i yield to the senator from new hampshire, senator shaheen. mrs. shaheen: thank you, senator mccain, and thank you for your leadership and thanks to senator jack reed for his leadership on this issue. as you point out, there are real lives at stake here. if we are not able to continue the special immigrant visa program for those afghans who have helped us during the conflict in afghanistan, then we know that the taliban has already murdered a number of them, their family members, and so as you point out, to have someone object to going forward with this amendment, not related to the program at all but because people have other personal issues that they want to address, it would be unfortunate and not in this country's interest. you know, what we're actually hoping we can vote on today is a carefully crafted amendment. it addresses the legitimate concerns that people had raised about this program. we spent hours over the last few days and last night trying to come to some agreement to address those issues. and i think the legislation before us does

senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you both for being here and for your ongoing efforts. as part of russia's campaign in eastern europe and the baltics and ukraine, has been to produce disinformation. they're spending a lot of money on rt television, and lots of other ways to get their message out and into parts of eastern europe. can you talk a little bit more about what we're doing to respond to that propaganda? i don't know which one of you wants to address that? >> thanks, senator. well, as you know this has been a line of effort that we've been working on very hard with members of the congress and the senate since 2014. the total appropriation now, state department, usaid, bbg, broadcast board of governors on u.s. side is about $100 million to counter russian propraganda. that money as you know goes for a number of things from clean, honest russian language programing, that bbg is now putting out every day, expansion of radio free europe, raid dough dpoa, to $88 million we use in the state depar

senator shaheen worked tirelessly. i have never seen a colleague work so intensely, so thoughtfully, so professionally, literally going from office to office asking for support for the afghan interpreters, individuals who have already been targeted in many cases because of their help to the united states. if we don't have this legislation passed, then not only will we send a terrible message to these individuals who have served us, sacrificed long with us, but also to succeeding generations who will not come, who will not come to our aid because they're afraid of the consequences. so not only looking back at justice and equity for people who helped us but looking forward to be able to operate not just afghanistan but other areas. i think it was necessary to not only bring up the shaheen amendment but to pass it. senator gillibrand as the chairman pointed out has a very important amendment with respect to sexual assault in the military. she has done remarkable work with respect to the uniform code of military justice. s

senator shaheen: can you talk about who was working with us on the content? is it journalist who is -- reporters who have fled russia who are helping us look at what kind of messages we're using? are there others who are ngaged in that effort with us? ms. nuland: i will be 30,000 feet, if you'll allow me, to protect those who participate in these programs. many of those depend on that protection. but we can -- we conduct training programs throughout europe for journalist who is have fled or have come out to get training and are planning to go back in. we support a number of russian language news organizations in the baltic states and other periphery countries that are designed either to address russian speaking populations in those home countries and counter russian propaganda or to beam back in. we support russian language programming in ukraine which has some impact also in russia as well. and then this good portion that goes to b.b.g. and b.o.a. programming which is u.s. government free news content. we also do quite a bit to pull together efforts of the e

i support the efforts by my neighbor from new hampshire senator shaheen. i support her motion to instruct conferees to provide funding for state and local efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. i also support my fellow new englander senator whitehouse and his motion to instruct conferees to address the needs of rural communities. you come from a state of 625,000 people, 625,000 very, very special people, it is very rural. we need the help. i support senator whitehouse in this. i see other senators on the floor and so i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. a senator: madam president, i rise today to be a voice for the three and a half million american citizens living on the island of puerto rico. mr. menendez: i rise so they are -- so their concerns for themselves, their families, their livelihoods will be heard. to ask that we improve a house-passed legislation known as promesa. the word in evening -- english would mean promise but the only thing the house bill promises is the people of puerto ric

shaheen: mr. president, i'd like to join chairman mccain and ranking member reed in the very eloquent remarks they have provided in support of the special immigrant visa program for afghans who have assisted our men and women on the ground serving in afghanistan. and chairman mccain mentioned the letter from general stanley mcchrystal, and i would just like to read a few sentences from this letter that were sent to all of the members of congress. general mcchrystal says that the u.s. military presence in afghanistan relies on allies who serve as translators, security personnel and in a multitude of other functions. all of these actors are vital to the u.s. mission. whether they work directly or indirectly with u.s. forces. afghans who serve the united states in nonmilitary capacities are in support of the department of state face serious threats as a result of their service. he goes on to say if this program falls far short of the need, it will have serious national security implications.n similar

