senate races, more than anybody in the senate. now, i think if the election were right now, and it's not, they would focus on the debate that took place. that was the most watched debate in the history of the country, with more than 90 million people watching that debate. -- he was , that was knocked out in the first round. t was -- [laughter] senator reid: the reason i know about shnelling and lewis is i've got a signed picture of both of them. chuck, you talk to them about the senate. senator schumer: i think we will win a majority in the senate. 's been made closer only because of two words, koch brothers. three words, koch brother money. which is pouring. in they're not putting money into the presidential but they're pouring money against us. but the public is son our side. the electorate is get manager democratic. the republican party is a shambles and their candidates, their incumbent senators can't make up their minds what to do with trump. but most of all, the public knows we're on the side of the middle class. one of thei

senator mcconnell and senator thune. they said they would do it as soon as the new congress started. that is almost two years ago. this woman is in limbo. there's an extremely important vote now before the commission dealing with top boxes on television sets, and she has not been confirmed in that job. it is wrong. i brokered that agreement between mcconnell and thune. i didn't want -- it wasn't my idea. it was theirs. to confirm republican commissioner michael riley -- he's the kyl person -- to a five-year term on the f.c.c. in return, i repeat, thune and mcconnell assured me they would confirm jesse rosenwersel. i have been working on that name for two years to a new term when they were in the majority. they got in the majority just a few months after that. this was in december. she spent many years in public service. no one questions her qualifications. the senate confirmed her unanimously in 2012. her credentials and integrity are not in question. there is no doubt she will continue to serve the f.c.c. well. yet the

senator shelby: senator warren. senator warren: thank you, mr. chairman so buried in the fine print of wells fargo checking and credit card accounts is a forced arbitration clause. it says if a customer has any dispute with the bank about anything related to that checking account or that credit card, then they have -- they cannot go to court and they cannot join with other customers who have the same problem. instead, they have to go one by one through arbitration. now, a feature of arbitration that the banks particularly love is that it's nearly always all secret. filings and documents aren't available and even if the customer wins, there's no public record of it like there would be if we were in a court case. director cordray, do you think forced arbitration clauses make it easier for big banks to cover up patterns of abusive conduct, including the years of misconduct by wells fargo, in this case? mr. cordray: i do think so, yes. senator warren: so, in other words, these forced arbitration clauses make it easier for wells to get away with scamm

brown: madam president, yesterday i joined senator manchin, senator warren and others, senator capito about the mine workers pension, and i want to come to the floor again today. i don't think -- i just can't believe that my colleagues are going to go home. some wanted to go today, make this the last day of session. others are saying next week. i think there's no excuse for the senate to leave here without taking care of the long time starting with harry truman agreement that we've made with the people to go down in coal mines and do their work. they are -- they powered this country and have for decades. it's one of the most difficult, least safe jobs in the country. i wear on my lapel a depiction given to me at a workers memorial day rally of a canary in a bird cage. the mine workers used to take a canary in the mines. they had no union 100 years ago to protect them. they had no government that cared enough to protect them, protect them and their safety. they relied on this canary. if the canary died, they got out of the mines. they were on their own. we know this proud history of mi

senator boxer's team, senator wicker. we're all focused on this issue. it stemmed from an important topic that we were discussing. i know my colleague and friend, senator peters from michigan, is going to talk about flint, michigan and what happened there and the topic of aging infrastructure. i certainly respect his advocacy for his constituents on this topic. but you know, we were talking about aging infrastructure, but one topic we didn't talk a lot about in the senate -- and i certainly tried to raise it a lot -- not just aging infrastructure, but how about topic of no infrastructure for communities in the united states. i know a lot of americans don't know this, but there's a lot of communities in our great nation that have no clean water, no sewer, no flush toilets; entire communities in america. think about that. no running water, no flush toilets. what we call in alaska, honey buckets. it sounds sweet, of course, but it's not sweet. it's literally american citizens having to haul their own waste from their house t

senate -- revered senate floor. thank you, senator daines, for putting together the freshman colloquy and senator rounds. we're seat mates here sitting next to one another in this great and beautiful hall here. and it's interesting to hear everybody's different perspective on why this bill is so important. let's just recall. i am a member -- how we got here. i'm a member of the appropriations committee with senator daines. and on -- in the committee room as the president is as well, in the committee room, we debated this bill. we did several amendment votes. we -- and in the subcommittee, many, many thoughtful decisions were made, discussions were had as to the priorities of our defense capabilities. and in the end we joined together, republicans and democrats, and passed this out of the subcommittee or out of the full committee 30-0. no opposition. now, for those of you who are watching and even for me, a freshman in our freshman class, we would think this is a -- this is about our men and women in uniform. this ha

