we help ensure, uret our nation will end for generations to come. for if we do not remember our , how can, our heroes we expect future generations to step up to serve? [applause] certainly what happens post-vietnam weakened our nation. it was a shameful time in our history and we must never ever let that happen again. [applause] remembering and honoring our veterans is paramount to our national security. this places a critical importance on always taking care of our military servicemembers and their families before, during and after the battle. the dangers of the 21st century are clear. with no doubt that this century will be equally if not more dangerous than the previous one. the united states must maintain a strong defense, impossible to do without strong defenders. for all they have done, for all they have sacrificed, they asked so little in return. , thatg they are honored they will get the care they need when they need it, that they are not forgotten and that their sacrifice is appreciated can make a world of difference. , little did we know th

remembering and honoring our veterans is paramount to our national security. this places a critical importance on always taking care of our military service members and their families before, during, and after the battle. the dangers of the 21st century are clear. no doubt this century will be equally if not more dangerous than the previous one. the united states must maintain a strong defense, impossible to do without strong defenders. they askhey have done, so little in return. knowing they are honored, that they will get the care they need when they need it, that they are not forgotten, and that their sacrifice is appreciated can make a world of difference. 13 years ago on that terrible september morning, little did we know the coming years would ring starousands of gold families and in entire new generation of real-life lieutenant dans. we have upwards of 4 million living with their injuries loaded in america's wars, supported and looked after by our unsung heroes, america's caregivers. we cannot give those wounded veterans back their arms. we cannot give t

those of us who give them this duty are obliged by history, by our nation's highest ideals and the many terrible sacrifices made to protect them by our respect for human dignity, to make clear we need be risk our national honor to prevail in this or any war. we need only remember in the worst of times through the chaos and terror of war, when facing cruelty, suffering, and loss, that we are always americans and different, stronger, and better than those who would

each year, hundreds of contribute thousands of hours to help transport to our national of capitol.o the this year's tree comes from the chippewa national forest, established by theodore roosevelt as the first national mississippi.f the the forest is at the headwaters of the river. ofcontains 400,000 acres wetlands and lakes and provides sandhill cranes and the largest breeding population in the lower 48. the forest has also been home to native americans for thousands years and contains outstanding cultural resources. that makes today's celebration because theportant, lake band of ojibwe has played a partnering with the forest service to bring the tree here. indeed, i'm told there are members of the band here today who are here as children in 1992, when a tree from the chippewa national forest was the capitold as christmas tree. other partners like choose outdoors have also contributed to the long journey the tree has taken. these are vital for all the work we do on the national forest, whether it's conserving and restoring our forest's ecosystems or providing recreational opportunities

our economy. as such, national security is a top priority in this bill. we provides -- we provide a total of $554 billion for the department of defense, including $64 billion in overseas contingency operations to support our troops in the field, to combat isil, to train and equip our iraqi allies and to counter russian aggression. to further assist our economy, we include provisions that put the brakes on regulatory programs that are too intrusive and too burdensome on american businesses. for instance, the legislation prohibits funds for the army corps of engineers to act on two potentially harmful regulations, changing the definition of, quote, fill material, quote, and regulating water in certain agricultural areas under the clean water act. the bill measure prevents the listing of the sage grouse on the endangered species list a premature action that would have severe economic consequences on western states, especially. and the bill protects job creators from onerous regulatory burdens by amending dodd-frank swaps pushout rules. this bill also demonstr

of our nation's he rose with the public through a variety of approaches. irman, we look forward to our continued work with this committee, to care for those who shall have borne the battle, and we are greatly appreciative of your leadership, and all you've done for our nation's veterans. thank you again for this opportunity to be here today, and i would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have. >> thank you, mr. walters. with that we will now hear from mr. hallinan for his testimony. so you're recognized for five minutes. >> chairman runyan, ranking member titus, distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunities to provide an update on operation at arlington national cemetery. since my testimony to the subcommittee a year ago, we continue to build upon our tremendous progress. we are setting standards for best practices, becoming a center of excellence while working closely with our partner organizations that i'm honored to testify with today. i apprentices i have one of the most stringent accountable the processes of an

