mr. rhodes on 35th avenue? anybody have specific questions on that one. i am agreeing with staff on that one. about the stop removal at 35th and again i know that this is not easy for anybody on either side. whether you are losing our stop or you would lose your parking if we left that stop. what i am focussing on are state and efficiency. if those stops were to stay, they need boarding. we cannot have riders stepping off the train into traffic. i saw the video of someone stepping off hit by a car. regardless what commenters said, it is never the fault of the transit passenger. it is always the fault of the driver. they are supposed to stop when this train stops. and to have somebodyen imply that the passenger should wait for the door to open and stick your hand out or head out. that is ridiculous. we cannot run a transit agency like that. the passengers have no know they are safe when they step off the train. i am supporting both of the staff recommendations at 35th and 44th. it is safety for me. it is efficiency of the overall system. if we do the stop

mr. mcconnell: i thank my good friend from rhode island. i will not occupy the senate floor for very long. the presiding officer: the senate majority leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, the community of benton, kentucky, is continuing to pick up the pieces after last week's harrowing shooting. i want to once again thank our law enforcement an first responders for their heroism. i'd also like to recognize marshall county judge kevin neil for his leadership when his community needed it the most. for most of us this tragedy is barely even conceivable, but to the parents of bailey hope and preston cope, it is now a painful reality. bailey holt was 15 years old and her mother said that she had a perfect sweet soul. she's been described as compassionate, confident, and comfortable being herself. when she wasn't busy cheering for the university of louisville cardinals, bailey was always ready with a kind word or a friendly gesture for those who needed it. on social media her family and friends are using the expression, be like bailey, encouraging

. >> parliamentary the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island. mr. cicilline: parliamentary inquiry? has debate concluded on the rule? the speaker pro tempore: all time for dwight on the rule has expired. mr. cicilline: in light of that, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to bring up h.r. 4872, the end the shutdown act of 2018, -- may i firn. a continuing resolution through tuesday that would immediately reopen o the government while negotiations continue on a budget agreement that adheres to parity, re-authorizes the children's health insurance program and other critical health care programs. addresses dreamers, and providing assistance to americans impacted by natural disasters. i'm asking for unanimous consent to bring this bill up to reopen the government. if all the claims my republican colleagues i'm asking for made about openi the government, here's the chance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is no longer recognized. under clines consistently issued by successor speakers as recorded in section 956 of the house rules and manual, the ch

i now yield -- i now yield one minute to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized for one minute. mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to this bill. supporters of this bill have called it reform. this is not reform. it's a massive expansion of the government's ability to deprive the lives of innocent people. if you need proof, look at the bill's section 702 which is supposed to offer spying on foreign adversaries but has embolden some law enforcement to collect and read private communications of american citizens without a warrant. instead of curbing these practices, s. 139 would codify and expand some of the most abusive surveillance practices in recent years including about collection and back door searches. there is no one more important responsibility that we have than keeping the american people safe, but we have to do it in a way that's consistent with our values and our constitution. this bill undermines our values of privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

i now yield -- i now yield one minute to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized for one minute. mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to this bill. supporters of this bill have called it reform. this is not reform. it's a massive expansion of the government's ability to deprive the lives of innocent people. if you need proof, look at the bill's section 702 which is supposed to offer spying on foreign adversaries but has embolden some law enforcement to collect and read private communications of american citizens without a warrant. instead of curbing these practices, s. 139 would codify and expand some of the most abusive surveillance practices in recent years including about collection and back door searches. there is no one more important responsibility that we have than keeping the american people safe, but we have to do it in a way that's consistent with our values and our constitution. this bill undermines our values of privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

mr. friedman. rhode island has two ports that we're investing in and proud of, the port of providence and davisville in quonset. we're the home of one of the world's best ship servicing agencies. so we're keenly interested in ports. and i'm interested in your take on what sea level rise infrastructure impacts our ports are looking at. >> i think our ports are keenly interested in and concerned about sea level rise and what they can do in partnership with local state and federal government to enhance resiliency, as we heard mr. cochran speaking to earlier. you know, i think we would look toward this wrda bill to increase our ability to work in innovative ways with the army corps of engineers. i think that you usually find that a lot of the new and interesting ideas tend to bubble up from those of us who are on the ground at our local ports and communities, and we need the ability to sit down with our army corps districts and work together on those solutions. we are engaged in those discussions with the bu