senat senate resos submitted earlier today: s. res. 585, s. less 586, s. res. 587, s. res. 588. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i want to express my appreciation to the senate that in the funding bill, it includes the money for zika $1.1 billion that has been so desperately needed, not only assisting local governments and state governments with things like mosquito control but also starting the trial on the zika vaccine. the first trial is necessary. there will be a second and larger trial and hopefully at the end of the that we'll have a zika vaccine. this has gotten to the level of being quite uncomfortable. over 2,000 pregnant women in the continental u.s. and our territories that have the zika virus and we kno

senator warren is here live next. senator booker is on deck. there's a lot to come. stay with us. >>> in july, right on fourth of july, the fbi director explained in great detail why the fbi was not bringing charges against hillary clinton, and what they thought of all the evidence that they went through while they were considering that decision. last week, senator elizabeth warren wrote to the fbi director and asked if he would please make the same kind of statement explaining why the fbi didn't recommend charges against the nine bankers who were referred to the department of justice for possible prosecution when the financial crisis inquiry commission found that in the financial crisis those individual nine bankers were involved in possible serious violations of federal law. yeah, if you can explain it for the clinton thing, how about the financial crisis that almost destroyed the world? hm. no word back yet from the fbi, we're told. but then today the ceo of the world's most valuable bank, he was treated to senator warren's tender ministrations at the u.s. senate

chair. >> senator vitter. astounds soer: what many americans and us is how significant this fraud was. >> you are watching live testimony of wells fargo chief executive taking place. the tuesday session is finished here in new york and we want to take you through the market action and have a look at the stock 600. investors playing a wait and see game ahead of the big policy decisions from the bank of japan and the federal reserve tomorrow. mixed performance for the other major gauges. we want to take you through the individual equity movers on this tuesday session. class close myth g --lasco smith aimed a new chief executive, am a walmsley and this will make them the only major drug maker in the world led by a woman. regis is the big follower today f --aller today. the chief executive sold 57 million shares. that represents about 4% of the company's share capital. -- blockbuster drugs shares up half a print -- half a percent. we had a report showing swiss watch exports fell in august by 8.8% demand weakening

then they all went down there's too senator gregg's office. people were leaving in the senate. there is a protocol as the building is clear. space outside around the capital. we were there for white a while you it was clear that there was no way we were going back into the office. is theng i remember most beauty of the day. and the impossibility of getting anywhere. took -- my husband walked from 2100 pennsylvania to the house in northwest washington, and it took him maybe an hour and a half. for me to go from capitol hill to the same house, it took about three and a half hours. i tried every way possible to get there. phoneuldn't use your cell , besides the radeon the car there was no way to know what was going on. you feel helpless. you could see the plume of smoke from the pentagon. host: i want to go back to that moment. what did you write in the note and what were you thinking as you walk into the senator's i thought this is something she needs to know right away, that it was something that senator kennedy should tell her. second planethat a had hit the world trade center.

that's what the senate decided to do and senator blunt and senator murray decided to do and 68 members of the senate decided to do. now, just for the sake argument that we have a disagreement on the interpretation of what that does, but if we have a disagreement, that means that we're not able to pass that bill. you may disagree with our reasoning, but that's the fact. and that's what the conclusion of the united states senate came to, mr. speaker. so they did a bill they could agree on in a bipartisan way. i tell you, mr. speaker, i will reiterate once again, bring the senate bill. this is a blunt-murray bill. mr. blunt, the former majority leader and minority whip and majority whip. senator from missouri. republican leader in the senate sent us a bipartisan bill. let's take that bill and whatever other differences we have, let's debate them, mr. speaker. those provisions can be brought to the floor separately and apart without undermining the need to immediately fund the zika public health efforts. i again say to my friend, those two issues -- i might also add perhaps in closing that

there were so many memorable down ins that may go senate hearing anthony between senator shelby and senatorped over what stumped new was and wasn'tat communicated to the board and regulators and shall be also grilled stump over this issue. grilled stump on why he wasn't going back before 2009 to find out if fake accounts were being opened up in the name of wells fargo customers, perhaps even going back as far as the 1998 merger. tumey grilled stump on the definition of fraud. for example, if someone had an application for a credit card in his name and what impact would that have on the mortgage rate for somebody and we had senator warren. buildf the hearing was a up to what senator warren would ask. she grilled stump over accountability, specifically why he hadn't step down, returned a nickel of his compensation and why had in any other members of senior management in fired. here's one excerpt of senator warren's exchange. >> this is about accountability. you should resign. you should give back the money you took while this scam was going on and you should be criminally investigated by the

