mr. whitehouse: thank you. we rise, we are here today to express our disappointment with what just took place. i am one of the authors of the underlying bill. i think it is a very good piece of legislation, but it would make a really significant difference if it had some funding. and the simple fact that we have to face is that this bill has no funding right now. i know that colleagues on the other side have come to the floor to say that there's funding. $80 million, $400 million. but in point of fact, i must disagree with them. let me list the points that show, i believe, why there is no funding to this bill at this point. the first is that the funding they point to was passed out of the appropriations subcommittee seven months before this bill even had its markup. it would have been an astonishing feat of prediction to be able back then to fund this bill now. if that weren't clear enough, there was a change in the bill between then and now. then if you wished to fund this bill, you would have put the bulk of

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i'm here now for the 130th in my time to wake up series urging us to wake up to the threat of climate change here. time and time again peer-reviewed science demonstrates that carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels is causing unprecedented climate and oceanic changes. we see the effects already in our farms, our forests and our fisheries. yet, the republican-controlled congress continues to hit the snooze button every time an alarm goes off. every major scientific society in our country upon examining the data says climate change is real and it's caused by our carbon pollution. so do all of our national laboratories. so do our leading home state universities. the presiding officer is from nebraska, so let me read what the university of nebraska says on its web site. climate change poses significant risks to nebraska's economy, environment, and citizens. end quote. another quote, "the magnitude and rapidity of the projected changes in climate are unpreceden

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, may i ask unanimous consent that the pending quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i will take the opportunity, since no one appears to be seeking the floor right now, to speak about our dr ara legislation -- about our cara legislation. and since the senator from ohio, who has been my partner in this, is now presiding, it's an opportune time to give some remarks. i think like many states, just from the remarks we've heard on the floor already, it's not unusual to have a terrible toll at home. from overdoses. in 2013, 239 rhode islanders lost their lives to overdoses. that is more than were killed in automobile accidents, more than were killed in homicides, more than were killed by suicide. indeed, more than all of those categories -- automobile accident, homicide, and suicide -- combined. in one small community, byrlville,

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: as one of the authors of the bill that's on the floor before us, let me say i appreciate and welcome the senator's amendment and appreciate the bipartisan way in which it was achieved with sherrod brown and tim kaine as well as with other cosponsors of the bill. so with that, i will yield the floor back so that we may hear from another co-author of this legislation who was with us through the long and arduous process of preparing this bill and running the seminars and putting the advisory committee and crafting the legislation. i yield to the senator from new hampshire. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. ayotte: mr. president, i would very much like to -- i would very much like to thank the senator from rhode island for the work that we were able to do together on this important piece of legislation for his leadership and really his passion for this issue that's devastating my state, the heroin and opiate epidemic that's facing all of us, and i thank

mr. whitehouse: before the senator deports? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i would like to end this conversation on a happy note after what i consider to be a very unhappy vote and that is to express my appreciation to senator portman for his collegiality and his work over many years to get this bill to where it is now on the senate floor. i express my appreciation to him, too, for voting for senator shaheen's amendment. i express my appreciation to him for publicly pledging to work as hard as we can together to get funding for this bill and to the appropriations process that is under way right now. and i look forward to working with him on all those endeavors. i do believe that we did miss a big opportunity because senator shaheen's bill, had it passed, would have flooded a lot more money a lot faster into the solution of this problem. with that, i will yield. mr. heller: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. heller: mr. president, thank you, and i want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on this particu

mr. whitehouse: thank you. we rise, we are here today to express our disappointment with what just took place. i am one of the authors of the underlying bill. i think it is a very good piece of legislation, but it would make a really significant difference if it had some funding. and the simple fact that we have to face is that this bill >> >> i know the colleagues on the other side has say there is funding 80,000,400,000,000 but a point of fact and must disagree. and i will show why there is no funding up to this point but first film to be passed out of the appropriations subcommittee seven months before this bill even had its marco. with an astonishing feat of prediction. if that were not clear enough there was a change in the bill between then and now. because the bulk of the bill was written by the subcommittee me only changed this saw in january in response to the republican objections so be rerouted the new program to existing programs landed in -- that is when it became of labor hhs bill. moreover to go