mr. president, it's time for us to stand up and speak out and i thank my colleague from the state of rhode island for being here today to join me. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, not only to follow the words of my distinguished colleague from connecticut, not only are house republicans, to use his phrase, playing into the hands of the russians, they are actually playing by the playbook of the russians. if you understand the russian information warfare that the doctrine, the way in which russians and before them soviets, for years tried to poison the factual environment around them and then you put that up against this scheme where you start with the selective release of classified material that the public can't get behind because the rest is classified, the false narrative that the ranking member has pointed out that creates, the partisan and peculiar process for getting there, the ignoring of warnings from their own national security officials about how bad this is, the convenient whipping up of all of this in far right media at the same time, the implication of that by russian bots and ot

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that the pending quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president, and happy new year to you. for my 191st time to wake up speech, i want to take the change of years to reflect on what 2017 meant for our carbon pollution of the earth climate and what 2018 may bring. our human use of fossil fuels continued to pour carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2017. the concentration of co2 in the atmosphere now stands at almost 407 parts per million. the highest in human history. more than 100 parts per million above the safe range in which human development for millennia has flourished. each year brings a new record concentration of co2 in our atmosphere, and that will continue to worsen until the world weans itself off fossil fuels. and, of course, the contamination of our earth and atmosphere by carbon pollution is matched by the contamination of our politics by unlimited and often hidden fossil f

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. langevin: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. without objection, so ordered mr. speaker, -- mr. langevin: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor a great rhode island public servant, educator and dear friend, my predecessor, congressman robert wigen. during his time as -- in government, bob served as a state legislator, governor -- lieutenant governor from 1993 to 1997 and united states representative from 1997 to 2001. bob has always fought passionately for the poe people of the state of rhode island and in the decades since, he has shared his wealth of knowledge with the students at the university of rhode island, dedicating himself to preparing the next generation of leaders. as he retires from that position, i want to say that bob served for the right reasons. to make a positive difference in his community and improve the lives

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, let me first thank my friend from oklahoma. we often disagree. indeed, we often violently disagree on matters environmental. but we have been teammates, indeed close teammates on the chemical safety legislation which has been passed into law, on water resources bills which have been passed into law, and on the last highway bill which was passed into law. and the lesson i take from that is that in the senate, we can disagree and we can disagree violently. but where we agree, push the throttles forward and get it done. so -- i would. mr. inhofe: i appreciate that very much because there's an old document that nobody reads anymore. it's called the constitution. and you look at that, and they talk about what we're really supposed to be doing here. and the priorities are defending america and then they called it transportation infrastructure. i would say this that we are a great team when we do that. and we couldn't have had the successes, i could not have had the successes as t

mr. friedman. rhode island has two ports that were investing in and proud of and where the home of warren shipping agencies which was the best ship servicing agencies. so we are keenly interested in ports and an interested in your take on what sea level rise infrastructure impacts our ports are looking at. >> i think our ports are keenly interested in and concerned about sea level rise and what they can do in partnership with local, state, and federal government to enhance resilience is. we heard mr. cochran speaking to earlier. i think we would look towards this wrda bill to increase our ability to work speedy we will be discerned for a moment moment, take you live to the floor of the senate before a pro forma session pics senators will take up legislative work again tuesday considering the house passed fisa bill with a vote to limit debate tuesday at 5:30 p.m. eastern and been made in in the week action on extending government funding past friday. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. t

