mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, many members of the democratic many members of the democratic >> mr. president many members of the democratic caucus are coming to the floor to speak to the abomination of the policy of separation children from their parents as people are seeking asylum in the united states of america.en the senator from hawaii will see and then senator from washington then illinois and i yield to my colleagues. >> mr. president this senator from minnesota. >> thank you leadership and calling attention to the tragedy going on on the border advice today to join my colleagues to express my deep concern about the policy adopted by this administration to separate families that the board will but we have seen over the last few months is unacceptable and now the president has recognized publicly we should not be taking children from their parents, this should not be happening in our country. according to the department of homeland security 2242 children were separated between may 6 and tonight th

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, many members of the democratic caucus are coming down to the floor to speak to the abomination of a policy of separating children from their parents when people are seeking asylum in the united states of america, and the senator from minnesota is going to speak first, followed by the senator from hawaii, the senator from hawaii had and then the senator from washington followed by the senator from illinois. i yield to my colleague. ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: i want to thank senator merkley, the senator from oregon, for his leadership, his calling atten to the tragedies that have been going on right on our border, and i rise today to join my colleagues to express my deep concern about the policy that was adopted by this administration to separate families at the border. what we have seen over the past several days and weeks and actua

mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, for generations, the statue of liberty, lady liberty, as we like to call her, has stood as a of how open america has been to treating those fleeing oppression when they arrive on the shores of america. emma lazarus -- give me youry es yrning to breathe fred well, that's a vision that we can connect to because virtually every american family has family roots that are tied to immigrants and tied to people pursuing freedom and fleeing oppression, fleeing religious oppression, fleeing civil war, fleeing famine, but coming to the refuge of the united states of america, knowing that there they can be treated well and have a fair chance to thrive. in modern times, we have converted this into an asylum policy. an asylum policy means that if you are truly fleeing repression, oppression, if you're truly fleeing danger and would be in danger of your life if you return, you can gain admission to the united states of america. in fact, we have put it into international treaties and into

mr. merkley: thank you it. i thank my colleague for letting us come down to talk about this trumped-up health care in america. prices are going up specifically because of the policy of president trump and his team. the sabotage is under full steam. ongbut l before the sabotage occurred, we had 2017 here on the floor of the senate five different versions of trying to wipe out health care for american citizens. they varied in range from wiping out health care for 22 million to wiping out health care to 30 million men's. how is it in a we the people republic that people could come down here and vote to wipe out health care for millions of people across this country? quite simply, we have a team in power that believes in poweul and the rich and they have health care, so they don't care autess. but we should be here fighting for the ordinary citizen in america. what's more important to peace of mind than the knowledge that if your loved one gets sick or injured, they'll get the health care they need and you won't go

mr. president? >> the senator fromes hawaii. >> i want to thank senator merkley from oregon for inflation and my other colleagues are coming to the floor this afternoon. mr. president, like so many people across the country i have been deeply affected by what's happening on our southern border. children are being away from the parents, placed into mass detention, deprived of adequate legal counsel and isolated from everyone they've everr known. millions are rising up and sorrow and horrible over what's happening, and with good reason. the president of the united states and this administration are playing games with the lives of these innocent children. and when confronted they hide behind excuses that they are just following theaw law. this is just another lie from the president and and administration that hasns institutionalized lying to justify their unconscionable policies. there is nothing in the law that requires zero-tolerance policy approach of the border. it was a choice that donaldio trump and his administration made, and these children are suffering theth consequences. the president's action

mr. chairman. we'll next turn to senator merkley. >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman for setting up this hearing. and under what authority do each of you feel that we are currently in syria taking on isis? judge napolitano? >> well, i don't think we are in there by any constitutional authority. because liker colleague senator sanders, i don't believe that any of the aumfs were constitutional because they didn't adequately articulate a target and didn't put in there an end point. but presidents of both parties have used sort of the vague principles thaty lievere emanating from the aumf to justify the type of inkurcursio you are talking about. >> i see no authority under that or the constitution. unfortunately what is no less than noble lie that come out of the there there has been the specificity as targets which was there for public consumption. this proposed legislation is same technique. gives some specific references while hg provisions that that list can be be expanded almost at will by the president subject to retroactiveost o hoc action by congress. >>