mr. whitehouse: madam president, i come to this chamber for the 131st time to urge this body to break free and wake up to what carbon pollution is doing to our atmosphere and oceans. last week, scientists at noaa reported that carbon dioxide levels at their mona loa observatory jumped in 2015 by the largest year to year increase in 56 years of research. peter tauns, lead scientist at noaa, said carbon dioxide levels are increasing faster than they have in hundreds of thousands of years. it's explosive compared to natural processes -- end quote. we see the effects of this runaway carbon pollution everywhere, in ever-climbing temperatures, in ever-changing weather patterns and in ever-rising warming and acidifying seas. but the republican-controlled congress refuses to take responsible action. they put their climate effort elsewhere, like into attacking former vice president al gore for raising awareness of the real and looming climate crisis. one republican colleague has railed against mr. gore, calling him the world's first climate billionaire, claiming that he is drowning in a sea of his

mr. whitehouse: let me thank you for his leadership and support and passion for the comprehensive addiction and recovery act which was shepherded through the judiciary committee under his guidance and with his wise and benevolent support and i'm very, very grateful. i'm here to talk about the comprehensive addiction and recovery act today because it has been said by several of my colleagues that there is funding to implement this bill and that that funding is already in the government's accounts, that if we pass the cara bill, we'll be able to fund it, put it to work right away. let me say with regret that i disagree with that assertion. i'm sorry to have a disagreement with my colleagues over the funding question after all the really excellent bipartisan work that we have done to get this bill to this point. this really has been a legislative model. for years we worked on the statute. we had five different full-on national seminars here in washington bringing people in from all around the country to advise us on all the different aspects of the opioid problem. we had an advisory committee

mr. whitehouse: let me thank the ranking member for that courtesy. the constitution in article 2, section 2, states quite clearly that the president shall nominate a candidate when there is a vacancy in the united states supreme court. and i'd like the record of this discussion to reflect that the term "shall" as defined in merriam webster dictionary in the relevant dictionary is, a, used to express a command or exhortation. and, b, used in laws, regulations or directives to express what is mandatory. for the president of the united states now under the constitution that we are all sworn to uphold has a mandatory duty. and i think it is important that he accomplish it and nominate a candidate. i would ask my colleagues to imagine if there were another mandatory duty of the president of the united states that this president refused to perform, imagine the calf -- cavalcade of republican senators to the studios of fox news to decry and condemn this president for that omission. this should be no different. the president must and will do his constitution

mrs. reagan p pnned much of their farewells? >> yes, they began planning their own funerals while still in the whitehouse. david? >> thank you, matt. >>> weurn to the severe weather developing, along the gulf coast. but first, the dangerous storms hitting the west. lightning over the skyline of los angeles. wind gusts as high as 40 miles an hour in l.a., downing power lines andn knocking out power. >> reporter: el nino-fueled thunderstorms pummeling the west with deadly force. from inglewood, california, this tree crashing down onto >> reporter: to san jose, where heavy rains were likely the culprit in this collapse. >> we've got wires down, we've t accidents, we've got rescue responses. >> reporter: the system, briefly knocking out power to l.a.'s airport. lightning setting this palm tree ablaze. our neal karlinsky in pacifica, where el nino's fury condemned these apartments earlier this winter. >> reporter: they're so worried about this building falling over the cliff, they had scheduled to demolish it today. but they've now had to delay that 24 hours because the storm made conditions here so dangerous. >> rep

mr. president. . . is a bill that we have been working on for three years. both senator portman, senator whitehouse, senator klobuchar, i want to thank them for their partnership and leadership on this bill. this is something that the four of us got together on because we saw in our own states the public health epidemic that was happening with our constituents, individuals struggling with addiction, peoplwh

whitehouse to the senate is do your job. well, i for one think that you are doing your job. it's called checks and balances." so, mr. president, i look forward in the coming weeks to continuing this debate. i want to especially note senator grassley. he's a wonderful member of the senate. he has support and admiration from both sides of the aisle. i appreciate his leadership in this matter. i appreciate leader mcconnell's leadership in this matter, and iook forward to getting back to north carolina and hearing what the people would like for me to consider as we move forward with the nomination process.  thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk shall call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. a senator: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection so ordered. a senator: last month we reached a milestone in the continuing reform of our policy toward cuba the united states and

mr. president, i rise to speak in support of the comprehensive addiction and recovery act known as cara, which i am proud to be a cosponsor of. i want to begin by commending senators whitehousend portman for crafting this vitally important bill, and also thank chairman grassley and ranking member leahy for their leadership in the judiciary committee. mr. president, the heroin and opioid crisis in this country is devastating to far too many families, including those in my state of maine. this epidemic can be be seen in emergency rooms, local jails, on main streets and in homes throughout our country. in 2014, there were a record 2088 overdose deaths in the state of maine, including 57 caused by heroin, and the problem is only getting worse. last year in the city of portland, maine, 14 people overdosed in just one day. two of them died as a result of those overdoses. this last weekend, the bangor daily news had a special segment of the paper that chronicled the vivid and tragic story of a young man, garrett brown, whose spiral into addiction ultimately resulted in his death from a heroin overdose. mr. president, this epidemic is also having tragic effects on the most vulnerabl

