mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr.president are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mrs. shaheen: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: thank you mr. president. well here we go again. once again planned parenthood is under attack. the bill is before the senate that would once again attempt to defund planned parenthood and once again we're seeing the republican majority with their partisan agenda ahead of health of women. for 100 years planned parenthood has been a trusted provider of health care services. last year alone, planned parenthood of northern new england served 12,000 women in new hampshire. most of them are low-income. and for many women in my state of new hampshire the full range of health services offered at planned parenthood is the most affordable and accessible way for them to get the care they need. 94% of the services provided by planned parenthood in new hampshire are prevention related. we can see on this chart it's well wo

mr. shaheen. mr. thurmond. mr. turner. mr. verdin. mr. williams. mr. young. mr. young is present. >> he is present. mr. coleman is present. mr. shaheen is present. mr. matthews is present. we got to keep going. >> a quorum is present. a quorum is present. we're on amendment number one. mr. clerk, finish reading the amendment. start again. clerk, please read the commitment. clerk: a memo number one, a bill to relate whether these south carolina battle flag of the confederate states of america shall remain at its current location on the capitol complex. >> mr. president, members of the senate i understand this is a nonbinding referendum, but it would give the people chance to be heard because the statehouse grounds obviously belongs to the people of south carolina. i know we are emotionally charged over what happened in charleston, but i do not hold votes that believe in the ancestry of the south to be the ones that fought for one deranged individual in charleston. we are going to have some serious debate on this. i am saving this for later. we're going to have thi

mrs. shaheen: mr. president this friday, july 31 the authorization for the highway trust fund will expire, and the fund itself will be nearly out of money. that means that unless congress acts projects in new hampshire and across the country would grind to an abrupt halt. and in the face of this, the house has passed yet another short-term stop-gap bill. the senate is now debating and amending a long-term highway bill and my clear preference is for a long-term bill. i think it would be a terrible mistake to pass yet another short-term extension without at the same time taking action on a long-term bill like the senate is currently doing. only passing another short-term extension which would be the 34th since 2008 without taking steps toward a multiyear bill would be kicking the can down the road, and in this case, the road is overwhelmed by traffic badly in need of modernization and filled with patches and potholes. if you have driven around the roads in the district of columbia sometimes you wonder wh

mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i would like to join senator wicker from mississippi in talking about what we saw and heard when we were in bosnia. you know, unfortunately the story that came out about that inspiring commemoration was about the attack by some of the bosniacs on the prime minister, who had attended the ceremony. but the larger story was one of reconciliation and the bosniac mayor of srebrenica condemned the attackers and he was joined by the tripartite presidents in condemning the attackers and the serbian prime minister after the attack said that it should not distract attention from the innocent victims of srebrenica. he said that his arms of reconciliation remain stretched toward the bosniacs and fortunately we had the same thing from the mayor of srebrenica who actually had invited the prime minister. i'm very proud of mayor doracovic. he's an american whose family fled in 1985 and settled in new hampshire. he went to high school there and got a degree from southern new hampshire unive

mr. shaheen? absent. mr. thurmond. present. mr. turner. absent. mr. vernon. absent. mr. williams is present. mr. young is present. >> is present. >> carl allen is present. fairfield, mr. coleman is present. shaheen is present and kershaw, senator matthews and orangeburg is present. >> we have to keep going. >> the quorum is press end. a quorum is present. we're all with amendment number one. clerk, please read the amendment. >> amendment number 1, strikes a bill in its entirety. it's a bill to provide for the advisory referendum related to whether the infantry battle flag of the confederate states of america should remain on its current location of the capital complex. >> senator spartanberg. >> members of the senate i understand this is a non-binding referendum, but it would give the people a chance to be heard because the statehouse grounds obviously belongs to the people of south carolina. i know we're emotionally charged over what happened in charleston, but i do not hold folks that believe in the ancestry of the south to be the ones at fault for one deranged individ

