ms. klobuchar: madam president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are indeed. ms. klobuchar: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: madam president, i rise today to urge the drug enforcement administration to issue the final rule necessary to implement the secure and responsible drug disposal act of 2010. i note that year, madam president, 2010, because that is the year this bipartisan bill was passed. what it does is it provides consumers with safe and responsible ways to dispose of unused prescription medications and controlled substances. and i want to thank senator cornyn, who is a cosponsor, the lead cosponsor on the republican side of this legislation, as well as senator grassley, senator brown for working with me on the legislation. the important law expands safe disposal options for individuals and for long-term care facilities and it promotes the development and expansion of prescription drug take-back programs. and as you know, madam president, this simply means that when you get prescription drugs

ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today to urge -- the presiding officer: the senate is currently in a quorum call. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today to urge my colleagues to stop the taxing tax offenders and prosecuting identity theft act of 2013. with tax day, as everyone knows, coming upon us on tuesday, the time is now to pass this bipartisan legislation. i worked on this bill, the stop identity theft act to, address the growing problems of tax identity theft and to protect taxpayers against fraud. from the beginning, this bill has been bipartisan. senator sessions is the lead republican on this bill, and in fact just recently this bill passed the senate judiciary committee on a vote of 18-0, which given a number of the members on that committee with very different views on issues, that is an accomplishment, and it shows what a pressing problem this is. i thin

ms. klobuchar: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: i'm a cosponsor of the paycheck fairness act, an incredibly important bill. i'm proud to be here with my colleagues and the leader of the senate, senator mikulski. today is equal payday, but it also marks the day when things are warming up in my state. after a long deep freeze, it looks like we will have 70 degrees. the snow will melt, the flowers will bloom, and i think the message we're all here to bring is it's time to stop freezing the women of america out of this economy. the women of america want to be treated fairly. right now, all the work we're doing, whether it's the unemployment bill for unemployment compensation, it is stuck somewhere in a deep freeze over in the house of representatives, somewhere between the frozen peas and the chocolate ice cream, and it's time to thaw out the freezer in washington, d.c., and help the women of america. that is what this bill is about. that is what the minimum wage bill is about. people deserve a fair shot at the american dream

ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today to speak about the importance of raising the minimum wage. people truly deserve a fair shot at the american dream, and it's time to come together to raise the minimum wage. our state just raised the minimum wage. we actual lay had one o actualle lowest minimum wages in the country, mr. president -- $6.50 -- and we are now at $9.50 per hour. that was a major jumpup jump-upt was something that was needed in the state of minnesota, a state that has a very strong economy, on employment rate of only 4.8%. but people even when they have jobs have found it hard to send their kids to college or buy basic things. we should follow minnesota's example and raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. i am a cosponsor of the minimum wage fairness act. and i want to thank senator harkin for his dedication to the working families of america. i also want to thank senator merkley and all of my colleagues who have worked tirelessly to raise the minimum wage. as the senate c

ms. klobuchar: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: i'm a cosponsor of the paycheck fairness act, an incredibly important bill. i'm proud to be here with my colleagues and the leader of the senate, senator mikulski. today is equal payday, but it also marks the day when things are warming up in my state. after a long deep freeze, it looks like we will have 70 degrees. the snow will melt, the flowers will bloom, and i think the message we're all here to bring is it's time to stop freezing the women of america out of this economy. the women of america want to be treated fairly. right now, all the work we're doing, whether it's the unemployment bill for unemployment compensation, it is stuck somewhere in a deep freeze over in the house of representatives, somewhere between the frozen peas and the chocolate ice cream, and it's time to thaw out the freezer in washington, d.c., and help the women of america. that is what this bill is about. that is what the minimum wage bill is about. people deserve a fair shot at the american dream

ms. barra, like senator klobuchar i met with the step father and mother of natasha weikel.the actions happen in wisconsin. it hits pretty close to home. your background is a tactical engineer, correct? >> correct. >> you have been with gm for 33 years. in that capacity i would imagine general motors has been a real leader in terms of total quality management of their manufacturing process? >> we've improved over our quality dramatically over the last several years. >> i got a manufacturing background myself. iran plans for 31 years. in your engineering capacity, i would imagine you dealt with the quality management system in pretty robust fashion, correct? >> in the manufacturing arena, yes. >> i want to truly down a little bit in terms of where chairman mccaskill answered ayotte went on the change of that part number. i've gone through a lot of quality audits and, of course, the reason you have different numbers for different parts is for traceability, correct speaker is correct. a number of reasons but having a t-1. >> so if there's a problem, a defect in the manufacturin

klobuchar. >> thank you, madam chairman. but i just have a few specific follow-up questions, ms. barra. in your chest when you mentioned the steps gms taken in terms of its recall, and because the recall focuses on model year vehicles way back in 2003-2007 to 100 these vehicles are now on the second or third owners and if this is creating a challenge to reach these owners and is it anything more that could be done in? >> one of the things we would've support is some type of database. i don't know the right agency to manage it when we had the latest owners attached to the enemy. what we do, we want to get second, third, however many owners that are, if we go to registration data and that's how we get the latest information, but if there was something that allowed, if there's a master database are such that you always knew what vin and he was the registered owner, that would be incredibly helpful. >> and this will be coming from the department of transportation? or nhtsa, i'm not sure which agency but i will be something that would be very beneficial. >> we should approach them about that

klobuchar. >> thank you very much, senator mccaskill, thank you for holding the hearing. ms. barra, one family involved in this is a young woman killed from albert lee, minnesota. i met with her dad, doug, yesterday, and i talked to her mom, or her mom's husband yesterday, and this young girl was in wisconsin, and she was in a colbalt with friends, and the ignition went off and the car barreled 71 miles per hour into trees and two of the girls were killed, including natasha. she was a hockey player, young girl, and one of the letters that her dad gave me that she wrote to him just a few months before she dieded. she talks about this is her words, i wouldn't be the good goalie i am now if it was not for you, dad, standing behind the net, behind the glass, just knowing you were there made me trust myself better, and i definitely felt secure to know you had my back. i think you understand that these families need someone to have their back. they want to have the best for their kids, at least the memory of their kids. this is a lot about what this is about including a major chang