mr. andlline from rhode island, scherr i from illinois, developed -- cheri from illinois, developed the better deal discussion. i'd like to talk about this in the context of infrastructure. now, in the next couple of weeks the president says he's going to deliver to the congress his infrastructure plan. well, we know, across this nation, that we definitely need infrastructure. you just talked about it a moment ago. and the question will arise, how do you pay for it. this year, right now, the current fiscal year, where we're talking about can we fund government before it schutz down , -- shuts down, $150 billion was ripped out of the treasury, it's gone, for the wealthy tax cuts. so where do we get the money to pay for infrastructure? how do we do that? here's my fear. my fear is that the wealthy 1%, top 10%, the big corporations have already got their big chunk -- where 83% of it do you go to get the money? i think that the proposal coming from the president will be to tax fees on folks that are using the transportation system. and who are they? they're the american families. they're the peopl

mr. cox: i think that is mentioned, but i think the probable cause that he -- that existed was formed, at least in part, by the comparison of the photograph on the facebook page and when officer rhodes walked up justice kennedy: but mr. cox: -- stood at the end of the driveway and could see the same thing. justice kennedy: but it was in plain view? mr. cox: it was. justice kennedy: it's not as if there was a closed garage and they went and opened the garage? mr. cox: that's right. and he wouldn't -- he wouldn't be able to go up to the edge of the garage, assuming there was curtilage out there, and look in to see if it was in there. the probable cause was formed before he ever stepped foot on the driveway. justice kagan: mr. cox, was there one search here or were there two searches here? mr. cox: we submit that there was there was one search. justice kagan: the search of the motorcycle? mr. cox: that's right. justice kagan: but why is that? why isn't there the search of the motorcycle -- but there's really the search of the curtilage; it happened to be for the motorcycle, but it's the search of the curtilage, it's a different search entirely. mr. cox: we look at it as one search beca

. >> parliamentary the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island. mr. cicilline: parliamentary inquiry? has debate concluded on the rule? the speaker pro tempore: all time for dwight on the rule has expired. mr. cicilline: in light of that, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to bring up h.r. 4872, the end the shutdown act of 2018, -- may i firn. a continuing resolution through tuesday that would immediately reopen o the government while negotiations continue on a budget agreement that adheres to parity, re-authorizes the children's health insurance program and other critical health care programs. addresses dreamers, and providing assistance to americans impacted by natural disasters. i'm asking for unanimous consent to bring this bill up to reopen the government. if all the claims my republican colleagues i'm asking for made about openi the government, here's the chance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is no longer recognized. under clines consistently issued by successor speakers as recorded in section 956 of the house rules and manual, the ch

i now yield -- i now yield one minute to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized for one minute. mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to this bill. supporters of this bill have called it reform. this is not reform. it's a massive expansion of the government's ability to deprive the lives of innocent people. if you need proof, look at the bill's section 702 which is supposed to offer spying on foreign adversaries but has embolden some law enforcement to collect and read private communications of american citizens without a warrant. instead of curbing these practices, s. 139 would codify and expand some of the most abusive surveillance practices in recent years including about collection and back door searches. there is no one more important responsibility that we have than keeping the american people safe, but we have to do it in a way that's consistent with our values and our constitution. this bill undermines our values of privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent to speak for approximately 15 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: i rise now for the 193rd time to wake up speech, and as i do so we are coming up on president trump's anniversary in office. unfortunately, this occasion does not offer the american people much to celebrate. behind the persistent tweets and the dog whistles, the trump presidency has been a spectacle of special interest self dealing. billionaire donors have endless access installing their operatives and pursuing their special interest goals throughout the executive branch. they are literally writing the rules in an unambiguous effort to enrich themselves ever more at the expense of everyone else. fossil fuel barons are the new american dark money emperors, carl ichan early on got himself installed as a special advisor to the president on regulatory reform and began pushing for a change to the renewable fuel standard that would ne

mr. speaker, i yield four minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. langevin, co-chair of the congressional cybersecurity caucus. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized for four minutes. mr. langevin: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of the cyber diplomacy act. and efforts to increase international cooperation and promote global stability in sishe space. i firmly believe cybersecurity is a challenge of the 21st century and we must integrate cyberspace into our policy if we are to successfully mitigate the many threats we face in this domain. then secretary of state hillary clinton recognized this when she created the office of the cyber coordinator within the state department in 2011 and her successor, john kerry, continued america's leadership in cyber diplomacy. i worked with chris painter and we are deeply indebted to his six years of service in that role. i cannot ever remember a meeting with a cybersecurity expert where his name did not come up actively promoting a secu