we are continuing to press, as i said, in response to senator shaheen's point, that ukraine cannot be asked to vote on the political decentralization pieces of minsk until the prior actions that are demanded in minsk real cease-fire, real access throughout for osce can comment the heavy weapons has been implemented. that's the frame we're using. that's the frame germany and france are using. i think ukraine does itself a service by being ready with text on an election law, being ready with special status to implement when those agreed conditions are met, but russia has not either itself or with its clients gotten the security conditions met. >> so when you talk about rollover, you mean the extension of the existing framework? why not increase sanctions? these are now violations of an agreement they reached and they have not complied with. am i right in guessing or in stating that your argument is going to be that we can -- we don't want to go any further than our partners in europe are willing to go and they're not willing to do additional sanctions? >> i would say i was quite gratifi

shaheen: mr.president, i'm here this morning to urge my colleagues to support an amendment that i have offered to the national defense authorization act to extend the afghanistan special immigrant visa program. also known as the s.i.v. program. the program allows afghans who supported the united states mission in afghanistan and who now face grave threats because of their willingness to help our servicemen and women on on the ground in afghanistan, it would make them eligible to come to the united states. to be eligible, new applicants must demonstrate at least two years of faithful and valuable service. to receive a visa, they must also clear a rigorous screening process that includes an independent verification of their service and then an intensive interagency security review. now, people may ask, who are these afghans? let me give you just a few examples of the extraordinary service that they've provided. the first person i want to talk about -- and i can't use his name for privacy and securit

on this part of the rugby rejoining us is our middle east economy and government editor, i'll let shaheento the meat on the bones, if you will. what is the biggest risk for gcc economies? talk about major oil exporters. it's got a be via oil. we saw on friday a big drop in oil prices, and that is the main channel. of course, people are saying the probablyrm impact will moderate. there's another channel, which is a stronger dollar, which could affect dubai. we saw when the ruble declined last year, when the yuan declined, it had an impact on the number of visitors from russia and china. if the pound drops or if the dollar goes up, that could have an impact on the tourism sector. on the other hand, if this takes off the table the fed hike, it could be a positive. yousef: given dubai is diversified, given it has learned to deal with global market volatility -- >> it all depends on the extent of the drop in these currencies. the impact on dubai will come from the nonoil sector. what complicates matters is that it comes on they'd a slowing if the pound drops or if the dollar goes up, that coul

witness.o to our next ready to skype in offender jeanne shaheen. -- senator jeanne shaheen.oman in u.s.y history to be elected governor and senator. she has been committed to serving the citizens of new hampshire and is known for her common sense leadership, hard .ork, dedication she has served in the senate since 2009 and is a member of the senate committee on armed services. >> i appreciate the chairman for the invitation to join you. our nation is in most remain in the can of democracy and a friend to those around the world who aspire to freedom and prosperity. we believe in peace through strength and strength through peace. this means maintaining strong alliances and resorting to military force only as a last resort. these are important aspects and an indispensable global tool. principle is our diplomacy to robust thing the primary means of achieving our nations a. we believe leveraging america, the moral authority of our democratic way of life, the influence of our economy, and the magnetism of our cultural achievement. democrats know america is when we know only make t

. >> let me ask another question and i think senator shaheen may have asked this before he came intothe room with respect to nato but another thing that is common of committees we talk with the postures as joint training exercises in joint training with united states than any other nation. we have marines deployed throughout africa doing training of african military. what is our posture and partners in the cyber area in the training that we do together in the development of joint resiliency strategies? >> we do some level of training with key allies. one of the challenges is how do you maximize prioritization. you can't do it over thing you would like to do with every nation would like to do as a part of her strategy is how do you focus the greatest return and what nations you want to start with? we have done that. the other challenge i find is and this is part of an on going internal discussion for us based on where we are in the journey right now i can do so much with the external world that negatively impact our internal department because unlike some missions we literally have de

