mr. menendez: mr. president, i ask to speak for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: we have heard some deeply disturbing revelations in recent days regarding president trump's efforts to tie congressionally appropriated security funding for ukraine hostage to its government's willingness to investigate his political opponents here at home. the alleged threat by president trump to withhold vital security funding from ukraine came out last week in press reports about a whistle-blower complaint from a u.s. intelligence official. these revelations suggest a gross abuse of power unlike anything i've ever seen during my 27 years working on u.s. foreign policy. they also show donald trump once again welcoming a foreign power to influence our elections, this time using the power of the white house. as of today, the acting director of national intelligence has refused to comply with the law that requires him to share this whistle-blower complaint with congress. yet that hasn't stopped multiple members of the president's

mr. menendez: at this point i yield the minutes.e >> good afternoon. my name is sarah taylor and the district director of the washington and the services and mitts and honor to be here with you today to celebrate your citizenship. it's my pleasure to welcome you your friends, families and guest to the very special ceremony here at the eisenhower executive office building south court auditorium. i'd like to especially thank the vice president posting here in the special place. today we celebrate you as america's newest citizens and we celebrate constitution day and citizenship day as part is constitution week. we mark the special celebration by connecting the constitution in citizenship and reflecting on what it means to become a united states citizen. too officially begin the ceremony i like to ask everyone to rise. leisurplace your right hand over heart for the national anthem by the u.s. navy. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> thank you that was beautiful. please be seated. now i have the privilege of the turalization candidates. candidates when you he

mr. menendez: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, i come to the floor once again to call for action in light of revelations that president trump appears to have no problem with seeking the assistance of a foreign government for his own political gain. today's summary of the telephone call between him and a foreign leader exposes this in black and white. given this white house's lack of transparency, i have little faith that this so-called transcript reflects the totality of the conversation. but what they did release was shocking enough. he clearly pressured the ukrainian government to investigate former vice president biden for his own political benefit, mentioning the attorney general of the united states or his personal lawyer six times, using the levers of state the president sought to weaponize the justice department to pursue a personal political vendetta. we now know that for more than two months the president urged ukraine to investigate a political opponent while holding $391 million in urgently needed security as

mr. menendez: at this point i yield the

mr. menendez: mr. president, i rise today to join my colleagues, senator murray and senator jones, to call upon the senate to pass the fostering undergraduate talent by unlocking resources for education, or the future act, today. because that future is today. should the senate fail to act on this legislation, hundreds of minority-serving institutions and historically black colleges and universities across america are going to face some drastic funding cuts that could jeopardize the education of millions of students of color nationwide. collectively, these institutions serve nearly 6 million undergraduate students throughout the united states, two-thirds of whom come from communities of color. mr. president, without these federal dollars for m.s.i.'s, we're facing the potential for job losses, the possible closure of important academic programs, and, most importantly, the doors of educational opportunity slamming shut for young men and women of color across this country. minority-serving institutions ha

mr. menendez: at this point i yield the floor and observe the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. merkley: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: madam president, i am rising to speak tonight as a senator that comes from a passionate second amendment state. the citizens of my home state of oregon, they value their guns for collecting, for target practice, for personal defense, certainly for hunting. but it's also a state where citizens have said they do not want individuals who are deeply disturbed or individuals who have felon backgrounds to get hold of guns because we have a responsibility to make sure guns don't end up in the wrong hands, that guns are not abused. our state has then proceeded to do a series of things to strengthen a background check system. it was in the year 2000 that the citizens through a ballot measure supported by almost 62% of the state chose to close the gun show loophole that previously had allowed pur

mr. menendez you are recognized. >> welcome director. it's a pleasure to have you here and you are going to be part of the charade of legal wargames that will try to get you to say something that can be repeated by the media that is here that wants to report the story. i just want to get one thing straight because one of the quote they are going to use from you is you saying that this was a credible complaint. that will be used as you were saying it was true and i want to give you an opportunity. you have not investigated the voracity or the truthfulness of this complaint. that is correct ranking member. the determination of credible was made by the i see inspector general. he made the determination that is credible and he also made the determination of concern. my question, did not question his judgment there. the question i had was thus in fact this allegation of wrongdoing meet the criteria of the statutory criteria concern and the other issue is i said complicated things. in fact the allegations within this whistleblower complaint in