mr. moran: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, may i ask unanimous consent that any pending quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i believe that my distinguished colleague and friend, senator blumenthal, will be joining me on the floor, and i would ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to speak as if in morning business for such time as i may require, and at the conclusion of my remarks, that senator blumenthal be recognized to make his remarks on the same subject. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you. mr. president, 2018 is going to be an election year. in just ten months, americans will go to the polls to exercise our franchise, believing in the integrity of our democratic process. i am here today to discuss a threat to the integrity of that process, which is getting little attention here in congress, nothing near what it deserves. we really ought to be acting with some expedition to safeguard our ele

mr. speaker. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. langevin: mr. speaker, i rise in honor of national mentoring month and in recognition of the great contributions that mentors make to young people and to communities across the country. every young person deserves and need as mentor, someone with experience and perspective to help them overcome challenges and navigate uncertainties. i would not be here today without the guidance that i received from my mentors, including supreme court justice and former mayor, frank flaherty, former mayor joe walsh, the late state senator, and the late senator claiborne pell. mentorships like these can be life changing and i applaud organizations which pairs mentors with at-risk youth. vulnerable young people with mentors are more likely to maintain better attendance and positive attitudes toward school and they're 5% more likely to go to college than their peers. mr. speaker, it is with deep appreciation of my mentors and the power of

the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: madam president, president trump and the republicans have been in charge of the white house, the house of representatives, and the united states senate for nearly a year now and under their control these three institutions have formed a bermuda triangle, if you will, for any kind of meaningful legislation that will help average americans. they devoted most of the last year to a destructive attempt to eliminate health insurance coverage for 30 million americans before pivoting to a partisan tax bill that benefits the powerful and costs trillions of dollars, trillions of dollars that could be spent many ways including enhancing our military equipment and military personnel. but that $1.5 trillion was dedicated to tax cuts to the wealthiest americans, by and large, not to the men and women of the military. and this tax legislation will also leave 13 million americans without health insurance. so contrary to the president's declaration through the campaign that he's got a great plan

mr. chief justice and may it please the court, officer rhodes' search of the motorcycle should be upheld for three reasons. first, the search occurred outside the firm bright line of the house where the justifications for the automobile exception fully apply. second, officer rhodes had probable cause before he ever stepped foot -- >> in your brief you seem to say that you're not -- you don't seem to say, you say you're not taking a position on whether an officer can break into a garage or walk into a garage that's closed but not locked. so you seem to be suggesting that the mobility of the automobile, wherever it is, permits the police to enter? is that by force or without force? >> this court has never said that the mobility changes depending on where it is -- >> will you answer my question? that seemed to be what the court below us was saying, which is where the item is located is irrelevant. if it's an automobile, whether in a garage or the motorcycle parked inside the living room, some people park their bikes inside, actually. doesn't matter where it is, that that gives the police th

mr. talbot: it is great to be here. i can remember the first time i met bill clinton. , the 32 rhodes scholars of that year were going to sail to the united kingdom, and he stood out from the very beginning. i got to know him particularly well when i was there. we shared a house together. his interest in the world was absolutely exhilarating to hear him talk about it. i made a trip, my first trip to the soviet union, which was once upon a time a very large country by that name. during a christmas break. when i got back to oxford, he just pumped me with questions. he was full of curiosity. he was a very aware that his chances of being a rather unknown political figure and still be able to ascend to the white house, especially after having to defeat one of the best foreign-policy presidents we've had in a long time, george h.w. bush. he thought it gave him a huge advantage that the cold war was over. and he came into office wanting to do everything he could to make sure the cold war was over and that post-soviet russia would be able to succeed. more to that story later, perhaps. >> i think i have a general comment. i met