we help ensure, uret our nation will end for generations to come. for if we do not remember our , how can, our heroes we expect future generations to step up to serve? [applause] certainly what happens post-vietnam weakened our nation. it was a shameful time in our history and we must never ever let that happen again. [applause] remembering and honoring our veterans is paramount to our national security. this places a critical importance on always taking care of our military servicemembers and their families before, during and after the battle. the dangers of the 21st century are clear. with no doubt that this century will be equally if not more dangerous than the previous one. the united states must maintain a strong defense, impossible to do without strong defenders. for all they have done, for all they have sacrificed, they asked so little in return. , thatg they are honored they will get the care they need when they need it, that they are not forgotten and that their sacrifice is appreciated can make a world of difference. , little did we know th

may we never forget those who served to secure our nation and our liberty. let us never take for granted the high cost that these men and women have paid. we pray for the veterans who were crippled in war with the loss of a limb. we pray for those injured by unseen wounds of the heart and mind, and we pray for veterans and homeless shelters or on the street suffering from wounds that they do not understand. bless the families of those we honor today. fill them with the pride that because of their sacrifices they shared equally in the appreciation awarded today, and finally, lord, we want to pay special respect to those veterans of the greatest generation. they did so much to halt evil and reshape civilization into what is our modern society, so let us share in their memories, their stories, and their tears to in rich us on this way. amen. >> thank you. you may be seated. it's now my privilege to introduce the superintendent of the national mall and memorial parks service, mr. robert vogel. >> good morning. beautiful morning and beautiful veterans day it is.

the michael brown and the eric garner cases to inconvenience their fellow citizens to disrupt our nation's cities. here is our president speaking to the black entertainment television network. >> long as they're peaceful, i think they're necessary. a country's conscience sometimes has to be triggered by inconvenience because i think a lot of people who saw the eric garner video are troubled. even if they haven't had the same experience themselves. even if they're not african-american or latino. there are a lot of good well meaning people. a lot of police officers who might have looked at that and said, you know, that is a tragedy what happened and we've got to figure out what happened, how to bring an end to these kinds of tragedies. but then attention spans move on, right? the next thing, there's some international crisis, change doesn't really occur, and the value of peaceful protests, activism, organizing, is it remind the society this is not yet done. lou: not yet done. president obama also escalating his ongoing assault against law enforcement agencies and officers insulting their tra

security remains in -- and ensure our national security remains in tact. today are provisions that the house and senate has agreed upon that will help keep american families safe and make sure our brave men and women in uniform are given the resources they have earn aed and deserve -- eamb earned and deserve. key provisions including awards of the purple heart to members of the armed forces like those at fort hood, mandates new criminal sexual assault reforms to prevent future crimes from occurring and offers support to victims in need. additional behavioral and psychological health programs will be made available to address and prevent military suicides. a bipartisan prohibition on the transfer of guantanamo bay detainees to the united states and prevents construction of terrorist detention facilities at home. supports operations to promote peace in the middle east by supporting our allies in the region. in the future we will work to enhance paid benefits and economy air is proposal as. as a 31-year veteran of the army national guard, i'm pleased we were a

he believed our nation is strongest we harness the talents of all of our people. that belief and his legacy will always live on. [applause] charles zifford. charlie just wanted to play golf. at a time when the pga adhered to a caucasians only rule, he risked everything to affect change. in the face of death threats and insults, he challenge the discrimination that plagued his beloved sport while demonstrating his extraordinary ilk on the court. he went on to reach pga events. he leveled the fairway for generations of athletes of all races and inspired a community beyond the sport he loved. [applause] robert m solow. and importance of technological advancement to long-term growth. the importance of investing in education and scientific research, millions of americans have benefited from the economic progress that he helped to spark. his contributions have molded public opinion and policy and he continues to engage with the most pressing economic questions of the. some great economic mobility. meryl streep. [applause] an unmatched ability to bring a character to lif

