former leader senator bob dole. senatorcconnell has s 11 years, 5 months, 10 days, a few senators paid tribute to senator mcconnell for breaking the record. >> thank you, madame president. before i begin my remarks, i want to congratulate our republican leader on becoming the longest serving republican leader in the senate, my friend leader mcconnell reached that milestone today. it's no secret we disagree on a whole lot of issues, both political and philosophical, but that doesn't mean we can't or don't work together or that i don't admire the qualities that have helped make him the longest serving republican leader. he understands his caucus and represents them well. he knows how to fight. and he knows how to cooperate. the job is not an easy one. so it's a testament to his qualities that has done it longer than anyone in the history of the senate. >> i rise today to mark an important milestone forur friend senator mitch mcconnell, who has now become thegest serving republican leader, surpassing senator bob dole o

it has been a highlight of my senate career. senator mcconnell is trusted. we all know he's wp-smart. hes an impressive strategist. he understands the senate better than anybody else here. and time and time again he's demonstrated what leaders always need to demonstrate, and that's a remarkable agree of humility, sometimes preferring to work for the betterment of the conference and the country behind the scenes rather than enjoy the spotlight on the front l. that takes a remarkable sense of self-confidence and team spirit that not everybody has. it is true that sometimes he's soft-spoken, but i can assure you that he's never afraid to take a hard line when absuty necessary. but more than at that, he is a e example of what a senator ought to be, what a true public servant ought to be. as majority leader, senator mcconnell is a member of a storied group that includes the likes of charles curtis, the first official majority leader of the senate, who was fame use for his -- famous for his native american ancestry and racing horses, i'm told. the group includes r

> aye. >> senator brown. >> aye. >> senator klobuchar. >> aye. >> senator bennett. >> aye. >> senator gillebrand. >> aye by proxy. >> senator donnelly. >> aye. >> senator heitkamp. >> aye. >> senator casey. >> aye. >> senator smith. >> aye. >> senator mcconnell. >> by proxy. >> senator boseman. >> aye. >> senator hoven. >> aye. >> senator ernst. >> aye. >> senator grassley. >> no. >> senator thune. >> aye. >> senator danes. >> aye. >> senator purdue. >> aye. >> senator fisher. >> aye. >> senator hide-smith. >> aye. >> chairman roberts. >> aye. >> that's 20 ayes, one no. >> the ayes are 21 and the nos are 1. the bill is ordered to be reported favorable to the senate as amended. all right. one more change. the ayes are 20 and the nos are 1. the bill is ordered reported favored to the senate as amended. i ask unanimous consent that the staff be authorized to make such technical and clarifying changes that are appropriate. seeing no objections, so ordered. i want to really thank my colleagues for joining in this important process today. i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record let

senator lisa murkowski of alaska, also a pro-choice republican senator. in january of this year, just a few months ago, senators murkowski and collins both voted no on a piece of republican legislation that would have been an abortion ban, that would have instituted a 20-week ban after which women coast-to-coast wouldn't be allowed to access abortion services. both senator collins and murkowski have cast plenty of anti-choice votes in their careers of various kinds including for anti-abortion judges, but in this case, what they would be doing is providing the deciding vote literally and directly to overturn roe versus wade and make abortion illegal in america. it's not theoretical, and it's not complicated. you only have to be able to count to one. and all that either of them has to do to avoid casting that deciding vote is say you know what? what was fair for the scalia seat when that came open is fair for the kennedy seat now, now that that seat's open too. let's just vote after the election, like we did with the scalia seat. that's all. so what happens

and then senator boozman and senator daines, the chairman and then senator feinstein as well as senator murphy as well as senator schatz, we all worked together last week and got a result. as i said at the beginning, senators shouldn't get a pat on the back for doing what we're supposed to do any more than boy scouts should get a merit badge for telling the truth, but we have done what we are supposed to do. it's an encouraging sign. i hope it sets a precedent. bipartisan majorities in congress have for several years now appropriated record levels of taxpayer dollars f government-sponsored research, science, and technology. this hasn't always been noticed. president trump has signed two of these appropriations bills, and i want to suggest that the president include government-sponsored research science and technology as part of his america first agenda. a principal reason the united states produces 24% of all the money in the world for just 5% of the people -- that's us -- is the extraordinary concentration of brainpower in the united states supported by federal dollars through our nati

