shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i rise to support this congressional review act resolution to block the usda catfish inspection program. despite what my colleague from mississippi has said, there is no evidence that the catfish program provides any additional food safety benefit. it was designed to create a trade barrier. now, i appreciate my opponent from mississippi's opposition. he's working for his catfish farmers in mississippi. i like mississippi catfish, but i like all kinds of catfish. and in fact the usda, the f.d.a., the c.d.c. and the g.a.o. have all confirmed that catfish, both domestic and imported, is already safe under f.d.a.'s jurisdiction, and in fact you're more likely to get hit by lightning than to get sick from imported or domestic catfish. so let's not lose sight of what we're talking about here. f.d.a. inspects hundreds of species of domestic and imported seafood. there is nothing particularly dangerous about catfish that merits setting up a whole separate inspection program under t

i'm a cosponsor of senator shaheen's amendment. i do not support the efforts of some who say there is no money in here. this is an authorization bill, the first step towards getting the money in the future. that is the point. drug the author of the free community built. $1.9 million has been spent, creating coalitions in just about every state represented in this body. was that a spending bill? no. it was an authorization bill. evidence-based practices we knew would work. , andis what this is specifically directed to the beingof treatment centers built, detox centers not having room for somewhere to go. these are real problems in our community. that is what this legislation is by anto address, not just appropriation for one year, but by changing the law for the future. the nextthis right, in 19 years, we will spend even more than we have spent on the drug-free community at. it will be over $2 billion that would not have otherwise gone out. just as senator whitehouse said he supports this bill because it based, because we took the t

shaheen: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the? the will proceed to the -- the senate will proceed to the consideration of s. 2613, which the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 2613, a bill to reauthorize certain programs established by the adam walsh child protection and safety act of 2006. mrs. shaheen: madam president, i rise today to discuss the sexual aassault survivors rights act. i'm pleased that this legislation has been incorporated into the adam walsh reauthorization act that is before us this afternoon. i want to thank the chair and ranking member of the judiciary committee, senators grassley and leahy, for their help and support in moving this important legislation forward. the sexual assault survivors rights act builds on the legacy of thto address unique issues id by sexual assault survivors. these rights coupled with renewed efforts to educate survivors about available options and resources will help empower survivors a

>> so moved. >> sorry. >> senator shaheen has served in the u.s. senate since 2000 night and as a member of the senate committees on armed services, foreign relations, appropriations, and a shrinking number of a small business and entrepreneurship committee. senator shaheen as a former small business owner and formerly served as the director of harvard university's institute of politics at the kennedy school of government. welcome. >> senator ben sasse is a u.s. senator from nebraska. senator sasse comes to the senate having spent the last five years as a college president, one of the youngest in the nation. during the first and second terms of president george w. bush he worked in the department of justice and the department of homeland security before becoming a citizen secretary for planning and evaluation at the u.s. department of health and human services. welcome to you, senator sasse. at this time we weekend with senator shaheen for your five minute remarks, and we welcome you. >> thank you very much chairwomen blackburn and ranking member d

and i have to say, general robinson, i echo center shaheen's comments. we are so very proud of you in new hampshire as a unh grad and obviously as your stated residency of new hampshire. i want to thank your family, as well. and i want to thank certainly the colonel, colonel howard, for his service, as well, as a great resident of the state of new hampshire. wanted to ask you in the meeting that we had in my office, one of the issues we talked about with your responsibility for the southern border as commander of north com is this idea of tunnels. in fact this morning as i'm looking at the news, we discovered that there are reports that u.s. authorities discovered a half mile tunnel under the border with mexico into san diego used to smuggle drugs. as we think about the heroin and also fentanyl issue that is really killing people this new hampshire, i got an amendment in that focuses on cooperation with the israelis because they have the tunnel issue with hamas and hezbollah. so will you look at the it tunnel issue and how with can he develop better tech

