doesn't recognize you exist, unti and tell their schoolchildren that you don't exist and the hatred that comes is not conducive to peace. the resolution pass i unanimously by the senate on the very night that israel decided to use ground force is appropriate and very symbolic. the senate

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: i ask unanimous consent that the confirmation votes on menendez, rogoff occur after the dis-bro nomination and all other provisions remain in effect. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. ms. cantwell: thank you, madam president. mr. kaine: madam president, i have got a deal for you. let's create american john jobs. let's do it at no cost it the american taxpayer. i rise to speak about exactly the point that chairwoman cantwell just spoke about, the chairwosm our small business committee. the importance. export-import bank which expires on september 30 of 24 year. the senate and congress need to act to continue the job so we can -- to continue the bank so that we can create hundreds of thousands of jobs, so we can help american businesses find customers abroad, and do it at no cost to the american taxpayer. chairwoman cantwell did a good job of explaining the bank whand it does. it is an independent, self-success staining governmental agencies and it is one of the most important tools that u.s. companies can have to boost exports to all the co

mr. president, i ask that the committee-reported amendment to the resolution be agreed to, the menendez amendment to the resolution which is at the desk be agreed to, the paul amendment be agreed to, which is at the desk, the resolution as amended be agreed to. further, that the committee-reported amendment to the preamble be agreed to, the menendez amendment to the preamble at the desk be agreed to, the preamble as amended be agreed to and finally the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i want to take just a little bit of time to say a few things about the health care bill. the shrill cries from the other side have lessened in recent weeks and obviously for good reason. "the new york times" reports today -- i'm not going to read the whole column but i'll read quite a bit. it says now, less than 15% of adults younger than 65 now lack health insurance. down from 20% before the affordable care act rolled out in january. in fact, mr. president, we have information from t

chairman menendez i'd be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you secretary. >> mr. chairman ranking member corchran members of the committee thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the ongoing crisis in ukraine and how the department of defense is working to help ukraine addresses security needs. we remain deeply concerned that security situation ukraine's east for the russian military rains actively in facilitating the movement of forces equipment and finances across the border. additionally russian regular forces and russian backed local separatist remain active inside eastern ukraine and both are supported by russian financing. these actions are not consistent with russia's pledge to stabilize the situation and seek a negotiated outcome. it is an r. and just have ukraine that is stable and secure. across the spectrum ukrainian leaders have made clear they want our help and we are committed to assisting them what is the message president obama vice president biden secretaries kerry and hagel have made clear in their meetings with your craning counterparts

chairman menendez, i'd be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you, secretary chollet. >> mr. chairman, ranking member corker, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the angoiongoing crisis ukraine and how we are working to help ukraine address its security needs. the russian military remains very active in facilitating the movement of forces, equipment and finances across the border. additionally, russian irregular forces and russian-backed local separatists remain active inside eastern ukraine and both are supported by russian financing. these actions are not consistent with russia's pledge to stabilize the situation and seek a negotiated outcome. it is in our interest to have a ukraine that is stable and secure. across the spectrum, ukrainian leaders made clear they want our help. and we are committed to assisting them which is a message president obama, vice president biden, secretaries kerry and hagel made clear in their meetings with their ukrainian counterparts. on security we're working to support ukraine along three lines of effort.

mr. hudson. >> thanks, chairman. one of the things you said i've never really been able to wrap my head armed, the idea that the -- around, the idea that the senate had to pass the current menendez sanctions in order to encongress the leverage we had over iran -- >> right, right. because then you'd have a veto-proof -- if they passed it, they overcame harry reid's support, you had two-thirds in the senate, you'd have more than two-thirds in the house. where do we remember sanctions like this in the past? ronald reagan imposing sanctions on south africa, sanctions which proved very successful. what have we had? we had similar numbers. in the house, similar numbers. again, a bipartisan bill, and what happened? because of the two-thirds majority, we got sanctions on south africa. what were the consequences of that? not only the end of apartheid, but also they gave back the nuclear weapon to the international community. they handed it off over and said -- they handed it over and said, you know, we cannot survive under the types of economic sanctions. and those were the types of sanctions which was in this legislation, the sanctions which stuart levy, former undersecretary of the tre

mr. graham: along those lines, senator menendez has been one of the leading voices in the senate and the nation about having a cautious eye toward iran. they have an enrichment capability, over the last decade it's grown dramatically. and this idea of moderate voices in iran, the president of iran was elected as the moderate. i don't believe that dichotomy really exists. this whole game of good cop, bad cop is going on in front of our eyes. in this case good president, bad ayatollah. the ayatollah, the supreme leader of iran, weighed in a few days ago talking about centrifuges ten times greater than they have today. i'm sure what he's trying to do is become the bad guy when he puts the number of 190,000 out and you wind up with 15 or 20, it's like a good deal. i can promise you one centrifuge in the hands of iranians is a risk. thousands of centrifuges in the hands of iranians is stupid. we would be crazy to let that happen. if they want a nuclear power program for peaceful purposes, sign me up. as a matter of fact, as part of any deal, i would put in the deal the ability for the interna