senator, i can add to the accolades of the senator from kentucky by pointing out that he and i have a common trait, a comm denominator between us. we both married above ourselves. and the fact that his wife, the honorable elaine chao, now our secretary of transportation, former secretary of labor, it is truly one of the remarkable couples in the nation's capital of political leadership. and i congratulate him on the comments from the require. the presiding officer: the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: mr. president, the senate's majority leader, senator mitch mcconnell of kentucky, will become the longest serving senate republican leader in history surpasng former senator bob dole of kansas. this according to the senate historical office. today i senator mcconnell's 4 79 lgt day as senate republican leader, a position that he assumed on january 3, 2007, after republicans lost control of both chambers of commerce. i'd like to take a few minutes to put senator mcconnell's leadership in perspective. that perspective begins in the year 1969. i was 29 years old and work

senator: thank you, mr. chairman. senator grassley: senator hatch. senator hatch: listen to these findings from the inspector general's report on the handling of the clinton email investigation. error of judgment, serious error of judgment, extremely poor judgment, and a gross lack of professionalism. these are conclusions that were drawn about the conduct of former attorney general of the united states, the former director of the federal bureau of investigation. f.b.i. special agents assigned to one of the highest profile investigations in the bureau's history. in my opinion, this is appalling. and the significance of these findings cannot be overstated. the report identifies missteps in every levels of the department of justice to special agents in the field. i was disappointed by your response last week of the inspector general report. and while you admitted that the report found errors of judgment, you took pains to emphasize that e report small amount of f.b.i. employees. let's remember who that was. director of the f.b.i., deputy rector of the

there are two other nongermane amendments, one by senator lee and one by senator paul. they say if i don't get a vote on my amendment, then i'm going to stop all other amendments from coming up, so nobody gets to h anmendment. now at the same time they're saying that about the paul amendment and the lee amendment, we have other members, such as senator grassley and senator senator graham, graham and grassley are both saying if you end up getting a vote on that, we're going to make sure -- we'll make sure you don't get a vote on it. so you have opposing parties saying whatever the case is, if you get a vote on something i disagree with, therefore, i'm going to stop all amendments from coming forth. in a way they can do that. and i see that's happening right now. and i would ask my friend, because i am going to object. i'm going to object not just because of the underlyingill but because it's an amendment that changes the underlying bill. i have had occasion to talk to two members of the house that will be part of our conference committee who strenuously object not so muc

intense by senate offices -- interns by senate offices. this additional funding will help ensure that the broadest possible of intern candidates have the opportunity to serve. washington, d.c., is a very expensive place. it is good to see this provision in the bill. there's also $1 million provided to supporting ongoing congressional act reform efforts to support legislative branch offices and agencies on harassment and discrimination in the workplace. these are just a few of the many highlights of the bill. i very much want to thank my ranking member, senator murphy, for working with me to craft this bipartisan legislation. i also appreciate the sport of committee on appropriations in favorably reporting legislative branch appropriations unanimously for full consideration by the senate. i respect vice president shell by and ranking member leahy for ending this path of yet another year of omnibus and more c.r.'s. it was good to see a couple of amendment votes here before i started speaking. that's a healthy sign of stronger bipartisanship

so i want to thank senator shelby and senator leahy and i thank senator mcconnell and senator schumer, the democratic and republican leaders for creating an environment in which all of this is possible. what we are doing is we're saying to all members of the senate we would like for the senate -- we would like for the appropriations bill to be considered by more than one-third of the senators. we know that we have created your thoughts and we considered your thoughts in our committee process. we have done that. we have done that carefully. but to the extent senators want to, we ought to be able to consider relevant amendments, amendments that have something to do with the bill on the floor of the senate. so the key now is whether we know how to do amendments, whether we can remember how to consider, talk about, agree to time agreements and then vote on amendments. how we can occasionally show restraint and not offer an amendment that would blow the whole bill up. keeping in mind that our goal is to pass an appropriation bill -- literally a series of appropriations bills that will spen

