ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would suggest an extension of the quorum call. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. ms. stabenow: i would suggest suspension of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: before asking unanimous consent, and we will do that as soon as it's appropriate to do, i just want to stress again why we have been on the floor this afternoon, and that is that we know that we have bipartisan support, not only for the children's health insurance program, but for the health centers where they get their health care, which is community health centers, and that we can address this without pitting children against children through the unanimous consent in the amendment that i'm offering along with senator brown and senator casey, and in addition to that, there are critical issues that normally get done before the end of the year that did not relating to rural hospitals, ambulances, other issues that relate to pregnant moms and children and so on, that again normally have bipartisan support. so w

ms. stabenow: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. before offering a motion, i first want to thank our ranking member from oregon who is -- is so dedicated, so passionate, so smart, he is working tirelessly every day. it's such a pleasure to serve with him as someone who has such a distinguished career of fighting for middle-class families, working people, for the right kinds of things. he came from his work working with the gray panthers and senior citizens, and he brings that to work every single day, and i thank him for that. i want to just stress before offering a motion that he -- he and other colleagues, senator casey, senator brown, senator carper who we had hoped would be joining us, i know is trying to as well, have all stressed the fact, first of all, that we are at a one-year anniversary of this president. we have for the first time in a number of years we have the house, the senate, the white house, all controlled by republicans, and over and over again, what has gotten the priority, what

ms. stabenow: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: first i want to thank my friend from ohio. senator brown has been a real champion. it's wonderful to partner with him and with the senator from indiana, senior senator, senator donnelly. all of us believe strongly and the democratic caucus together believes strongly that a pension is a promise, period. a pension is a promise. and too many people right now are finding themselves in a situation where they are being told that promise is not going to be kept. so for generations, millions of working men and women have built better lives for themselves in michigan and across the country, better lives for their families with jobs that provided more than a paycheck. that was part of the american dream. these folks have worked hard, and we know that the people of michigan can outwork and outbuild and outimagine anyone. i will take on my friends from indiana and ohio on that one because we know that in michigan, we've got bright, hardworking folks. in exchange for a job well done, work

ms. stabenow: just in the interest of time i'm really -- i , don't mean to be rude but in the interest of time you're saying yes to negotiation of prescription drugs. mr. azar: where we can do so preserves innovation, access for patients, i want to look at anything that's going to help us with drug pricing. in part b i think we should be looking at those approaches. ms. stabenow: national academies of science, engineering and medicine has indicated that buyers in the biopharmaceutical sector, buyers often appear to be in a weak position with little alternative but to purchase the drug at whatever the price. they recommend, they say the effect of not allowing hhs to negotiate prices is to tilt the bargaining power further in favor of drug manufacturers. now, part d, as it was originally in the past, basically prohibited. it was on the side of the drug companies, saying you cannot negotiate, so do you support changing the law so that under medicare part d you can negotiate on behalf of seniors and the american people to bring prices down? mr. azar: so right now negotiation is happening in p

ms. stabenow: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, today marks a sad and, frankly, shocking day for too many of america's children and hardworking families because it's now been a hundred days since funding for the children's health insurance program and community health centers expired, a hundred days. history's shown us that there's a whole lot that can get done in a hundred days. it took thomas jefferson only 17 days to write the declaration of independence. the brave allied forces who landed on d-day advanced through france and liberated paris in only 80 days. and congress managed to pass 15 major pieces of legislation during president franklin delano roosevelt's first 100 days in office. and yet here we are, a hundred days pasted september 30 deadline and congress still hasn't managed to pass the long-term legislation to reauthorize what we call chip, children's health insurance program, and to fund our community health centers. we have a strong bipartisan bill funding chip. this

ms. stabenow: thank you very much, mr. president. i rise today to speak about why i, too, will be opposing alex azar to be the secretary of health and human services, and i appreciate, as always, my great friend from massachusetts and her advocacy for the people of her state and all of the country. perhaps no more than any other agency, the department of health and human services touches the lives of people in michigan and across the country every single day. it provides families access to head start and other early childhood education programs that help our youngest learners get to have a strong start. it helps ensure that families have health insurance, whether through medicare, medicaid, children's health insurance, or private insurance. it administers the food and drug administration, which makes sure that medications are safe and effective, and it works to ensure that health insurance and prescription drugs are affordable, because the best medication a understand health coverage -- and health coverage in the world won't help any

stabenow. the senator from minnesota miss klobuchar. the senator from west virginia mr. manchin and the senator from wisconsin ms. baldwin. the members of the oscar committee will exit the chamber stood the lobby doors. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker. the leader of the diplomatic corps. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court. [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] [i

stabenow here before we conclude. and i want to pickup on something that you raised, ms. gross, when i asked the question about infrastructure and what more we need to be doing. you pointed out the appropriate -- what i think is the appropriate role of working with the utilities and a recognition that there needs to be some level of coordination or certainly communication so that there is a better understanding as to how, particularly with evs, we can, we can maximize the efficiencies. and it goes to a statement that was made earlier, and this might have been by you, ms. bailo. we can't, we can't make folks buy things that they don't want. so, it's how -- it's how we are communicating with the public about what is happening with these advancements and how they might benefit you. and if they do, how you can be a better participant. senator stabenow and i were speaking before the hearing here about the driverless vehicles and i'll be the first one to publicly admit out loud, they scare the living daylights out of me. and she described or you described as well, ms. gross, yo