mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, i'm here to talk about some complex litigation on chinese drywall, but before i do, since this week seems to be the week that if we're going to get anything done to assist the administration with regard to all of these children that are showing up at the border, of which it has diminished over the last few weeks, but nevertheless, there's still been an influx that we all have read about. and, of course, senator mikulski, the chairman of appropriations, has roughly a $2.7 billion supplemental appropriations bill. it would be this senator's intention, and i think i can speak for several other senators, that feel very strongly that we not have addressed the very root cause of the problem, which

mr. nelson. we ask that the commission approve the project that's currently approved and that that concludes my presentation. >> thank you. any public comment on that item? in support of project sponsor seeing none, public comment is closed. dr requester you have a 2 minute rebuttal >> going back to the principle issue for consideration which deals with the lack of a variance i didn't hear a response from the project sponsor to that point in particular that was a glancing response that dealt with the shed but not indirectly to pinpoint the issue the special notice was recorded against the property and/or the time a shed was added but it added to the property a special restriction that required meantime there was an expansion of the envelope to have a public hearing. aside from the sequa issues we believe that can be dealt with an informal agreement the commission should consider whether or not a variance is indeed required as in the original document >> thank you project sponsor you have a two mi

mr. nelson: mr. president, i thank my colleague for his leadership. i want to ask my colleague if he is aware of the testimony that the commanding general of u.s. southern command, general kelly, marine four-star general, has given to the armed services committee and to the foreign relations committee recently in the last couple of weeks. mr. heinrich: mr. president, i am aware of the testimony of general kelly. but given his role at cilcom and in particular its location in florida and the fact that the senator from florida was there for the testimony, i would ask him to remind us exactly what general kelly had to say about how we are or in some cases are not interdicting in dealing with the flow of narcotics, and particularly cocaine, that has been at the root of so much of the instability and violence that we see in these three central american countries today. mr. nelson: mr. president, the senator from new mexico has put his finger on exactly the root cause of the problem. it's the substantial lo

mr. nelson, anything you wanted to -- >> 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 very important. obviously, the sooner you get it out, the likelihood is that they won't crash into something else. the issue though comes down to is whether or not you take out -- and you made that mention as well, somebody else's piece of debris. the flags are flying on even if it's not usable, that particular item is -- has the flag of another country. so there probably is going to 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. >> well, i know that godard space flight center has some rather robust activity going on now to try to look at ways to reservice some of these decommissioned satellites as a way to get them back in service, not put new ones up, but that, too, is a long way down the line, but something that i think we need to invest in. with that, mr. chairman, i'll yield. >> tha

mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, i want to talk about health insurance. you notice that nationally and back in our states that the angst over the affordable care act -- often de-rice civil referred to as obamacare -- that that angst has subsided and, in part, that has occurred because more people are being covered. as a matter of fact, in the first tranche of sign-ups of people who did not have insurance, over 8 million people, which exceeded the goal of 7 million by the time the cutoff came for signing earlier in year -- over 8 million people had signed up. and that was just narrow population of those who wanted insurance but could not afford it. then they had it available through the state exchanges or the federal exchange in the states. another part of the population that did not have health care were people who actually were in a low-income situation and, therefore, there was no ch

mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. elson: i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, i have a unanimous consent request for a committee to meet during today's session. it has the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that this request be agreed to, that this request be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that i be able to display in the course of my speech some small vials of liquid that will demonstrate what i am talking about today. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, let me show you these innocent-looking small bottles with an eye dropper of three types of liquid. this is liquid nicotine. the eye droppers are used to put into the cartridges for electronic cigarettes, otherwise known as e-cigarettes. there are some versions that look just the size of the cigarette that already have the liquid nicot

