mr. whitehouse: of course. mr. alexander: for the information of senators, there will not be a vote tonight on the crapo-whitehouse amendment. we have at least one senator who is still studying the bill, but we believe that will be cleared up shortly. our goal would be to have votes tomorrow morning about 10:00 a.m. on the crapo-whitehouse amendment as well as an amendment by senator baldwin. and both of those are -- are subject to being approved by the leadership staff. only they can announce the scheduling of a vote. for the information of senators, there will not be a vote tonight and there will be a vote on at least one to three amendments tomorrow morning, hopefully about 10:00 a.m. senator crapo has spoken about the crapo-whitehouse amendment which is a pilot program for advanced reactor fuel. it is a very good idea. it is not reauthorizing a new program. it is not spending anymore money. it is allocating money for a very creative idea that senator whitehouse and senator crapo have come up with. i fully suppor

mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, a crash takes place in a system when conditions in that system reach a tipping point and the system rapidly destabilizes. climate change promises a lot of tipping points in earth's natural systems. ocean acidification, for instance, reaching a tipping point where species likehe pteropod have trouble forming their shells and populations of those species crash taking down the tropaic levels below them. polar warming releasing trapped mean from tundrayp accelerating the greenhouse effect. at the more local level, seasonally linked species reacting to changing seasons can get out of phase with one another so the feeder and its food source no longer overlap in time. and then they have a crash. in what pope francis has called the mysterious network of relations between things, climate change promises natural disruptions large and small. and, of course, the same kind of disruption can occur in economics. because we are iing climate change, we are hurtling toward natural disruption

mr. chairman and ranking member whitehouse and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. my name is krumholz, nonpartisan research group that tracks money hand politics and policy. my testimony today focuses on shell corporations and potential foreign influence in u.s. elections. concept of one person one vote is bedrock principle of our democracy, but most people acknowledge that individuals that contribute large sums of money to political parties frequently gain priority access with elected officials. concerned about money dispour nate interest spurred congress to enact the fce more than 40 years ago. contribution limits including prohibitions on donations by foreign nationals were established to deter tt use of money to unduly influence it. and worthy of the voters trust and confidence. today that trust has been shaken. both the km pain finance limits and disclosure provisions have been undermined by decisions that now allow nomly independent nonprofits to raise and spend unlimited funds from unlimited sources and if they so choose to do so in secret. dark org

mr. whitehouse: mr. president, as i rise for my 201th time to wake up climate change speech, i return to a familiar subject, disgrace environmental protection agency administrator scott pruitt. not that long ago i was here causing the bakers dozen of ethical scandals swirling around pruitt. from his $43,000 cone of silence phone booth to the millions he spent on a 20-person security detail to his lights and sirens escapades to fancy d.c. restaurant le diplomate, pruitt hasome to personify the swamp that president trump promised to drain, and he just keeps on getting swamper. in just a few weeks since my last speech on pruitt, we've learned that he used one of his closest aides to plan his vacations, hunt for a washington apartment, and most bizarrely, solicit a used hotel mattress from the trump hotel. the aide did many of these tasks on government time when she was supposed to be working for taxpayers. that is a clear violation of federal employment rules. federal rules also bar officials, such as pruit

mr. chairman. >> yes, sir. senator brown. >> thank you, senator isakson and senator whitehouse. i appreciate that. i'd like to start with welcoming mr. rettig. it was good talking to you. thank you for joining us. i'd like to start with the issue of private debt collection. i echo the comments that senator carder that it is unfair. it's too often confusing for taxpayers, as i know you're aware. the taxpayer advocate has said that it's unfairly targeting low income individuals. that, too, i would think to all of us is unacceptable. if confirmed, would you commit to a full review of the private debt collector program, including a review of its collection methods? >> i would. the internal revenue service responsibility is to follow the law. as we all know, private debt collectors is part of the law. the issue, i think, that surfaced is implementation of the private debt collector law. is it being implanted in an impartial matter. and i would absolutely look into that. >> that means you are suggesting you work to ensure extremely vulnerable taxpayers are not being targeted? >> agreed. >> okay. the irs

mr. hickey: that seems fair, senator. sen. whitehouse: it is pretty obvious. you nodded, i want to make sure it is on the record. mr. masterson: i don't have enough background. i would refer to the doj. sen. whitehouse: we have facebook's ceo here, we their authentication procedure for determining who was buying political advertising time on facebook. the ceo disclosed they were only going one half with withntication -- hop authentication. so if delaware llc or nevada llc was the nominal buyer of the political time, they would have no way to look behind it to see if it was putin, or oligarchs, or someone associated with foreign election than the duration. .- election manipulation how big is a liability is our present inability to know who the beneficial owners are of when thoserations shell corporations engage in election influence operations? perspective ie take is from being responsible for fair enforcement, where we are very engaged in trying to determine whether an entity is actually a legitimate commercial entity or a cutout or proxy for a foreign governme