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: one of the greatest things about our country is the bill of rights. you know, when we passed the constitution, many people were fearful that if specific rights were not enumerated, they might be be taken away. i think other people said, well, we don't need a bill of rights. who could imagine a time when we would take away the right to trial? who can imagine a time when you wouldn't get a lawyer, or that you could be held indefinitely without a trial? so some people oppose the bill of rights -- opposed the bill of rights and said we don't need this because it's so obvious that no one in their right mind would ever argue that an american citizen or someone apprehended or accused of a crime in the united states would be held without limit, would be sent to a camp in another country and held forever without a trial. none of our founding fathers ever imagined that could happen. and yet, here we are. here we are at a time where just four or five years ago, this body passed a bill that

any senator will have five minutes to ask questions. the secretar secretary must leat noon, so i'm going to be a little strict on the five-minute limit and that senators ask their questions with two seconds remaining i will ask the senate to provide the answer in writing so every senator can have a chance to ask questions. may 11resident tmp announced a blueprint to reduce the cost americans pay for their prescription drugs and today we are pleased to hear from secretary azar

senator grassley: yes. bob: when do you think a decision will be made? senator grassley: will senator feinstein said yesterday she would do it we will do it. elana: does that include compulsary process for andrew mccabe? i know he wanted immunity. senator grassley: yeah. that involves a few steps, feinstein and mine agreeing to it. we want to do that. we are in some negotiations with her on that point. it goes to the justice department to make sure it doesn't interfere with any of their potential prosecution. and then getting before us. i think another step that's not so regular is i think we need to -- and we're working through his lawyers on this to have a conversation of what he can contribute to our oversight because if he can't contribute anything substantial there's no point in going through it. elana: but provided that conversation results in a positive outcome, you would be recommending immunity grant? senator grassley: yes. bob: on trade, we talked to a fair amount of republican senators and they'r

senator mur, senator collins, senator kennedy of louisiana, and they voted net neutrality. we know, as senator schumer just said, that it the vote was taken right now on net neutrality in the house of representatives, it uld win. we would be able to put those protections back on the books. so, millions of people rose up throughout the six months of lastea year. 22 million them contacting the fcc peered ajit pai, chairman of the fcc ignored those 22 million people, and i sits and i secreted to vote two vote on the federal communications commission. they took net neutrality off of the books. in other words, they officially stripped consumers of the protection that have allowed the economy and our democracy to flourish. now, amerins w h blindly trust their cle companies, their broadband companies,heir internet providers to protect them against discrimination. the cable dream come tru they were in one of the fcc, but now they've come to revolution is underway. here is the sun appeared it's already happened. now we need to have the same level of energy. if those millions of amer

senator reed? >> thank you very much, senator inhofe. let me join in welcoming general miller, daughter sarah and son, thank you both for your commitment in service of your father. general, thank you for your continued service to the nation and thank also, as i said, your family for your tremendous support. and as senator burr indicated, we do have things in common. we were both at west point and became grunts. so i appreciate your service very much. much of more career has involved the mission in afghanistan, in addition to several deployments, you served as commander of the combined forces, special operations component command in afghanistan, and as the director of the pakistan/afghanistan coordination center on the joint staff. general miller, if confirmed, you will take command at a krital time. it's been nearly ten months since the president's south asia strategy was announced. in support of the strategy, the administration has increased the number of u.s. troops on the ground, primarily to advise and enable the afghan security forc

>> senator, i did not. is that something you would've wanted to do in 2001. >> senator, i actually recall conversations of people who were talking about they were doing this for their kids did not have to. let's talk about lieutenant muller. if lieutenant muller does his job well and, he will have a private report to his platoon in all likelihood who was born after the 911 attacks. that's a pretty shocking fact. >> yes senator. >> so we've taken a lot of burden in afghanistan. we've taken it on for a long time. many americans rightfully question why we have spent so much money there, why would had so many sons and daughters killed there. is the simple answer to those questions that afghanistan is where the attack is from and if we were to withdraw they would simply try to start attacking us again. >> senator, i go back to that national interest. it's a vital national interest which is the security of our country and our citizens as well as other international partners. that's why we are in afghanista afghan

these are senators that are very well-respected senators with a wide range ever ideologies. as a matter of fact, this probably is the most cosponsored amendment that has been put forth. i have been really proud to be able to work with senators who care deeply about our nation. they just want to make sure that we as a congress perrm our urt if a tariff is going to be put in place under this very unusual waiver that has never in try of our country been ud as it is now being used by this current president, that we have the ability to at least say, have a say in this. it's not unlik the president yesteroingda g to singapore and kphaoegt -- meeting with kim jong un. what they told us is they're going to negotiate through a process that hopefully cause them to be denuclearized. but when they complete that process, they pn to bring that to the united states senate to have usaty a tat they have been real clear about it. so it's exactly that same kind of process, except in this case it's even more so our responsibility to make sure that if we're going to tariff people under this unus