shaheen: thank you to my colleague from connecticut. i'm here, like everyone else on the floor, in the wake of who ar-- inthe wake of horrific mass shootings because americans have come together to grieve for the dead and to comfort those left behind, but we haven't come together to do anything to stop the next shooting, to prevent the next series of funerals, to prevent future devastation. so that's why i want to thank senators murphy and blumenthal, the senators from new jersey -- from connecticut, and senator booker from new jersey, for leading us here today to demand action. and let's be clear. tears are not enough. expressions of outrage are not enough. after columbine and virginia tech and aurora and newtown and charleston and san bernardino and so many shootings that have happened with numbing regulatory, moments of silence and expressions of sympathy are just not enough. this senate, this congress needs to pass commonsense gun safety legislation, legislation supported by nine out of ten americans. it is inconceivable that congre

shaheen, mr. shelby... >> narrator: also watching in the gallery, tucson survivor pat maisch. >> i went from being sad to being mad. they're all down there in their good ol' boy stance, shaking hands, chatting. >> mr. wyden... (gavel banging) >> on this vote the amendment is not agreed to. >> like people's lives aren't in the balance on this, and i just thought they needed to be shamed. they should be ashamed of themselves. i stood up and said, "shame on you." shame on you! >> there will be order in the senate. >> because they needed to be shamed. shame on them. shame on me if after what i've gotten to witness i choose to be quiet. >> i'm surprised that she was the only one, actually, that burst out... because it was so intense and so charged. >> the gallery will refrain from any demonstration or comment. >> they felt betrayed. that's the word, betrayed. "how could they vote that way? don't they understand what happened? how can they do that? how can this be?" i mean it was disbelief and a sense o

senator shaheen, as ranking member, has done the same. so i want to thank all of our committee members who were solidly behind this effort and i want to thank so many other members of the senate who have been cooperative. in the context of this defense bill, we have cleared our reauthorization amendment with the senate armed services committee. i want to specifically thank senators mccain and reed for their leadership. we have cleared it with the commerce committee because agencies under the jurisdiction of commerce are involved. we have cleared it with the health committee. they have the same tangential relationship. we are the authorizing committee but some agencies involved are under their jurisdiction. we have cleared it with everyone in sight so that means we have a real opportunity to have this in the manager's package, which it is as i speak and to pass it through the defense bill as a full reauthorization. i'm also proud to share that not only will our reauthorization direct more than $2 billion annually of federal r&d to small fi

. -- shaheen. [applause] ms. jackson lee: thank you, thank you for your voice and your strength. thank you, john lewis. thank you, catherine. thank you to all of the members . my heart is fluttering. y soul is not tired. i'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. but i am not solefully -- soulfully tired. the empty chair of this speaker does not intimidate me. the hardened heart does not frighten me. i have the privilege of serving with each and every one of you and the theme of this place, john conyers, who provides -- presides over the judiciary committee with the heart that would be opened to the passions and needs of america. breaking news, if the laws had been in place that the senate in the horrific tragedy of orlando, there would not be 49 dead. if the laws had been in place. no fly, no buy. expanded background checks. there would be those who are living. breaking news. the united states has many active shooters. breaking news, the united states has many mass shootings. so the question is, where is the morality of this place? the very morality that is asked over and over

and that from jeanne shaheen. americans must unite to lift up families of victim, city of orlando and our lgbtq friends. love and freedom must evercome hate and terror. you can see what other members of congress are saying by going to twitter.com/c-span and subscribing to that list. >>> we are going public. we'll be watched by our friends and by people across the country and i would hope as i have said before that the senate may change not as an institution, but may become a more efficient body because of televised proceedings. >> the proceedings of the united states senate are being broadcast to the nation on television for the first time. not that we have operated in secret until now. millions of americans have sat in the galleries and observed senate debates during their visits to washington. but today they can witness the proceedings in their u own homes. >> in effect the senate floor has been a kind of stage, the senators have been acting on that stage. the audience is in the galleries. and by our action toda

