ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today to express my concern and disgust about recent revelations of improper and dishonest conduct by senior executives at the department of veterans affairs, including the director of the regional office of the veterans benefits veteras administration. according to a report released by the hav v.a.'s office of the inspector general this week, two veterans benefits administration executives used their positions to assign themselves to different jobs that involved fewer responsibilities while maintaining their high salaries. one of them was the director of the v.b.a. st. paul regional office since october of 2014. the inspector general found that the st. paul v.b.a. director used their influence as director of v.b.a.'s eastern area office to compel the relocation of the previous st. paul offic

ms. klobuchar: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: madam president, i rise today to speak about recent revelations that volkswagen willfully deceived regulators and the general public to artificially lower emissions of its 2009-2015 volkswagen and audi diesel vehicles. these actions raise significant consumer, environmental and public health concerns. according to the e.p.a.'s notice of violation of the clean air act, volkswagen used a sophisticated software algorithm on certain vehicles that detected when vehicles were undergoing emissions testing. this software referred to as the defeat device, allows vehicles to meet emissions standards during testing, but under normal driving situations, these same vehicles emit nitrogen oxides up to 40 times the allowable emissions standards. this is unbelievable. i think we can imagine that such technology exists, but i don't think we ever thought that one of our major international car companies would be alleged to have used it. so far ap

ms. klobuchar: i come to talk about a recent top pick, the import export bank. i want to thank the senator for his strong leadership, and we'll hear from senator mccaskill, this is a bipartisan effort, i want to thank the other senators who have joined this effort, senator graham, senator kirk. mr. president, the reason i'm here today is to say that america needs to be a country that exports, a country that thinks, invents, builds things, 95% of our customers, the world's customers, live outside our borders. and there is literally a world of opportunity out there for u.s. businesses. and we simply can't afford to pass this up. we know that there are about 85 credit agencies over 60 other countries, so all of these other countries, over 60 countries, major, major developed nations, have an ex-im time bank. and our companies are competing against companies in those countries. so we are bid fogger a contract, they can say, well, we may not be a huge business but we can get financing from our country's bank whether in germany or in china. what we have to say, our co

ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today to discuss the agreement reached in july on iran's nuclear program. mr. president, preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is one of the most important objectives of our national security policy. i have strongly advocated for and supported the economic sanctions that brought iran to the negotiating table. while the agreement is by no means perfect, i have concluded that it is our best available option to put the brakes on iran's development of a nuclear weapon and that is why i support it. i do this with my eyes wide open to the nature of the iranian regime, including its human rights abuses, it's unjustified detention of american citizens, its threats against israel and its destabilizing actions in the region, including its support for terrorist groups. over the last several weeks, i have reviewed the joint comprehensive plan of action as agreed to by the p-5 plus 1 nations and iran. i have attended briefings with national security and nuclear experts.

ms. klobuchar: madam president, i rise today to talk about a critical issue that i think that the pope'sarrival today in washington really highlights this issue and i'm hopeful that we will be addressing it in this chamber. i wanted to join senator whitehouse yesterday. he has been an unwavering voice on the need for congress to take legislative action to address climate change. he hit a milestone in may of this year by giving his 100th speech on the floor, calling on his colleagues to act on climate change. he's also brought together a group of senators to form the climate action task force and i'm proud to be a member of the group. madam president, i believe that we need a strong energy agenda for america and one that recognizes the challenges of climate change and that empowers people to be part of the solution. the pope has called climate change one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. he has gained international attention for his commitment to protecting our world and serving those in need. thursday, when we have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear from the

klobuchar i believe is next. >> thank you very much, senator wicker. ms. feinberg, congratulations. any friend of mention manchin is a friend of ours so first i want to just talk to you about the blocked crossings issue. as i travel across minnesota, i hear from people all over the state who have spent an excessive amount of time, sometimes hours stuck waiting at a blocked rail crossing. blocked rail crossings not only inconvenience drivers but delay emergency vehicles, in july i was in minnesota which is on the canadian border, it's a major crossing and very small town. their rail crossing blockings 6 to 8 hours a day in the town. so in the drive act, we actually put a provision in there to direct the secretary of transportation to develop highway rail crossing action plans including tools and data, safety risks, other things. and that is the amendment that's in there. acting add min stray ift feinberg, as the process moving forward, what steps can the fra take to minimize blocked rail crossings? and do you think you have the best practices in place? >> thank you for the question.

senator klobuchar i believe this next. >> thank you very much, senator wicker. ms. feinberg, congratulations. any friend of senator manchin is a friend of ours. so first i wanted to talk to you about a block crossing issues. as i travel across minnesota i hear from people all over the state who has spent an excessive amount of time, sometimes hours struggling at it blocked rail crossing. block rail crossings not only inconvenience drivers but they delayed emergency vehicles. angela i was on the canadian border, major crossing but a very small town. their rail crossing blocking is six to eight hours a day in the town. so in the drive act, we put a provision in their contractor sector of the transportation to develop highway rail crossing action plans including tools and data, safety, other things. that is the amendment that is into. acting administrator feinberg hi,as this process moves forward what steps can the fra take to minimize blocked rail crossings. anti-thank you the best practices in place? >> thank you for the question. we are also very concerned about blo

senator klobuchar i believe is next. >> thank you very much, senator wicker. ms.inberg, congratulations. any friend of mention manchin is a friend of ours so first i want to just talk to you about the blocked crossings issue. as i travel across minnesota, i hear from people all over the state who have spent an excessive amount of time, sometimes hours stuck waiting at a blocked rail crossing. blocked rail crossings not only inconvenience drivers but delay emergency vehicles, in july i was in minnesota which is on the canadian border, it's a major crossing and very small town. their rail crossing blockings 6 to 8 hours a day in the town. so in the drive act, we actually put a provision in there to direct the secretary of transportation to develop highway rail crossing action plans including tools and data, safety risks, other things. and that is the amendment that's in there. acting add min stray ift feinberg, as the process moving forward, what steps can the fra take to minimize blocked rail crossings? and do you think you have the best practices in place? >> than