mr. nelson: i ask the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the following bills to award congressional gold medals en bloc, which were received from the house and are at the desk. h.r. 2939, h.r. 1209, h.r. 3658, and h.r. 685. the presid the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measures en bloc. mr. nelson: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the bills be read three times and passed en bloc and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc with no intervening action or debathe. de -- or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 4 452, which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the cle

mr. nelson to the chair now recognizes mr. blount for five minutes. >> chairman brooks ranking member member edwards does he wish morceau subtwenty thank you for the opportunity to bid peer before you today. space traffic management is a complex issue and i will briefly summarize my written statement. as a concept it contains two different elements. these are the technical capabilities needed to control space traffic in and the legal regime which governs behavior. i will primarily be addressing the legal aspects of space traffic management and will do so in the context of the international obligations of the united states. international space fun compasses a variety of principles that set the balance of appropriate state conduct in outer space. these principles are broad in scope and largely and a fine. the lack of definition means the united states is in a unique position to influence the content of these norms to help create a safe and secure space environment. international space love grants all states the rights of free ac

mr. nelson? >> i think mr. weeden touched on it. the technologies and being able to take the items out of orbit and getting them out of orbit is there important. obviously, if you get it out the likelihood is they won't question is something else. the issue comes down to is whether or not you take out -- somebody else's piece of debris. the flags that are flying, even if it's not usable, that particular item has the flag of another country. so there were probably have to be some sort of treaty work or something along those lines or agreements made between nations in order to be able to effectively work that out. >> great. i know that goddard space flight center has rather robust activity going on now to try to look at ways to resurface some of these decommissioned satellites as a way to get them back in service, not put new winds up. that, too, is a long way down the line but something i think we need to invest in. with that mr. chairman, i will yield. >> thank you. mr. rohrabacher, we have time for another round of questions on you

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i ask consent that dr. andrew abuch, who is one of our details from the department of h.h.s., the office of the inspector general, that she be granted the privilege of the floor during the pendency of this session of congress. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, i am joined today by my colleague, senator collins, to introduce legislation aimed at strengthening the government's hand in stopping medicare fraud. senator collins and i have tried to offer some decent leadership to the senate committee on aging and in the process we've heard a lot about medicare and medicaid fraud. and i want to thank senators carper, grassley and casey for partnering with us in joining to sponsor this legislation that we are filing today. earlier in the year, senator collins and i convened a hearing of the aging committee to examine what was government doing to prevent

mr. nelson: and, mr. president, i want to thank my dear personal friend, the senator from rhode island, for his kind comments but especially thank him for his passion and his leadership on this issue. there are parts of america that it is time to wake up, and especially one part of that is the state of florida. we have, because of the nature of our state being a peninsula that sticks down into water surrounding it on most sides -- therefore, you would not be surprised that we have the longest coastline of any state save for alaska. and when it comes to beaches, the state of florida by far has more beaches than any other state. but because we have so much exposure to the oceans -- the atlantic on the east, the gulf of mexico on the west -- we are particularly subject to climate change that the earth is heating up. now, why is the earth heating up? well, there is the effect known as the greenhouse effect, and what this is, if you put certain gases into the atmosphere that are as a result of man-made efforts

mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, a number of people have asked me to comment about the situation since president putin has moved aggressively with regard to crimea and eastern ukraine. and, therefore there has been some retaliation of sanctions by the united states against russia and now we are hearing comments out of russia by the deputy prime minister who has the responsibility for defense and aerospace, a number of troubling statements, such as since the u.s., until we complete our development of rockets that can again take americans on american rockets to and from the international space station, he's made a sarcastic comment, something like well how do the americans think they are going to get to the space station, on a trampoline? and then most recently a statement having been issued in his name that russia, the russian rocket company, will not sell the very efficient and very energetic russian rocket energy, the rd-180, will not sell that to the united states for military purposes. this

mr. nelson: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, shortly we're going to have soats on a number of judges and i want to call to the attention of the senate federal district judge robin rosenbaum. she has been nominated by the president to the u.s. court of appeals for the 11th judicial circuit. we come, the two senators from florida, senator rubio and i, we have a proud tradition in florida of bipartisan support for our judicial nominees. and judge rosenbaum's selection is just another example in that some 20-year experience in florida selecting our judges through a judicial nominating commission. in fact, this is the second time that florida's two senators come together to support robin rosenbaum's nomination, this time for the circuit court, since we a couple of years ago had recommended her to the president, the president chose her, and she has been a federal district judge in the southern district of florida for the last couple of years. the vacancy that's cre