this is based on the senate bill 2717 that senator barrasso -- we heard from senator barrasso just a few minutes ago. he was one step ahead of everybody else when he moved through the committee that i chaired the indian affairs committee -- and we had unanimous support for this very issue. that's allowing the indian -- this program to be expanded to indian country. the third thing the e.p.a. drinking water and waste water infrastructure. you know, i spent a lot of my time going around into the small communities. as i said, years ago i had -- i had a hard jofnlt i was a mayor of -- i had a had job. i was a mayor of a major city. the biggest problem we had was on federal mandates. we tried to stop that. this bill goes a long ways to making that so that these small communities and the peerer communities -- the poorer communities shall the rural communities have access to resolving the problems of these mandates that are primarily in the drinking water and waste water infrastructure. so we are working on that now. 2848 includes $170 million to address lead emergencies and public health c

senator kennedy. mr. kennedy: well, i'll just say that the question is of experience and the question also is what our judgment is of the , future, and what our goals are for the united states, and what ability we have to implement those goals. abraham lincoln came to the presidency in 1860 after a rather little-known session in the house of representatives and after being defeated for the senate in 58 and was a distinguished president. there's no certain road to the presidency. there are no guarantees that uh if you take one road or another that you will be a successful president. i have been in the congress for 14 years. i have voted in the last eight years. the vice president the question really is: which candidate and which party can meet the problems that the united states is going to face in the sixties? mr. smith: the next question to senator kennedy from mr. novins. mr. novins: senator kennedy, in connection with these problems of the future that you speak of, and the program that you enunciat

this is an issue for every senator, all 100 members of the senate, and every senate committee to give deep consideration to because senators need to consider the consequences of allowing the executive branch to unilaterally impose restrictions on unclassified information like this and tell a separate branch of government what we can do under the constitution. every senator should realize if this is allowed to stand, other agencies will be able to abuse the system to undermine transparency. and you need transparency in government to have accountability in government. the senate should not allow its controls on classified material to be manipulated to hide embarrassing material from public scrutiny even when that material is unclassified. the ft it should have done from the very beginning, release all the unclassified information to the public. and when director comey called me that he was going to bring these binders to the hill and cooperate with congress giving us this information, i raised this very question with him in that telephone conversation. now more than ever the public has

senate. i thank the leadership of senator coons. but this is a time where we need national urgency on this issue. there's something unfortunate about what happens in our prisons as being something that, hey, we as a public wash our hands, throw away the key. that kind of logic doesn't solve problems, it perpetuates them. it doesn't make us safe, it makes us less safe. it doesn't save us money, it costs us more. these kinds of practices undermine the foundations of common sense as well as moral rectitude. we stand for more than this as a country. we should set an example that ultimately as a nation we are not about retribution. we're not about disproportionate punishment. we are about restorative justice. solitary confinement as a practice being done now is an assault on justice. it is an offense to our moral values as a nation. it calls for reform, and i'm proud to stand with my colleagues today to introduce legislation that begins us down that important road to justice. -- for all. thank you

senator kennedy. >> senator kennedy, on another subject, communism is so often described as an ideology or a belief that exists somewhere other than in the united states. let me ask you, sir, just how serious a threat to our national security are these communist subversive activities in the united states today? senator kennedy: well, i think they're serious. i think it's a matter that we should continue to uh give uh great care and attention to. we should support uh the laws which the united states has passed in order to protect us from those who would destroy us from within. we should sustain the department of justice in its efforts and the fbi and we should be continually alert. i think if the united states is maintaining a strong society here in the united states, i think that we can meet any internal threat. the major threat is external and will continue. mr. nixon: i agree with senator kennedy's appraisal generally in this respect. the question of communism within the united states has been one t