we face no shortage of challenges to our national security. our combat mission in afghanistan ends this month and we have to transition to a new mission of advising and assisting afghan forces and going after remnants of al qaeda. we have to keep degrading and ultimately destroying isil in iraq and syria. we have to build counterterrorism partnerships and new platforms. we have to continue the fight against ebola in west africa. we have to continue to strengthen our alliances, including nato, and continue to rebalance our defense posture in the asia-pacific. going forward, our armed forces will need to be leaner. as commander-in-chief, i will make sure we have a military that is second to none, that continues to be the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. that means we are going to have to bolster some new capabilities, our cyber defenses, how we deal with our satellites, how we are adapting our military and investing in new capabilities to meet long-term threats. we are going to have to work with congress on a more responsible

roy balance believed our nation is strongest when we harness the talents of all our people.hat belief in his legacy will always live on. > charles sifford. charles charlie sifford just wanted to play golf at a time the pga adhered to a caucasians only rule he risked everything to effect change. in the face of death threats and stinging insults he persistently challenged the discrimination that plagued his beloved sport while demonstrating his extraordinary skills on the court winning six national negro opens before receiving his pga tour card. he went on to win pga events, was inducted in the world golf hall of fame and received an honorary doctorate from st. andrew's university. charlie sifford leveled the fairway for all races and inspired a community beyond the sport he loved. > robert m. solow. a brilliant economist, robert m. solow transformed our fundamental understanding of how to build broad-based prosperity. his groundbreaking research illustrated the importance of technological advancement to long term growth and earned him a nobel prize. his conclusions emphasized

they must know when the values that define our nation are intentionally disregarded by our security policies, even those policies that are conducted in secret. they must be able to make informed judgments about whether those policies and the personnel who supported them were justified in compromising our values, whether they served a greater good, or whether, as i believe, they stained our national honor, did much harm and little practical good.

we are talking about one of our nation's top experts on intelligence and national security. we are talking about a standout champion for the men and women of our military. we are talking about a senator who became chair of the agriculture committee just two years into his first term. that's quite an accomplishment. but once you get to know saxby, it's not all that surprising. before he came to congress, he was a small town and lawyer. lawyer. town ag he still lives in a peanut and cotton farming region far removed from the right lights of atlanta. he's got a feel for the issues that could only be acquired from actual, on the ground experience. he understands the real world impact of what we discuss here in washington. and he cares. on top of that, he's got the discipline work ethic of a minister's son, which makes sense because he is one. saxby is usually the first guy to raise his hand when there's an assignment no one else wants. that is what you saw for him on the gang of six, a politically difficult and work intensive committee if there ever was one. saxby came here to ge

we needed to send a simple message to our nation possibly leaders. -- nation possibly leaders. -- nation's leaders. comprehensive mental health bills this year need to be passed. [applause] we have the power to make the difference and the personal experience needed to be taken seriously. we know what it means to have our lives or the lives of people we love get off track because of mental illness. that mentald illness is serious and can be absolutely devastating. we also know that mental illness can be treatable when we have the access to appropriate comprehensive care. i know it is largely because of our personal experience with mental illness that each of us is here today. as i learn more about my own illness and the experience of others, i realize how much we all have in common. even if mental illness has made a few headlines because of my career. there is a number of ways in which i have been very lucky. yet, even with access to so much, my journey has not been an easy one by any means. during my darkest times, i did not know why i was alive and i did not like myself. . have very low i

our shared commitment to memorialize our nation's veterans is strengthened to our continued partnership. as to chairman, undersecretary mcdonnell's leadership the department recently launched myv.a., and ambitious attempt to reorganize the department to one that is centered around the customer, the veteran. effort,ncawith the measure success about the ultimate outcome from veterans.] direct feedback from our customers let us know of we were achieving those outcomes. as reported in 2014, for the fifth consecutive time nca achieve the highest score ever recorded for a public or private organization on the american customer satisfaction index. thanks to our employees, nca scored 96. it was 28 points above the 68-point average for federal government agencies. our employees are nca's best assets and we value their feedback. this year i am pleased to report that nca increased is v.a.'s allon rate in employee survey by 10%. nca employee engagement, along with all the employees, is invaluable to be successful design of my v.a.. this is especially true of nca's workforce, 74% of which are vetera