mr. robert nelson, chief engineer international bureau federal communications commission.he's responsible for leading the bureau's work on technical issues including satellite communications and cross-border technical issues. prior to serving as the chief engineer he was the chief of the satellite division and satellites division engineering grant to read before joining the commission mr. nelson had serious engineering positions in the private sector. our fourth witness is mr. pj blunt that jumped professor at a her and space law at the university of mississippi school of law is an adjunct professor in the department of political science at the university. previously he served as research council for the national center for air and space law at the university of mississippi school of law. he teaches a security lock on international solid communication from human rights watch and cyber law. he serves as the assistant executive secretary of the international institute of space law. the final witnesses mr. o'brien technical adviser at the secure world foundation and as techni

mr. chairman. thank you. >> senator nelson is next. >> senator grassley, senator rockefeller assures me that anybodyfrom hinton, west virginia, populations less than 5000, is going to do okay. and i would assume that you can tell a lot about where a person is going by where they have been. and the fact that you have had such accolades from no less than senator coburn and the same from me has the way that you handled yourself in a very difficult department that is as hardheaded, from the senator's perspective, as is hhs, and yet you were there, you were responsive. and i want you to know i appreciate it. i think there are a lot of other folks here. i just want to ask you quickly about medicaid and medicare. if we, if our governor and legislature in the state of florida expanded medicaid under the aca, it would cover an additional 1.2 million people that otherwise, when they get sick, they will end up in an emergency room and all the rest of us are going to end up paying for them through our insurance premiums. not even to speak of, is the humanitarian thing to do for people to have access to health c

nelson. a former star quarterback at the university of minnesota, named mr. football in 2011, before transferring to rutgers earlier this year. nelson was arrested and charged with assaulting kolstad and released overnight after posting bail. this morning, police are on the hunt, looking for a second suspect. the man seen here in this newly-released surveillance video, in a red shirt, running down the street. >> described as a white male in his early 20s, wearing a red t-shirt it appears. and jeans and the suspect's shirt was torn. >> reporter: kolstad and nelson crossed paths after a night at the bars in mankato, minnesota. getting into a heated argument around 2:00 a.m. sunday. authorities say kolstad threw the first punch and then walked away. that's when investigators say the man in the red shirt ran up to kolstad and punched him in the face. so hard, witnesses say kolstad immediately collapsed. >> he immediately fell to the ground. i can still hear the sound of when his head hit the ground. it was horrible. >> reporter: surveillance cameras captured nelso

mr. chuang received his j.d. magna cum laude from march vard law school and his b.a. summa cum laude. he gang his legal career for judge dorothy w. nelson on the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit from 199 to 1995. tbr 1995 to 1998, mr. chuang served in the civil rights division of the united states department of juvment. he served as an assistant united states attorney in the district of mass ma. served as deputy chief investigative counsel for the united states house committee on oversight and government reform from 2007 to 2009. in 2009 he became the chief investigatorrive counsel for the united states committee on energy and commerce in the house of representatives. mr. yhuang serves as deputy chief counsel of the united states department of homeland security where he has worked sings 2009. like mr. hazel, mr. chuang has devoted his entire professional career to serving the public. he is very much interested in helping his community and again that's the type of individual i would hope that we would all like to see on our district court. mr. chuang has extensive litigation experience in both civil and criminal cases

mr. chairman. thank you. >> thank you, senator grassley. senator nelson is next.surenator grassley, i'm as that anyone from hinton, west virginia, population 5000, is going to do ok. and i would assume you can tell a lot about where a person is going by where they have been. and the fact that you have had such accolades from no less than senator coburn and the same from me as the way that you have in a veryur self difficult department that is as hardheaded from this senator's perspective as is hhs, and yet, you were there. you were responsive. appreciateto know, i it. i think there are a lot of other folks here. i just want to ask you quickly about medicaid and medicare. we -- if our governor and legislature in the state of florida expanded medicaid under a, it would cover an additional 1.2 million people that otherwise, when they get sick, they are going to end up in an emergency room and all the rest of us are going to end up paying for them through our insurance premiums. not even to speak off, it is the humanitarian thing to do for people to have access to hea