merkley. >> thank you very much mr. chairman for setting up this hearing. under what authority do each of you feel that we are currently in syria taking on isis? judge napolitano ? >> i don't think we are in there by any constitutional authority because like your colleague, i don't believe that any of the aums were constitutional because they did not adequately articulated target and did not put an end point. presidents of both parties have used the vague principles that they believe are emanating from the aums to justify the type of incursion that you're asking about.>> mr. turley? >> i see no authority under the aums or constitution what unfortunately is a less than noble lie that we have seen come out of the aums , there has been the specificity of the targets. the proposed legislation is the same technique and gives specific references while adding provisions that can be expanded almost at will by the president subject to some post hoc action by congress. >> do you see this?>> at the time that the government made the decision they made the decision to c

mr. sanchez? the supervisor, yes. >> i want to introduce you to my team. >> i'll be with you guys in just a minute. >> hello, officer. senator jeff merkleyood, good, good. i called the number here on this and the young l said the supervisor would be very happy to come out and talk to me. haven't been asked to leave the property, but i'm guessing that's what's about to happen. >> yes, that's what they're going for. what is your name again? >> senator jeff merkley. u.s. senator jeff merkley. >> how do you spell? >> m-e-r-k-l-e-y. >> and your date of birth, sir? >> october . >> 24th, 1956. i'm a u.s. senator. and u.s. policy is involved right now with children. are you familiar with this policy? >> no. this is not something that we specifically deal with. but just so i can id it and advise sergeant that you're here. >> the supervisor is here. if he wants us to leave the property, he can ask. but he hasn't asked yet. >> would you guys mind? >> have i now been asked to leave the property. so i'll comply with that. >> and senator jeff merkley, democrat of oregon, joins me now from washington, d.c. it's good to see you, senator. i want to be cl

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, many members of the democratic many members of the democratic >> mr. president

mr. merkley: thank you. today we remember robert f. kennedy, whose life was brutally, savagely cut short 50 years ago. robert kennedy was a presidential candidate, a united states senator, a member of this chamber, an attorney general, a naval officer, a father, a son, a husband, a brother, but more than all of that, he was a beacon of hope amidst turbulent and difficult times in our nation and he was an inspiration to generations of americans. speaking at his younger brother's funeral, our former colleague, senator ted kennedy, said robert kennedy, quote, need not be idolized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life. that he can be remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. i was inspired by his efforts to right wrong and heal suffering and stop war. inspired enough that when i became a u.s. senator and was assigned an office that happened to be the former office of robert kennedy, i pointed that out to visitors, that here in

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you. mr. president, p i'm coming to the floor tonight to talk about the issue of immigration here in the united states of america. i think all of us are very familiar with the statue of liberty, a symbol that we know about from the time that we can begin to talk, a symbol that represents much of the history of our country, where so many of us coming from every corner of the globe have family histories that involve parents or grandparents or great-grandparents or generations ago fleeing persecution around the world. that sign, that welcoming sign, give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free -- those words inscribed there on the foundation of the statue of liberty, representing the fact that when it comes to people fleeing persecution, america is a place ready to receive them. and this isn't just something that's woven into the history of our country

oregon, although neither senator wyd nor senator merkley, the two senators from oregon, have returned a blue slip on his nomination. recent, we learned that mr. bounds had some offensive writings that he failed to disclose to the bipartisan federal judicial selection advisory committee established by the two oregon senators to recommend potential nominees. nonetheless, of course, the repuican majority, prodded on by the hard right ideologues, is moving ahead with his nomination. over the tradition of the blue slips or these recent revelations. and next week, the senate will likely move to the pending nomination of thomas farr to the eaern district of north carolina, currently the longest vay in t united states. part of the reason why this seat has remained open for so long is because republican senators blocked an obama nominee for nearly threeears. with mr. farr's nomination, we have another example of a vacancy that only exists because decrats recognized and respected the blue slip tradition, a tradition the republicans have so unceremoniously discarded. not only has mr. spent his long legal career working againsthe rights of unions and th

mr. bound is also controversial. recently learned that bound had some rather offensive writings that he failed to disclose to the bipartisan judicial advisory committee established by senators wyden and merkley. that certainly validates their decision to withhold the blue slip. but despite the opposition of both, both home state senators, the majority is moving forward. in doing so, they will further erode the century-old blue slip tradition that they themselves used to block an unprecedented number of nominees when obama was president. net neutrality. on another matter, the republican-led f.c.c.'s repeal of net neutrality goes into effect today. the rules enacted by the obama administration to bar large internet service provides from charging customers more for certain content are gone. the rules to bar large internet providers from slowing down certain websites are gone. the rules ensuring an open, free internet with a level playing field for small businesses, public schools, rural americans, people without a lot of money, communities of color are gone. democrats tried to forestall this day by writing and then passing a c.r.a. act through the senate, bipartisan. some republicans helped us.