i also want to salute senator jeanne shaheen for all of her work. she is coming back. she has a granddaughter with type i. and she and i has worked as a bipartisan team, because diabetes does not discriminate. it does not care if you are a republican or democrat or independent. or green or whatever. that's why this should continue to be a bipartisan cause, and it always has been. i have always had a democrat as my cochair of the diabetes caucus, since i founded it back in 1997. and, i'm pleased to have senator casey is a strong member of it as well. i want to thank each of our witnesses for being here today. it is thrilling to have victor garber here. to put, to tell us what it's like to grow older with type i diabetes, and his example is really encouraging to all of us. the work that is being done at nih and dr. rogers long standing commitment and working so closely with us on the special diabetes program has been wonderful. dr. kowalski. i think it's wonderful that jdr f now has a president and ceo who understands firsthand, the challenges of type i diabetes. you hav

. >> senator shaheen. sen. shaheen: thank you, and thank you, dr. esper, for your willingness to consider taking on this very difficult challenge at this critical time. secretary, we have the opportunity to visit last week. i appreciated you coming in to talk to me. one of the things we discussed was the challenge of p task contamination that impacts 400 military installations, one of those is former military installation at piece air force basin new hampshire. -- base in new hampshire. the air force has been responsive to challenges that contamination effecting drinking water for the city of portsmouth, but it is becoming more and more a serious issue on military installations and arn cross the country. if confirmed, can you take a more proactive stance that are effecting installations and communities? dr. esper: absolutely, senator. this is an important issue. we need to own it. i don't know if we have a taskforce, for example, in place. if confirmed, that's something i would look at doing to be sure all services are coordinated and that we approa

i'd like to follow up on the questions that senator shaheen just asked. so she referred to a $23 million -- >> over 23. it's almost 24. >> $24 million contract to house mass migration, people as a result of mass migration. so what is that money for? is it just, what, to -- i don't understand. isn't it going to go to put some buildings up in this field that you're talking about at guantanamo bay? >> senator, we currently have a migration operation for principally for cuban migrants and there are a small flow of migrants that come from cuba. >> this money is for mass migration. >> so that -- >> also it didn't say we're talking about cuba or haiti. >> it's inadequate to hole any more than a few hundred. so the worst case plans based on historical analysis or some kind of future event could be a weather-related event, would call for larger infrastructure footprint that could hold into the tens of thousands and so that's that's what that is based on. electrical infrastructure, sewage, water, power, concrete pad. some sanitation buildings. it's a very spartan c

i want to thank senator collins, senator casey, senator shaheen and so many others for your commitment to this issue, it is so incredibly important. as doctor rogers noted last month we had exciting news in immunotherapies. a clinical trial funded by sdp and jdrf published results that found a drug can delay the onset of type i diabetes for two years in children and adults. this is so important. the delay in onset is likely to have long-term benefits that will have a tremendous impact on our community and the overall health care system. this progress is thanks to leadership and foresight to invest in multiyear funding in sdp research. while there is great progress, we are here because there is still important work to be done. the sdp must continue to invest in innovative immune therapy and beta cell research. we need to understand why the immune system goes awry and how we can eliminate these attacks. we need to understand better what triggers type i diabetes. an environmental determinants study has screened more than 425,000 children to understand what factors trigger the onset of typ

centuries of them to set a target of 316 shaheen afridi took 6 wickets as bangladesh were beaten by 94 runs the number one pick in last month's n.b.a. draft zion williamson had a shaky start to his debut for the new orleans pelicans on friday but it wasn't all his fault the 19 year old scored 11 points against the new york knicks before suffering a knee injury but that wasn't the only thing to rock the fans in las vegas they also felt the earthquake from neighboring california the main concern was the swinging overhead scoreboard foreseen the game to actually be abandoned over in los angeles the padres dodgers game was briefly interrupted too as t.v. cameras caught the 7 point one magnitude quake as it hit in the 4th inning but they played on 3rd anyway. this here store to france has just got underway with its opening stage held in belgium the leaders yellow jersey is one of the most prized possessions in cycling as a mccain reports from brussels competition on day one is expected to be fierce. summer in brussels and yellow is the color everyone wants to wear. the tour de france is bac