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. this week marks a sad milestone for the u.s. senate, a milestone of inaction, of obstruction and of failure. this week marks six months since president obama nominated judge merrick garland to the supreme court. president obama did his job, his constitutional duty, and judge garland should have been confirmed by now. he is eminently qualified, he's a dedicated public servant, and a respected judge. instead, judge garland hasn't even received a hearing. today marks 182 days since his nomination, and not even a hearing. in the last 40 years, the average time for a nomination to confirmation has been 67 days for a supreme court nominee. no matter which party has controlled the white house and the senate. we've always done our job, we've always given a president's nominees a hearing and a vote as the constitution requires. after my remarks, i will formally introduce a proposal to change the

senator warren is here live next. senator booker is on deck. there's a lot to come. please stay with us. [ "on the road again," by willie nelson ] ♪ on the road again [ rear alert sounds ] [ music stops ] ♪ just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ [ front assist sounds ] [ music stops ] [ girl laughs ] ♪ on the road again ♪ like a band of gypsies we go down the highway ♪ [ beetle horn honks ] no matter which passat you choose, you get more standard features, for less than you expected. hurry in and lease the 2017 passat s fojust $199 a month. sorry, captain obvious. don't be. i've got the hotels.com app, which makes it simple toook a room for $500. or $25, but it won't be re. you can stay with me. thanks. i've already lost enough today. youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...whayou love. ensure. always be you. >>> in july, right on fourth of july, the fbi director explained in great detail why the fbi was not bringing charges against hillary clinton, and

senator warren is here live next. senator booker is on deck. there's a lot to come. please stay with us. before taking his team to state for the first time... gilman: go get it, marcus. go get it. ...coach gilman used his cash rewards cdit card from bank of america to earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. at places like the batting cages. ♪ [ crowd cheers ] 2% back at grocery stores and now at wholesale clubs. and 3% back on gas. which helped him give his players something extra. the cash rewards credit card from bank of america more cash back for the things you buy most. >>> in july, right on fourth of july, the fbi director explained in great detail why the fbi was not bringing charges against hillary clinton, and what they thought of all the evidence that they went through while they were considering that decision. last week, senator elizabeth warren wrote to the fbi director and asked if he would please make the same kind of statement explaining why the fbi didn't recommend charges against the nine bankers who were referred to the department of justice for po

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: it is beyond disappointing that the minority leader would refer to this as potentially a partisan bill. let me again reiterate. in 32 states where 4,186 state legislators have voted on this, 4,078 have voted yes. republican and democrat alike. 97.4%. this is a bipartisan effort. it provides freedom. it provides hope. and it's beyond disappointing that the minority leader would object. i would like to ask senator barrasso or the senator from women women who's been a real -- wyoming who has been a real leader on duchenne's muscular dystrophy. what have you heard from patients, your constituents in terms of the hope that this bill would provide them? a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: people ask for hope. they want hope. they need hope. as a young doctor, my training and worked at a children's hospital, a muscle disease clinic. and what

and in fact, i commend senator stabenow and senator peters. they took money from a program they have in michigan and it pays for this. it's not deficit spending, so why can't they do that? the reasons are apparent, and that's too bad. this doesn't need to be a manufactured crisis. we know the republicans know how to close the senate. they did it for 17 days. and they've done it another time. we don't need to have a manufactured crisis. we want to make sure that flint has some degree of certainty after two and a half years they're going to get some help. we need to work together to keep our government properly funded and the people of flint protected. certainly we should be able to do that. finally, mr. president, last night, the republican nominee for president failed to give any assurance of any kind or a coherent explanation as to why he refuses to release his tax returns. well, because there is no coherent reason. it's a little hard to give one when there isn't one. he said he couldn't release his tax information because of an internal reve

i see senator boxer. let me comment on how, you know, not just this bill, but we've worked on so many bills that are very meaning until to the american people. i can remember when they said on our side that we're not going to have a five-year massive highway reauthorization bill. and yet, i tried to explain to my conservative friends that that is the conservative approach. because the only alternative to that is you have to have extensions. if you have extensions, that doesn't work at all. now, we have worked very well together. that, and of course our chemical bill we're able to do and now we're going to get this done. we're going to get it done next week. so what i'd like to do is yield to senator boxer and then retake the floor for the motions that will be necessary. mrs. boxer: thank you. madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: i want to say to my colleague i'm just going to speak for 30 seconds because i said a lot yesterday, and i agree with your analysis of

senator isakson, i appreciate his work with us. senator sanders, senator warren, senator alexander. i think we agree on two things, believe it or not. number one, that both sides of the aisle here want to make progress as it relates to curing rare pediatric diseases. that's number one. i think there is agreement on that. number two, there is agreement to extend the existing program which has already helped enormously to advance that first cause. we're in agreement to extend that until the end of the year. that's a bipartisan agreement. we'll work out the details for that, and we will keep working on these issues when we get back. mr. president, i would yield the floor. mr. franken: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the democrats control the next 30 minutes and the republicans control the following 30 minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to discuss the central states pension fund crisis