the senator was critically hurt. police identify the alleged assailant as a 24-year-old, and native jordanian who came to the country 11 years ago. his brother gave the name to police, and fingerprints confirmed the identification. among the things discovered was a newspaper clipping criticizing senator kennedy's support of the united states's aide to india. -- to israel. and a notebook with scribbled lines saying kennedy must be killed before june 5. the suspect has refused to talk with police. he would not even tell them his name. robert kennedy was shot at 12:15 a.m. pacific coast time. the end of a brilliant, political, and public career at the age of 42. robert francis kennedy was dead. robert francis knedy, born novemb 2 1925, stands behind his father, joseph patrick kennedy, in this 1934 family portrait. he was eight years old, the third of four sons and a family of nine children. the oldest son was killed in world war ii. john fitzgerald kennedy was assassinated in 19, 3 years after becoming president of the

i've spoken with senator roberts and senator stabenow about that. that's exactly what this amendment would do. the amendment would gut most importantly, it would gut one of our trade enforcement tools, a tool congress passed and enhanced in the finance committee just in the last couple of years, passed to ensure we protect the industries necessary to defend our country. i know my colleague from tennessee generally opposes the president's trade agenda. i think he does that from an intellectually honest position. but that is not justification for completely undoing a decades old statute that is one of the few tools we have to defend national security interests against distortions in the global market. the steel and aluminum tariffs the president has put in place are long overdue actions to defend against further shrinking of two sectors critical to national defense. senator toomey certainly knows this in the western part of his state as i know it in mine. i know my colleagues agree that steel -- excess steel production capacity in china is troubling.

they are senator jones, senator smith, senator kennedy, number 3097, senator murkowski, 3110, senator hatch 3125, senator merkley 3147, senator tester 3148, senator gillibrand 3154, senator gardner 3157, senator moran 3159, senator collins 3160, senator peters 3164, senator shaheen 3172, senator feinstein 3177, senator cornyn 3186, senator cantwell and senator crapo 3209, senator gardner again 3218, and senator grassley. i would only note this represents 18 amendments, including the substitute. extremely bipartisan. i have read republican, democrat, democrat, republican, all through these 18 amendments. we have proceeded that way in committee. we are proceeding this way on the floor. i would urge members to bring their amendments to the floor for consideration, and hopefully the amendments will be in the nature that we can consider them without controversy. i know that people have strong concerns about whatever amendment they would introduce, but again the ultimate goal is to do this quickly and to provide farmers certainty and predictability during this difficult time that they're go

however, senator graham and senator grassley hav said that in any event that senator paul or senator lee puts their amendment forward, that they will stop all amendments from - stop their amendments from coming up. so that's where we are. we have corker amendment, and it is one that has a blue slip problem. we have the indefinite detention amendment by paul, and that's -- and both graham andrassle have said that they would object if that comes up for a vote. so we can't have a vote on that. and there's nothing we can do except get them together to decide. this bill that we're talking about is the most significant bill of the year. we can'tove on it until -- and i agree. there is a problem. i've talked to a lot of our members. they are fairly new members. they talk about the senate process. and that one person can stop everything from happening. well, it's been that way for a lopping time, and this is where we have to pay dearly for t but i have to say this also. because many times on legislation that we have here on the floor, it's democrat versus republican, republican versus democr

senator leahy. senator leahy: thank you. we have worked together in a bipartisan way to draft this 2018 farm bill. it's actually an example of what the senate could achieve when we cast aside rank and rhetoric and focus on the real challenges we face. and this committee has a long and well deserved reputation for that. mr. chairman i think of your , predecessor, a dear friend of both of us, bob dole, when he was here. i remember working closely with hubert humphrey. arehave two people that poles apart philosophically. and they would work together and come up with good agriculture legislation. you have done the same and the senator has. i know in our state, vermont farmers and families rely on the support and guidance of the farm bill so our farms, both large and small and -- large and small are productive. that their children are noris. that the air, land, and water are protected. and this bill makes important improvements in all of these. rural communities across vermont and every corner of america, represented every single