needed to bowl out bangladesh for 7 or less to qualify for the last 4 that clearly didn't happen shaheen afridi did take 6 for 35 the best figures by pakistan by the world cup with bangladesh bowled out for 221. leaders yellow jersey in the tour de france is one of the most prized possessions in sport this year there's even more incentive for the ride it because it's a 100 years since a man as your was 1st introduced the 3 and a half 1000 kilometer event will cross some of europe's highest mountain passes but the race for the yellow getting underway in brussels on saturday dominic kerry reports. summer in brussels and yellow is the color everyone wants to wear. the tour de france is back in town which means the world's leading cyclists are here with last year's winner keenly aware he has a fight on his hands. there's a lot of good guys and all this yeah they're with i've been strong yeah they were itching for the show all the their gates sees either of them really never know which one it is anyway. so yeah i think there is a there's a lot of good guys you know it makes it tougher and jus

as cochairs of the senate caucus, senator jeanne shaheen and i, as well as senator carper, have addressed the flaws in the system and hold p.b.m.'s and manufacturers accountable. we have come up with a bill that would help to reduce the price of insulin, and what a benefit that would be for the parents of children who have type 1 diabetes for wham insulin is -- for whom insulin is literally a matter of survival. it would also help those older americans with type 2 diabetes, some of whom are insulin dependent. another significant change included in the lower health care costs act requires significantly more disclosure on the costs, the fees, and the recent information associated with b.p.m. contracts. it also includes an amendment that was offered by senator baldwin, which i supported, to require more reporting of drug prices to the department of health and human services and a justification for why prices have increased. these provisions all build on a law that i authorized -- authored last year to block pharmacy gag clauses. i told the story about the pharmacist who was so frustrated bec

. >> senator shaheen? >> thank you. admiral, as i'm sure you're aware in 2017 president trump signed into law the women peace and priority security act. we prioritize women in conflict negotiations and security structures and peace negotiations. can you talk about how southcom is implementing that law and how you see it helping you to accomplish your mission? >> master chief stationsy sytac my gender adviser, alter ego to the command major sergeant here. she's out actually on a field trip working on this. when we look at professionalism, what it takes to be a professional force, i thnk that's principally why people want to partner with us. we're professional. professional forces are legitimate. professional forces respect human rights, rule of law. they also respect talent and allowing equal opportunity to come in and compete irrespective of who you are, what you do and whether you're a female or male. that's what our approach is and how we talk about it. so my commanders conferences that i have, we have a big one comin

introduced an amendment in the finance committee markup last week based on my legislation with senator shaheen to end taxpayer subsidies for big pharma's drug ads. we shouldn't be giving tax breaks to big pharma to sell its drugs, period. there are a lot of other ideas that many of us have to crack down on these companies and limit their purr to push drugs on people. senator hassan filed legislation to increase twrans partners on -- trarns partners in these -- transparency in these drug companies. they have grassroots organizations, groups made up of ordinary zens -- citizens. people have a right to know if the groups pushing drugs -- groups pushing drugs on them are actually bought and paid for by those pharmaceutical companies. the opioid addiction crisis is one of the greatest public health emergencies of our lifetimes. it's crystal clear big pharma purposely -- big pharma deliberately helped to cause it and the federal government gave them tax breaks and continued to give them tax breaks to do it. we need to hold these corporations accountable. we need to make sure they never again have th