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. a senator: mr. president, today i rise to honor two of my longest serving staff members who have been tremendous team leaders in our office. david doss, my state director and nicole hebert my deputy state director. they're both sadly departing the senate later this month but to start exciting new careers. mr. vitter: nicole started with our team when i was first running for the u.s. senate in 2004. nicole is a lafayette native and a native of the acade anna region or cajun country. that was a key battleground in our election in 2004 in part because we're running against a local cajun candidate in our junk balance primary who is supported about i my predecessor who is also from acadiana. with nicole's help, we shocked the entire state that year winning with over 50% of the vote in the primary foregoing the need for any runoff and winning acadiana against a cajun candidate. nicole was a big, important part of that victory. nicole and her husband tommy and nicole's parents lynn and joey durrel were all

thanks, senator. mr. gardner: thank you, senator daines. thanks for organizing this discussion today. the discussion we've had yesterday, to our colleague from alaska for his leadership on this matter for a number of weeks as we discussed why this funding bill for our troops -- pays our troops, gives our troops a pay raise, critical mission support -- is being filibustered, six times being blocked by a minority -- partisan minority that actually supported this measure out of the appropriations committee unanimously. and so thank you for bringing attention to this very important discussion, as we end the fiscal year and continue with our need to continue providing men and women in uniform with the resources they need to defend themselves, to protect themselves and protect this nation's homeland. it is not just critical to colorado, home to national guard reserve members and uniformed military members. it is home to a number of defense installations across the front range of colorado. you mentioned the important part of the triad that is in m

senate. i was down in louisville the day after the election, had a press conference in which i pointed out what i thought the new majority needed to be. dysfunction in the senate was not the biggest issue in 2014. but it certainly was one of them. i said, i thought we needed to end that. i knew we had big differences with the president. and the minority in the senate's almost never irrelevant, unless it gets down to a very small minority. so what is the way to try to avoid dysfunction? i said, first, we need to let people participate. remember that mark was defeated in alaska in significant part because she never had a roll call vote on an amendment in a full six-year term. not one. we had had only 15 votes on amendments in 2014 here in the senate. i said, we needed to open the place up and let people participate to the maximum extent possible in both the majority and minority. over the course of the congress, we've had over 200 such votes. people have had an opportunity to offer their ideas.

senator a look, -- senator ay otte, i will start with you first. some of that money was transferred right around the time americans were freed from custy. are there ever any circumstances where you think it is appropriate for the u.s. to pay we have with this hostage payment is the administration would not call it what it was at first, misrepresented it. we have a situation where you give hostage payment to the largest sponsor of terrorism in the world and guess what? they took three more american hostages. our policy should not be to negotiate with countries that support terrorism like iran. that is why i have introduced this legislation. this is also another area talked about this hostage payment. this is something that is important in terms of national security. it is why i have been such an opponent of the iran deal. i think it has empowered iran. we continue to see their bad behavior. this ransom payment was wrong because it is encouraging future grabbed of americans. what we want to do is stop that country from taking americans and stop them

senate. it was really quite a big victory.taxpayer we put it more on equal footing with the tax collected from a grassley with prior worked withy me. that's the way grassley used to be come independent. i can't imagine but how have to accept it that he's refusing to do his job of blocking a vote on garland's nomination. but this is precisely what the children's jewish community haso done. he has number 175 days ago. for 175 days, the senior senator from iowa has refused to lift a finger in consideration of this nominee. the senator i knew would not c seek independence of his very good committee, been around forever in the senate. i can't imagine what he's done. afor narrow partisan welfare. we all know what a he stands on president obama supreme court nominee. senator mcconnell decide to abandon any degree of bipartisanship with a quorum, when we heard that within hours of scalia having passed away. republican leader had admitted as much last month when he gathered, one of my proudest moments

a senate barbershop. senate hair care. the senator may stop into the powder room to freshen up. commoding about every hour. >> two ply in a depression. we don't want their bums to be s chafed, do you? the senator probably had his lips on that being a brass trash can. >> look here it's the public subsidized gift shot. it loses money but the united states senator robe. that must be worth it. >> now we don't want our senator exerting himself on the way to voting to waste our money. so we bought him a choo choo how are you? >> when the dear senator gets to the senators only elevator. an attendant is there to press the button for him. the attendant costs you and me about a quarter million dollars a year. >> don't you think there's some cutting of ways we could be doing in the capitol, sir? sir? sir? >> we took o a special committee on public waste. a quarter million dollars a year for people to push elevator buttons? >> that is correct. we don't want senators breaking their fingernails. >> we're spending $400,000 a year on a bash shop? >> that is true. but they do a great job. for tw