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. mr. king: i want to commend the senator from texas for his leadership both on the juvenile justice provision of the national defense act and also very importantly on the foreign investment. we often hear around here testimony about all of government efforts. what we're facing is an all of society effort from some of our competitor, principally china, so their private sector and public sector are sometimes indistinguishable when it comes to assets. that's why the senator from texas has taken the lead on and has included as an amendment in the national defense authorization act is vitally important to national security. and i just want to thank the senator for his leadership on a very important issue and commend the work of the committee and including it in the bill. like the senator, i look forward to supporting this bill. i think it's important on many levels. but since the senator is on the floor, i wted toommend him for his leadership on these issues. mr. president, i come today to talk

from which he was elected to the senate will chance to view the body of the senator. it will lie in state all day before the high requiem mass on saturday morning. >> we will be there when the lands at laguardia and proceeds into st. patrick's tonight. in the meantime, we would like to present a report on of life and career senator robert kennedy with cbs news correspondent walter cronkite. weeks,e last few robert francis kennedy was enjoying himself. a good fight to fight and he was a fighter. ideals were at stake and he idealist and for a man whose demeanor always ofgested a boyish kind shyness he really enjoyed getting out among people. he enjoyed the physical contact. refused police protection because he said that all the people wanted to do was to hurt him. not to he made a point of that. he knew that the people him andant to hurt he plunged into areas that even local mayors steered clear of and he was manhandled. something seemed to grow in the shy third brother of a in theseamily weeks of primary campaigning. the younger brother who had stayed behind the scenes

the honest ads act is another dull am doing with senator mccain and senator warren. i would look at what is happening in the last election while there was no disclaimer requirements and there were no disclosure requirements. and basically so you have to have the same rules of the game that you have vincent audio ad for radio or tv or print ad for print. i don't think it's that hard and some of the countries now for some reason are doing it on their own, which would really appreciate, but again, we're going to have a patchwork rules we just allow them to do that because they are all doing it differently. could you comment about that? facebook,along with twitter, google, msn of the -- am ads -- and a fan fan of the honest ad act. we often dance on the head of a pin. it gets squish oftentimes, there are issues-based ads that never have to do with election processes. they may want to run when there happens to the election. senator klobuchar: it is easy to say that but there is a standard set by law. it would have to be an issue of national legislative importance. actuall

first is a counsel for senator joseph mccarthy's subcommittee in the senate. later as chief counsel for the subcommittee. he and ethel began raising a family in those years. one of the most controversial episodes in his career, a subject often brought up by political opponents, was his service as assistant counsel to the mccarthy committee. 1953 when mccarthy, after rocking the nation with charges of communism and high places became embroiled in a battle with army officials represented by joseph welch. the hearings, which arose from claims of subversion and army camp led to the eclipse of senator mccarthy's career and to the resignation of robert kennedy from the committee after six-month service. kennedy had been feuding with the chief counsel. he was to return to the committee as counsel for the democrats and ultimately succeeded with chief counsel. in 1957, kennedy stepped into a role as a tough investigator. he began investigation into the teamsters union. he found a major adversary. their exchanges were abrasive. >> to find out whether these locals had me

senate but he is gone from the senate and the governor is no longer governor. this is the smiling creepy mug shot is and these are the charges brought against him and as the door prize in the roll, mr. strange got to hold on to the u.s. senate seat for a few months even after the governor was forced out and the people got a say and alabama republicans held a primary last summer and a run off last fall in both elections and this incumbent senator who was appointed by the disgrace governor, got beat both times by a supreme court justice who was thrown off of the court for violations of ethics. he was the senator who filled jeff sessions and didn't make it a year. he was out by december. the republican candidate who beat him in the primary faced multiple multiple allegations of child molestation and when it came time in december for not just republicans but the whole state of alabama to vote for a full term senator in the special election, alabama decided they were going to pick a democrat. thanks to big luther change and he is weird fake pledge that he was invest

democratic senators, republican senators. we can have some pretty spirited disagreements around here, but these are senators who know a brainless,ntr policy when you see one. and there is a companion bill in the other body that has strong bipartisan support as wel so we are going to keep at it. our bipartisan coalition, in order to build support for this throughout the days ahead. here in the senate members are hard at work putting together a bipartisan farm bill, and we're very pleased to see the leadership on both the majority side and the minority side. chairman roberts, senator stabenow, working very closely together to put together a bipartisan farm bill which would be a perfect opportunity to move this forward. i'm constantly saying at home in oregon very supportive of agriculture. let's grow it in america. let's add value to it in america. and let's shipt wherever we can in order to create jobs, jobs that start on the farm. so we've got momentum growing. and that's why hempisry week, this time when i come to the floor

