lee and senator cornyn and senator shaheen senator merkley, senator gardner and senator blumenthal on this because, one i'm proud to have them as cosponsors, but i'm also proud that we're doing the right thing. mr. president, i would ask my full statement be made prior to the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: with that, i would yield the floor and suggest -- i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president yesterday, our friends across the aisle blocked -- filibustered really, a funding a $40 billion funding bill that would have paid the funds necessary to keep the department of homeland security up and running through the rest of this fiscal year. now, i understand that they had some differences over the content of the legislation that the house passed, but it's undenial that the house acted responsibly by passing a -- this appropriation bill, particularly in a time of heightened security concerns not only here at home but around the world. and of course the part that, i guess, confused m

senator thurmond, just like people who are no longer here -- senator russell of georgia senator eastlandmississippi, senator stennis of mississippi -- were the recipients of that pressure during the civil rights movement. it seemed to me there was something useful to learn by exploring how do these people get in power, what made them get so dug into their social system and what did it take to wrench them -- wrench us -- free? c-span: is this an official biography? >> guest: i don't consider it that. i did have senator thurmond's cooperation in terms of him granting me interviews for the book, but, as i said in the acknowledgment, i'm appreciative he never once even in our preliminary talks asked to see any portion of the manuscript, and he did not see a copy of the book until i brought it up to his office in the first week in february. none of his aides saw the manuscript; they did talk to me. his papers were made available to me, but they are open to the public. they reside at clemson university. so i don't consider it an authorized version at all. cooperation and access, yes. approval,

franken -- thank you senator flake, senator franken will be next and because senator lindsey graham has to be at another important meeting i will call on him unless another democrat comes in. senator franken. >> thank you mr. chairman. it is with immense pleasure that i endorse miss lynch's nomination to be the next attorney general and i am proud to be part of this historic moment as we consider and hopefully confirm the first african-american woman to serve as attorney general. she was easily confirmed twice as u.s. attorney. one of the most prominent offices in this country. i have been continually impressed by her and find that she lives up to her reputation as a smart, tough but fair attorney. the eastern district new york office has flourished under her capable leadership. no one denies that. she has prosecuted cases of terrorism, probably the most of any office. public corruption, white-collar crime, police brutality to name just a few. she has coupled the courtroom successes with meaningful community engagement and relationship building and the variety of stakeholders. these

lee and tillis for co-sponsoring as well and senator klobuchar senator cornyn, senator feinstein for their leadership on this very important cause. i've been honored to serve as ranking member of the veterans affairs committee, and i've seen over that time and well before -- as all of us have -- the continuing desire of our veterans to serve our nation. the qualities that they bring to bear to public service are extraordinary and in many ways unique. their persistence tenacity, courage which makes them very well suited to be involved in law enforcement. the purpose of this bill is to give permanent status to a program that is actually succeeding in training our wounded and injured veterans in law enforcement tasks, specifically in computer forensic tasks and skills that they then use to track down apprehend and help prosecute the individuals who are predators who exploit children and who engage in that kind of very pernicious and insidious activity. this program has been in the cyber crimes center and its subcomponents, including the hero core as it's known, and the amendment would e

senator portman, senator feinstein, senator schumer deserve credit for their great contributions but the truth is this has been a collective effort of a lot of the numbers of the committee. indeed, i would daresay the whole committee. and i hope that we were successful us as we can get the bill to the floor passing this important legislation. the fight against human trafficking is one of the most important human rights issues of our time. in 1865, the 13th amendment was ratified out long slavery in the united states forever. yet nearly 150 years later thousands of american children will wake up every morning to a life of forced prostitution. today, we are here to help them put an end to that nightmare. at its core the justice for victims of trafficking act is about breaking down the barriers between victims, law enforcement and society by adopting a holistic approach to fighting domestic human trafficking. if we are going to end slavery in the united states we need to think big, and always keep the victims in mind. to this end this legislation will tackle the scourge of human traffic

senator. >> i will make sure he keeps treating you with kid gloves. i want to thank you gentlemen for what you are doing. i think your service provides a real accurate threat assessments not only to congress but the american people. it is fundamentally critical if we are going to get a hold of the challenges we face now as a country. this committee has had several hearings about these assessments with luminaries. democrats, republicans. former secretaries of state. former four-star generals and written about what they see as the challenges and strategies we need. there is consensus we are living in a challenging environment. henry kissinger said it was one of the most challenging he has seen in his career, which says a lot. what i want to touch on is a disconnect between some of the testimony from just one -- gentlemen like yourselves and senior administration officials. let me give you a few examples. the president talked about the crisis of 9/11. when through a list of things that made it so