that's more than 2/3 of the senate. half of the republicans in the united states senate. passed that bill over to us, and we could have passed it. notwithstanding -- i know they say we needed the $1.9 billion. had you brought that bill to the floor without adding political aspects to it that you knew we would not support, it would have passed. you could have passed it on your own but you chose to make it a political bill, and we're not going to accept that because the american -- you are right, mr. leader. mr. speaker, the american people deserve that we deal with this issue now. the president asked for this oney on february 22. we're now september 10. mr. speaker, we have not dealt ith this, except in a way that frankly the majority party knew would not be acceptable, would not be bipartisan, would not pass the senate and would not be signed by the president. and it is, i say with all due respect, mr. majority leader, not credible to say we didn't take because -- what you wanted to jam down our throat -- i know some people on my side oh, $1.1 billion is not enough. i don

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. a senator: mr. president, i rise today to highlight the importance of the water resources and development act of 2016 and the urgent need to bring it to the senate floor and to act and pass it through the senate. mr. vitter: unfortunately there are many events, floods, disasters around the country in recent times that highlight the need for this and the most recent even more unfortunately from my point of view is in south louisiana, the devastating thousand-year flooding in greater baton rouge and parts of arcadeana. it builds on the necessary common sense reforms we made in 2014. it reinforces why congress should be passing these water resource bills every two years. and this is one of the reasons why wrda has come out of both the relevant senate and house committees with overwhelming bipartisan support. you know, mr. president, we can't continue to rebuild neighborhoods and cities time and again after disasters. we have to become more proactive in protecting life and property, more diligent in our

yesterday in this body, the senator from oklahoma, senator lankford and the senator from maine, senator collins, introduced legislation that would delay for six months the implementation of the rule. i cosponsored that legislation and i fully support it. and yesterday the house of representatives passed that same bill, a bill with that same language which would delay for six months the implementation of the rule. that would be my preferred solution, but today i would like to introduce another piece of legislation that local address the problems with the overtime rule that i hope will gather more bipartisan support. a similar bill has been introduced in the house of representatives by 10 democrats and seven republicans. my hope is when we come back in november, that senators on both sides of the aisle will have heard from their boy scout troops, from their colleges, from the universities, from their restaurants and ploy qlees who say -- employees who say wait a minute, the overtime rule makes no sense the way it's being implemented. do something in november and january to change its effe

senator reid, senator boxer and i were supporters. here it is in this bism and i want you to know how i feel. this is the way the senate should work, that we work together for something that has so benefited both of our states and we're able to say that we're getting the job done. and i just want to say congratulations to you. this is so special for me, and i'm delighted that you're in the chair. and maybe i could go over just a little bit of the 20 years because we missed you -- i know you couldn't be at the summit this year. but i want i know that you were really missed. and i want you to know that senator reid put together one amazing summit. as a matter of fact, i called him and said, harry, you can't have a rock group at this summit. this is a serious thing. you know, we meet every year and we go over all of the science and all of the planning and all of the problems at the lake. and he said, let me tell you something. i'm retiring. it's my turn to do this, and i'm going to do it my way. and, mr. president, i want you to know, th

. >> thank you, senator flake. this will be the final round of questions for the first panel. , the focus on compliance with federal law. if congress passes an appropriation writer -- rider this month mandating that ntia renew the contract with icann, will you commit that ntia will comply with that mandate? mr. strickling: we will follow your directions. senator cruz: that means you will follow the mandate? we have the preparatory steps to allow us to do that as late as the night of september 30 if it comes to that. senator cruz: you are aware of section 539-a already makes clear that "none of the funds made available by this act may be used to relinquish the responsibility of the national telecommunications administration three fiscal year 2016 with respect to internet domain name functions, including responsibility with respect to the authoritative root zone file and the internet assigned numbers authority functions. that is existing federal law, passed by congress and signed by the president? >> that is correct.