>> senator from ohio? >> thank you. i appreciate senator corker's comments. i guess i appreciate senator toomey's a little less who tried to say that i was like thinking that the peoples republic of china has an economy that we should emulate, when what i actually said and i have seen him do this before, what i actually said is china's government fights for its national interests, like putting people to work and our trade policy for 25 years since nafta, since south korea, many of them pushed by presidents of my party whom i stood up for, have undermined american national security and domestic security. so i just reject that, but i appreciate senator corker's comments about voting on this. this is a major change in policy with no legislative hearings with no real discussion or debate. it is a bit rich when the majority party talks about us not lying votes when start with the supreme court nominee of three years ago and all the times we tried to do a transportation bill, important in our banking committee senator corker as you know and you weren't really part

the senate agriculture community should support senator grassley amendment and the full senate should be legitimate of the amendments to reform our broken farm subsidy system. in particular, the senate must be able to debate an amendment that cap and means test crop insurance subsidies. at a time of great uncertainty for agriculture, congress should not be giving unlimited subsidies to city slackers or billionaires. congress should take steps to ensure that our tax dollars help real farmers wind actually need help and to live and work on the farm. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i'm joshua sewell, taxpayers for common sense. taxpayers deserve a farm bill that works for taxpayers. after all, it is us, taxpayers, footing the bill. and now lawmakers have the opportunity and yes even the ability to produce a bill that works not only for all corners of agriculture but for all types of taxpayers. but to do so they need to give a different set of principles in mind. instead of judging its excesses, programs are seen as failures have the program slightly less over or heaven forbid even un

i have heard my colleagues, senator murphy, senator merkley, senator wyden and i know senator murray will speak in a minute. and we are focusing upon the grave damage that this administration is doing to the health care of americans. but i thought maybe i'd inject just a little bit of good news into this discussion. the good news i want to describe is positive advances that are still taking place because of the affordable care act, even despite the best efforts of the administration to kill the affordable care act. because senate colleagues joined together on the floor nearly a year ago to defeat efforts to repeal the affordable care act, even as the sabotage has been going on, there has been an advance in my state that is very, very significant. two weeks ago my state legislature, after a four-year debate, decided to become the 33rd state that accepted medicaid expansion. mr. president, and to my colleagues, if you want to know whether what youin this chamber matters, that vote in august of last year that preserved the affordable care act enabled my state to embrace medicaid expansi

i've been in the senate skiff before and encountered some of the senate staff, but i don't know that person by name. so i really couldn't tell you whether i've met him. >> just for people who don't know how this works, that's a very common situation between house and senate. there's little interaction between the committees and certainly less interaction between the senate committee staff and members of the house committee. congressman schiff, there are other developments on your committee. you released today, publically, released a letter you sent to devin nunes a couple weeks ago, asking for something like this. asking that the committee assist in or refer to the justice department for possible investigation for perjury witnesses who appeared before your committee. that was your request to devin nunes to try to get the justice department to take a look at some of the testimony that's occurred in your committee. can you tell us why you released that letter publically today. >> for a couple reasons. initially when we began the investigation we decided the interviews should be conduct

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. perdue: thank you, madam president. i rise today to comment on something that is somewhat misunderstood in many parts of our country. that's the farm bill. i have the privilege to sit in a seat in the united states senate once held by saxby chambliss, a former chairman of this agriculture committee. i'm fortunate to be from a state where agriculture is our largest industry. i'm fortunate to sit on a committee that as we just heard from two people, two leaders, ranking member senator stabenow from michigan, my good friend, and my good friend, senator pat roberts, the chairman, this is a bipartisan committee. people sent me up here three years ago, madam president, and they said look, we need to go there and get something done. i said okay, fine. you know we have two opposing views in washington, so that means you're going to have to compromise. i made the comment that no one gets everything they want. i reminded people, i am married. this is something that is the american way. i come f

senator grassley: senator feinstein? senator feinstein: mr. crews, i woullike to continue where the chairman was in his questioning. so, this happened to you at an event? was it a single instance or whether -- were there more instances? who did you talk to about it? what kind of advice did you seek? did you hide it? you are very overt and direct. i wonder if that was you at the time or if this is a new you. >> thank you for your question, senator. i was very vocal. immediately. i was at an event with my wife and what happened was -- the the heado did this was of the motion picture department at my own agency. i don't know what was going on in his head. he actually did it twice in the same night in front of my wife. he said he was drunk. and -- he wasn't himself the first reaction was to be violent and i immediately held back. >> why weren't you? you are a big, powerful man. why didn't you? mr. crews: senator, is a black man in america, -- >> say it as it is. i think it is important. >> you only have a few shot at success. chances tove a few ma