those of us who give them this duty are obliged by history, by our nation's highest ideals and the many terrible sacrifices made to protect them by our respect for human dignity, to make clear we need be risk our national honor to prevail in this or any war. we need only remember in the worst of times through the chaos and terror of war, when facing cruelty, suffering, and loss, that we are always americans and different, stronger, and better than those who would destroy us. madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to speak in a seated position. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: madam president, i come to the floor to wholly support the comments of my colleagues, the senator from california and the senator from arizona, to speak about a matter of great importance to me personally but more importantly, to the country. the senate intelligence committee's study of the detention program, i'll just call it the program, is the most in-depth, the most substantive

the vietnam war represents a difficult time in our nation's history. by taking time to thank our vietnam vets and honor their service, our nation makes another great attempt to bind up the unhealed wounds left behind. in north dakota there have already been a number of veterans events related to the 50th anniversary of vietnam. i'm sure such events are happening in many other states. in fact, there's a web site. if you want to check it out, there's a web site where you can look at what's happening in every state across the union honoring vietnam veterans in ceremonies that are being prepared mainly driven bivens groups, but -- driven by veterans groups but hopefully and one of the reasons for coming here is to urge my colleagues to participate in those events, to participate as they do every day in saying thank you to our iraqi war vets and afghanistan war vets, participate in any event that you can to say thank you to our vietnam veterans and for the families of those people in your state who lost their lives in service to their country. for myself, i

this is now a nation with an african-american commander in chief. the election of our first black president shows we've, a long way as a nation -- we've come a long way. there is still a challenge with still in america, and we have more work to do. the subcommittee has tried to look intently not just to our past but to our present and future, to examine what more needs to be done to protect civil and human rights in america. we've tried to understand in this subcommittee the human impact of the issues we debate by hearing from those most affected. we've given a platform to voice is not often heard in the halls of congress. i would like to show a brief video to remind us all what's at stake. in 2000 one, eugenia jennings was sentenced almost 22 years in prison for selling a small amount of crack cocaine. her brother testified at a 2009 hearing of a sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine. to tell you the things my sister eugenia would say if she were here today. the severity of the mandatory minimums and the sharp disparity between those for crack and po

speaker, above where you are standing is our nation's motto, and it says in god we trust. what a fabulous motto. could any better motto be written for any nation to declare full voice that it is in god that we as a nation put our trust. what other more trustworth venue could there be? what other trustworthy vehicle could there be than a holy god. these words were mouthed by the founders of our country, those who decided to leave the comforts of their home to come here to what was essentially an untested, untapped world where there were people, the native americans who populated this land, but where a brand new culture was about to be born. one that would be blessing the entire world. where people knew they could come from any portion of the world and find a new birth of freedom, as individuals but also as a nation. we have so much to be thankful for, so much to be grateful for. for people who have never been in this chamber before, this is the room where the laws of our nation are formulated. our founders meant that the house of representatives would be the most powerful fo

that people who are coming to washington can learn about the enormous contributions of women to our nation's history. indeed, american women have made invaluable contributions to our country across such diverse fields as government, business, medicine, law, literature, sports, entertainment, the arts, and the military. a museum dedicated to women's history will help ensure that future generations understand what it is that we owe to the many american women who have helped to build, sustain, and advance our society. such a museum will share the stories of pioneering women like abolitionist harriet tubman, the founder of the girl scouts julia gordon lowe, supreme court justice sandra day o'connor, astronaut sally ride, and my personal inspiration, margaret chase smith. madam president, i first introduced legislation to establish a museum for women's history in 2003. early the following year, the senate unanimously approved my bill. unfortunately, that legislation was not taken up by the house and died. in 2005, the senate again approved the legislation, but it, too, stalled in the house. with