senator from arizona. his presidential nomination, influence on ronald reagan, and affinity for photography. this is about 40 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our honored guest arizona secretary of state member of the united states house of representatives, a member of the united states senate, and the speaker of the united states house of representatives. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the united states house of representatives, the honorable john boehner. >> ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and welcome to statuary hall. this place was once the chamber of the house of representatives. it is where lincoln served as one term in congress and where madison, monroe, and andrew jackson were sworn into office. since the 1860's, the tradition has been for each state to send to dope statues here in honor of their favorite sons and daughters. some were veterans, summer authors, some are veterans, some are pioneers and some are just great people. our honoree was all of these t

both senator -- former senator bradley and senator packwood will be witnesses today. they'll be talking about some of that 1986 tax deal under president reagan. they were both members of the committee and they were part of that tax package. we do have live coverage and we're under way as soon as this hearing gets gaveled in. >>> hearing will come to order. today's hearing is about the need for tax reform and what lessons we can learn from the tax reform act of 1986. the last successful overhaul of the united states tax code. we have before us today two former senators who were key to that effort. i don't know why they call you former senators. i think you're always going to be senators to me. i look forward to hearing their thoughts and advice, and i think we all do, during today's hearing. before we engage meaningfully in tax reform we need a clear vision of what we want success to look like. a vision is not a specific system of rates, of deductions or credits. instead a vision is how we want to change the opportunities for american families and the rewards that amer

senator warner senator durbin and senator stowbs -- stabenow a resolution declaring that the goal of preventing and effectively treating alzheimer's is an urgent national priority. in recognition of the fact that bold action and considerable increases in funding are necessary to meet that goal, our resolution states that the senate will strive to double the amount of funding that the united states spends on alzheimer's research in fiscal year 2016, and that we will develop a plan to meet the target of $2 billion over the next five years. mr. president, our bill is supported by a number of organizations, including the alzheimer's association u.s.a. against alzheimer's the leaders engaged on alzheimer's disease or the lead coalition and the alzheimer's foundation of america. i would ask unanimous consent that the letters from these organizations be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. colorado -- ms. collins: mr. president, we have to face the facts that if we do not invest in alzheimer's research, at the levels that the experts tell us is necessary to

senator barry goldwater. american figures have projected such a broad swath of insolence on our nature -- -- influence on our nation's political landscape. his strong and conservative voice in his day led it to one of the great landslide losses in electoral history, yet pivotally gave way to the emergence of a new generation of republican leadership that in time ended decades of democrat domination of american politics. regardless of political party, we give you thanks for barry goldwater's example of a long career of public service in the united state senate. as we remember him here, may we all be inspired to consider lives and service to others whatever our gifts and talents. in payless with your spirit to change our world for the better -- impale us with your spirit to change our world for the better with your greater honor and glory. amen. >> please be seated. ladies and gentlemen, the united states representative from the third district of arizona, the honorable grijalva. [applause] >> good afternoon and

the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed with an amendment h.r. 240, making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, and for other purposes, in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: madam speaker, there it is. that's the bill the senate finally passed. it's been six weeks, i said three weeks earlier, i'm corrected it's six weeks the house passed a funding bill for the homeland security department. six weeks ago. sent it to the senate purposefully early to give them plenty of time to consider and bring forwar

that was not in if the senate -- the senate bill just didn't happen the way -- that senate bill was written in those seven days and we didn't have any hearings. and it was suddenly -- it was like minerva born fully formed. on that night does the committee see the whole bill for the first time and vote for it 20-0. but had they had to vote on individual little sections -- in fact, i will give you there. the reason i made this deal -- tell you to a bill why. i reason i made the deal with the oilies and gave them the bill they wanted when nobody else wanted it and we'd taken it away from everybody else and gave it back to them. bill was furious. george mitchell was furious because i hadn't bounced this off my little group because it was the night we were voting anyway. the reason i did it was because the biggest issue i was going to face on the floor -- when this came out of committee 20-0 it is going to pass, but there was one issue. it was on the i.r.a.s. there. wasn't a great clamor about tighten up the i.r.a.s. the clamor was on the other side about more more. as you'll see in the listed i