mr. nephew: that's my understanding, two to three months. senator shaheen: mr. zarata? chairman zarate: that's my understanding. senator shaheen: it's my understanding again based on estimates that i have seen that should we enter into this , agreement at the end of the 10-year time period that iran will be between eight and 12 months away from building a nuclear weapon? is that your understanding? mr. nephew: yes, senator, that's my understanding. chairman zarate: yes, senator. but at the end of the restrictions they can quickly shrink that timetable back to two months. senator shaheen: they'll be able to shrink that timetable because they already have an enrichment program and they have built or in the process of building a plutonium program at the iraq site because of the work they are doing right now not because , of what they are going to be able to do over the next 10-year time period, is that your understanding? chairman zarate: that is. but also the case they'll likely accelerate their activities given the modernization in particular around the centrifuge program

mr. nephew: that's my understanding, two to three minutes. senator shaheen: mr. zaratea? chairman zarate: that's my understanding. senator shaheen: it's my understanding again based on estimates i have seen that should we enter into this agreement at the end of the 10-year time period that iran will be between eight and 12 months away from building a nuclear weapon? is that your understanding? mr. nephew: yes, senator that's my understanding. chairman zarate: yes, senator. at the end of the restrictions can quickly shrink that timetable back to two months. senator shaheen: they'll be able to shrink that timetable because they already have an enrichment program and they have built or in the process of building a plutonium program at the iraq site because of the work they are doing right now not because of what they are going to be able to do over the next 10-year time period, is that your understanding? chairman zarate: it is. but also the case they'll likely accelerate their activities given the modernization in particular around the centrifuge program and the enrich. . se

mr. chairman. >> thank you for that single follow-up question. senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i apologize for getting back so late. i was in an appropriation's markup. but general dunford, thank you very much to you and your family for your service in had the past and for your willingness to continue to serve. and i have to say, after watching you before the crowd of new hampshire business folks and hearing from them how impressed they were, i look forward to the impression that you are going make as the new chairman of the joint chiefs. so, i'm -- i wanted to follow-up on senator wickers' questions about europe -- >> watch this hearing in its entirety at c-span.org. we take you to the press secretary hearing with josh earnest. >> welcome to friday briefing. it's finally friday. it's been a very interesting and historic week at the white house. so i decided today to pull a little page from a strategy that has been employed very effectively by some of our cable news colleagues here. in addition to the regularly scheduled programming, a little bit of a crawl across

mr. chairman. >> without objection -- >> senator shaheen. >> thank you very much. secretary carter you were in the middle east last week. can you tell us what you heard from our allies in the middle east about how they felt about this agreement, specifically saudi arabia and israel. obviously we have heard from prime minister netenyahu has had to say. >> sure -- sure senator. beginning with israel prime minister netenyahu was very clear as he has been clear publicly in its opposition to the deal. we discussed that but then we discussed many other things as well. hezbollah's activity up on the border with lebanon. in fact i visited there our missile defense activities cyber security coordination and intelligence coordination and we discussed many topics but he was very clear -- >> and excuse me for interrupting, but would you agree with senator wicker's characterization about the israel's opposition to this? >> i only spoke to the prime minister. >> and what did you hear from some of our arab allies in the middle east? >> i spoke to the king of saudi arabia who repe

mrs. shaheen: i am here, mr. president, to discuss the every child achieves act. i think it's significant that for the first time in more than a decade congress is considering making changes to our elementary and secondary school system. this conversation is long overdue. as a former teacher i appreciate the challenges that our schools have, and i'm looking forward very much to the debate ahead. i want to applaud senators alexander and murray, the chair and ranking member of the help committee, for reaching a compromise bill that passed out of their committee with strong, unanimous, bipartisan support. today i really want to focus on some of the provisions that are included in this bill that have to do with stem education. so science technology engineering and math. this is an issue that i've been working on for a number of years, really since i was governor in the late 1990's in new hampshire. we know that the most critical jobs that are needed to compete in the global economy are in the stem fields. but data consistently shows that american students are falling

shaheen. >> thank you mr. chairman. when i passed to senator cano blessed because i didn't have questioned it was because he was first in having at the end of the row i appreciate how challenging it is when somebody comes in with more seniority and bump sure questioning. so thank you both for being here and senator rubio presented a fairly stark doomsday scenario in his time and i just want to go back and see if i can clarify a couple of things with respect to what he said. first of all, this is agreement in any way affect our ability to take any military action in iran and? should we choose to do so mr. nephew? >> senator noah does not. >> mr. zarate deal great? >> i do. >> are you an agreement with what i understand to be the intelligence assessment that today before we enter into this agreement that iran is two to three months away from breakout to build a nuclear weapon should they choose to do that. >> senator that's my understanding. >> i haven't seen the recent estimates but that's my general understanding based

