ms. klobuchar: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i'm honored to be here today to join senator markey to talk about the importance of strong internet neutrality protections. he also came to minnesota this past month and was able to meet with a number of our small businesses, including a woman that started a business making children's clothes, and the growth she saw because of the internet. people who have never had that opportunity if we didn't have net neutrality. today we took a major step forward on this issue by forcing the senate to hold a vote on legislation to save net neutrality. i believe in the end we will have the votes to get this done. it will send an important message that the internet should remain free, open, and equal to all who use it. it will then be considered, we would hope, by the house because our goal is to actually get this done. why? because net neutrality is the bedrock of a fair, fast, open, and global internet. it holds internet service providers accountable for providing the internet access co

ms. klobuchar: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: madam president, i come to the senate floor today to discuss what i consider and often overlooked issue, and that is the central importance of the well-being of american consumers to our nation's economic strength, and that issue is antitrust enforcement. before i was a senator, i was a prosecutor for eight years, and before that, i was a lawyer in private practice. and early in my legal career my main client that i actually took over when i was really a brand-new lawyer was m.c.i. at the time they were a young, innovative telecommunication community, which was competing with long distance carriers and then other companies. they had a lot of scrappy lawyers. they viewed themselves, as they were, fighting for consumers to give them some alternatives and lower prices. i remember at one of my regulatory hearings, i quoted the first words that alexander graham bell said over the telephone, which, of course, was come here watson, i need you. in the world of m.c.i. when they relay

ms. klobuchar: thanks to my friends from west virginia and indiana, and thank you, senator donnelly, for your leadership in bringing us together today. minnesota, like indiana, has so many people that are in the central state's pension plan, and like senator donnelly, i believe that promises made should be promises kept. over ten million americans participate in a multiemployer pension plan for a safe and secure retirement. the central state's pension plan established in 1955 to help truckers save for retirement. and as senator donnelly knows, coming from indiana, a state with a lot of proud truckers. today the central state's pension plan includes from the car haul, tank haul, construction, clerical, food processing, dairy and trucking industries. i heard from people all over my state. fred from hibbing worked for 33 years as a bread man and serves as a caregiver for his wife. daniel from st. michael worked over 41 years as a mechanic. if he were to face a reduction in his pension, he would likely be forced to sell the house he has lived in since 1973. sue from elk river wrote about her

ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: senator blunt and i were here on the floor earlier to talk about the bill that just passed through the senate unanimously and that is a bill dealing with the sexual harassment and other harassment rules of the congress. this was a joint effort, and i wanted to take an opportunity, first of all, to thank everyone that was involved in this. first and foremost, senator blunt, who has been a true partner. we have worked on everything together from adoption to tourism, and last month when he took over from senator shelby's able leader the rules committee, he and i worked together on changing the senate's rules for the first time in the history of the senate to be more family friendly and work with senator tammie duckworth so that her baby will be allowed on the floor, as will other children of male and female senators going forward. the world is changing, and the senate needs to change with it. and i would argue the senate should be in the lead. it is no surprise then that we've