mr. markey: thank you, madam president. madam president, i want to begin, as we discuss this comprehensive addiction and recovery act to take a moment to thank senator whitehouse for his role in developing the bill and bringing it this far. i also want to convey my gratitude to minority leader reid and the ranking member of the judiciary committee, senator leahy, for their excellent staffs and for urging that my amendments, which i will address momentarily, be a part of the discussion, and for managing the negotiations on this bivmen bil. i'd also lake to thank senator murray for her help and counsel on amendments. let us pause for a moment and consider the causes of the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic gripping our country, understanding the causes will help us focus on the right solutions. three distinct parties bear much of the blame for this public health crisis. first, there's big pharma. in the mid-1990's, the seeds of the epidemic were plangtsed with the -- planted with the aggressive marketing of the powerful opioid painkiller objectioisthere objectioncy cony purdue pharma. they claimed that it was not addictive and couldn't be abused of the nei

mr. speaker, i rise today in support of s. 2393, the foreclosure relief and extension for service members .ct of 2015 this bill was introduced by our colleague, senator whitehouse of rhode island and passed the senate in december. this bill would extend through december 31, 2017, mortgage-related protections for service members who are called to active duty under the service members civil relief act, specifically these protections would prohibit a bank or mortgage company from selling, foreclosing or seizing a property owned by a service member without a court order for one year after a service member returns from active duty. this protection allows service members the opportunity to avoid foreclosure or seizure during this one-year period following their service, giving them the opportunity to hopefully get back on track with mortgage payments. in 2008, the report produced by the commission on the national guard and reserves found that the threat of foreclosure is a stresser that should not be placed on members of the armed forces upon their return to civilian life. today, as a shrinking active duty force leaves more and more operational responsibilities to th

mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i'm delighted to join senator casey, the senator from pennsylvania, and senator brown, the senator from ohio, on the floor this morning to applaud what appears to be the imminent passage of the comprehensive addiction and recovery act. so far we have had less than a handful of votes against this bill at any stage through the voting on it, and i suspect that some of those votes may have had to do with amendments and so forth. we might even do better than that on final passage. so i want to thank my cosponso cosponsors. this was not a bill that was just dreamed up in back offices. we had five national seminars here in washington bringing people in from all around the country to share their experiences, to share their advice, to share their best practices, and to inform the development of this bill. it has been years of work in the making, and on our side of the aisle, senator klobuchar has been an extremely valuable colleague. and on the other side of the aisle, senator portman and sena

mr. president. . . is a bill that we have been working on for three years. both senator portman, senator whitehouse, senator klobuchar, i want to thank them for their partnership and leadership on this bill. this is something that the four of us got together on because we saw in our own states the public health epidemic that was happening with our constituents, individuals struggling with addiction, people who were addicted to prescription drugs and overusing and misusing prescription drugs, and then the price of heroin on our streets so low and people going to heroin and also a combination of heroin and a deadly drug called fentanyl. so i very much want to thank senators portman, whitehouse and klobuchar for the work that we've been doing together over the last several years on this bill and to see this bill come to the senate floor. this is a very important piece of legislation that will help us address the public health epidemic facing my home state of new hampshire and this country. this is something i've come to the floor on on several occasions before. and traveling around my state, i can't t

mr. president, is why i am a cosponsor of the comprehensive addiction and recovery act championed by our colleague senator shell done whitehouse and rob portman. this legislation provides a series of incentives and resources designed to encourage states and local communities to pursue a full array of proven strategies that combat addicti addiction. to ensure that this effort meets the needs of rural and tribal communities, like those in new mexico, i introduced a bipartisan amendment with my friend, the senior senator from wyoming, senator mike enzi, to require that rural health professionals are included in the pain management best practices interagency task force created by this legislation. but frankly, in order to truly provide local communities the tools they need to tackle this crisis head-on, we need funding. which is why i'm also cosponsoring emergency funding legislation championed by my colleague senator jeanne shaheen of new hampshire to provide supplemental appropriations of $6500 million. i understand that senator shaheen's efforts to include her funding legislation as an amendment failed to get enough votes this