mr. whitehouse: mr. president,

mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i look across the senate and see our colleague, senator mccain's desk, silent, draped in black, under a vase of white roses, and it breaks my heart. i'm here to say my farewell, and i have a bit of predicament, which is that i am a very ordinary man here to try and give tribute to a very extraordinary man. john mccain was an extraordinary man. extraordinary in his suffering and resilience, extraordinary in his ideals and principles, extraordinary in his courage and devotion, and extraordinary too in the devotion he engendered. we met when i was a new senator and he already a legend, his battles for campaign finance reform and against corrupting earmarks were legendary. he could make a mark on the floor with drama, punch, and declarative force. he could also be unreasonable, and he took a completely unreasonable liking to me. our politics did not match. i could offer him nothing and yet he befriended me. and, as so many colleagues know, john's friendship was a treasure. john

mr. whitehouse: thank you. mr. president, it's terrific to be joined here today by my colleague from oregon, senator wyden, to address some of the devastating effects of a changing global climate. from the shores of rhode island and our beautiful narragansett bay to the forests of southern oregon. rhode island is looking at losing significant territory to storms and sea level rise. oregon is seeing ancient forests go up in smoke. for most of the country, this summer has been a scorcher. july was nearly 2 degrees fahrenheit above average and before that, the contiguous u.s. experienced its hottest may and third hottest june on record. its oceans, too, just last week the rhode island organization save the bay recorded ocean surface temperatures in little narragansett bay off the coast of westerly rhode island at nearly 80 degrees fahrenheit, the highest in over a decade of data and perhaps the highest ever in rhode island history. the federal government's climate science special report released late last year warne

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i am so grateful to join my colleague, senator warren, today to discuss the financial and economic risks posed by climate change. you have just heard the senator from my neighboring state of massachusetts lay how the a powerful case -- lay out a powerful case. given the gravity of these risks and given our recent experience of the 2008 financial crisis, we should be doing everything we can to prevent another economic meltdown. we know exactly what we need to do to mitigate these economic threats. we need to transition from polluting fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy and we can do this simply by giving renewables a fair market chance against the gigantic public subsidies on which the fossil fuel industry floats. put a price on carbon emissions so the price of the polluting product reflects its pollution costs to society. that's the economics 101 answer. the problem is that fossil fuel behemoths are desperate to duck the costs of their pollution. they wan

whitehouse: this memo was dated may 31. mr. wheeler: this year or last year? sec. whitehouse: 2017, so it has been in place for a while. if you have to run the ability to ask an information request through headquarters, that gives them the chance to create institutional delay or put the kabul -- on an investigation -- kabash on an investigation. mr. wheeler: i will point out, we did not have a senate confirmed person until december of last year. i believe that is the longest time the agency had ever gone without a senate confirmed person. i think the numbers have gone up significantly since susan beaudoin took over the office. i think the program itself has improved. sec. whitehouse: i would like to ask you to get back to me on whether this memo is still in place. additionally, one of the edeviled people

mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i look across the senate and see our colleague, senator mccain's desk, silent, draped in black, under a vase of white roses, and it breaks my heart. i'm here to say my farewell, and i have a bit of predicament, which is that i am a very ordinary man here to try and give tribute to a very extraordinary man. john mccain was an extraordinary man. extraordinary in his suffering and resilience, extraordinary in his ideals and principles, extraordinary in his courage and devotion, and extraordinary too in the devotion he engendered. we met when i was a new senator and he already a legend, his battles for campaign finance reform and against corrupting earmarks were legendary. he could make a mark on the floor with drama, punch, and declarative force. he could also be unreasonable, and he took a completely unreasonable liking to me. our politics did not match. i could offer him nothing and yet he befriended me. and, as so many colleagues know, john's friendship was a treasure. john

senator whitehouse: mr. white him you said march 22 -- >> that is right, i left on the 15th of march and became aware of the announcement of the zero-tolerance policy on television on the 6th of april. mr. whitehouse: i assume you knew that this was going to take place before april 6? >> we were advised it was going to be a possibility. senator whitehouse: when were you notified that this decision would be taken? >> only a few days before it came out, so on or about april 6. senator whitehouse: ms. higgins? >> when it was announced, but i would note our director has indicated that he was asked to make a recommendation once the decision was made to prosecute. senator whitehouse: mr. white, i have a few seconds left, how many cases are you aware of separated children, separated pursuant to this policy, in which it turned out there were fraudulent claims of parentage and there was in fact no family relation between that child and the person claiming heritage or family relation? >> sir, i do not have that number

