mr. perdue: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate stand in recess until 5:30 p.m. today. the presiding officer: without objection. the senate stands in recess until 5:30 p.m.er david cameron testifies about global security. unfoldsn, where history daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable-television companies and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> tonight a confirmation hearing for president trump's nominees to be the next commanders of your specific command and northern commit the north american aerospace defense command. this nominee spoke earlier today in front of the senate armed services committee. the drink will air tonight at night eastern on c-span. on c-span2 t

mr. perdue: mr. president, i rise today to talk about a milestone here that just happened about three weeks ago. we've had a couple of interesting dates coming. april 15 just passed. we called it tax day but it was another date. it was also a date that we were supposed to complete the senate budget for fiscal year 2019 that starts in october 1 of this year. well, april 15 came and the i.r.s. deadline did indeed hit, but there was no budget completed. and that's part of the dysfunction that people back home are so upset about. today i want to talk about that, but first i want to talk about the derivative of that broken process. to date, mr. president, in my office we have a debt clock. in that debt clock a few weeks ago it passed a milestone. $21 trillion. and if that weren't bad enough, mr. president, the commitments of this federal government over the last 50 years actually indeed over the last hundred years, the commitments that have been made in the structural programs of this big government burea

perdue: thank you. >> senators. >> thank you, mr. chair and thank you secretary perdue for your advocacy. i certainly appreciate it. as many of my colleagues have stated, the ag industry, extreme importance to us. we are in uncertain times, truly. again, i want to thank you for being such a great advocate and voice for our farmers and ranchers. they are working around the clock for all of us. in the morning, they face certain a nursery and in the evening -- they face certain adversity and in the evening they are looking at anxiety. so the stressors with our farmers and ranchers day in, day out is unprecedented in recent history. a number of colleagues have talked about the rff, trade, i will dive in a more because i know the senator addressed a piece of the rff. we were at the table a couple weeks ago with the president, a roundtable situation -- i appreciate the input you have been able to give to president trump. but there is a concern with epa administrator scott pruitt and the small refinery waivers. i am very very upset about thi

mr. chair man. secretary perdue, welcome. so, you don't need me to tell you that the farmers of the state of wisconsin are deeply concerned by the chinese threats of tariffs and retaliation. wisconsin producers of corn and soybeans, of pork, beef, general sing and cranberries have all been in touch with me in my office to share with me the devastating impacts that they fear these tariffs could have on their business. as you also know, and i think some of my colleagues have questioned you about this already, the recently passed omnibus legislation provided your department with additional resources to address the impacts of retaliatory tariff ands agricultural products. i support taking action to punish china for its cheating and to create it on a level playing field for american workers and farmers. but i also believe the trump administration should act to prevent harmful retaliation against farmers in wisconsin and across the country. so, i'm interested to know what specific stems you're going to take to help farmers who may

mr. chairman and senator perdue and i on this committee comm are doing our best to channel your concerns and wish into that process. senator enzi: thank you. i want to thank you, dr. hall, for your testimony today and for all the documents you oversee the preparation of and your full statement will be included in the record. as information all senators' questions for the record are due by 6:00 p.m. today with a signed hard copy delivered to the committee clerk in dirksen 624. under our rules, our witness has seven days from receipt of questions to respond with answers. with no further business to come before the committee, the hearing is adjourned. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> among the issues that are really sort of near and dear to me is this idea of having conversations across party lines

mr. speaker. for too long companies like perdue phrma have lied cheated and swinled the american people leaving death, addiction, and despair in their wake. all because of their greed and desire to improve their bottom line. through marketing lies and other overdistribution of these dangerously addicted drugs, they oversaturated parts of our country. already struggling from high levels of addiction, while knowing but not disclosing, their highly addictive nature and risks. because of their tactics, this opioid epidemic now takes 115 american lives every single day. the time for holding these drug companies and leader accountable is long overdue. these companies rake in billions of dollars in profit every year on the backs of the american people, and not one of them has been prosecuted or held accountable. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting bicameral legislation, the opioid crisis act, that would prohibit illegal marketsing and distribute shuven opioids and empower prosecutors to punish those who break the law. act, td we cannot allow perpetrators of this epidemic to continue ruining lives

mr. chairman and i'm also glad to welcome the new committee member so we will do that more formally at some point that i am absolutely pleased to think and vote them again secretary perdue. the communities are great places to live with a family and start a business however many of the communities face unique challenges. mr. secretary, i know you are well aware that the farm and the rural economy has been a tough spot. economic hardship and the need for food assistance remains higher than in many of the rural communities and you also know low commodity prices have continued to plague the farmers as i'm sure you heard in michigan the dairy farmers have been struggling with market instability and for too long they haven't had a reliable safety net. after working with appropriation leaders for the last year, i am pleased we were able to deliver much-needed improvements to the dairy farmers and cotton growers in the bipartisan budget act. it's too rollout the new and improved protection program that we created and unfortunately the struggles have been compounded by uncertainty around trade as the chairman has spoken about. and i share the concerns on this. i believe we need

mr. woodall, and spearheaded in the senate, military pilot, mother, great member, tammy duckworth of illinois, and senator perdue. this amendment is common sense, ensures the safety of the flying public. it streamlines an onerous process that's led to unintended burdens and delays on state department of motor vehicles across the country and delays getting perspective pilots eligible for employment. this does nothing to remove protections from pilots and their privacy already in federal law. in 1996, congress passed the pilot records improvement act which mandated the airlines obtain driving records of all prospective employees from the national driver registry. an unintended consequence came about requiring the state licensing official could approve such request. this has caused delays at d.m.v.'s and currently most employees must request these records from missouri since they are the sole state still willing to access the national drivers registry from request of all parties. that is not what was intended and it requires a simple and technical fix that this amendment does bring about. that 1996 law also clearly

mr. perdue: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:15 a.m. thursday, april 12. further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. finally, i ask that following leader remarks, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the pizzella nomination under the previous order. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. perdue: if there is no other business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until >> today was facebook ceo mark zuckerberg second day of testimony on capitol hill. he testified before they house energy and commerce committee.