in the last congress, the senator from iowa, senator harkin and i -- senator harkin has retired, but others, senator klobuchar stepped umto cochair -- up to cho care with me the mississippi -- to cochair with me the mississippi river caucus. as we try to take traffic off the highway system and off the rail system and put it on the water, if it's going to be on the water, sooner rather than later, all these ports matter. and so what this bill does is take a further step in encouraging looking at the small ports, the interior ports, the almost totally export ports. there's nothing wrong with buying things from other people, mr. president, but it's actually economically a lot -- a lot dlshes a tremendous, positive -- there is a tremendous, positive advantage of selling thongs to people. and that's what the interior port system is all about. not only is it an export port system but it basically serves twice the land mass of a coastal port. if you're on the miss mission river, if a coastal port effectively serves 250 or 300 miles inland, a mississippi river port would serve that same amou

with senator kennedy. the question of communism within the united states has been one that has worried us in the past. this one that will continue to be a problem for years to come. we have to remember that the cold war that mr. kirchoff's aging is waged all over the world. it is waged right here in the united states. that is far we have to continue to be alert. it is also essential in being alert that we be fair. by being fair, the uphold the very freedoms that the communists will destroy. we uphold the standards of conduct which they would never follow. in this connection, i think that we must look to the future having in mind that we fight communist at home -- communism , but wewith our laws also fight communism at home by those injustices which exist in our society which the communists feed upon. says yourtor kennedy for the status quo, i believe he would agree that i am just as concerned in believing that my care are for health just as sincerely held as his. the question is not one of those -- goals,

the presiding officer: will the senator withhold. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: i would ask that the quorum call be vitiated, please. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. the senator is recognized. mrs. fischer: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that daniel ball, an f.c.c. detailee with the commerce committee, be granted floor privileges for the duration of the 114th congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. fischer: thank you. mr. president, i rise today to address a recent ruling from the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit. last week the court issued a ruling that was a victory for america's ag producers and rebuke to washington regulators. specifically, the court ruled the occupational safety and health administration, or osha, violated the law when it imposed new limits on hydro pneumonia storage. i realize many of my colleagues may not be familiar with an anhydroous an money i can't. it is the -- ammonia. it is the most cost effective

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. a senator: mr. president, i rise in support of senator sanders' objection and amendment. ms. warren: massachusetts is home to the nation's best scientists and innovative biomedical companies. i believe we have a moral imperative to save money and save lives by expanding medical innovation in the united states. i've been here for almost four years, and i have spent nearly the entire time working both publicly and privately to try to fix our broken medical innovation system in this country. and i'll be blunt. it has been maddening. maddening because we know, we know what we need to do to fix this problem. we know, we know that medical cures come from taxpayer investments in basic research followed by private industry making its investments to turn that research into viable treatments. nobody in congress seriously disputes this. every single person i have talked to here says they support increasing funding for the national institutes of health and yet for over a decade, congress has decimated the n.i.h

thank you much. >> thank you senator daines. senat senator marky. >> two years ago i voted for him. commissioner two years ago was promised to vote. by that consent, we can bring it up on the floor this afternoon so that we don't have to cloud that's ahead. i ask that we confirm her. we can do it immediately. i think it's an important statement to make. this is a relic of the past. it's a typical satellite box, but it's today. this could be in your house 20 years ago or this could be in the house today. investigation led by us found that one, 99 percent of all american paid tv subscribers rent this from the paid tv provider. two, they spend on average $89 a year erenting a single one. the average household spends $232 of fees & two and a half boxes. over two years the average family is paying 2,300 hours to rent this box. $2,300. that's a good business to be in. the box rental market maybe worth $9.5 billion a year. now, this little device that i have in my hand is an amazon fire stick. it costs $40 for a consumer to purchase. there are many other things like this out there like r o

a senator: mr. president? a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mrs. ernst: mr. president, i ask permission to speak as if in morning business for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. ernst: thank you, mr. president. this past weekend we bowed our heads in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 lives we lost on september 11, 2001. the largest attack on u.s. soil since pearl harbor changed our lives drastically, but it did not impact america as our enemy had hoped. we did not falter. we bonded together. we fought back. from places like sub-saharan africa, afghanistan and the philippines, u.s. troops operating under operating enduring freedom showed those responsible for 9/11 the true power of the united states of america. the plan to fight against al qaeda and its hosts was as clear as its name: global war on terrorism. through a strong american leadership, support from our allies and working alongside local forces, the united states embedded itself in places extremism spread to deny terrorism a safe haven. from combat operati

senator kennedy could work with democratic members in the house and senate? vice president nixon: we are expected to pick up seats in the both the house and senate. we hope to get a majority of the house in this election. we of course cannot control the senate. i think a president would be able to lead, a president will be able to get his programs through to the effect he has the support of the country, the support of the people. sometimes we get the opinion that in getting programs through the house or the senate is purely a question of egislative fenaggling or something. it's not that. whenever the people is for a program, the house and senate responds to it and whether this house and senate in the next session is democratic or republican, if the country will have voted for the candidate for the presidency and for the proposals he has made, i believe that you will find that the president, if it were a republican, in my case, would be able to get his program through that congress. now, i also think as far as senator kennedy's proposals are concerned that, ag