mr. wheeler: that is not what i mean. sen. whitehouse: thank you. >> thank you, senator. we are going to come to an abrupt stop, but we will make an exception because senator duckworth wants to be heard, but she will be the last one to ask questions and then we will close the meeting. senator duckworth: you are very generous and quite a gentleman. >> that is because you cosponsored my aviation bill. >> [laughter] senator duckworth: i talked to pilots and they are big fans of yours. mr. wheeler, although we don't see eye to eye on most issues, i believe you are making a good faith effort to reverse the course of epa and operate in a transparent manner. i support your memo calling on your colleagues to be open and accessible and committing to leading by example on open government efforts. i thank you for that. i think it's a first step to restoring the public's trust in the epa.

mr. fanning: yes, sir. senator whitehouse: would you make any amendment that if i threw in the ferc process as well, or does the missed framework combined with the ferc process still leave gaps that you believe we need to attend to? mr. fanning: senator, i think we are paying attention to that. i would use a colorful metaphor. the i worry about with process is we certify widgets, saying this what is ok. a the process of developing -- with respect to an ever-changing threat environment, and a changing attack service, we have to be fluid, options based, and forward looking, and thinking about how we defend ourselves. people, framework, good inadequate for this challenge. we are developing our own own industry is developing, and i got a draft of it from a culture of significant resilience. thatals with the behaviors are related to effective cyber hygiene, and please understand this is not like a line, this is not -- knowing what we know now, creating an inviolate searcher. what we have got to do is understand the pathway to the

mr. chairman and ranking member whitehouse, thank you for this opportunity to testify. for the last nine years of' asked foreign and u.s., foreign intelligence chiefs, who has the ability to launch truly damaging cyber attacks against critical infrastructure? every year the answer is the same. it's only nation states that are capable of crippling attacks, two in particular, russia and iran enl -- currently pose the greatest threats. they're hostile and targeting the u.s. russia is the most dangerous. the recent hack of u.s. power companies is part of a larger destablization campaign. russia's goals are to weaken the u.s., break the transatlantic alliance and damage democratic ideals. it has had significant success. we're in a new kind of conflict with russia where cyber plays a central role and america's lack of a coherent russia policy undercuts efforts to improve cybersecurity. the u.s. can do three things to reduce the risk of cyberattack. it can work with the private sector to strengthen defenses at critical structure companies. it can build resiliency. the most imp

whitehouse. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank you are probably in the closed-door briefing that we had when i asked the previous panel of witnesses what went wrong and not one was able to answer one thing that i gone wrong in this calamity into our witnesses were witnesses in that same proceedings so like to ask the question now the people but a chance to think abouter a longer and let's go right across the tline. what went wrong here? >> we were directed to do one 100% prosecutions on amenable adults on the mast geordie that we prosecuted, 85% were single adult. >> is that a response to my question? what went wrong? >> sir, it's our response ability to make the apprehensions and turn subjects over to our partners at i.c.e.r or hhs. >> as far as you're concerned that they were wrong -- >> i'm not saying that but i don't -- >> not seen but the obvious solution is nothing wrong t then -- >> our response ability is border security aspect of it and when individuals violate the law enforcing the law. >> what went wrong? >> yes

whitehouse. >> thank you, chairman. mr. chairman, i think you are probably in the closed door briefing that we had when i asked the previous panel of witnesses what went wrong. not one was able to answer one thing that was in the climate. two of the witnesses were witnesses in the preceding. people have a chance to think about it longer. as simply as possible in a nutshell what went wrong where? ms. provost. >> we were directed to do 100 percent prosecutions on adults. the majority of adults were prosecuted approximately 85 percent were single adults. >> is a responsive answer to my question? what went wrong? >> sir, is our responsibility to make the apprehension and turn subjects over to our partners at i.c.e. and or hhs. >> as far as you're concerned nothing went wrong? >> i'm not saying that but i don't -- my. >> if nothing did go wrong -- >> our responsibility is the border security aspect of it. when individuals violate the law. >> mr. albence, what went wrong? >> yes, senator. as he spoke last time as indicated, both