we will rely on all elements of our national power, including the power and example of our founding ideals. that is why, he says, i have consistently supported the declassification of today's report. no nation is perfect. but one of the strengths that makes america exceptional is our willingness to openly confront our past, face our imperfections, and make changes and do better, rare than another reason to refight old arguments i hope the report will help us leave these techniques where they belong in the past. today is also a reminder that upholding the values we professor does not make us weaker. it makes us stronger and that the united states of america will remain the greatest force for freedom and human dignity that the world has ever known. that is the back story. and now team fox coverage. greg pelkot in london, ed henry at the white house. let's begin withcrat rein her around in washington. what are we are hearing about osama bin laden's compound? >> the cia and democrat-led senate investigators disagree over who provided the initial leads to the cure your who led them to osama bin

strong bipartisan agreement that isis poses a clear and proximate, if not immediate, threat to our national security interests and those of our partners. i believe we can reach the same level of bipartisan agreement on an authorization for the use of military force. we have no greater or more sacred responsibility than to carefully and thoroughly consider when and how we send american men and women in uniform into harm's way. i urge my colleagues in both parties to engage in this debate and to work expeditiously to pass an authorization for the use of military force. i would have preferred -- and i know many would have preferred -- that we passed and will have passed a bill before we adjourn this year, knowing that in this who will did i season there are service members already deployed away from home from their families to support this operation, operation inherent resolve. if we cannot get that done at the end of this year, when the debate would be fully developed enough to pass an authorization, we must -- we must -- get it done early in 2015. it must be among our first orders of busines

and then on weekends, cspan is the home to american history tv, with programs that tell our nation'sstory. the civil war's 150th anniversary, visiting battlefields and key events. american artifacts, touring museums and historic fsites, discovering what artifacts reveal about america's past. history bookshelf, with the best known american history writers, the presidency, looking at the policies and legacies of our nation's commanders in chief. top college professors devilling into america's past, and our new series, real america. with educational films from the 1930s through the 70s. cspan 3, created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local tv and satellite providers. r holiday season, we're showing you american history programs, here's what's ahead next. we'll start with one of several pieces from a recent world war i symposium. first up, an introduction, then from the same program, a discussion on the countdown to war, and later, a look at the battle of the marn which took place in 1914. >> american history tv visiteded the macarthur memorial in norfolk, virginia which was

ÑsjsyÑknow, i mean our access policies at this point with coverage -- if they have convenient access to either a nationald state[g cemeteries can be run?çzñ by people who are committed to the perpetualméf of our nation's ÷ñ i think the little cemetery in boulder city is kú Ñgreat. but how much oversight do you have on state cemeteries after you have provided(;(dÑ the fundinging. because state cemeteries policies very -- douí,hj you go back and oversee these? or once you get the çexmoney, you'ruylecqj going to trust the c>[6 1 o veteranst4$n association to be sure that they keep the+pÑ national standard? >> lno ma'am we have a fairly rigorous national compliance review program that we just revamped about a year or so ago, where weva6go to state thatfacilities and we?3 apply>>uxána2ñ the same scorecards that we do to our national cemeteries to the statesvp applicable. obviously there'sq1x some$ñ criterion that are only applicable to but weíñflñ do review the states, we havei2st scorecards for them wepnarñ givenkx them4sfi opportunities to submit corrective action plans l2p/!n those instances#/& shortcoming

they must know when the values that define our nation are intentionally disregarded by our security policies, even those policies conducted in secret, they must be able to make informed judgments about whether those policies and the personnel who supported them were justified and whether they sustained or national honor, give much harm and little practical good. what were the policies? what was their purpose? did they achieve it? did they make us safer, less safe, or make no difference? what did they gain us, what did they cost us? the american people need the answers to these questions. yes, some things must be kept from public disclosure but not the answers to these questions. by providing them, the committee has empowered the american people to come to their own decisions about whether we should have employed such practices in the past and whether we should consider permitting them in the future. i thank the committee for the valuable public service. i have long believed some of these practices have amounted to torture and especially but not only the practice of waterboarding, which is a

methods that do not have a counterproductive impact on our national security and on our international standing. it is for these reasons that i fully support the president's decision to prohibit the use of eit's another key

