ms. klobuchar: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: madam president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. ms. klobuchar: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: madam president, i come to the floor today for a number of reasons, but first and most pressing is to call and ask the administration to extend deferred enforcement departure status for a group of liberians. this is a pretty unique situation. senator jack reed was just on the floor in the last hour talking about it as well. both the state of rhode island and the state of minnesota have a number of liberians who didn't just come to this country. they didn't come to this country illegally. they came to this country decades ago, and they came because of a civil war in their country of liberia. and then after that war was basically resolved, they were allowed to stay. so they are all registered in this country. they are all working legally in this country. and they're in a special status called deferre

ms. klobuchar: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, these are the names of 17 children who were killed with guns in my state. i read their first names only because it makes us remember they could be anyone's children. lisa marie, age 15. william robert, age 15. anthony, age 16. jacob alexander, age 14. joseph anthony, age 17. terrell, age 3. joshua albert, age 15. alyssa, age 17. jesse, age 18. cedric, age 18. darion geoff, age 15. justin daniel, age 17. jennifer allen, age 17. david andre, age 17. tibeba lee, age 16. terrance, age 16. anthony michael, age 3. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. warren: mr. president, congress does not have the courage to act on gun violence, but young people across this country are showing the way. they are speaking up and they are demanding action. i honor them and i commit to fight alongside them. i'm going to read the names of some of those lost from massachusetts. they didn't get a chance to join this fight before they died from gun violence, so i take this opportunity to jo

ms. klobuchar: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise tonight to join my colleagues to address the need to immediately respond to russians' interference. i'd like to thank senator whitehouse for bringing us together. this evening many of my colleagues have spoken about how russian aggression affects americans and our allies across the world. some have discussed the need for sanctions to deter russia and the fact that the administration has not yet imposed sanctions, the same sanctions that were passed by the senate 98-2 and 419-3 in the house of representatives. those were the additional sanctions that were directly related to the interference in the elections and what we saw take place over the last year. they sit -- they sit dormant. others talked about special counsel mueller's investigation and the fact that it must move forward without interference. nearly a dozen senators have come to the floor to highlight the need to stand up against russia. i am here to safeguard the most fundamental part of our democracy, and

ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today to join my friend and colleague, senator whitehouse, on the day of his 200th weekly climate change floor speech. for years, we came in the same class, so i have been a witness to this, for years, he has come to the floor every week the senate is in session, often to an empty chamber, to speak on this critical issue. he has been a leader and an unwavering voice on climate change, calling for action week after week. i think that's why so many of us are here tonight. 200 speeches is truly a milestone, and you can just look at the wear and tear of his time to wake up floor sign to know that this actually happened. but not only does he come to the floor to talk about this issue and to share new data and information with all of us on the need to act now, i have also seen him take on climate change deniers as a member of both when i was on the environment committee and also on the judiciary committee. and i have experienced his dedication to moving the needle on thi

klobuchar. >> thank you. i will start with you, ms. fleming. as they collect information from commuter railroads and progress implementing, the gao found the f our air is not prioritizing resources to those railroads most likely to miss the deadline which i would think a risk-based approach would help implementation with specific information the fra needs to collect that would target support where they need it the most. >> they need to consider the recommendation to use the information it collects to apply more for risk-based approach. they are going to be getting significant information, documentation in the next month passed 2020. everything from looking at test waivers, safety plans. to give you a sense of what that means, for now it has taken 10 close to 100 days for test waiver but the safety plans are 500 plus pages and they told us they know may be able to review more than two or three a year so if you do the math it is a heavy lift. also means thinking about what do they do? do they target railroads that carry the most passengers, do th

klobuchar. senator clobe which are: i only your -- heard your testimony, ms. nguyen. i spoke earlier with ms. sullivan about how she's been on the forefront of the issue with senator wellstone and the work we've done with the domestic violence service center, it was one of the first full service domestic violence service centers. i always like to look at how to make this law even better not just resting on our laurels but try to make it bet e. one of the things i've been working on is a bill that senator franken had originally and then the victim in a campus rape came to our office, and we've been working and building on senator franken's work an senator cornyn and i introduced the bill and it's the abby hummer act, it's focused on something you were talking about, ms. nguyen, law enforcement-center, victim-centered training so when there's a rape victim, law enforcement has to do the job and follow the rules. they're thinking about their interaction with the victim and what the effect of that is. and that's really a pretty simple concept. representative emmer a republican, has introduced it

klobuchar? >> thank you very much. thank you to you all for your work. i only heard your testimony ms. nguyen and i heard the tail beginning of yours. you want to thank you so much for your passion. i spoke with miss sullivan about how our state has been on the forefront of this issue with senator wellstone and sheila and the work we've done with the domestic violence service center in henneman county, it was one of the first full service domestic violence centers so i like to look at how we can make this law better, not just resting on our laurels. one of the things i've been working son a bill that senator franken had originally and then the victim in a campus rape came to our office and we've been building on senator franken's work and senator cornyn and i introduced the bill and it's th enforcement victim-centered training so when there is a rape victim, law enforcement has to do the job and follow the rules but they're thinking about their interaction with the victim and what the effect of that is. and that's a pretty simple concept. representative emma, a republican, has introduc

ms. smith: thank you, mr. president. and thank you, senator klobuchar, for organizing this colloquy on the olympic contributions of minnesotans. ms. smith: i was proud to work with you on this resolution honoring our olympians, and while i have not yet given my first floor speech, which i plan to do in a couple of weeks, i couldn't pass up the opportunity to come down and talk about our state's amazing athletes. as i'm sure senator klobuchar snows, as we just heard from her, one a minnesotan can walk, you can bet that his or her parents will try to get them on skis or on skates or on a sled or maybe on a curling rink. that early start, not to mention the fact that minnesotans are the hardest working and most resilient people i know help explain why 23 of our athletes took part in this year's winter games. as senator klobuchar said, that's the third most of any state in the country. and boy did they steal the show. minnesotans brought home gold medals in women's hockey, women's cross country skiing, and men's curling, and a bronze medal in the women's do