senate was possible. a new majority is grateful for her work and many democrats are as well. one of them deserves a mention even though they didn't vote for keystone. we are certainly grateful for her as well. where we are, as others have indicated, we are hoping common sense will prevail and the president will sign this extraordinary jobs bill. >> when the president spoke during the state of the union address, he said the united states must aim higher than a single pipeline. under his policies domestic production has shut down on federal lands, yet has increased by 35% everywhere else. that has led to more money in the pockets of hard-working americans. the keystone pipeline would go through western south dakota. for those counties it would be a good shot in the arm. for many the property taxes would fund schools. it would fund schools, roads and bridges. it would give the opportunity to transport the supplies they need so desperately in a safer manner and take care of their environment as all studies ha

since senator coons is your, senator coons and then senator lindsey graham. senator vitter. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i will vote no on the confirmation of loretta lynch because of her views on the apparently boundless authority of the president, and including specifically this issue of the recent executive amnesty. and let me say i think any suggestion that somehow focusing on this is far afield of what we should be focused on in this confirmation process is ridiculous. this is at the center of her prospective job. this is at the absolute center of her responsibilities, being a top lawyer, not for the president, the president has lots of lawyers and political lawyers and others, including the white house counsel eating the top lawyer for the country. in these sort of issues are at the center of her job. now, why did i reach the conclusion? well, i questioned her at length in my office and in committee, and you know, in contrast to a lot of the folks who spoke, i was not at all impressed with her responses because they were completely superficial and politi

>> senator from minnesota. >> mr. president, i want to thank senator mikulski. i thought the point she made were so well-taken about the fact there has been a new development since we left this chamber and that is the courts are taking on some of the immigration provisions that our colleagues have been trying to attack to this bill. and i would hope they could look at this in a fresh way and see we should simply allow this bill to go forward while the courts are considering this matter. to me that is the answer. and i don't think you should see it -- i don't think our colleagues should see it as a concession but it is simply a fact and something that changed. i come to talk about the importance of the mikulski bill and the critical importance of this funding has been driven home in my state alone. the state of minnesota. just this weekend a video was released encouraging attacks on shopping malls throughout the mall. a shopping mall in minnesota, mall of america, shopping mall in canada, and shopping mall in london. and i don't think they would be limited in the

i was speaking to senator franken, senator whitehouse, senator merkeley, and i think they all genuinely believe that they may actually get more done under leader mcconnell than they did under senator reid over the last couple of years, and i think that may be true. that serves as a basis for us working to moving things along. you can try to make it partisan if you want to, but you can probably attenuate the policy to where you can get some things done. progress. >> touch on a couple of issues where you think there's some potential to build some momentum both with your colleagues across the caucus and also with the >> i think if you go down my bias really is towards regulatory reform. we talk about tax reform and other things we want to do, but i think if we really go back and examine some of the problems we have with regulatory overreach and really expose some of these areas, whether it's e.p.a. or labor, any of the other areas, in a very focused way, then you can sit down and say these regulations may have made sense in a vacuum, but they do not make sense in the context of how they've

thank you, senator baldwin. senator franken. >> thank you. i am thinking that maybe this outbreak in measles is a bit of a wake-up call, as senator warren said. you know, a lot of baby boomers and some of us, some of the senators who are older had measles and remember it. and maybe this is a really good time for people, especially some educated people, who were forgoing this for their children that they understand things like herd immunity, and if you have a mass of people not getting vaccinated, you have outbreaks like this, and the financial costs. there was a 2005 nih article that attempted to quantify the economic impact on health infrastructure. they estimated that one case of measles costs the federal state, and local health departments more than $140,000 to respond to just one case, and you talked about the return on investment of all of these immunizations, and i think it is one of the -- it is obviously cost effective also prevents a lot of suffering. we live in a global world, and i just want to ask you about that investments that w

the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed with an amendment h.r. 240, making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, and for other purposes, in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: madam speaker, there it is. that's the bill the senate finally passed. it's been six weeks, i said three weeks earlier, i'm corrected it's six weeks the house passed a funding bill for the homeland security department. six weeks ago. sent it to the senate purposefully early to give them plenty of time to consider and bring forward a funding bill of their own. and i have to say the majority over there tried. the democrats in the senate stopped consideration of that spending bill four different times over six weeks. in the meantime, the house had to sit here waiting for the senate, and we have been waiting six weeks until just now. finally, this more the senate has passed a bill funding the department fo