mr. dueweke: that is correct. sen. whitehouse: would it be possible for crypto currency to facilitate actual spending through shell corporations or through other means were people actually put money into federal elections? into aput a bit coin federal account, but you can wash it through an intermediary and use the coin and by land or the true loner. mr. dueweke: that is true. there is a global shell game being played now. them all over the world, many are completely anonymous, they do not ask questions. makes change at one form of virtual currency to another. currency for bit coin, in, currency out. in between you will have multiple layers of these different full true -- virtual corn -- virtual currencies that will be impossible to track if you know what you are doing. >> you have been doing terrific work i want to commend senator whitehouse for his persistent and good work on this act and for the show company abuse act he just reference. you noted how anonymous companies are the most in critical threat to financial transparency

mr. chairman and ranking member whitehouse thank you for the opportunity to testify for the nonpartisan groupto attract politics and policy. my testimony focuses on corporations and concerns raised about potential influences. most people acknowledged individuals and entities that contributed large sums of money for the candidate and political nonprofits gain priority access and influence concern about the disproportionate influence with congress to enact the federal election campaign act more than 40 years ago. contribution limits and requirements including prohibitions on donations and spending established to declare the use of money to unduly influence or corrupt government and to ensure the system is worthy of the voters trust and confidence. today that trust has been shaken. the campaign-finance limits and disclosure provisions have been undermined by decisions that now allow nominally independent super packs and politically active nonprofits to raise and spend unlimited sums from sources and if they choose to do so in secret so-called organization's premier lien on disclosing nonprofits

mr. chairman. >> senator whitehouse. >> thank you, chairman, thank you both for being here. i concur that there is a risk of cyberhacking and interference with our actual election and voting mechanisms. but do you not both agree in the last election, the primary vector of malign russian influence came through information operations rather than through technical cyberelection hacking? >> it seems to have been a broad campaign. but i agree that disinformation is one of the principal threats that we face. >> pras the principal one. >> mr. masterson, do you agree? >> i would agree with that, yes. >> one of the ways in which the russians or any other foreign actor could obscure their role in information operations, is by operating through corporate shells, that don't look like the government of russia. is that not also correct? >> that seems fair, senator. >> it's pretty obvious, isn't it? mr. masterson, you nodded your head. i want to make sure it's on the record. >> i don't have enough background to weigh in i would refer to the doj on that one for sure. >> when we had facebook

whitehouse: director wray, when should criminal investigations be wrapped up? mr. wray: hard to answer that in a general way. i think when the work is done. i mean, that is the most shorthanded way of putting it. sen. whitehouse: how often is legislative opinion about when a criminal investigation should be wrapped up a proper factor to consider in wrapping up the investigation? mr. wray: hard for me to think of a situation where that is a factor. sen. whitehouse: i cannot think of one either. i agree with you. how often is a subject's lawyers' opinion on when an investigation should be wrapped up a proper factor to determine the wrapping up of a criminal investigation? mr. wray: that one is even harder for me to imagine. sen. whitehouse: yeah. i suspect it would be pretty hard for the united states attorney giuliani to imagine what he was going after anthony solano for years, as anthony solano's lawyers said, it has been a year, time to wrap it up. i just wanted to put the context out there. with respect to obstruction of justice, which you said is something that s

mr. chairman, this should speak for both sides of the other i think we fully support what you just said. >> thank you. senator whitehouse. >> thank you, thank you, chairm. thank you to both witnesses. ms. wen, thank you for coming back, and mr. crews thank you for your personal testimony. the topic i would like to raise is a very specific one that deals with sexual assault on college campuses. and the potential for a failure of proper coordination between the administrator response of the college and the law enforcement response that is required. i think the problems that we have seenha are usually based in fairly good faith. in some cases raised on a concern that if you bring law enforcement in too early, that risks taking away the choices of the victim. and my experience has been the contrary. my experience has been that when law enforcement is not brought in quickly enough, you can lose the opportunity for the collection of forensic, biological, and electronic evidence. you create a narrative for a later defense argument. and you risk exposing the victim to early cross examination by the assailants team to prepare fo

