ms. stabenow: thank you very much mr. president. i want to ask -- i want to say first of all, thank you to our distinguished leader of the finance committee for including the portman-stabenow amendment. i first before calling it up want to add senator donnelly as a cosponsor and thank senators burr graham, collins baldwin brown, casey manchin schumer shaheen and warren for being cosponsors as well. mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and i would call up amendment number 1299. the presiding officer: without objection, the the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: senator stabenow proposes amendment number 1299 to amendment 1221. in section 102-b -- ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would ask that we assume the amendment has been read. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from ohio. mr. brown: mr. president i call up amendment 1251. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from ohio mr. brown proposes an amendment numbered 125

ms. stabenow: thank you very much.t to commend senator risch and am pleased to be oo cosponsor of this resolution which is incredibly important to people in michigan as well as, i know across the country. we have a very special man who unfortunately is being held as a hostage in iran and he needs to come home now. i've had the honor of getting to know the family of amir ahmadi, a patriotic american who served his country honorably and bravely as a marine from 2001 to 2005 in iraq and afghanistan. he is an american citizen but also became a dual citizen with iran in order to be able to visit his grandmother and other family members in iran. he last in august 2011 was visiting his grandmother and was arrested by the iranian authorities and charged with spying for the c.i.a., which was absolutely false. absolutely trumped-up charges. he was then deprived a fair trial and jailed on totally trumped-up charges. of those americans confirmed as prisoners in iran, none have been incarcerated longer than amir ahmadi. he is the p

ms. stabenow: thank you very much. and before speaking specifically to our amendment i want to also indicate that there are a number of very important amendments coming before us on this open debate process i'm pleased we have a number of amendments pending that hopefully will be offered and voted on that relate to other very important topics, one of those is an amendment currently pending led by senator brown, i'm pleased to be a cosponsor of it that would clarify the process for new countries to join the trans-pacific partnership to ensure that additional countries, including china cannot join the agreement without congressional approval. and so i hope we will get a vote on that, and that certainly is part of this whole discussion on currency manipulation when we look at asia, we look at japan now, we look at china. so this is an important amendment. i -- i also want to indicate that -- i have terrific support for -- respect i should say for our chairman of the finance committee. i want to address an amendment i beli

ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. i just want to take a moment to add to what my partner on the portman-stabenow amendment has said on the floor. l ii appreciate working with senator portman on this important issue and i find it very interesting as we are debating as other colleagues have said, a policy that allows the administration to go ahead and negotiate a trade agreement that we voluntarily give up our right to change, to amend and that we voluntarily as a congress say we're not going to allow anyone to object to make it a 60-vote threshold. so we're giving them this fast-track authority and the trade-off -- the way we're supposed to be doing that is by setting up a set of negotiating objectives and expectations for what will be negotiated in the agreements. that's -- that's the deal here. fast-track authority setting up the expectations, but what we believe on behalf of our constituents the people we represent, are the most important things that we wap to make -- that we want to make sure are covered enforcement

ms. stabenow: thank you. i rise on the floor of the united states senate in memory of a young woman whose life was extraordinary and meaningful and whose passing has left so many of us so profoundly sad. on tuesday night -- on tuesday night rachel jacobing -- rachel jacobs left work and boarded a train to go home to her husband todd and her sons. her life full of passion and purpose was lost that night along with at least seven others when her train -- and we all know now about the train -- was derailed just outside of philadelphia. rachel touched so many lives all across the country. today all of those lives are broken. the loss is so profound her family has lost a wonderful wife and daughter and mother and sister and all of us have lost someone who had accomplished so much already in her young life and would have done so much more to make the world a better place if only she had been given the time. i want my colleagues in the senate to know rachel. i want them to know the life she lived. she grew up in the

ms. stabenow: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you madam president. i'm speaking today on an amendment on the underlying bill. but i do want to indicate supporting my friend from pennsylvania that there is incredible exciting work being done with the national institutes of health focused on those cures. i think the cheanl for us is that the budget -- the challenge for us is that the budget that was passed will actually end up cutting n.i.h. and with this very very bad policy of sequestration that i hope we're going to be able to fix, if that continues then we will not only not have the ability to move forward on exciting cures but we will actually be seeing n.i.h. cut which i think will be foolish and devastating to all of us in the long run. for lots and lots of reasons the wrong direction. so i hope we can work together on a bipartisan basis to fix that. madam president, first of all let me say coming to the floor on the portman-stabenow amendment that we want to add two more cosponsors today: senator tester and s

ms. stabenow: thank you very much mr. president. i rise today to talk about an issue that, by some estimates has cost the united states as many as 5 million jobs. that's a lot of jobs. and that's the issue of currency manipulation. and we're going to have an opportunity now that there's an agreement to move forward on the -- all of the issues related to trade whether it's fast-track or helping workers or enforcement issues or the other pieces that will be in front of us -- we will have an important opportunity to seriously move forward in a positive way for our manufacturers and for our agriculture and all those that are impacted by currency manipulation. inin fact, currency manipulation is the most significant 21st century trade barrier that american businesses and workers face today. and it is the least enforced against. we take the least amount of action against currency manipulation and yet it is the most significant 21st century trade barrier. and if we don't take meaningful action to address this issue we stand to lose even mo