brown, senator stabenow senator graham, senator collins and senator sessions got 60 votes a while ago. and so what i am asking you is now, we heard some talk from the administration that currency is not going to be part of tpp whether against japan which is part of tpp or more important to me, although japan is important to me china which takes more jobs away doesn't play fair steals our intellectual property. when america has a good product, 80% of the time were so they don't let it in. we just shrug our shoulders. it's estimated that millions of jobs have gone away. so my question because i know my time is running out okay, we'll be administration support some kind of rigorous controls on currency manipulation aimed alongside this bill of china, if not in the bill and in the bill aimed at japan? i've heard that we set of the currency should not be part of tpp, and that would be i think a really wrong move. tell us about currency and its relationship in your view to tpp and tpa. when i say tpp i mean both. >> senator may i respond to speak with this. you get the last word. my time is

those senators include senator dean heller of nevada, senator mark kirk of illinois, senator jeff flake of arizona senator john mccain of arizona senator lindsey graham of south carolina and senator ron johnson of wisconsin. mr. president, we need eight more republican senators, eight more who will come forward and say we need a clean appropriation bill and we need to pass it now. if eight republican senators today will say that, then we can move forward and pass this bill, we can fund this department and stop this gamesmanship. and if the leaders then want to move to a debate on immigration so be it. but let's have eight more republicans join those who have stepped forward so far to make this a reality. i don't understand, frankly the thinking of many of the republicans who oppose the president's approach to immigration. here's what it comes down to. if the president used every penny given to him by congress to deport those who were undocumented in the united states he could reach we think, about 4% of those who are eligible for deportation 4%. what the president has said is let me foc

a senator: the senate's not in order. the presiding officer: the senate shall be in order. mrs. shaheen: the senate is about to vote on a full-year funding bill for the department of homeland security. all of us in this chamber understand that we need to support the department because they're critical to defending the homeland. if we want top fight isil, we can fight them here at home by passing the bill to fully fund d.h.s. we can keep homeland security on the job, we can keep breaking the ice to keep the economy moving on our lakes and oceans, secure our borders, prevent attacks from tryst terrorists. our enemies are watching. now it's time to defend america, i urge all my colleagues to vote yes on this full funding bill. the presiding officer: the yeas and nays are ordered. the gentleman yields back his time. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators who wish to change their vote or vote? the vote on this, 8 nays, 312 nays -- 68 yeas, 31 nays, the bill as amended is passed. under the previous order there will be two minutes of deb

you know that better than anybody in the senate, senator markey. so we're we're behind the curve but what we're trying to do is create a critical mass of countries out of major emitting nations that will then have an impact on everybody gathering in paris. when they see that the major countries are doing it, and reason others have to do it is less developed countries now equal over50% of all emissions. so they have to start coming on board because no one country can reduce completely. if everybody rode a bicycle tomorrow and nobody drove to work and public transportation and we didn't have emissions we would still be in deep, deep trouble because of the rate of promulgation of coal-fired power plants in various countries around the world. so we have a huge distance to travel and the great benefit you asked about the benefit. the market we're looking at for clean, renewable, efficient energy is a $6 trillion market with four to five billion users and that will rise to nine billion users as the population grows up to 2050 or so. the market that creat

from idaho, senator risch senator manchin, senator fischer as well as myself and senator heinrich. i want to acknowledge senator heinrich's staff in working with us to revise this important bill. i want to acknowledge the great work the bipartisan sportman's caucus has done. i think it is important to recognize the groundwork, the leg work that went into development of this bill and the work that the caucus did in doing so. so, thank you for all of the good hard work. but we're here today not only to announce this reintroduction, because this is now the third congress that we have tried to advance a bipartisan supportsman's act -- sportsmen's act, but to re-up the conversation about the importance and really to urge the senate to come together to pass legislation such as we're talking about today. we've got sportsmen all over the country. i come from a big state that's wide open and people come to alaska to hunt and to fish, and they never want to leave, and that's fine. that's how my husband came to alaska was the lure of sport fishing on the kenai river. so many of our military a

the senate did it we can. please support congresswoman roybal-allard, congresswoman lowey's motion to instruct the conferees to accept the senate bill. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair reminds the members to please direct your comments to the chair and not to other members. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. carter: madam speaker, about how much time do we got left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas has 7 1/2 minutes. mr. carter: oh that's good. you got other witnesses? the speaker pro tempore: is the gentlewoman from california prepared to close? ms. roybal-allard: i'm prepared to close. mr. carter: i believe she has the right to close but i would like to say a little bit before we get there. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carter: i'll yield to myself about as much time as i may consume. i've had a lot of school teachers shake their finger at me and tell me things, most of the times i deserved it. i've been lo