i just would like to say, i know senator shaheen asked some questions about the election, and -- which i appreciated. and, you know, the fact is i think people are still observing while some, quote, more moderate folks were elected, whether iran is putting on a moderate image but carrying out the same policies or whether the policies at some point are actually going to change. i mean, the number of people beib being executed, the human rights violations, the things they're doing in the region to destabilize seem to have been on the ascendency since, quote, these elections have taken place. secondarily, i would just say that, look, there are people on this dais and on this committee that voted in different ways relative to the agreement. and that is understandable. i don't think a single person today said that they wanted to lighten up in pursuit of iran adhering to this agreement. i don't think there's a push -- i may have misunderstood, but i don't think that's the case. no one's advocating putting in place policies that violate it, but we want to make sure that it's adhered to. i jus

senator shaheen mentioned the innovation that is brought but there are short-term cost and we cannot be naive about those. we need to reconceptualize and add more resources and really get the global community to take on more refugees as well. >> thank you, bill? >> on occasion we end up with some of these good goals at cross-purposes. i'm thinking among other things of the fact that some of our -- some of the efforts of multinational agencies to electrify parts of the world are leading to rapid increases in the use of fossil fuel at obvious odds with our goals set out in paris. can you provide some advice for the committee on language or ideas that might make it easier to make sure that americans ' involvement in those multilateral agencies was instead directed toward clean energy. >> great question. when i worked at the millennium challenge corporation we were very involved in power africa, that'sing? we looked at very closely and you indicated part of the solution which is how can we encourage investment in clean energies. and i also think there are really creative solutions. the f

senator shaheen mentioned the innovation that is brought but there are short-term costs and we cannot be naive about those. we need to reconceptualize and add more resources and really get the global community to take on more refugees as well. >> thank you, bill? >> on occasion we end up with some of these good goals at cross-purposes. i'm thinking among other things of the fact that some of our -- some of the efforts of multinational agencies to electrify parts of the world are leading to rapid increases in the use of fossil fuel at obvious odds with our goals set out in paris. can you provide some advice for the committee on language or ideas that might make it easier to make sure that americans' involvement in those multilateral agencies was instead directed toward clean energy? >> great question. when i worked at the millennium challenge corporation we were very involved in power africa, . that was something looked at very closely and you indicated part of the solution which is how can we in encourage investment in clean energies. and i also think there are really creative solutio

senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman.ndersecretary shannon, nice to have you here, finally. i want to continue some of the questioning around the ballistic missile program because i was interested that u.s. response to the program last week, we blacklisted two iranian companies for supporting the ballistic missile program, and we sanctioned two british businessmen for helping an airline that was used by the iran revolutionary guards, and that france has also suggested that there could be unilateral european union sanctions against iran over the launches. as we know one of the reasons that the sanction regime was so effective in pushing iran to the negotiating table to get us the jcpoa is because of the international sanctions that really worked together to put pressure on iran. so can you talk about how realistic it might be for the europeans to put additional sanctions on iran over their ballistic missile tests? >> thank you very much, senator. and thank you for that question. i know that our european colleagues, the eur

senator shaheen mentioned the innovation that is brought but there are short-term costs and we cannot be naive about those. we need to reconceptualize and add more resources and really get the global community to take on more refugees as well. >> thank you, bill? >> on occasion we end up with some of these good goals at cross-purposes. i'm thinking among other things of the fact that some of our -- some of the efforts of multinational agencies to electrify parts of the world are leading to rapid increases in the use of fossil fuel at obvious odds with our goals set out in paris. can you provide some advice for the committee on language or ideas that might make it easier to make sure that americans' involvement in those multilateral agencies was instead directed toward clean energy? >> great question. when i worked at the millennium challenge corporation we were very involved in power africa. that was something looked at very closely and you indicated part of the solution which is how can we in encourage investment in clean energies. and i also think there are really creative solutions