we weaken our nation. nation we also hurt our when we attempt to pass something on a partisan basis. in one of the things about the earlier syrian amf was it had bipartisan support in bipartisan opposition. for what it's worth regardless of what happens in these worth, regardlesshat it is of what is happening, my plan is to act in such a way that will not harden the positions. will build an opportunity for us to act in a more full way down the road. that the testimony will be helpful. i listened to the chairman and referred back to the authorization that was passed in 2001 that has led to outcomes that people did not anticipate. standpoint, i would like to have something much more full. i want to have laid out a way. nation, we in our have had multiple conflicts. one thatd to remember ended up with a says factory outcome. start conflicts without teasing out how we are going to go about being successful. we start the process. in this particular case, it aumf wasthat the offered to a process that limits the c

three air force bases, our national parks, our national monuments. so there's so much that is a part of this appropriations bill that's just very, very important to my state. we've got a lot of work to do today and i want to speak for just a few minutes on some of the issues important to my state and our country. first, i'd like to start out on a positive note, that the senate just recently passed the defense authorization bill. that bill is critical to our nation's security and for our troops at home and abroad who deserve our support and respect. in addition this year, it also includes landmark conservation measures to protect some of the most beloved landscapes in new mexico. these are measures that we have worked on for many years, since senator bingaman was in office, and they are the result of many years of dogged hard work by a diverse group of sportsmen, conservationists, local business people and others. with this bill, we are designating the colobine hondo wilderness, giving permanent special protection to this -- federal protection to this

founders are good, though our nation fell short for far too long. we honor john lewis today, not as a revolutionary, but as one, to paraphrase dr. king, came to cash the check the architects of our republic wrote, the promissory note demanding every american is guaranteed the right of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness. john lewis held america to its promise, by doing so he put his life at risk, suffered ridicule and bodily harm. in history, he was vindicated. we honor you today for holding our nation to its highest ideals and ensuring the true existence of liberty and justice for all. it is an honor to be able to serve in these chambers. but i will tell you one of my highest honors is to be able to stand with this man. thank you for what you have done for this nation. but as a grateful citizen, i thank you for righting the ship at the right time. god bless you. [applause] >> thank you, kevin mccarthy. there are a number of sitting senators and members of the house here this evening. we are grateful for their presence. one of the people here

let's actually get back to the rule of law and protecting our nation's borders. it's not just an immigration issue, it's a national security issue. and so what is the president's response to this legislation? he threatens a veto. again, the president thinks he can sit in the oval office and make up his own laws. that's not the way our system of government works, mr. speaker. so we bring this legislation forward today to get us back to that rule of law and to remind the president it's time for him to heed the message that millions of americans across the country set just a few weeks ago and said you need to start working with congress and solve real problems. in fact, this weekend in my home state of louisiana, there are three more elections on that ballot. pay close attention, mr. president. pay close attention to yet another referendum on your agenda that's going to occur this saturday with a senate election and two more house races. the american people want you to get out of the cocoon of the oval office and start working with congress to solve real problems. we

year, hundreds of volunteers contribute thousands of hours to help transport to tree from one of our national by theodore roosevelt as the first national forest east of the mississippi. the forest is at the headwaters of the river. it contains 400,000 acres of wetlands and lakes and provides habitat for sandhill cranes and the largest breeding population of bald eagles in the lower 48. the forest has also been home to native americans for thousands of years and contains outstanding cultural resources. that makes today's celebration even more important, because the lake band of ojibwe has played a critical role in partnering with the forest service to bring the tree here. indeed, i'm told there are members of the band here today who are here as children in 1992, when a tree from the chippewa national forest was last selected as the capitol christmas tree. other partners like choose outdoors have also contributed to the long journey the tree has taken. partners like these are vital for all the work we do on the national forest, whether it's conserving and restoring our forest's ecosystems or pr

the presidency, looking at policies and legacies of our nation's commanders in chief, lectures and history, with top college professors delving into america's past, and our new series featuring archival government and educational films 1970's. 1930's through created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch in hd, and follow us on twitter. bellet on the civil war, grove plantation hosted a commemorative ceremony to mark the 150th anniversary of the battle of cedar creek. the battle to place in shenandoah valley, on october 19, 1864, and resulted in a union victory. this program includes choral music, speeches, and current preservation efforts as well as a cannon salute. it is about an hour and 10 minutes. >> good evening. it is my pleasure to welcome you to cedar creek and belle grove national historical park. it has been a very busy day here havee anniversary events unfolded. but now it is time to pause and take a moment to reflect on the magnitude of what happened here 150 years ago. to set the stage for this ceremony, i would like to welcome su