senator packwood you go first. >> and senator bradley also >> and senator bradley also holds a record for the most points ever scored in the play of basketball playoff in portland, oregon, when he scored what, 64 points? 58. chairman, when i was contacted everyone asks how do you do it in '86, and are there any other parallels till today? there are some but the circumstances were different. in our era, fairness was the issue, not income and equality. and the next to the last page of my statement, you will see a list of newspaper stories about people that paid no taxes at all. industries, defense industries at the time of the reagan buildup that not only paid no taxes, they got money back. and the public, and the members of congress, could not understand how wealthy corporations, and wealthy individuals could pay nothing. it wasn't fair. so that was the premise we were operating under at the time. you will find -- you will find in my statement on occasion the word diary. that means it was taken specifically from my diary at the time. now, what happened. first tax reform is not a new id

the senate did it. we can. please support congresswoman roybal-allard and congresswoman lowey's motion to accept the senate bill. with that, i yield back. >> and in the house earlier house failing to pass a three-week extension to fund the homeland security department and waiting to see what the house or senate will do. the senate passed a clean bill that would fund the homeland security bill. we will be talking your phone calls. and join us on the line. >> joining on the line is with "the hill." . and what can you tell us about how this three-week extension failed and what it means going on moving forward? >> well, in the end, 51 house republicans voted against this three-week extension of department of homeland security funding. and only 12 democrats voted in favor of it. and there was too much of a deficit for the bill to still pass and the deficit was so wide, no way leadership could have twisted a few arms on the house floor to save it. it is complete chaos as no one knows what's next. and the deadline is

the presiding officer: the senator is correct. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: madam president i rise to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you madam president. madam president, as i have since every -- every year since 2007, i rise today to commemorate black history month. this year, we're privileged to recognize dean joanne a.epps, the dean of the temple university school of law. dean epps is a woman who has made significant contributions to the commonwealth of pennsylvania and the nation by promoting opportunity and diversity throughout our legal institutions. joanne's life and career have been a testament to hard work and following your dreams. her achievements are substantial and she has worked to inspire others to fulfill their dreams while advancing the cause of social justice to ensure that everyone everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential. today, i'm proud to honor joanne epps as a leader in law and in education and

so as chairman of the committee i want to thank senator mccain senator blumenthal, senator boozman and senator burr for their tremendous effort. i want to thank the members of the committee who unanimously passed this out including the chair who is presiding today at the first meeting of the veterans administration committee. i encourage every member of the senate to vote for the clay hunt suicide prevention bill and make an investment in the future for the lives we'll save of veterans who return with mental health problems and i yield back my time and suggest the absence of a quorum. i withdraw that request. mr. blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you. i ask that the quorum call be lifted. is there one in effect now? the presiding officer: the senator is not in a quorum call. mr. blumenthal: thank you. mr. president, i want to begin by thanking chairman isakson for giving the clay hunt suicide prevention for american veterans act the priority that it needs and deserves, and i know that the presiding officer as a veteran

>> thank you, senator. i'll focus on the natural gas portion, that's the technology program that i oversee. one general comment that it will make is that these are long-term important and decade-old challenges. so we don't manage our technology programs based on a short-term fluctuation of the futures curve. eating these are important existential challenges, the development of the technologies that will try to clean energy economy of the future. all of these solutions from wind and solar to natural gas and hence geothermal nuclear, they remain core and important parts of the deal these technology program. that said, we have seen it fluctuations in natural gas prices that have come from a variety of sources and that is something we have to take into account. we look at price will look at a public determination. the impact of price on consumers, on manufacturers at a lot of issues you've heard you on the panel so that is something we are focused on. we think that is very important but over time as you look at

and the senator is unable to pass a bill that will fund the agency and pass in his senate. john fury is with me, as is brad miller 5-term congressman in carolina, john, didn't it look like the cavalry coming in when the federal district court judge in the broader district of texas said sorry, stop this in its tracks. can't do it. couldn't congress have said this is in the court, let's fund homeland security. seems like a nice exit ramp, that we can drive off and get away from the traffic jam. congress is a big ship. it takes a long time for it to move from its forward momentum, which is to go towards the crisis, which was almost inevitable given what happened last year, where there was a big, big legislation and all the preparation bills, and except for the dhs part, there was a lot of animosity chords the leadership then. you almost had to have a come to jesus moment, where they almost had to get to a situation where they had the crisis to get everyone to express their anger. the other part of this is there's an education process, and a bunch of new members that didn't wor