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: i ask consent to speak for three minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, the administration sent several cabinet secretaries and high-ranking appointees to brief all senators last evening on the crisis of the children on the border, and what it appears is that they are getting their arms around addressing the problem of the children in the crisis, the humanitarian crisis on the border. however, it is the opinion of this senator that they do not recognize the root cause of the problem. and if the administration would listen to their four-star general, the head of the united states southern command, general kelly, and the testimony that he has already given to the armed services committee of what is the problem, then we could get to the root cause of the problem and stop these future humanitarian crises. the problem simply is that we are not devoting the time and the resources, the money to the interdiction of the bi

mr. nelson: madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i ask to call off the quorum call and speak up to five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. booker: i rise today filled with anguish and heartbreak that is shared by so many americans who are watching over the past weeks as countless innocent children and innocent civilians have been killed and live in states of great fear or even terror. millions who are running from bomb shelters time and time again. seeing people in gaza killed, maimed, seeing people in israel live under the terror in the skies and terror coming from below. i want to stand resolute and clear about the true cause of this crisis, and that lies squarely with hamas, a terrorist organization whose ends do not start and finish with the well-being of the palestinian people. their primary focus, their clear agenda, is not peace for their people writte

mr. nelson the owner of the adjacent property on liberty street and the subject property and so the dr requester war filed we were asking to attempt to reach a resolution for the excavation work that is proposed for part of the project to that end there are 20 only two issues. the first is in reviewing >> open the matter think continuance. >> i apologize okay. same background is still useful so the primarily concern has to do with the insurance of lateral support of his property is handled in a way that is protected and to that end we have requested from the project sponsor that temporary shoring plans that happened last friday over the we said our structural engineer ben had an opportunity to review them and we've been working intellectual to reach an argument on 3r50er789s including peer review and a section scare the twap typical types items and the she or he excavation. we provided the project sponsor with a definite on tuesday they provided us with comments on tuesday our strong preference is reach 9 resolution and evade the intervention we can do that within

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the sphoer from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i want to say to my colleagues here on the floor that this is a very substantive discussion. this senator is enormously impressed with the commentary, the quality of the commentary from the two that have preceded me and those that will follow, and it is a treatment of this issue in a comprehensive way. i was so glad that the senator from virginia mentioned that the initial legislation from years ago protecting children once they reached the border, it's named after william which whic , a parliamentarian in england in the late-1700's and early 1800's whose sole mission and when he succeeded it took him 20 years as a politician, a as a member f parliament. after 20 years he changed the course of history because he single-handedly through his legislative efforts abolished the english slave trade. and it changed the course of history of the world. and when we think of that kind of quality of parliamentary endeavor, it is time for the united states senate to the rise to this occ

mr. nelson: mr. president, 45 years ago yesterday, the entire world was rivetted to their television sets. it was often a television image that was grainy black and white and flickering as we heard the report "the eagle has landed." and then we saw neil armstrong come down the ladder of the lunar lander, and that's when he made the famous statement, "that's one step for a man, a giant leap for mankind." in the context of that day 45 years ago, if you were not of sufficient youth that you would not have a memory, anyone will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing because that was an extraordinary time for the entire planet. this senator at the time was an army lieutenant and at the liftoff four days earlier, i had been in belgrade, yugoslavia, and had gone to the embassy asking if they had a television so that i could watch the liftoff from my hometown area of brevard county, where from this launchpad my family had homesteaded under the only homestead act in 1913, working the land f

mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. nelson: just to real estate mind the senate that -- just to real estate mind the senate that senator rubio and i have the nonpartisan process of the judicial nominating commission for our federal district judges, and robin rosenberg is a product of that, and so i commend to the senate this bipartisan nominee from the two of us. the presiding officer: is there further debate on the nomination? without objection, all time is yielded back. the question is on the rosenberg nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: s. the presiding officer: does any senator wish to change his or her vote? if not, on this vote, the yeas are 100, the nays are 0, and the nomination is confirmed. there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a vote on the degravelles nomination. without objection, all time is yielded back. the quest

mr. nelson has expressed injustices' and i let it try of revealing new debts of our nation's history.one of the first and visa was granted had to look her back in the day. and i know all of you. these amazing people. we are grateful to you. on behalf of michele and myself as we are taking pictures of the recipients and the families please continue to enjoy the reception here. thank you very much. [applause] [applause] of. ♪ ♪ >> in a few moments a hearing on the health care law and federal subsidies for insurance providers. about an hour-and-a-half the latest report. the state to report on religious freedom around the world. >> on our next washington journal we will talk to mississippi said of doctor walker of the house senate deal on a veterans' health care bill in the ongoing debate over immigration and border security. texas democratic congressman will also weigh in on that va legislation and immigration. later anthony, of georgetown university will discuss federal work force training programs. you can also join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal live each