hide in the shadows even as they live and work in plain sight in communities big and small across our nation. time and again the house republican leadership has been unwilling to act to fix our broken immigration system. in the face of this crisis and absence of congressional action, the president acted in a measured way that is likely to improve both our nation's security and economy, specifically the president announced an establishment of the deferred action for parental accountability program which delays deportation for immigrants who have lived illegally in the united states for more than five years but have children who are citizens or have green cards. contrary to messaging from those who disagree with the president and many of his policies unrelated to immigration, this deferred action does not provide relief to recent border crossers. if the applicant can pass a criminal background check and pay a fee, he or she could qualify for work permit and avoid deportation for three years at a time. approximately 4 million immigrants are expected to qualify for this temporary relief. this pr

we're talking about one of our nation's top experts on intelligence and national security. e talking about a standout champion for the men and women of our military. we're also talking about a senator who became chair of the agriculture committee just two years into his first term. that's really quite an accomplishment. but once you get to know saxby, it isn't all that surprising. before he came to congress, saxby was a smalltown ag lawyer. he still lives in a rural area, a peanut and cotton farming region far removed from the bright lights of atlanta. saxby's got a feel for the issues that could only be acquired from actual on the ground experience. he understands the real-world impact of what we discuss here in washington. and he cares. on top of that, he's got the disciplined work ethic of a minister's son, which makes sense because he is one. saxby is usually the first guy to raise his hand when there is an assignment no one else wants. that's what you saw for him on the gang of six, a politically difficult and work-intensive committee, if there ever was one. but saxby c

and we give thanks to trail blazers who bent the arc of our nation towards justice. in the 1950's, golfer charlie sifford won the negro national open five times in a row. by the time he became first african american to earn a pga tour card, most of his best golf was behind him. on the tour, charlie was banned from clubhouse restaurants. folks threatened him, shouted slurs from the gallery, kicked his ball into the rough. charlie's laughing about that. my ball's always in the rough. [laughter] because golf can be a solitary sport, charlie didn't have teammates to lean on but he did have his lovely wife, rose, and he had plenty of guts and grit and that trademark cigar and charlie won on the tour twice, both after the age of 45. but it was never just about the wins. as charlie says, i wasn't just trying to do this for me. i was trying to do it for the world. speaking of trail blazers, to some, marlo thomas will always be that girl who followed her dreams to new york city and kind of was running around manhattan having fun on her own terms. to others, she's the creative

there's another tragic outcome of our nation's incarceration binge. almost 6 million of our citizens have lost the right to vote because of a past criminal conviction, in many instances for very low level crimes. upon release from prison, the citizens work, they pay taxes, they live in our communities and they raise families. but millions cannot vote. one out of every 13 african-americans of voting age has lost the right to vote. that is four times the national average, but millions have no input on our political process. that is unacceptable. we commend senators ben cardin and rand paul for their leadership in this area, and we urge the passage of the democracy restoration act, a bill that would restore voting rights in federal elections to millions of citizens. ending discrimination should be and historically has been a bipartisan issue. just consider the multiple voting rights at extensions that we have had. consider the fair sentencing act of 2010. these would not have happened without bipartisan support. only with bipartisan support can we make mu

our nation stands for something better. our people deserve something better. they deserve an intelligence community that conducts itself according to the law, according to basic human values and with the safety of our troops always in mind, and they deserve better than intelligence tactics that are likely to produce useless lies from people trying to end the torture being used against them instead of producing valuable intelligence. i want to thank chairman feinstein for her leadership in completing and releasing this report. i want to thank senator rockefeller for his long-standing effort in this regard. i want to thank senator mccain and others for speaking out on the need to ensure that the united states never again repeats these mistakes. and, mr. president, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection.