thank you, senator. thank you, ms. lynch for being here today and having your family here today. i think the two most common words used to describe you are smart and tough and i can see from your dad and i'm sure it's true of your mom that you come by those qualities honestly. in the best sense of the word. and you should be very proud of your daughter your testimony has been among the most accomplished and impressive that i've seen as a member of this committee and i'm sure you've done yourself a lot of good today, not that younesly needed it but thank you for your very forthright and erue diet answers. i want to din -- ander diet answers. -- and erudite answers. i want to begin by focusing on human trafficking. you have a great record on human trafficking. i count 10 major prosecutions that you've done while united states attorney, focusing particularly on targeted sex trafficking while also pursuing labor trafficking. and in a case that you brought against the 7-eleven franchise, you stated publicly t

page 12, senate calendar, senate bill 272 offered by senator shaheen and mikulski. here's our answer. a clean bill to fund america and to protect against terrorism and as the democratic leader suggested, start up the debate on immigration. that's the right thing to do for our country. i yield the floor. >> mr. president? >> the chair recognizes the senator from maine. >> thank you, mr. president. mr. president, in light of the eloquent remarks from the assistant democratic leader who is my friend i hope he will listen carefully to the proposal that i'm about to outline. mr. president, in just over three weeks, the law that funds the department of homeland security will expire jeopardizing the department's ability to carry out its critical mission. legislation to provide funding to the department throughout the remainder of this fiscal year has passed the house and is awaiting action in the senate but progress has stalled. the democrats have blocked it from even being considered because it is not a clean bill. on my side of the aisle, house republicans have insisted

senator mikulski was there, i was there senator murray, senator burr, senator bennet was there. it was a very impressive report. i won't speak long about it because i see the senator from maryland would like to speak but i would like to take about five minutes and say these things. it's sometimes best to tell a story to underscore a point and here's story one. vanderbilt university hired the boston consulting group to tell the university how much it spent, the university spent in complying with federal rules and regulations for higher education in a single year. according to the boston consulting group vanderbilt university last year spent $150 million complying with federal rules and regulations. that's 11% of all of its expenditures. that adds about $11,000 to the tuition of each one of about 12,000 students at the university. that's absolutely absurd, mr. president, absolutely absurd that somehow or another that could happen. or a second example. the student aid form that 20 million families fill out every year. it's 108 questions long. our committee has been told that two qu

senator casey and senator stavinau are particularly helpful in this effort. the legislations finished their sessions in the first few months of their year. more than half will have adjourned by june 1st of this year. congress needs to act swiftly to avoid any disruption in children's coverage. as you know, this law is authorized up through 2019. the funding runs out in september. that's the push, and the urgency for state legislators. just comment on, if you would, the impact on states if we don't fund -- if we don't extend the funding of the new c.h.i.p. the current c.h.i.p. the way we do it now if we don't extend that funding soon. >> i would just reflect on in my former role as the head of omb, as one was trying to manage a situation where you didn't have predictability of funding and whether that was in the form of a shutdown or other forms and in terms of trying to manage against that it is very difficult to manage. and especially in the space of health care, where there are contracts and providers that must be paid. the urgency i think which is what you

that the senate passed, senate 527. appointments national historical publications and records commission. signed sincerely, karen l. haas. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition 1234 mr. carter: madam speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule 12, by direction of the committee on appropriations, i move to take from the speaker's table the bill h.r. 240 with the senate amendment thereto disagree with the senate amendment, and request a conference on the disagreeing votes of the two houses. the speaker pro tempore: did the gentleman mean to cite rule 22 and not rule -- mr. carter: oh, yeah, i read it wrong. 22. sorry. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: h.r. 240 an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one hour. mr. carter: madam speaker, we need to go to conference in order to move