i would submit to you the fact that john sin knnknewu, the younger, lost to jeanne shaheen. was probably 85% about they were tired of george w. bush. because his favorability as a senator was off the charts. so trump underperforming on any of those tickets will put in my mind the senate in play. i'm not saying anything i wouldn't say to you if you were sitting at the national republican committee. >> so everything that peter said. plus, here's how it's going to play out in the next few months. your republican senate candidate. you wake up in the morning. you go to your first event. the reporters gather around you. and their first question is senator so-and-so or candidate so-and-so what do you think about donald trump said yesterday/this morning about x? and you're going to have to figure out what to do. and the next day you're going to have to get up and go through the same thing all over again. so the advice to not nationalize the race and to run it as a local race and to run as your own man or woman is a very good advice. it's going to be very difficult for these candidat

senate y senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you to all of you for being here today and for your ongoing work. can you talk about the importance of women's empowerment in contributing to development in africa and what we're doing, what you would identify as the best examples of successful programs? >> so, i love that question. i think that we increasingly, especially in talking about conflict and instability, need to talk about the role of women in peace and security. in fact, that is an actual u.s. government policy, which is entitled "u.s. women peace and security strategy," which talks about the fact that women are critical agents of not only as victims but also as agents of change when we're talking about instability and conflict but also violent extremism. our programming runs the gamete, depending on what the situation or scenario is in areas where they are vulnerable communities or where we see they don't have a lot of access to legal recourse, economic opportunities, and they often are coerced or used

senator shaheen and others have championed this effort, and i hope we can deal with it appropriately. but there are several provisions in this bill that are controversial. i'd like to address a few. the closure of guantanamo bay, cuba, is an issue that i think is timely and extremely important. this bill once again blocks transfer of detainees from guantanamo to the united states. and some of my colleagues are threatening amendments to even tighten these restrictions further. the reality is every day that guantanamo stays open, it weakens our alliances, inspires our enemies and calls into question our commitment to human rights. time and again our most senior national security and military leaders have called for the closure of guantanamo. the troops and service men and women who are responsible for maintaining guantanamo have an almost impossible assignment. i've been down to southern command in florida and i've talked to them. they're doing their level best to make sure that guantanamo meets standards, and i don't hold against them the reputation which guantanamo has in many places

host: seems like one of the big amendments was some $600 million by senator shaheen. that amendment was defeated. what without money have done, and why was it defeated? -- what would that money have done, and why was it defeated? sarah: there's not a lot of appetite in the republican congress to spend new money. so they basically took money that had already been given out and regarded it here. a lot of democrats were pushing for congress to give more money to fight the problem. and it does seem like in the next set of appropriation bills, assuming those go through, that a lot of republicans in congress are thinking about providing more money to address the opioid epidemic. we will see how that plays out. also when the house considers some more legislation, whether they decide to add a money component or not. host: any word whether the house will take up that senate bill? sarah: it's not clear yet that they will. the chair of the house judiciary committee, who would be the committee taking up this bill has expressed interest. he says he wants to look at the costs of th

bernie crushed hillary yet they got the same amount of delegates because of shaheen and hassen with their delegates neutralizing it. take away the superdelegates it is virtually tied. his hope reason he stays in as we deal with the clinton foundation, email scandal and benghazi more and more coming out these superdelegates will peel off and have a chance at the convention. it is not a bad strategy. martha: you guys would love for him to run as independent candidate, i'm sure. >> i think he should run period. he is doing what he thinks is right. i don't agree with him on anything but i respect the hell out of him he saying what he believes. not what i believe and many others except millenials and others. socialist agenda is not one for america. he is, look at polls and take a, this is bernie sanders and take him or leave him. that's what you get. martha: authenticity is winning the day so far on both sides in this race. >> yep. martha: it is fascinating to watch how many they're shaking the earth of the conventions that people are used to thinking about in politics. thank you very much, se