mr. senate president, members of the general assembly, distinguished guests, my special guest, my family. my husband, my son, and my daughter. [applause] and of course, my fellow rhode islanders. [applause] tonight, i stand before you filled with optimism for our future. yearht, we begin this stronger than we have been in decades. [applause] four years ago, our unemployment rate was the highest in america. today, it is in line with the natural -- national average. the people filing for unemployment insurance last year was the lowest in 50 years. [applause] our economy has more jobs than in nearly any other time in our state's history. [applause] -- we cut our deficit in half, we are the first state in america to teach computer science in every public school. [applause] numbers, you the can see it all around us. cranes rising over providence, johnston, and kingston. [applause] construction crews fixing roads in every part of our state. the best part, hope in the eyes of our friends and family who finally have a good, steady job. we've made this progress together, and i want to thank everyone who has been a part of it. beginning with the legislature, thank you for you

mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition -- seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cissna: mr. speaker, this friday the federal government runs out of money. we owe the american people a long-term solution to keep the government open. mr. cicilline comblfrpbl and democrats insist that this solution address the urgent issues facing the american people. those we represent. and that means long-term funding for the children's health insurance program, funding for communities fighting the deadly opioid epidemic, funding for the v.a. choice programs for our heroic veterans get the care they need and deserve. passing the dream act. and providing additional disaster recovery funds for puerto rico, the u.s. virgin islands, texas, florida and california. i urge my republican colleagues to be sure that these issues are addressed in the continuing resolution. work with the democrats, let's get this done for the american people. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does

mr. sykes. welcome, sir, charlie sykes. >> thank you. >> i want to go into the point you made about bannon at the beginning, and you sort of, the irony, compared him to rhodes pierre. swallowed up by the revolution he started. the "wall street journal" has a report, bannon -- breitbart board member, considering out of thing bannon if they can figure out a way to do it. is bannon headed to alba? >> he certainly could be, and you know, you look back on this and how incredibly tone deaf he was. he created this vast media ecostiteco stit system on the right but it was never really about ideas. increasingly about the tribalism and increasingly about this cult of personality. in retrospect, yeah. steve bannon created this, you know, this echo chime ber th that -- chamber that makes his criticisms impossible. you see what's happened? the extent there's a republican civil war, it is incredibly one sunshine i one-sided. did you notice people lining up behind steve bannon? >> it is, but mitch mcconnell is very happy today. able to drive a wedge between bannon and trump. but there's still an anti-establishment fervor out there, out there before donald trump was on the

mr. hermanson. next speaker, please. >> albert chao, grace garza, daniel coupler. >> hi, i'm albert chao, speaking on behalf of the merchants on taraval street. we had a pilot program and i thank michael rhodes and his crew, we didn't meet the 90% requirement. however, i do have to say that there was a lack of education, a lack of enforcement and also a very minimal design put down on the ride way. i thought they would have had a fairer chance if it was fully implemented in the way it was really designed to be put out. and in that light, i would ask the board that if we could still consider saving 26th avenue, 32nd and 40th avenue pilots because those are the three critical spots on taraval where i think they would receive the most benefits for the businesses. secondly, i think, i worry about the -- losing all the parking you are proposing to do is really going to make taraval businesses harder to prosper on the street, as well as people will start driving on santiago, which they already do and the consequences of that have yet to be seen. it's important you consider side consequences. and observe this closely as we continue this conversation, as the construction process moves out. so thank

rhode island again, also iowa and pennsylvania topping the lists of the states with highest percentage of bridges that are weak, and joining me now currently the cochair of building america's future. mry, with a big welcome to you. i believe this is a real bipartisan issue. we all have to cross those bridges and stay on the roads. relative to the piece you had in "newsweek" on wednesday, you layout how you think the president can make his restructure plan. >> first of all, i think it needs to be bipartisan and the white house believes it needs to be bipartisan. i have had a number of discussions with the folks on the trump team at the white house and they are going to make every effort to include democrats in crafting this legislation. the most important aspect of this is the funding. we all know america is one big pothole. how do we pay for the 60,000 structurally deficient bridges and how do we pay for the crumbling interstate? i say it needs to be more than public and private partnerships, but we need to consider raising the gas tax which has not been raised in more than 20 years and it should be raised substantially and that would get us back to a big pot of money that we really