you heard senator cruz.e only republican who has said to me that american boots on the ground is sort of a last resort so the resolution that i introduced that was passed, a version of it in foreign relations said, no combat troops except in following instances -- the rescue of hostages or any americans that are captured. some directing of the airstrike campaigns to be more effective. so i think the right answer -- and there is a difference of opinion about this, but the right answer is only combat troops in limited circumstances, and then there's some other differences of opinion, too, that we're going to have to work through in hearings in the foreign relations committees. >> okay. well, people are looking for bipartisanship on capitol hill. we saw some here just this morning. unlikely bipartisanship in opposition to ground troops but we heard it nonetheless. senator, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. >> absolutely, dana. >>> up next, the ever present backdrop of washington's politics. when h

senator casey and senator stavinau are particularly helpful in this effort. the legislations finished their sessions in the first few months of their year. more than half will have adjourned by june 1st of this year. congress needs to act swiftly to avoid any disruption in children's coverage. as you know, this law is authorized up through 2019. the funding runs out in september. that's the push, and the urgency for state legislators. just comment on, if you would, the impact on states if we don't fund -- if we don't extend the funding of the new c.h.i.p., the current c.h.i.p. the way we do it now, if we don't extend that funding soon. >> i would just reflect on in my former role as the head of omb, as one was trying to manage a situation where you didn't have predictability of funding, and whether that was in the form of a shutdown or other forms, and in terms of trying to manage against that, it is very difficult to manage. and especially in the space of health care, where there are contracts and providers that must be paid. the urgency i think which is wha

it's time for the senate to do their job. >> mr. speaker, do you think the senate should act? not sure if you could hear the question from my colleague, luke russert. he was talking about the fact that the other thing we learned at the top of the hour is boehner hasn't spoken to his republican counterpart in the senate mitch mcconnell in two weeks. as this deadline is approaching, just two days away, they haven't spoken. staff has spoken but these are two leaders of the same party running the united states capitol, running congress astonishing and tells you about the tension going on between the two bodies and the real differences in how they have to govern. mcconnell the reason he caved, is because he decided that it is better to prove he can govern than go ahead and go along with conservatives who say fight, fight, fight. boehner has a very different issue in his caucus in the house and that's why i asked him about the fact that if he's worried about his speakership because it's something that he probably should be worried about if he goes along with this. >> all right. dana

>> yes, senator. from the director of national intelligence's perspective who's asked to weigh in on these transfer decisions, from the perspective of intelligence, what underpins all of his decision making in this regard is an analytical judgment that he has made, that the community has made, that the benefits to national security from closing guantanamo in some cases in many cases, outweigh the risks incurred by releasing individual detainees and it's precisely because of that continued featuring of guantanamo in the terrorist narrative that he's made that calculation. the fact that guantanamo features in terrorist propaganda, features in terrorist recruitment and we assess that it has continued significant resonance in the population that our terrorist adversaries are trying to recruit among. isil has used guantanamo in its english language propaganda including their online english language magazine. a.q.a.p. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, operating in yemen, has used guantanamo in their propag

senator reed. center carrie arrived -- senator kerry arrived. >> thank you mr. chairman. let me join you in welcoming the witnesses and thanking them. i think it is incredibly important to -- i think it is extremely important to have this meeting today. this comes after yesterday the budget for 2016 was submitted. while we await the full details, there are a few immediate notable requests. first, the request for $35 million above the control act -- $35 billion above the control act spending cap. it was 499.8 billion dollars. it represents no growth. they have requested $35 billion more. it shows how deep the funding was overrun. particularly in the modern training accounts. the department submits these proposals last year. congress reported some and elected for others to have this recommendations. many members on both sides of the aisle have been reluctant to support compensation reforms requested by the past several years while this commission deliberate and suggests we sit way until this report was submitted. this is the context in which today we hear from this very dis

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senator, you just voted yes. you voted to approve the funding for the department of homeland security. your colleagues in the house are poised to pass just three weeks of funding. what is your message to republicans in the house? is three weeks enough? >> here's what's really happening. the house is going to send over as you know a three-week continuation. that will actually pass the senate today. the vote to fully fund it is a vote to get us into conference with the house so that we can work out something between the two bodies. the actual operative agreement will be the one that comes over from the house today because the house will not take up the senate passed measure. it will just put us into a conference mode. i did vote for that. >> just three weeks, sir? is just three weeks enough? are they doing their job by making this decision just to extend it for three weeks? the phrase we always here is kicking the can down the road. it's not kicking the can that far this time. >> as i mentioned, i voted to move us

and all 20 of the women of the senate requested this hearing from the judiciary committee and the senator from texas and the senator from minnesota have bills that deal with this kind of human trafficking. so we are trying to send a message that these individuals should be a high priority for deportation, but i want to make clear that contrary to allegations that have been made about my bill -- and frankly it's a completely specious amendment -- there is nothing in my bill that deprives the department of homeland security from having the authority it needs to pursue those who would seek to harm our country. those, for example, who are terrorists or belong to gangs or pose some sort of public safety or national security threat. indeed the public safety threat is -- is big enough to cover the people we're talking about but we think that they merit special mention in our bill. why would we want to keep in our country someone who is deportable, who is a sex offender who has been convicted of child molestation or domestic violence? it makes no sense. mr. cornyn: mr. president if i could just c