senator shaheen? dimension the shortfall in the global counter narcotics effort. i'm sure you're aware that the opioid crisis in the u.s. was responsible for more than 147,000 deaths in 2017. much of that comes in from mexico, heroin grown in other countries trafficked to the u.s. by air and sea. it has a real impact on the entire country. in new hampshire, we have the second-highest opioid deaths in the nation. can you talk about what you are doing to coordinate with state governments in the u.s. on this effort? >> the debt crisis is a national security crisis, senator. crisis. -- the drug crisis is a national security crisis, senator. as i mentioned, there are insufficient resources dedicated. we are working as hard as we can with the coast guard, a premier agency and they are than what they commit in their annual global plan and our navy stepped up to commit more. joint interagency task force south in key west is the premier center. with about 1.5% of the budget , gets about 90% of the drugs headed into the country, cocaine which is principally coming from colo

graduated from wellesley college in 2011 with a political science degree, and volunteered on jeanne shaheen's 2009 senate campaign. so happy to be back in new hampshire. after college, i put law school on hold to pursue a music career in nashville, tennessee, and have been there for the past eight years working as a musician and singer-songwriter. i have a whole life in nashville, but it was easy to put it on hold for cory booker. [applause] why cory? to get personal, i am a rape survivor. experiencing sexual violence is a kind of pain that separates you from your body. but the most powerful thing i learned about this pain is that it is that its razor-sharp edges that i was able to lean in and create a space, with help and support, to trust my body again, to start to live and breathe and move and create. our country has a common pain. what is missing is a sense of common purpose. we are better when we help each other. the history of our nation is defined on collective action. is currentlye body separated from our collective desire because of this pain. we have a common desire to live in a saf

what are the democrats saying about this, in this case gene shaheen? folks that are noncitizens? >> yes, sir, of course they would not agree with me because they seem to be more interested in fighting not for legal immigration but for illegal immigration, and there's a big difference. and i do not support open borders and i do not support sanctuary cities and i do not support nonresidents and illegals staying in this country that commit crimes. pete: brigadier general, if you got elected, what's the first thing you would tackle? when you look at this immigration crisis, in this case it's a noncitizen with a criminal record, how do you stem the flow of illegality in this country? what's the first thing you do? >> you know, there's outside in, and then there's inside out. and to me we have to secure the border. we have to secure areas along the u.s.-mexican border. we have to build the fence, a wall, a barrier, whatever it is, additional infrastructure. we need more personnel. we need more technology on that border to protect american citizens and stem t

senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. congratulations, admiral gilday, and thank you to you and your family for being willing to consider this position at this critical time in our country's history. i also appreciated your visit last week. one of the things we talked about is our public shipyards. i am very concerned what happens at portsmouth naval shipyard. i know that you have been invited by both senator king and i to visit the shipyard. we hope you'll do that. but one of the things all our shipyards need is investment. i support the navy shipyard opt medication plan released february of 2018, and it focuses among other things on increasing dry dock capacity and improving facility layout. again, critical issues for the portsmouth naval shipyard. do you believe the navy's public shipyards require significant infrastructure investment in order to increase capacity and modernize our force? >> i absolutely do. it is a critical partnership with those public yards as well as the communities around them. so that skilled wor

i was there with senator reid, senator shaheen recently, and do you see a drawdown that will completely remove all troops out of afghanistan and the reason i say that is because i ask the question because it seems pretty clear to me that isis is still a serious threat over their and we can't take our foot off their neck while at the same time dealing with china and russia and their influence. how do you see the troop drawdown that the president want played out in the last few months? >> again, senator, i've talked about that a lot inside of the senior leadership of the department. i've been in those discussions, and i think that the challenge there will be a drawdown of troops in the future. i don't think there's any doubt about but it has to be conditions based not necessarily just a specific come up the conditions are right on that specific data and we can get there from here talking to the president from the secretary, but the conditions have to be set in afghanistan before we can fully meet because otherwise the challenge will be they can raise themselves up again a again andt let t