so i hope that my colleagues will join me, and i want to thank senators mccain and senator shaheen for their efforts in helping us bring this important resolution for disapproval forward. and i hope that we can take a small step forward in this body for good government, for eliminating wasteful spending, for eliminating duplicative programs, and to tell the american people we're not bottom dwellers. we really get it and we want to make sure that we do the right thing by them. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. a senator: mr. president, i rise to speak about the ongoing crisis affecting the three and a half million american citizens who call puerto rico their home and to comment on the legislation that is spending in the house of representatives. mr. menendez: we are facing a critical moment in the history of puerto rico. the island is sinking under a mountain of debt, and i've said it before but it bears repeating. just servicing the government's $72 billion debt swallows 36% of all of the island's revenue. that means

shaheen: today the senate passed an amendment to provide more than $1 billion to help combat the spread of the zika virus. i support this effort. i think it was a good bill and i commend our leaders in the appropriations committee for reaching this bipartisan agreement. however, i join my colleague from maine, my colleague from west virginia, and all of those who are disappointed that the opioid epidemic is not being treated with the same degree of urgency. now some on the other side of the aisle have said it's their preference to deal with the opioid epidemic through the regular appropriations process. well, let me just say that i am not encouraged by the results so far. and with a -- all due respect to my colleagues, an extra million dollars here and there for a few programs, which is what we're seeing in the appropriations process, that is not going to address the nationwide crisis that, as senator king has said, is going to kill tens of thousands of americans this year. and while the h.h.s. appropriations bill is still being drafted, because of the tight budget caps that are in plac

our colleague from connecticut has already introduced this bill in the house and senator shaheen has been pressing the legislation in the senate. congress did not leave town until we take emergency action to increase funding to help states combat this epidemic. we must also fully fund president obama's budget request for $1.1 billion in 2017. this crisis will not end in a day. it will take our sustained commitment, and every one of us owes it to our constituents to make that a priority. they want us to take action, and they want us to take action now. let me tell you why federal funding is so important. in my hometown of baltimore, i've witnessed with my own eyes in my own neighborhood the destruction drug addiction in flex on our communities. the first time i ever heard of a drug overdose death was 55 years ago from heroin. 55 years ago. i didn't understand it then. a young man in our neighborhood who we looked up to who turned to heroin. i can remember being so confused as to what this is all about. so i have seen vibrant neighborhoods and hard-working families and communities dest

donated tissue to medical researchers in hopes of curinturning the diseases inclug the ones senator shaheen mentioned, that nonprofit was falsely accused by life dynamics, the antiabortion group congresswoman schakowsky mentioned, accused of selling fetal tissue. these baseless charges were made in the videotape sent by life dynamics to congregate in that video of the person making the accusations was anonymous. as it happened, and employ of anatomical gift foundation had gone to work for another company in violation of his contract. they hired me to sue. that man's name was dean alberti. in his deposition which was under oath like all of us today, and sent to congress, he admitted he was the person innovative and he admitted that what it said in that video was fictional. he testified that he told those lies because life dynamics have paid into, and he said i needed the money. he had repeated those falsehoods on tv 2020. but he knew better than to lie under oath. with i.t. post them. where the penalties of perjury as the chair acknowledged do arise. those of you who were here in the year 20

it's the same bill that we did with senator shaheen in the past with some additions to it.ut what's happened to that now? it's gone to the dark hole in the house. they stripped everything out of it that we've done. it's gone. we did our utmost to cooperate. for my friend to talk about this republican senate that has done so much, he would have tremendous difficulty finding any one thing that we didn't try to do, any one thing. i talked about energy. it doesn't matter what it is. it was filibustered. i repeat, more than 600 times. the record will never be broken, i hope, because it has been a real detriment to our country, to the function of the united states senate. for my friend to come here and talk about how great the senate is really absurd -- senate is is really absurd, absurd. i don't know if he's taking the pages from donald trump. you say enough stuff that's wrong, people say well, maybe it's not so bad. this republican senate is a do nothing senate. he talked about opioid legislation. there isn't anyone, not anyone, the centers for the disease control, any of the p