mr. president. just look at the senators who have come to the floor to speak about senator mccain. look at some of the network senators who have come to the floor. ernst, whitehouse, graham of course. many who have had that privilege. the great privilege of having john mccain actually take an interest in them and the spending his precious time and energy on their well-being and careers here in the senate. president, one of the true owners of my life was having john mccain as a rent and mentor here in the u.s. senate. happens come at the time this was happening you don't always think about it too much, but now as we look here at i am so grateful that i had these experiences. things with john mccain it was not a social experience. experience. in fact the time i didn't feel i had a choice in the matter. i first month in the senate in january 2015, like a lot of new senators, i was clueless here. rules, faces, names, votes. pulledne of the senate me aside on the floor of the senate on two different times that first month i was a senator. one, he was talking about institution that mattered to him. the u.s. naval academy. , under to me, dan federal law the chairman of

senator whitehouse: is the judge ordersng the law in the being given to solve the reunification problem? mr. mchenry? >> it would not be appropriate for me to answer. senator whitehouse: you can't even tell me if the judge is following the law? >> we advise the clients to follow the orders. any further comment on it would be an appropriate litigation is ongoing. is therehitehouse: anything that would have tovented your organizations repare for this? you did it afterwards when the judge told you, couldn't you ? ve done it beforehand able to affect the reunification of a large number working in partnership with ice toause the judge ordered us not follow the trafficking victims reauthorization act. we could not have done that without him ordering us to do that. senator whitehouse: was that foreseeable? the consequences of following that act? program exists to protect children and unify them with sponsors in this country. is notnification consistent with statute until we receive the order from the judge. when was thehouse: first date you heard of the sessions directed to require zero-tolerance?

mr. president. just look at the senators who have come to the floor to speak about senator mccain. look at some of the newer senators who have come to the floor. senator whitehouse, klobuchar, ernst, sasse, so many, many who have had that privilege, graham, of course. the great privilege of having john mccain take an interest in them and spending his precious time and energy on their well-being and careers here in the senate. mr. president, one of the true honors of my life was having john mccain as a friend and a mentor here in the u.s. senate. and you know at the time this happens, at the time this was happening, you don't always think about it too much, but now as we look here at his desk, i'm just so grateful that i had these experiences. like most things with john mccain, it wasn't a subtle experience. in fact, a lot of times -- a lot of the time, i didn't feel i had a choice in the matter. my first month in the senate, in january, 2015, like a lot of the new senators, i was pretty clueless here, quite clueless. rules, faces, names, votes. and this lion of the senate, john mccain, pulled me aside on the floor of the senate on two different times that first

mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i'm very happy to join my colleagues to express our view of how pathetic this new clean power plan replacement rule is and how it really makes fools of huge portions of the american people, for farmers who are out there facing drought and flood like they have never seen before as our weather extremes expand. this makes fools of them. this makes losers of them. for people who live near our forests or work in our forests or enjoy using our forests, for the people senator merkley just spoke of, for those downwind from our% of thes when they -- of our forests when they burn, they're made a laughingstock by this new rule. the wildfires that are tearing through our forests are expanding both in season and severity. in some states where there used to be a wildfire season, there isn't a wildfire season anymore. anytime could be wildfire season. this is all unprecedented. for outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds, the changes that are happening to the species and weather patterns that fo

whitehouse. they came to my office, mr. president, and to this day it is certainly one of the most impactful meeting i had in the senate, a meeting where they were honest, very open about what they had been through, and to be perfectly blunt, these women had been through hell, and they talked about it with courage and grace and dignity and they talked about how americans, alaskans, were suffering through this addiction, opioid and heroin addiction in particular and how they needed help and how they needed federal legislation. their honesty and resiliency and courage is something that i was so impressed by, so moved gaspy in many -- moved gaspy in many ways it was a way for me to understand this. after i heard these stories, and this meeting went very, very long, i started reading more and more about this crisis impacting all of our states, and certainly many parts of alaska, i told my staff we have to focus on that. we have to focus on this. so two years what we did, we convened a summit in our state. it was called the well