mr. nelson has exposed injustices and highlighted triumphs, revealing new depths of our nation's history.se] diane rehm. [applause] the 2013 national humanities medal to diane rehm for illuminating the people and stories behind the headlines. in probing interviews with everyone from pundits to poets to presidents, ms. rehm's keen insights and boundless curiosity have deepened our understanding of our culture and ourselves. [applause] anne firor scott. [applause] the 2013 national humanities medal to anne firor scott for pioneering the study of women in the american south. dr. scott's exploration of the previously unexamined lives of southern women of different races, classes and political ideologies has established women's history as vital to our conception of southern history. [applause] krista tippett. [applause] the 2013 national humanities medal to krista tippett for thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence. on the air and in print, ms. tippett avoids easy answers, embracing complexity and inviting people of every background to join her conversation about faith, ethi

mr. nelson.hank you to the committee for giving me the opportunity to speak on traumatic brain injury. i am a researcher. with my own experience brain injury. i was not playing football. i was assaulted. i was down in gainesville and a vagrant assaulted me. i had three hemorrhages on my brain. weeks in intensive care and 18 months with amnesia. i was one of the lucky ones. i got my memory back. whatpeople who experience a lot of us have experienced are not that lucky. home to get my phd in neuroscience and focused on research. most of my clinical and recent research over the last 17 years has been focused on traumatic brain injury. i have put the last five years more and to focus on concussions and mild traumatic brain injury. to give you a little bit more background, what causes a concussion is the brains leans forward, is accelerated, and is against the skull, and it will be kicked back the other way. it goes through this acceleration, deceleration. a lot of people think that the brain is only

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator nelson. senator, would you forgive me if the power structure has arrived? >> the power structure is here with coffee. black coffee, no sugar. was actually going to give a presentation before all of this started. because these are the power structure, doing something that required the use of power. so would you yield for a moment to senator? >> i think you have a right to remain silent. i spoke on the amendment on the house floor in 1987, i think it was. which was the first amendment brought out on the house law net floor to ban smoking on flights and that passed with a vote. we are here with a historic -- i'm willing to hear. i'm sure it's historic presentation. >> i want to thank the chairman for his kind remarks and also my colleagues and thank you for your patience. i'm going to submit my statement for the record and acknowledge the presence of matt myers. we have been in the struggle for a long time trying to save and spare kids from tobacco and what it does to them. we know what addictio

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator blumenthal. senator nelsonink you had a question. >> earlier in my comments i noted the toxicity of the concentrated nicotine in an e-cigarette refill liquid. let me ask the two gentlemen, mr. healy and mr. weiss, in addition to the nicotine what are the other ingredients in the liquid nicotine? >> speaking to the blu product, the five key ingredients are propose lean gliokohl, glycerin and vegetable glycerin, distilled water, nicotine and natural and artificial flavors. and. >> and in our product it's nicotine, probe line gliokohl, glycerin and also flavorings. >> are any of those other than the nicotine harmful substances? >> so we've tested our products, and we support the, the fda's harmful and herbally harmful -- potentially harmful testing for these products, and we're submitting our results to the fda and are very comfortable with the results that they are orders of magnitude safer than combusted cigarettes. >> but as to the substance itself being harmful or not, i didn't understand your answer. >> so th

mr. nelson or carl.o much better pig bybacking on peltz necessarily than carl. >> i think the other angle, what we talked about with becky earlier this is now, i know, not on a square footage basis but from a store basis this combined company has more stores now than walmart. >> all right. but we need to put that into context. it's 11,000 stores is walmart and that's, in 27 different countries. this is 13,000 stores in the united states, and in canada. but if you look at sales, it's really much more telling picture. this is $18 billion. versus $476 billion last year. >> they're right. there are more stores but they are smaller. >> just saying, it may alter the deep discount landscape of it. >> could be. you're right it does give them a national foot print, too. >> i'm glad to see carl icahn is making a little money. the guy never made any. so he's doing well here. >> let's tell you about some other deals. international ash tags panel in the hague ordering russia to pay more than $50 billion damages in th