i've joined with senator brown as well as senator shaheen on legislation to close that loophole and end taxpayer subsidies for drug ads. and i'm going to continue to push for transparency from these companies. mr. president, in addition to the devastating impact that big pharma has had in fueling the substance misuse crisis, the industry has also hurt patients by massively increasing the cost of prescription drugs. one of the top issues i hear about from people in new hampshire is that affording lifesaving medications is becoming more and more out of reach. and high drug costs are too often forcing seniors and families to making a nizing decisions. no one should have to decide between buying their prescriptions and heating their home and putting food on table. but these are the types of choices that manners are devastatingly have -- that americans are devastatingly having to make. all the while, pharmaceutical companies are reporting profits that are higher than ever. would end to change that system, bring -- we need to change this system, bring down costs and hold big pharma accountabl

i was in afghanistan with senator reid, senator shaheen recently. do you see a drawdown that will completely remove all troops out of afghanistan? and the reason i say that is because i asked the question because it seems pretty clear to me that isis is still a serious, serious threat over there, and we cannot take our foot off of their neck while at the same time dealing with china and russia and their influence over there. what do you see -- how do you see the troop drawdown that the president wants playing out in the next few months? >> so again, senator, that's not the stratcom area of expertise, but i have talked about that a lot inside the senior leadership of the department. and i've been in those discussions. and i think the challenge -- there will be a draw down of troops in the future. i don't think there's any doubt of that. but i think it has to be conditions based. not necessarily just a specific date. it's got to be the conditions are right on that specific date and then we can get there from there. i haven't talked to the president or

that was proposed by senators collins, hawley, shaheen, stabenow. in this provision, mr. president, this legislation we approved by 20-3, there are 55 different proposals by 65 different united states senators, about the same number of republicans and democrats, all to reduce health care costs. here's some other examples. improves the food and drug

shaheen: the fifth circuit court of appeals heard oral arguments in thetons v. united states case, an argument trying to overturn the affordable care act. and, unfortunately, although the affordable care act is currently the law of the land, the department of justice, our nation's highest law enforcement authority, was not there to defend the law of the land, the affordable care act. and they were not there because they have been instructed by this president and this administration to join the effort to overturn the affordable care act. sadly, the stakes of the texas v. united states litigation are profound. this year in new hampshire alone, approximately 90,000 granite staters obtained health insurance coverage through the affordable care act's medicaid expansion or through the a.c.a.'s health insurance marketplaces. across the country, more than 17 million medicaid expansion enrollees and 11 million people in the marketplace health plans depend on the affordable care act for their coverage. and yet the department of justice refuses to defend them, refuses to d

that was proposed by senators collins, hawley, shaheen, stabenow. in this provision, mr. president, this legislation we approved by 20-3, there are 55 different proposals by 65 different united states senators, about the same number of republicans and democrats, all to reduce health care costs. here's some other examples. improves the food and drug administration drug patent database by keeping it more up to date to help generic drug companies speed product development, a proposal offered by senators cassidy and senator durbin. another prevent the abuse of citizens petitions. these are used to unnecessarily delay drug approvals. senators gardner, shaheen, cassidy, bennet, braun, president trump included that in his 2020 budget. it clarifies -- another provision clarifies that makers of biological products such as insulin are not gaming the system to delay new lower-cost biosimilars. that came from senators smith, cassidy, and cramer. another provision eliminates exclusivity loopholes. these allow drug companies to get exclusivity and delay patient access to costly generic

thune: madam president, i further ask that the shaheen amendment which is at the desk be considered and agreed to. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i know of no further debate on the bill as amended. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not all in favor say aye. those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. mr. thune: madam president, i further ask that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i understand that there are two bills at the desk and i ask for their first reading en bloc. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bill for the first time en bloc. the clerk: h.r. 2740, an act making appropriations for the departments of labor, health and human services, and education and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2020 and for other purposes. h.r. 3055, an act making appropriations for the departments of commerce and just