mr. chairman. >> senator menendez. >> thank you, mr. chairman.the topics of today hearing are of particular importance to me as new jersey is in the midst of a large medical marijuana expansion. and i have concerns that cannabis and cannabis-related businesses will continue to find themselves shut out of the financial and insurance systems. for example, if an insurance company is required to offer insurance to a cannabis business under state law, the insurer faces a serious and fundamental conflict between state and federal laws. that's why we introduced the claim act with senators merkley and kramer to end the confusion and legal exposure that arises between the state and federal insurance laws. mr. chairman, i'd like to -- mr. chairman, i'd like to introduce a -- mr. chairman, the acting chairman, introduce a letter. >> anyone with me is acting chairman. >> then i'd like to ask you now to consent to the claim app -- no. thank you, mr. chairman. miss pross and miss sherwood, when a business contains a commercial loan from a financial institution

for working with me and to senators menendez and scott for helping technical changes to improve the bill. max o want to thank chair even -- maxine waters, patrick and mr. stivers of ohio, and members of their staff for all their work on this bill, unanimous support from the financial services committee. housing, help health and how many security groups support this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the expired.'s time has mr. san nicolas: i yield five the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: -- the recognized.s gast gast the national ssociation of realtors, the american public health association, the national housing law project, the trust, the sing public housing authorities association, the council of large public housing authorities, the latin united housing association. innovations, the ecurities industries legislation. colleagues, let's seize the rare opportunity to advance straightforward lifesaving that's already won bipartisan support in this house. in our housing acilities with a simple, inexpensive solution is not a partisan issue. what our ly constituents sent us here to do, work together to find solutions the american people. i urge you

mr. bush you get in because of the electoral that is correlated to corruption. be oneular vote needs to man one vote, not one group of people. want to say.i the menendez brothers try to claim privilege. privilege might be a disease. accepts it. he's going to disrupt everything and it's all right. i wish they would not go the impeachment way if he would just resign. greg,let's talk to calling from ohio. greg opposes the impeachment inquiry. go ahead. caller: i oppose it. this man was voted into office. he is the top dog. he is creating -- cleaning up the mess. the democrats are crooked. i don't know why you people can't see it. you are brainwashed if you vote for a democrat. that's all i've got to say. let's talk to kurt calling from new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i support the inquiry. i want people to fall for the shiny objects the trump people are putting out there. there is nothing wrong that happened with biden. watch out for what jared kushner is doing, ivanka. they are in foreign lands making money. this host: we will like to thank all of our callers. a discussion of the public health concerns around e ci

mr. menendez: mr. president, i come to the floor once again to call for action in light of call for action in light of >> in light of revelations that president trump appears to have no problem seeking the assistance of a foreign government for his own political gain today's summary of the telephone call from the white house with a foreign leaderes exposes this in black and white. given the lack of transparency to have faith that the transcript reflects the totality of the conversation but what they did release was shocking enough. he clearly pressed the ukrainian government to investigate former vice president biden for his own political betterment mentioning the attorney general of the united states six times. using le

mr. menendez: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. menendez: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: mr. president, i ask to speak for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: we have heard some deeply disturbing revelations in recent days regarding president trump's efforts to tie congressionally appropriated security funding for ukraine hostage to its government's willingness to investigate his political opponents here at home. the alleged threat by president trump to withhold vital security funding from ukraine came out last week in press reports about a whistle-blower complaint from a u.s. intelligence official. these revelations suggest a gross abuse of power unlike anything i've ever seen during my 27 years working on u.s. foreign policy. they also show donald trump once again welcoming a foreign power to influence our elections, this time using the power of the white house. as of today, the acting director of national intelligence has refuse

mr. menendez: i believe that representing a community that is already such a large part of the american population, one out of four is going to be one out of three in just a couple of years. can we afford to short which change their education and the success of this country which demands that we do not? just last thursday, this body joined me to unanimously pass my bipartisan resolution honoring hispanic-serving institutions week, but it's hard to take seriously our words of support for minority-serving institutions if we fail to back up those words with real action. unfortunately, that's where we stand today, on the cusp of skipping town without voting to properly fund these institutions. across america, 523 hispanic-serving institutions in 25 states, the district of columbia and puerto rico serve more than two million hardworking latino and latina students who dream of a college education. i know this dream well. indeed, my own story began at a hispanic-serving institution. even if that designation did not yet exist at the time. ive was the first in my family to attend college and i did so at st