we have passed net neutrality here in the senate on a bipartisan basis and senator murkowski and senator collins and senator kennedy of louisiana, they voted for net neutrality. we know as senator schumer just said that if the vote was taken right now on net neutrality in the house ofnt representatives t would win. we would be able to put those protections back on the books. millions of people rose up throughout all the last six months and 22 million of them contacting the fcc, chama pai of the sec ignored those 22 million peoplend a by a three-to vote on the federal on they took net neutrality off the books. in other words, they officially strapped consumers of the projections that have allowed economy in our democracy to flourish. now americans will have to blindly trust their cable companies and their broadband companies and theirer internet providers to protect them againstai discrimination. it is a big cable strea dream ce true. they have already won at the fcc and now the c counterrevolutions underway. here in the senate it is already happened. what we need to do now is to have the

senator. senator lee. >> today. thank you senator stevan now. we have worked together in a bipartisan way to draft this 2018 farm bill. it's an example of what the senate can achieve when we cast aside rank and rhetoric and focus on the real challenges we face in this committee has a long well-deserved reputation forut that and i think of the predecessor a dear friend of both of us bob dole and i remember working closely with hubert humphrey and they were two opposite poles philosophically but they would work together and come up with good agriculture -- i know in our state, vermont farmers and families, rely on the farm bill so that our farms both large and small productive so that their children are nourished, air, land and water protected and this bill makes an important improvement in all of these. rural communities across vermont in every corner of america represented in every state will directly benefit fromfi this bi. set ourere we priorities like our spending bills. farmers everywhere

chairman i first want to thank the senator. senator. we worked together on many things successfully and we are still trying to get this worked out. we came at this with the same intention and that is because of the changes of the farming in the past that we need to make the law more updated so that it accommodates that, but at the same time a countervailing force is how we make sure all of the money isn't used up by the big farmers and there is still money for some of the smaller farmers and so that is why i am doing is against agree amendment to the amendment number one come and this amendment would increase the limits for both guaranteed operating in the cap of 1.39 million to 1.75 million. this would also increase the limits on the correct side, lifting the cap on the ownership from 300,000 to 600,000 in on the direct operating from 300,000 to 400,000. i know that this also includes important language i worked on with the senator to increase the data that we have on the participation rates and i've asked my fellow committee members t

the senate agriculture committee should support senator grassley's amendment and the full senate should be able to debate other amendments to amend our farm broken system. the senate must be able to debate and amendment that has a means test crop insurance subsidies. congress should not be giving unlimited subsidies to city slickers or billionaires, congress should take steps to ensure that our tax dollars actually need help and to live and work on the farm. thank you. >> thank you. i am joshua. taxpayers deserve a farmville that works for taxpayers. after all it is us, taxpayers footing the bill. now lawmakers have the opportunity, and yes even the ability to produce a bill that works not only for all corners of agriculture but for all types of taxpayers. to do so the need to keep a different set of principles in mind. instead of judging at successes -- and seen as failures, any other program -- or have for bed -- heaven forbid. rather than hiding beneficiaries of -- behind and nearly impenetrable wall of governmental secrecy as is the case with recipients of federal crop insurance sub

i just want to thank the senator from minnesota. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: mr. president, i would like to call up my amendment number 3383 from the language proposed to be stricken by amendment number 3324. i am joined -- the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, mr. kennedy, proposes amendment number 3383 to the language proposed to be stricken by amendment number 3324. strike section 103 and insert the following. section 4103, work requirements for able-bodied adults -- mr. kennedy: mr. president, i ask for consent that the reading of the amendments be waived and for the opportunity to make a few remarks about my amendment. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm joined in this amendment with senators cruz and lee. i want to thank senator roberts and senator stabenow for their hard work on this bill. the farm bill is a must-pass bill. it's important. i realize that. americ

senator mcconnell will tell anyone that listened that the senate had the right to advise and consent. that was every bit as important as the president's right to nominate. >> neil: the battle is on. so are we. justice anthony kennedy is leaving the supreme court. that's got everybody plotting. it's our biggest issue today. it's our only issue this hour. it is that important right now. welcome, everybody. i'm neil cavuto. this is "your world." get ready for a summer to remember as the supreme court justice is getting ready to hang up his robe. we've got you covered with joe lieberman on the very big battle to come. religious leader bob vanderplaid said the holy war yet to come and rand paul on whether any of this gets done. first, to shannon bream at the supreme court where the search is now on. hi, shannon. >> this is an interesting day. the term closed out, closed it up and said see you back october 1. no hint of any retirements. what we didn't know, anthony kennedy made up his mind. he wanted to talk to president trump before issuing a simple letter to the president and went public.