. >> senator nelson. >> mr. chairman, as usual, you have picked a hearing on an important topic of the day, so thank you very much. i want to ask dr. fans ki, you testified that there was a recent increase of nicotine poison iing in young children. are these cases ofhildren getting into the refilled vials of nicotine or seeing the poisoning cases from the disposable e-cigarettes? >> we don't have that level of detail. the trajectory has been increasing for nicotine devices with 251 calls. we don't have the kind of calls that they are coming from the devices. my suspicion the greatest likelihood for the kids to get into them rather than the hole electronic cigarettes themselves. >> you note there are no standards for governing ildproof packaging for these bottles, and i would like, mr. chairman, if this hasn't been entered into the record it is a photograph of the liquid flavors, banana slit, cotton ndy, sweet tart, gummy beer, rocket pop, hawaiian punch. dr. , would you support giving either the consumer product

. >> senator nelson. mr.chairman, as usual, you have picked a hearing on an important topic of the day. thank you very much. doctorto ask tanski, you testified that there was a recent instance of nicotine poisoning in young children. are these children getting into the refill vials of liquid nicotine? or are you seeing the poisoning disposablethe e-cigarettes? level ofnot have that detail but we know that the trajectory of the number of calls has been increasing for electronic cigarette and nicotine devices right rapidly -- very drab and late. rapidly.s very >> you also note that there are currently no standards for governing childproof packaging for these liquid nicotine bottles. , mr. chairman, if this has not already been entered into the record, it is a photograph of a number of these liquid flavors. split, cotton candy, kool-aid, great him a skittles about sweet tarts, gummy bear, froot loops, rocket pop. hawaiian punch. would you support giving either the consumer product commission -- fda express autho

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator nelson. i apologize. you could have run for the senate ten years ago. >> i don't want to be disrespectful to senator blumenthal who i think was here before me earlier. no? >> i will ask my questions now only because i have to preside and if you would yield for five minutes, i would really appreciate it. >> i've already been put in my place once. i will yield. >> yeah, but you're bigger than i am. so -- [ laughter ] >> let me thank you mr. chairman, for having this hearing, which very sincerely i think is a very important one or a significant for the future of academic institutions. i want to thank all of the folks who have come to enlighten us and thank you to senator nelson. and i want to begin by saying for what it's worth, i think the law here is heading in a very unfortunate direction. as dr. emmert and i have discussed, i think the law is heading in the direction of regarding regarding athletes at university more and more employees that is because of the growing asymmetry and energy, time, sweat, blo

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator nelson. i apologize. you could have run for the senate ten years ago. >> i don't want to be disrespectful to senator blumenthal who i think was here before me earlier. no? >> i will ask my questions now only because i have to preside, and if you would yield for five minutes, i would really appreciate it. >> i've already been put in my place once. i will yield. >> yeah, but you're bigger than i am. so -- [ laughter ] >> let me thank you, mr. chairman, for having this hearing, which very sincerely i think is a very important one or a significant for the future of academic institutions. i want to thank all of the folks who have come to enlighten us and thank you to senator nelson. and i want to begin by saying, for what it's worth, i think the law here is heading in a very unfortunate direction. as dr. emmert and i have discussed, i think the law is heading in the direction of regardi regarding athletes at university more and more employees that is because of the growing asymmetry and energy, time, sweat, bl

mr. president. i'm from south africa. and my question is, previously nelson mandela has inspired the foundation of the sovereign african fund for enterprises. it has run for two decades and has since been stopped. is there any chance to develop another fund for enterprises in africa? >> it's a great question. one of the things that's been interesting in not only some of the platforms that you developed at your universities but also during my trips to africa is the degree to which young africans are less interested in aid and more interested in how can they create opportunity through business and entrepreneurship and trade. not to say that we do not need to deal with very serious challenges in terms of poverty. we need to make sure we're continuing to work on behalf of the least of these. but what i think everybody recognizes is that if you want sustained development and sustained opportunity and sustained self-determination, then the key is to, to own what is produced. and to be able to create jobs and opportunity organically and indy againously and then be a