he needs a senate. senators upendorse for reelection was bizarre. from florida on the independent line. caller: good morning. the only thing i want to say is that i am a retired military, 25 years. i used to be a diehard republican. the problem is not donald trump. problem is within the party. the party is destroying itself. that's all i can say about it. it turned me off. i get into the community as a military member and the feeling is the same wherever i go. to go are starting because republicans can't stick up for themselves. i hope you have a good day. guest: it's interesting that you mention that because national security is a place where publicans feel they have the lead. have focused on the iran deal at they believe this is an issue that they can win on. that republican senators are better at keeping them safe. host: from georgia, frank is up next. frank, hello? caller: yes, hello. hello. i wanted to make a comment on the talk about the senate races. in the past few weeks, i have heard over and over that donald trump has so much catching up t

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: madam president, i'm on the floor today to talk about the epidemic -- officerster we're in a quorum call -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: with snarks madam president, i am here on the floor to talk about an epidemic that has gripped my state of ohio and affected every single state in this body and every community we represent, and that's the issue of prescription drug, heroin, and now fentanyl and other synthetic heroin addiction. this epidemic is affecting our communities in fundamental ways. it is breaking families apart. it's causing crime. in fact, in my home state of ohio, as i talk to law enforcement first of all, in every county, they tell me it is the top reason for crime and the growth in crime. it's certainly affecting our first responders. when i go to a firehouse and talk to the firefighters there about what they do

senator graham: no. this was a situation which occurred in 2011, as all this information about sarasota was starting to come out. my wife and i flew up from iami to dulles to have thanksgiving with our daughter who lives in great falls. we were met at the airport by two fbi agents. they said an official with the fbi wants to talk to you about the sarasota situation. i was encouraged, feeling maybe some of the questions we had been asking were going to be answered. so we drove with the agents to the office at dulles which the fbi has. my wife was put in one room. she was given as entertainment the fbi training manual. if you want to know some arcane aspects of fbi training, she is fully prepared. i was taken into another room with the deputy director of the fbi, a young female fbi agent, nd a middle-aged lawyer from the department of justice, and essentially, the message was, we have done this complete investigation. everything that is known is known. you need to get a life. i pointed out what he did not

the tenure regime of the senate. year regime of the senate. the register here could break a logjam -- right to stay here to work could break a locked on. the citizens here to work be legalized. that is out there. every work programs was a huge issue lester. we did not explain it as well as we needed to. they're good for the coming. they also compliment border security. but they all part of one big train with little box cut behind each one? probably. last chance for questions. if that is the case we will end on that positive immigration note and thank you all so much for coming. we really appreciated it and hope you got a lot out of hearing for these two experts. if you have any follow-up questions still hesitate to contact the press office. thank you. >> along the gulf coast of florida today, already feeling some of the effects of hurricane hermine before it heads up because of the carolinas. it is good to be taking a path here at the miami herald that they mapped out heading up the carolinas on friday and saturday. first landfall the hurrican

and it was led by senator manchin and by this senator. regarding the buildout of rural broadband and the mobility fund, july 11, 26 of us on a bipartisan basis signed that. so thank you, senator manchin, for helping with that and thank you all who signed it. we got an answer yesterday. and i'll just say, mr. chairman, it's disappointing to me that we have to have a hearing to get a letter back on something that over a quarter of this body asked about. and basically the response was, we're looking into it. we hope to get back to you by the first of the year. no decisions have been made on the best target the mobility fund phase two support, the commission staff is continuing to process and review the record. so i appreciate the fact that apparently this hearing being scheduled today persuaded you to write a letter dated yesterday. can you give us any specific steps beyond what you said in the letter? or are you unable to do that, about how the commission might be expanding broadband into the rural community? >> thank you, senator. yes. let

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. a senator: mr. president, today is a good day for montana and the black feet people. mr. daines: with the passage of the water resources development act, the black feet settlement act is one step closer to the president's desk. today's action marks the first time the compact has passed the senate after being introductioned four times since 2010. today for the first time this important legislation came to the senate for a vote and it passed. i along with my colleague, senator jon tester made sure it made it through this time. it is long overdue and will not only establish the tribe's water rights but will also facilitate real tangible benefits for the black feet and surrounding communities. the bill will improve several federal water structures that are some of the oldest and in most need of repair in the country and help irrigate some of our most productive farmland in our state. the settlement act also balances the need of the state and the local community. the black feet indian reservation is loca