he had good friends, senator shaheen and senator cardin on the other side of the aisle, good friends on this side of the aisle. he used to refer to danny as being a brother to me. he was a member from hawaii on the other side of the aisle. his selfless example of public service, to enact change on a bipartisan basis i think does provide a lesson for us right now and really for all time. i think we can best honor him by carrying on that tradition. by figuring out how to solve problems and that involves reaching across the aisle and getting things done. he was a man who believed that we could make a difference here in this place. and majority leader mcconnell has joined us on the floor. i'm sure senator mcconnell will tell you george voinovich always had that belief that things could be better. he was ultimately an optimist. and his ability to fipg out -- figure out how to get to a solution was something that all of us can learn from. in ohio he was a public servant without equal. tonight i would like to offer a resolution honoring his memory. i urge all my colleagues to support it. i

also went to new hampshire for a hearing and said he supported the legislation in front of senator shaheen and senator ayotte. he was supposed to come to ohio but at the last minute decided that he could not attend our hearing in ohio. i'm told yesterday he held a press briefing with ohio reporters. i've been trying to reach him today unsuccessfully but apparently he thought it was necessary to go to ohio reporters to talk about this issue. among those on the call, by the way, was at least one democratic local official. maybe a few. i'm not sure because i wasn't told about the call to ohio. i'm from ohio. i'm the coauthor of the bill. in that call, he said things that led the reporters to believe that he thought cara did not go far enough, that it wasn't the appropriate response to this epidemic. now, look, i understand there is an election every two years here in america, and that's fine. but i have known every single drug czar since the first one, bill bennett. all of them. i have worked with every single one of them. many remain close friends. general mccaffrey was the drug czar for bil

. >> thank you very much, chairman corker, ranking member cardin, senator shaheen. thank you for holding this important hearing. >> senator markey stepped in, too. >> thank you for letting me testify before you. 25 years ago in a conference held in of all places, moscow, for the security and corporation of europe established as a principle that issues relating to democracy, human rights, and rule of law, and i quote, legitimate concern to all participating states, and to not belong exclusively to ininternal affairs of the state concerned. to the membership of the council of europe, the russian federation has undertaken clear and binding commitments with respect to election standards, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and other important aspects of human rights. in all these principles also enshrined in the russian constitution. in its 60 years, nearly a full generation in power, vladimir putin's power has turned these principles into a dead election. today, elections serve as a ritual, with any meaningful opposition in most cases disqualified from the ball

the same logic applies to senator shaheen and senator moran. they have amendments they worked assiduously on for the last days tirelessly and they are being frustrated by not the majority of the senate, but by a few individuals. i think we've reached a point now, we have very little time h left, if we could come together at least on a good-faith package of consents to deal with all these, or the majority of these, and then continue to work forward for votes on all of them, that would represent, i think, the appropriate thing to do. so i just again want to underscore the fact that the issues that senator murray and senator gillibrand have raised are deserving of a vote and we should have a vote on these issues. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. quorum call: the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the asinine undersigned, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debat

shaheen: mr. president, i have a motion to instruct the conferees at the desk which i ask the clerk to report. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: the managers on the part of the senate on the disagreeing votes on the comprehensive addiction recovery act of 2016 -- mrs. shaheen: mr. president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the clerk will continue. the clerk: be instructed to insist that the final conference report include funding for prevention, treatment and recovery associated with state and local efforts needed to combat the national heroin and opioid epidemic. the presiding officer: there will be two minutes equally divided for debate. the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, the opioid crisis is a national public health emergency, and it is long past time that congress treats it like one. it is shattering families and communities, especially in new hampshire, but also all across this country.

thank you very much, chairman kocher, senator shaheen hold -- >> senator markey stepped in too. >> senator mark kirks thank you so much for being here. thank you for the opportunity to testify to appear before you today. 25 years ago at a conference held of all places in moscow, members for the organization of security and cooperation in europe established a principle issues relating to democracy, human rights and rule of law, i quote, matters of legitimate concern to all participating states and do not belong exclusively internal affairs of the state concerned. to the council of europe, russian federation has you know taken clear and binding commitments with respect to election standards, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and other important aspects of human rights. all these principles enshrined in the russian constitution. in 16 years nearly a full generation in power, vladmir putin turned these regimes and principles into a dead letter. today elections in our country serve as mere ritual for ordaining incumbents with most people simply disqualified from the ballot. with voting