mr. mccain: without objection. senator shaheen. senator: thank you for your efforts on this negotiation and for being here today. secretary carter, you're in the middle east last week. can you tell us what you heard from our allies in the middle east about what they felt about this agreement, specifically saudi arabia and israel? obviously, we have heard what prime minister netanyahu had to say. mr. carter: prime minister netanyahu was very clear and has been clear publicly in his opposition to the deal. we discussed that, but we discussed many other things as well. hezbollah's activity on the border with lebanon. in fact, i visited there. our missile defense activities, our cyber security cooperation our intelligence cooperation lots of other regional issues. we discussed many topics. he was very clear. senator: would you agree with the characterization that the israelis were united in their opposition to the agreement from left to right? mr. carter: i only spoke with the prime minister. he was as he has been publicly very clear.

mr. chairman. >> without objection. >> senator shaheen. >> thank you for your efforts on this negotiation and forbeing here today. secretary carter you were in the middle east last week. can you tell us what you heard from our allies in the middle east about how they felt about this agreement, and specifically saudi arabia and israel? obviously we've heard what prime minister net minister netanyahu had to say. >> sure. beginning with israel, prime minister netanyahu is very clear, as he has been very clear publicly to the opposition. we discussed that. and we discussed many other things as well. hezbollah's activity on the border with lebanon. in fact, i visited there. our missile defense activities, our cyber security cooperation, our intelligence cooperation, and a lot of other regional issues and we discussed many top topics but he was very clear. >> and excuse me for interrupted but would you agree with senator wicker's interpretation that the israelis were opposing from left to right. >> i only spoke to this from the prime minister, the leader of the country as he's been publicly very, very

shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and ranking member cardin. thank you to our witnesses for your testimony today and to the negotiating team for the tremendous effort that it took to get us to this point. before i ask my questions, and i do have questions. i just want to say that i don't think it's to the benefit of this committee this congress or the american people for any of us to impugn the motives or intellect of anybody involved in this discussion. i think people have strong views about how they feel, and it's appropriate to express those views, but to -- because someone disagrees with you to suggest that their motives are not in the best interest of this country or that their intellect is questionable i think does not advance the debate in a way that it should be advanced. so, mr. chairman, i appreciate you and the ranking member and hope that we will keep this debate in a civil discussion. i also want to point out for the record that everybody voted for the nuclear review act of 2015. was unanimous. while all of us had concerns about ev

shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and ranking member cardin. thank you to our witnesses for your testimony today and to the negotiating team for the tremendous effort that it took to get us to this point. before i ask my questions, and i do have questions. i just want to say that i don't think it's to the benefit of this committee this congress or the american people for any of us to impugn the motives or intellect of anybody involved in this discussion. i think people have strong views about how they feel, and it's appropriate to express those views, but to -- because someone disagrees with you to suggest that their motives are not in the best interest of this country or that their intellect is questionable i think does not advance the debate in a way that it should be advanced. so, mr. chairman, i appreciate you and the ranking member and hope that we will keep this debate in a civil discussion. i also want to point out for the record that everybody voted for the nuclear review act of 2015. was unanimous. while all of us had concerns about ev

senator shaheen. >> thank you mr. chairman. and ranking member cardin. thank you to our witnesses for your testimony today into the negotiating team for the tremendous effort that it took to get us to this point. before you ask my questions, and i do actually have questions, i just want to say that i don't think it's to the benefit of this committee, this congress or the american people for any of us to impugn the motives or intellect of anybody involved in this discussion. i think people have strong views about how they feel and it's appropriate to express those views but because someone disagrees with you to suggest that their motives are not in the best interest of this country or their intellect is questionable i think does not advance the debate in the way that it should be advanced cell mr. chairman i appreciate you and the ranking member and hope that we will keep this debate in a civil discussion. i also want to point out for the record that ended -- everybody on this committee voted for the iran nuclear review active 2015 and it was unanimous so