mr. speaker, i rise today to honor jordan thomas, a senior at princeton university and a graduate of university high school in newark, new jersey, for being selected as the 2018 rhodes scholar, one of only 32 this they i -- in the country. this young man who grad in my district is the first newark public school student in over a decade to receive this prestigious honor. in addition to getting straight a's since his freshman year at princeton, jordan is writing a thesis on school-based support services that newark public schools offer pregnant and parenting teens. and the next year he will be taking his talents abroad to study social policy at oxford college in england. jordan plans to return to his home of newark as a public servant. he told a newspaper, newark built me. newark shaped me. as a life-long resident of newark myself, i know that feeling. mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating jordan thomas for his successes, service and future. his love for his community shows that our country's future is in good hands. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelad

rhode island, mr. president, is a leader in offshore wind development, first in the nation to have steel in the water, first in the nation to have electrons flowing to the grid. we also have vibrant fisheries and a long-standing fishing economy. we depend on our coastal economy, for that and for tourism and for many other things. also, we are especially susceptible to sea level rise and other consequences of climate change. we are not about to go back in time and endanger our coast with the extraction of more dirty fuels. here in washington, i led a bipartisan group of new england senators seeking legislation to bar offshore drilling along our new england coast. my rhode island colleague introduced the companion legislation in the house of representatives. the trump administration will not be following through on its rash plan if new england's bipartisan members of congress have anything to say about it. the value of healthy oceans and coasts is tangible and immediate for us. the larger backdrop to thi

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the trump administration has come up with a name for its energy policy. the energy policy amounts to basically a big fat cascade of gifts and special favors for oil, gas, and coal companies which in turn make big political contributions. but trump administration officials call the policy energy dominance, more accurately its name would probably be fossil fuel industry political dominance. or one might actually call it ignorance dominance since the administration willfully ignores scientific understanding, basic economics and market theory, and even, even the warnings of our national security community. the situation is not pretty from an environmental point of view. e.p.a. administrator scott pruitt is busily trying to roll back fuels limiting the ephegss of -- emissions of methane, a more powerful greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide. he is considering walking back fuel efficiency standards that saves drivers money at the pump. president trump withdrew the u.s. from the paris

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the calling of the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: i ask unanimous consent that summer lockerby and steven pavock be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: i rise to express my thoughts on the recent protests in iran and the jcpoa. while i am mindful that we have limited sreublt into iran -- visibility into iran and continue to learn more about the circumstances and motivations of the recent protests, one thing is clear. a significant portion of the iranian people are not satisfied with their government and are increasingly willing to make their dissatisfaction heard. it is important that we support their right to peacefully express their views and demand that the iranian government respond with constructive dialogue. it was notable the iranian president denied the validity of the protests earlier this week when he reportedly said it woul

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. cicilline: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. cicilline: the children's health insurance program has been a huge success. in just a few weeks, funding for this program will run out in my state of rhode island. this is a program that's provided health insurance to nine million children from working families in this country. 27,000 children and pregnant women in my home state of rhode island. it's always been a bipartisan issue. this program has been a huge success. it brought the rate of unemployed children down from almost 14% when the program began to 4.5% today. and why haven't we re-authorized this program yet hat insures the health and well-being? the congress passed the $1.5 trillion tax cut, unpaid for, but we can't manage to find money to re-authorize the children's health insurance program? i urge the republican leadership in this chamber to bring a clean re-authorization bill to the floor so we ca

we now proceed to the congressman of rhode island. >> thank you mr. secretary, admiral richardson for being here and your testimony. i'd like to just continue on the issue of training and readiness. so i'd like to know if -- how the navy is look towards the expertise and training regulime of the mariner in community in order to adopt best practices and ship handling skills. for example, in the united states maritime resource center, my state of rhode island delivers professional training and continuous assessment of these profishence sies having provided all the initial core, professional maritime training for the noaa corps for example. have you considered using in-depth training and assessment from the professional mariner community to fill any competency gaps that you might be facing right now? >> we had a pretty good dialogue with that community and depending upon capacity and really technology, there were times where we were using those simulators quite a bit. now if you go just up the road to newport we'll find some pretty state of the art train