our economy. as such, national security is a top priority in this bill. we provides -- we provide a total of $554 billion for the department of defense, including $64 billion in overseas contingency operations to support our troops in the field, to combat isil, to train and equip our iraqi allies and to counter russian aggression. to further assist our economy, we include provisions that put the brakes on regulatory programs that are too intrusive and too burdensome on american businesses. for instance, the legislation prohibits funds for the army corps of engineers to act on two potentially harmful regulations, changing the definition of, quote, fill material, quote, and regulating water in certain agricultural areas under the clean water act. the bill measure prevents the listing of the sage grouse on the endangered species list a premature action that would have severe economic consequences on western states, especially. and the bill protects job creators from onerous regulatory burdens by amending dodd-frank swaps pushout rules. this bill also demonstr

he served our nation selflessly, toiling for hours every week in a secure hearing room, learning .any sensitive matters he worked closely with another extraordinary departing colleague, saxby chambliss, to assure that our intelligence community retained the tools necessary to defend our country, and if anyone, or anyone thinks our classified programs are not overseen rigorously, i certainly have not met tom coburn. eye tought a skeptic's the task. his probing questions rock the respect of his colleagues and helped craft stronger programs while also reminding us of the value of many other intelligence activities. now, tom has obviously done a lot to earn his reputation as a hawk on the budget also. it is about solutions. tom actually volunteered for simpson bowles. that is why he lobbied to actually take them off, believe it or not, of the finance committee, and you always know where tom stands. i am told he was overseas with a couple of other senators when a government minister launched into a finger wagging her rank about our country. harangue about our country. he said what he thoug

i love the great rocky mountain national forest. i love our wonderful, wonderful programs. but the vast majority of the parks we've created in the last 20 years are nothing but drains on the national park service. and we have the data. this has the data to show that. and we're going to do the largest expansion of national parks since 1978 in this bill. and we don't have the money for it. so what will happen as this goes through? i can say to my colleague from wisconsin, you're absolutely right, this should fly through here. this is not a significant cost. but fixing the real problem is restoring the rights of the states to the lands that are there and taking it out of the hands of the federal government and letting the states make the decisions about what happens to the land within their confines. so it's disappointing to me that when great scholarship is done and is recognized, parochialism trumps even the reading of the information with which to make good decisions. and it's a blight on the senate. you don't have to agree with everything in this, but you can't deny the fac

want to visit this issue again and i want to start off just by saying that it's well founded in our nation's history that the united states has the authority to hold enemy combatants until the end of hostilities in order to prevent their return to the battlefield. for the past several years, each national defense authorization act that has been signed into the law by the president has recognized this principle and made clear that any al qaeda affiliated terrorists, whether foreign or american, who takes up arms against the united states can be held under the law of war. because congress authorized the use of military force against these terrorists shortly after they attacked us on september the 11th, 2001, detention within a military framework is often the best means of collecting valuable intelligence to prevent further terrorist attacks while ensuring that they remain on the sidelines for the duration of the conflict. now, there are fundamental failures of the administration in the war against terrorism. first, when the president announced the closing of the detention facility at guantanam

liberty, our national sovereignty. so, no, he's got to toughen that up. >> let me ask you this, congressman, because i have actually been speaking with a number of sources inside sony and around sony, and they are very upset with the president. they say, basically, they called the white house several times, and they did not get a call back. they said that the fbi was great. they worked with the fbi, and they did a terrific job. but for the president to come out and say, oh, i'm disappointed that they canceled the movie. they should have called me. when in fact, a number of executives have told me they did reach out and he didn't call them back. why was there no response from government, when we knew that north korea said if you go to this movie, you will face a 9/11-like attack? doesn't that warrant an answer from government? >> yeah. in fact, i don't know what went on between sony and the president. having said that, it was the obligation of the president of the united states to meet with sony, to have the department

and to lift our nation forward, we have to have a healthy workforce.e have to have a way for people , no matter where they work or how they work, to be able to have access to doctors, nurses, people who can keep them healthy. they can have security when they sleep at night knowing their children can have access. and if they get stricken with