shaheen: my time has expired, thank you all. >> i don't agree with that characterization, mr. chairman. sen. flake: i hope you will take these questions in the spirit they are given, i am not looking to play gotcha at all. i commend you for the hard work that has been done. there is some disagreement here with the text of the agreement as we read it. and the explanation that is given. let me just cover a couple of these points. on adoption day for the implementation plan, it says iran will inform the that effective on -- they will additionally supply the protocol hand -- pending its ramification by the parliament and the iranian parliament and will fully implement the modified code 3.1. it is voluntary to live by the additional protocol -- what happens if parliament -- first, what is the timetable that is required for the parliament to address the additional protocol? sec. moniz: they have to live by the additional particle -- >> understood -- >> going forward, they have eight years -- within eight years to adopt it formally within -- but their material reach as of adoption da

shaheen. am i out of order? you can politely decide. >> mr. zarate, i've enjoyed reading "treasury's war," i haven't finished it but i recommend all read the book he's has n about how treasury been important to our negotiations. r. kaine: i agree with the comment senator menendez made about the iaea and the needing to dig more into their situation, whether it be, you know, agreements they may have with iran as they do with other members or to get comfort level with thaw howe they inspect. i don't want to leave this room with an unstated -- what i think would be an inaccurate impression that we don't trust the iaea or they don't know what they're doing. if i can, just, to remind everybody of a painful history new york march of 2003, the iaea issued an opinion that they said to date, the iaea has found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in iraq. that was in march of 2003. the administration at that time immediately jumped out, trashed the iaea, said they were wrong. and said that the united states nee

mr. delaney is recognized for an introduction. >> ladies and gentlemen of the house, we have a very special guest here tonight. we have anthony shaheen senator of vincent that mean and bob that mean my desk mate for years. >> welcome the shaheen men to the house. welcome. >> number 67 is the next bill which we are passing over. >> ladies and gentlemen, before we take this next amendment, it's about five after 8:00 now. the speaker says we will stand at ease until 8:30. everyone can stand at ease until 8:30. >>> the south carolina house has been for much of the day today working through a series of amendments to a bill that would remove the confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds. the south carolina senate approved that bill yesterday on a vote of 36-3. as you can see, the south carolina house has moved into a period of standing at ease until 8:30 p.m. eastern time another 15 minutes or so. and we will continue our live coverage on c-span3. during this recess and proceedings, we'll show you a portion of today's washington journal with senator mark warner of virginia, who was our guest. >> and we are back with mark warne

shaheen: my time has expired, thank you all. >> i might add the president was very clear the breakout. sec. moniz: i don't agree with that characterization, mr. chairman. sen. flake: i hope you will take these questions in the spirit they are given, i am not looking to play gotcha at all. i commend you for the hard work that has been done. there is some disagreement here it seems with the text of the agreement as we read it. and the explanation that is given. let me just cover a couple of these points. number eight, on adoption day for the implementation plan, it says iran will inform the that effective on implementation day they will additionally supply , the protocol hand -- pending its ramification by the parliament, the iranian parliament and will fully implement the modified code 3.1. we have talked about the agreement, although it is voluntary to live by the additional protocol. first, what is the timetable that is required for the parliament to address the additional protocol? sec. moniz: they have to live by the additional protocol >> understood -- >> from the moment of adoption. going forward, they have eight years -- within eight y

shaheen peters and coons who each co-sponsored the amendment. further, on this side of the capitol, i would be remiss if i did not mention the efforts of the gentleman from florida, mr. crenshaw, who will be speaking here soon and the gentleman from new york, mr. serrano, and their expertise and assistance in resolving this matter. and i want to offer a special thanks to our committee's ranking member ms. have a less kess, for her in-- ms. velazquez, for her insight and leadership. in addition to offering a bill h.r. 3132, to increase the lending authority, she was steadfast in her efforts to repeatedly warn the s.b.a. that continuing to issue 7-a loan guarantees for the maximum amount allowed by statute, yet failing to take administrative action to manage loan guarantees as the s.b.a. crept closer to its lending authority could result in a sessation of the lending. the ranking member and her staff were extremely helpful in bringing this matter to a resolution and are to be commended for helping to craft a strong bipartisan product which is what we're dealing with here today. this legislation is amended by the senate provides two critical items for the 7-a program.