[applause] >> senator cruz.would love to hear little bit about how you can to this issue and some of the challenges that you've had for pushing for school choice in south carolina. >> thank you. thank you senator scott for bringing us together. we live in exceptional nation. some people don't like to say that, but we do. we live in exceptional nation. we have the highest standard of living, the greatest quality of life that any body living on this planet. you have to ask yourself, why. we value freedom. we will die to defend freedom. we employ freedom in every aspect of our lives. we believe that you should have choices. jefferson. the jefferson memorial, i saw this morning. jefferson finds freedom as having choices. it's because of these choices that we have achieved more than any people that has ever come before us. but for some reason, we do not think that those choices should extend to parents when it comes to their child's education. it is mind-boggling. i do not get it. we see how freedom has created such

senator reid. oh. senator kerrey arrived. thank you senator kerrey for arriving. >> thank you, mr.welcoming the witnesses and commending them for a job well done. thank you very much. and i think it's extremely important to the meeting today and i thank the chairman for holding the meeting. this hearing comes as the department yesterday formally submitted its budget for fiscal year 2016. while we await the full details there are a few immediate notable aspects. first, the requested top line of some $35 billion above the budget control act spending caps of defense. the spending cap for fy 16 represents no growth on real terms. the department has requested $35 billion more. shows how deep the funding shortfalls run, particularly with respect to forestructure and the training and the modernization accounts. second, the department has again requested measure to slow the growth of personnel. the department submitted these proposals last year, congress supported some and elected to defer the others until after this commission reported its recommendations. many members on both sides of th

there are currently 21 women in the senate.back and looked at senate productivity over the last seven years and they found, to their surprise that the women of the senate are, in quantitative terms, just better at their jobs in terms of the sheer number of bills introduced in the senate the women on average were more productive, they introduced more bills on average than the men did. of those bills introduced, women senators had a greater percentage of their bills passed out of committee. of those bills passed out of committee, they also had a greater percentage of those bills enacted into law. so just in terms of turning bills into law, women, over the last seven years, have done it better than men in washington. women, according to the data are also better at cutting bipartisan deals. the average senior senator cosponsored 171 bills with a member of the opposite party, which is a much higher number than the average number for men. oh, and by the way, women are also better at convincing their co-senators to sponsor their bills

i want to thank the senator from the senior senator from georgia, senator isakson and the senior senatorfrom arizona, senator mccain for their work on this bill. these senators care deeply about the men and women who give literally everything to protect us veterans are lucky to have such strong champions on their side. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: it's really good to be back. i appreciate the kind remarks of the republican leader. senator mcconnell and his lovely wife elaine have been wonderful to landra and i over the years and i appreciate their words of support. i want to express my appreciation appreciation to my colleagues who have been so kind and thoughtful during my recovery time. the presiding officer i received your phone call, that was very warm and i very much appreciate it. as the united states senators, our work is measured by what we're able to accomplish for the middle class or able to accomplish for the american people. now, i've watched very closely and been in touch as we all knew and read the stories with what has gone on here the last month

chairman, for holding this hearing. >> we have senator baldin, senator casey, senator whitehouse, senator murphy unless some random republican wanders into the room. and there should be time for all of you to have a full five minutes. then we'll be close to the noon hour when we conclude the hearing. senator baldwin. >> thank you mr. chairman. very grateful to you and the ranking member for getting us off to a great start with a bipartisan dialogue and how we can best address the shortcomings of the no child left behind law. and i'm hopeful that we can find a thoughtful path forward to fixing this law for all students, parents, teachers administrators, policy makers. we need this information also. great panel. thank you to the witnesses. now, a well-designed standardized test is one important tool among many that can help all of the stakeholders i just listed understand how well individual students are doing as well as how well our nation's schools are serving all of our nation's children. as such we should know if the tests given those required by federal law as well as those that are re