nelson mandela. i wonder, would you recite that for a? >> for mr. mandela. do i have that? i don't think it's in -- >> the piece about the light coming, who are you do not be all that you -- >> yes. no, i don't have it with me. and i'll be seeing him in a couple of weeks. we are ancient friends from 1960 do. thank you. i will certainly say, and i will say it there at a gathering like this. it will be in the festival in wales. he asked to speak 15 minutes and asked that i speak 45. [laughter] and out of respect for his age, i will. i will. >> so you will say there? >> i promise you and i will mention you, barbara. thank you. >> dr. angelou, i just want to tell you that i am so inspired by you. such an inspiring woman. [applause] and i myself just want to know, where do you get your inspiration? >> thank you. ms. holland, you're a student at san diego? >> no. i just graduated from the university of michigan. >> bless your heart. thank you. i'm trying to be a christian. now, trying to be a christian is no small matter. i mean, i'm always amazed when people walk up to me and sa

nelson has a pretty good track record. heinz tot correctly on dr pepper and kraft and other consumer products as mrs..has been right a lot more than he has been wrong. when it comes to consumer products and beverages he has made a lot of good investments. >> what is the advantage? >> he thinks they are very bloated. he thinks the headquarters is bigger than it needs to be. he thinks you're the number two beverage company and snack company that on their own will be just fine and can start to do acquisitions. he would like to see an old craft business be coupled up with the snacks business of pepsi once they are broken in to two. you do have synergies, given that pepsi is on shelves all over the world and can then put snacks on the same shelves in the same grocery stores and that is a bit of a synergy that benefits that it would not have if it was separated. >> that is right. all of the arguments nelson peltz has put forward as to why the company should be split up into two are the reasons why andrew newly says it should not. beveragea softening markets. we need the snack food market and innovation bein

nelson is coming back. i know he's not had his first round, so if you all could stay during that recess, we would appreciate it. >> i'm prepared. i think we can recess now, mr. chairman. i'm set. >> thank you. >> we'll recess for -- until someone else comes back. give you folks a chance. >> it's the story of our life, chairman. reduction of over 16,000 -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. designee. you'd make a great chairman. thank you all for being here today. first, i just get my bias out of the way. we're having a commission that's supposed to report back to the congress here, i think, next year, and i would like to hear from the commission before we make any real substantial changes. i understand what you're telling the congress. you got some things that you need to do now because of budget cuts. senator mccain asked a good question. your big fear is sequestration. i want to turn it around a bit. even if you had all the money you could possibly ask for within reason, would you still want to make personnel changes? reform the personnel system? >> yeah, absolutely, senator. we've actually testified to that in the past. you know, we got a new demographic, diffe

mr. melvin. my pleasure when i'm getting to talk to you. >> it was our pleasure. dr. maya angelou was always one of my favorite conversations, whether it was talking about nelson mandela's on washington, or her own legacy. she was always pitch perfect speaking her mind and her soul. what became an awe-inspiring 86 years of life did not start out as one. both her parents abandoned her. she was raped by her mother's boyfriend at 7. when a mob killed him, the trauma of it all, too much to bare, she didn't speak for years. when she started again, she used her pain, her anguish to radiate light and her favorite, hope. for decades, angelou seemed to be everywhere, doing everything. she read voraciously, sang, danced calypso, won three grammys, spoke six languages, acted, wrote screenplaying, children's books, and cookbooks, p penned gorgeous poetry, was nominated for a tony, and became the first black female to drive a cable car in san francisco. it was a random rich life. she became a civil rights voice, friend to malcolm and martin. when james baldwin dared her to put her life on paper, she gave us "i know why the caged bird sings." she never graduated from college but had

mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, while i have the opportunity here on the floor, i want to call to the attention of the senate the committee on aging, which i have the privilege of chairing, held a hearing last week on scams particularly affecting senior citizens but not limited to senior citizens in the selling of precious metals; in particular, gold. and, basically, the bottom line takeaway from the hearing is, if you are an american getting a cold call suggesting to you that you should invest in a precious metal like gold, more than likely it is a scam, and you are about to be robbed of your money if you play along and start investing in this fictitious investment in gold, of which the testimony showed that most of the times that the scammers do not even purchase the gold and certainly are not storing it, even though they are charging the poor victim, often a senior citizen -- charging them s

mr. nelson: and, mr. president, i want to thank my dear personal friend, the senator from rhode island, for his kind comments but especially thank him for his passion and his leadership on this issue. there are parts of america that it is time to wake up, and especially one part of that is the state of florida. we have, because of the nature of our state being a peninsula that sticks down into water surrounding it on most sides -- ther