50 years ago on june 5, 1968, senator robert f. kennedy was shot in los angeles after winning the california presidential primary. next on "reel america," robert 1968, 50y, 1925 to minute special report from the evening of june 6 after the senator died of his gunshot wounds. the report covers the life and assassination of the new york them up at and is anchored by walter cronkite. this is a cbs news special report. here is harry. >> good evening, the body of senator robert kennedy is in a jet heading for new york from los angeles. before 4:30 this afternoon and will land in laguardia new york, and the body will arrive at 9:30 new york time tonight. tomorrow from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 10:00 p.m., itto will lie in state, and go by train from new york to washington, and in a motor procession from new york's union station to go by the senate office building, and by the justice department, where robert kennedy served as attorney general, before burial saturday afternoon in the same plot where john kennedy lies. already, there are people ga

a senator: i want to thank senator merkley for bringing us all together, what i would address, senator hassan, one of the dark marks in the history of our country. rise today to call attention to what has clearly been a human rights abuse committed by the united states government. ms. harris: and that is this outrageous and inhumane separation of children from their parents at the border. this morning thousands of children woke up without their parents not knowing where they were, not knowing when they would see them again, not knowing the adults who surround them having no relationship of trust with these people who have removed their ability to be in the arms and embrace of their parents. this is simply inhumane and it is unacceptable. and even with the executive order from the president of the united states, that number will be the name tomorrow. those 2,000-plus children will be in the same situation tomorrow that they were in today and the day before and the day before that. over the last few months, the department of homeland security has separated more than 2,000 children from t

he wanted to know the senators were. -- who the senators were. but nixon knew the country. he had run for president three times. he ran for vice president twice. he had everything from toledo, ohio, mississippi. he knew that you don't do this in new jersey on friday, he knew not to campaign on sunday. i don't know that means. >> to improve this picture, you should send it over to the russian embassy. >> president clinton dressed up and we are teasing. he was very formal. he was very dignified. >> you can remember the picture of next and walking on the beach -- nixon walking on the beach in a sport coat and tie. >> this is the picture of the congressional relations staff. he was the chief of staff. it was 1973. bill timmins is second from my right. as this point, the congressional relations staff was six people. it had gone up one. we hired a democrat to be a part of the congressional staff. whose guy was he? >> he was from mississippi. he was a big supporter of the president. he was at the conservative. he was bipartisan. he was a democrat in mississippi. >> before we get t

in 2012 senator warren ran for senate against a popular incumbent in a state that it never elected aan as senator, , nevertheless, she persisted. and she one. and today she is persisting being a bright spot in the congress has become a black hole for civil liberties. among the very many bills that senator warren is sponsoring our bill to reform outdated marijuana policies. [applause] a bill to end discrimination based on sexual orientation in public schools. [applause] a bill to improve procedures for handling complaints of sexual harassment and discoloration against congressional employees. [applause] reforming the use of solitary confinement by the bureau of prisons. [applause] and know you like abouthi one, built to protect children affected by immigration enforcement. [cheers and applause] we all know none of these bills were an easy list but nonetheless we want senator warren to persist in pursuing? [applause] i want to tell you i happen to be adding a democratic senators on the morning the figure eht, 2017, and a totally nonpartisan fashion of course. the presiding senator comm

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: . senator from montana. mr. daines: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. heller: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. heller: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. a senator: -- mr. hoeven: thank you, mr. president. there is a reason we passed the national defense authorization act every year for the past 57 years, and that's because it's vital for the men and women who take responsibility for defending our country. passing the national defense authorization act is one of the most important things that we do in this chamber and i look forward to passing the bill that we have before us out of the senate and getting it through conference and signed into law very soon. i want to start by briefly thanking the bill managers for including a number of my amendments, but one that i will mention that they have added to the managers' package is an amendment that requires the air force and the national nuclear security

senator grassley: senator feinstein. senator feinstein: i look at the numbers and they are so extraordinary. i look at the segments of american life that this kind of behavior appears to permeate. and it's everywhere. what is happening with this? why is this, this kind of terrible immorality? we're not an unreligious culture. religions prevail and yet it happens even with religions. and i'm just astonished by the numbers of the millions of people that are affected by this. and it seems to me we have to come to grips with why this is. is it what we watch? is it what we do? what is it? other societies don't -- aren't at the numbers we are. dr. spivak: i think you raise an incredibly important issue and it's a very important question. what i can tell you is that the national institute of justice has invested a significant amount of resources into trying to better understand this. so we have a number of surveys going on to better understand, not only how common this is but what the circumstances are around it. what the impli