whitehouse, murray, klobuchar, cantwell, reed of rhode island, nelson, warren, udall of new mexico, hirono, blumenthal, boxer, harkin, cardin, and schumer. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all knows in favor say aye. all those opposed, say nay. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. and the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that following my remarks, senators couldn't, sessions, stabenow, and warble be able to speak up to five minutes each prior to the cloture vote on s. 2569, with senator coons be first recognized. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. coons: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that akuna cook be granted floor privileges during consideration of the bring jobs home act. the presiding officer: without objection. coons coops mr. president, i hav--mr. coons: mr

reid, hagan, leahy, kaine, king, carper, nelson, tester, murray, mccaskill, begich, whitehouse, heinrich, stabenow, harkin, udall of new mexico and donnelly. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 438, s. 2244. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2244, bill to extend the termination date of the terrorism insurance program, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i want the record to reflect how much i appreciate the hard work of the senator from north carolina, senator hagan, working on this bipartisan bill. she did it with the ranking member of the energy and natural resources committee, senator murkowski, and they have done good work coming up with this bill. but, mr. president, the senator from alaska spoke this morning about her desire for consideration of amendments. typical, typical, typical of the last six years here. this bill h

mr. president, this amendment that i'm offering, it's almost identical to the nelson amendment. the difference is at the request of septa, which is the southeast pennsylvania transit authority, it's been expanded to include not just roads and bridges but also rail and transit repair projects. that's it. so it simply says these existing transportation infrastructure facilities, if they are damaged or destroyed by a declared natural disaster, the rebuilding, the identical rebuilding in that very same footprint shouldn't be subject to going through the whole environmental 1993 mitting process all over again -- whole environmental permitting process all over again. i'm happy to have the endorsement of a number of groups -- the national association of counties, americans for prosperity, americans for tax reform, citizens against government waste. mr. president, i would argue this is just common sense. this is a modest, narrow amendment. as i say, it doesn't in any way, shape, form or fashion change any regulations or permitting requirements for any new construction, and it says nothi

nelson, democrat from nebraska, recognized the problem and suggested an amendment. the presiding officer: order in the senate. senators, please take your conversations out of the senate. mr. toomey: and the amendment simply says if a bridge or a road is damaged or destroyed by a declared natural disaster or emergency, then you -- and you rebuild the bridge or road in the exact same place, the same footprint, the same dimensions, everything's the same, then you don't have to go through the entire environmental permitting process all over again. this would save a lot of time and money and allow us to maintain our roads and bridges. i know, madam president, my friends on the other side think this problem was solved. it was not solved. the department of transportation can, can exclude certain projects but can choose not to and does not have the discretion to provide an exclusion from the army corps of engineers or the fish and wildlife service the very reviews that take the most time and cost the most money, so i urge my colleagues to vote yes. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: madam president, this -- this issue was de

mr. branson was removed. the numbers 22% ownership. >> that is just one of the deals. >> the other deal is dollar tree. as tom pointed out, it is a big victory for nelsonnagement. they go one of their founders onto the board. he is also chief investment officer. he is in the board of family dollar. they have been working constructively with management. there is a supportive activist role there. they have been pushing for this deal. carl icahn tweeted that he thinks family dollar and dollar tree would be perfect partners. >> a single sentence from mr. peltz -- by joining the dollar tree party dollar is becoming of a stronger organization that will drive significant value. chris marangi is with us. we're thrilled to have you here with the mergers. this really speaks of the new confidence out there. >> it really does. that isd about the m&a being supported by lower borrowing costs. the missing element was corporate confidence. now we are seeing that return. that is going to push the cycle. >> acquirer, acquiree -- it is a nirvana. we are six-month out her 12 month out. perfect. it is too good to be true for tom keene. when does this become diluted, frothy

mr. nelson: mr. president, this is judge --. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. ms. nelson: this is judge robin rosenberg that comes through this nonpartisan judicial nominating process that senator rubio and i have set up. senator rubio and i certainly commend her for your favorable consideration. thank you. mr. reid: yield back the time. the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we, it is undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of robin l. rosenberg of florida to be united states district judge for the southern district of florida. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is: is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of robin l. rosenberg of florida to be united states district judge for the southern district of florida, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mand