ms. stabenow: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you mr. president. i first want to thank the distinguished senator from arizona for his leadership and echo his words that we need a bipartisan solution on this issue and hopefully we're going to be able to address it, not only supporting our men and women when they are actively in harm's way but supporting them when they come home as veterans, which i know he cares deeply about as well. which is why we need a bipartisan balanced solution that we had before. so i thank you for your leadership. and, mr. president the reality is that this budget, any budget for the united states is about our values and our priorities. that's what it's all about as a country. and i have to say as a senior member of the budget committee i am deeply concerned about the values portrayed in this budget. i greatly respect the chairman and ranking member and thank them for their service. but when you look at this budget in total this goes opposite fangly to what the majority of the members talk

ms. neuberger for her statement. >> thank you chairman robert franqui member stabenow and members of the committee thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the findings and recommendations of our 2014 report on the school meals program. as you mentioned your opening remarks for school lunch programs play an important role providing for nutritional needs of schoolchildren across the nation. at the same time the national school lunch program is on omb's list of high programs due to its large estimated payment rank and this underscores to ensure some controls are in place to ensure that $15 billion of funds are spent wisely. today i would like to discuss two things for some positive actions usda is making to strengthen oversight of the program as well as additional opportunities the gao has identified to enhance controls. first in terms of usda action the department has worked closely with congress to develop legislation that requires school districts to directly certify students in the program and according to usda officials direct clarification of any student reduces the ministry t

ms. newberger for her statement. >> thank you, chairman roberts, ranking member stabenow, members of the committee, thank you for invitingdiscuss the findings and recommendations of our 2014 report on school meals program. as you know and mentioned in your opening remarks, the school lunch and breakfast program play a very important role in providing for the nutritional needs of schoolchildren across the nation. at the same time the national school lunch program is on omb's list of high error-prone programs, due to its large estimated improper payments rate and this underscores the need to me to insure sound controls are in place to insure that $15 billion in federal funds are spent wisely. today i'd like to discuss two things, first some positive actions, usda has take ton strengthen oversight of the program, as well as additional opportunities that the gao has identified to enhance controls. first in terms of first in terms of usda actions the department has worked closely with commerce to develop legislation that requires school districts to directly certify students in the snap program. according to usda officials di

stabenow said. we've got some real challenges out there. thank you. >> reclaim my time and take one more question, ask one more question. ms. neuberger, for you as well. we know simple airs on applications, this goes to have the bureaucracy and how we do all those for families not only the school but we need to care for the families and thinks in terms of what we are adding in bureaucracy. simple errors on applications are often because of improper payments. so it's not just intentional lack of reported if somebody makes a mistake that they don't fill in a box. they do something that simple but it creates that error that mr. lord is talking about. in some cases errors result in children in to get having to pay for meals or they may not be paying for meals because of some simple error. so to help make the system work and ensure all children receive meals, whether they can some of the ways applications can be improved, the actual application? i know direct certification has been very successful. adequate better utilize the data matching to reduce errors so that we again from the families and are not penalizing a child because

portman-stabenow currency amendment, and i hope my colleagues will join me in standing up for american workers and fighting back against unfair currency manipulation. mr. president, i yield. ms. baldwin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: thank you mr. president. trade is a major issue for a manufacturing state like wisconsin. i'm very proud of the fact that the state i represent has had a rich history of making thing. and, in fact, i don't think that you can have an economy that's built to last that doesn't make things as a key part, a key sector of the overall economy. and so this debate on trade promotion authority and the trade bills that may follow to the floor of the senate and the house takes on a particular disproportionate impact in a state like wisconsin that makes things. and we've lost a lot of those manufacturing jobs in recent years. and you can't lay the entire blame on trade policies, but certainly some of our past trade deals have had a significant impact. and it's hard to find folks in the state of wisconsin who don't recall that in a negative way who haven't suffered the results of mistakes that we've made in the

to working with senator stabenow in each member of the committee throughout this reauthorization process. i am also appreciative of the witnesses here today. a special thanks to mss traveled from kansas to be on our second panel. i look forward to hearing from our witnesses regarding their experiences with these programs and i thank them so much for their testimony before the committee and taking their valuable time to come here. i now turn to my colleague, the chairperson emeritus at the committee, senator stabenow for any opening remark she may have. >> thank you mr. chairman. i look forward to working with you on this important issue. we have been talking and looking for ways we can move forward and i look forward to working with you on this as well as the entire committee. as we continue the work we began last year to strengthen child attrition programs. i want to thank the witnesses as well. you bring perspectives from all sides of the issue. there's a lot of important pieces to this legislation and it's important to hear from you and work together to move forward. as we all know our children's health and well-being really are at a crossroads. obesity rates

ms. stabenow: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you mr. president. i first want to thank the distinguished senator from arizona for his leadership and echo his words that we need a bipartisan solution on this issue and hopefully we're going to be able to address it, not only supporting our men and women when they are actively in harm's way but supporting them when they come home as veterans, which i know he cares deeply about as well. which is why we need a bipartisan balanced solution that we had before. so i thank you for your leadership. and, mr. president the reality is that this budget, any budget for the united states is about our values and our priorities. that's what it's all about as a country. and i have to say as a senior member of the budget committee i am deeply concerned about the values portrayed in this budget. i greatly respect the chairman and ranking member and thank them for their service. but when you look at this budget in total this goes opposite fangly to what the majority of the members talk