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator whitehouse. >> thank you very much, secretary ross, i'm over here in this corner. i'd like to try to get whatever information we can that either your department or the treasury department has about what the administration's expectations are for how this plays out. we know what tariffs the administration is planning to impose, you know that because they're your tariffs. so that's a known. correct? >> yes. >> yes. >> ours and usgr. >> and we probably have some pretty solid intelligence and estimates and conclusions about if we do x the chinese do y, the canadians do y so we have some ability to project what the trade measures are likely going to be. given, then, what we know about our own tariffs and given what we predict about trade countermeasures, presumably someone at commerce or treasury is thinking through how those inputs cascade into different industries and what different industries have to look forward to. now, if you're senator cantwell and you have boeing in your state, that's a very b

whitehouse. >> thank you, chairman. mr. secretary, welcome. i want to begin by echoing senator menendez comments about the imputed rural floor problem. unless that is corrected you will be creating a market shifting reimbursement cliff around rhode island differentiating it from massachusetts and from connecticut. we are not a very big state. so it really does not make any sense to undue what has been the status quo for years and we'll continue to try to work to make sure we don't create that anomaly. i thk we've h thi conversation before, but as you know, i think one can generally divide the pharmaceuticals market into three categories. one category is where there is a functioning competitive marketplace, the other category is where there is a legally approved monopoly, protected under patent law, for instance, and the third is where a company enjoys a de facto monopoly, there is not real competition, and it's in that sector of the pharmaceutical industry that i think we have seen the worst misbehavior. and my concern is that you get these co

. >> before i: senator whitehouse, you just stated some brave things here, mr. crews. you suggested real retaliation. there may be more because you are testifying here today. i'm not sure what members of the senate can do in regard to that retaliation, but if there's anything i can do, i hope you would tell me because i would like to be helpful, because for being brave, you are coming out on the short end of the stick in this. whitehouse: thank you to both witnesses for being here. the topic that i would like to onee is a very specific that deals with sexual assault on college campuses. failure ofal for a proper coordination between the administrative response of the college and the law enforcement response that is required. i think the problems that we ine seen are usually based fairly good faith. in some cases, based on a concern that if you bring law enforcement into early, that the choices ofay my experienceried has been the contrary. my experience has been that when law enforcement is not brought and quickly enough, you then lose the opportunity for the collection

mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. first, let me say what a pleasure it has been to work with senator crapo on these issues. our situation is pretty simple. we have a united states navy that generates spent nuclear fuel through its operations. we have a united states industry of next-generation nuclear technology that needs that spent fuel in order to test those innovative technologies. and we have extraordinary national labs with world-class expertise in handling that nuclear material and supporting that innovation. this amendment brings those three together, allows the u.s. navy's spent fuel to be delivered to national labs so that pursuant to a law that we just passed in the senate recently, the cooperation between the national labs and the nuclear innovation community can move forward. we have already passed this bill. i'll close by saying that there is something else in this that i think is worth us considering. we have an enormous national liability with respect to our existin

mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent to -- we are in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is. mr. whitehouse: may i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent to speak for 20 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. 30 years ago this month, dr. james hansen testified before the u.s. congress on the need to address climate change. 30 years ago this month. he was a top nasa climate scientist on a hot summer day in june of 1988 before the united states senate committee on energy and natural resources. dr. hansen testified that, and i quote, global warming has reached a level such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and observed warming. he said it is already happening now. well, 30 years have passed since then. 30 years of added science. 30 years of new science. 30 years of updated reports, and

mr. whitehouse: thank you, madam president. the night spanning june 9 and 10 marks the anniversary of a key chapter in american history, one whose first shots spurred our nation on to independence from britain yet one unfamiliar to most americans today, which is why i come here each year to tell the tale of the gaspy raiders. i encourage my colleagues and all students of history to explore this chapter of our history more in depth with an empire on the edge, or the attack on crown rule before the american revolution by steven park. here's the tale in brief form. it's 1772, tensions between england and the colonies have grown increasingly strained. rhode island is a sea faring trading colony without much regard for his maj city's -- majesty's taxes. the command of lieutenant dudington in rhode island waters. the gaspee's mission to interdict smuggled goods and force the payment of the crown's taxes. lieutenant dudington was an arrogant sort who was infamous for seizing cargo, flagging down ships only to harass, humiliate and int

as any chance that president trump is interested in just stand aloneislation last night the whitehouse said mr. mr. trp would only sign comprehensive immigrationre rm including money for abored w. live on capitol hill i'm melanie alnwick "fox 5 news". >> let's get to the recording we mentioned. non profit investigative jonalism group released audionside you can hear c imgranthildren crying as anag separation [ crying ] [ cryingn] ] >> the unverifieddi recor relooseed through human rights attorney jennaphr har bettery. she received i from a whistle blower who heard emotional cries of children. >> let's tur to local politics now. today primary election in distri of columbia. polls opened a couple minutes ago at 7 aex. there's a polling face northwest d.c.. >> mayor bauseer is running for reelectio and. there are also primaries for local d.c.. polls are open until 8leid ent barack obama. now, d.c. does allow same day voter registration and absent tee ballots must be in 8:00 tonight and there's initiative 77 that would require restaurants to pay tippedrk ers d.c. minimum waiming of $1 is is 2.0 au