thune: senator schatz. hatz: thank you, 50 megahertz of federal spectrum to be made available for commercial use. by some accounts, that is 1/10th of what the private sector will need. this is a good start, but i'm wondering about what more the commission can do, what more the congress can do to free up more spectrum and possibly generate more revenue for the treasury. the wirelessrcel: economy is growing fast. we all know that intuitively. given how often we reach for our phones and mobile devices. we have so much more activity on our airwaves. if we want that growth can continue, we need more spectrum for it to do so. the 30 megahertz in the most recent budget deal is a start. what really need is a steady spectrum pipeline that provides us with airwaves for licensed and unlicensed services to make sure that the wireless economy continues to grow. sen. schatz: thank you. i want to talk about the homework cap. i know you are passionate about it. describe it in simple terms as you possibly can on a human lev

i want to thank my colleague from south dakota, senator thune. he is the chairman of the committee that i'm on, the commerce committee, for his leadership in advancing this effort and allowing us the opportunity to deliver that certainty that we need on this important issue. there's no allegation that those who are implementing positive train control, there's no allegation that they are inattentive, they lack desire. there's another suggestion that it's an undue delay, that they are not doing what needs to be done. every indication we have from all the experts is -- has nothing to do with a lack of commitment to the railroads. it has to do with the fact that we can't get there in the time that we had hoped for originally when we set forth this requirement. so we know there's a pending implementation date, a deadline of december 31. we know it is unattainable. it's unattainable despite the fact that billions of dollars have already been spent to get p.t.c. installed as quickly and safely as possible. but the reality is that without an extension of

deirdre: senator thune, we wanted to hear your voice on the subject. thank you so much for the time. glad to have you. >> thank you, deirdre. deirdre: senator john thune, likewise, from capitol hill. >>> vice president joe biden may not be running for president, but his speech, listen here, could have been mistaken for a campaign launch. >> but while i will not be a candidate, i will not be silent. the middle class will never have a fighting chance in this country, as long as just 700 families, the wealthiest families control the process. we need to commit to 16 years of free public education for all our children. we need as the president proposed to triple the child care tax credit by limiting the deductions in the tax code to 28% of income. we need a moon shot in this country to cure cancer. we need to keep moving forward in the arc of this nation towards justice. deirdre: our political panel with me now, democratic strategist simon rosenberg. republican strategist, lisa booth. >> hi, deirdre. deirdre: what do you think, i will start with you, simon.

thune said more resources are needed for suicide prevention work and fighting drug and alcohol abuse. but upgrades in law enforcement will also help -- allowing children and other tribal members to feel safer. tribal officials working on suicide prevention say those steps should include residential suicide prevention centers close to home, instead of sending icalidofth esvaonorreme. e guth tatntn pi itist e luonecsedsavtoetn tea ds d ceheam ttseyerinee. onte,'oo lg term, and it's got to be residential," said council member robin tapio. "because we're just spinning our wheels sending these kids to rapid city." larry>> tapio hopes thune and noem will persuade federal officials to provide money for treatment centers on the reservation... which she says could be under construction soon after funding arrives. diana>> next week, hillary clinton faces the house benghazi committee to answer questions about the terrorist attacks on september 11, 2012 that killed four americans including ambassador chris stevens. the committee has obtained 50-thousand new documents and unearthed the controversi

thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, i -- the one thing that the senator from california and i share and that is a commitment, long-standing commitment to getting a multiyear highway bill through here. and i hope that that's going to happen here in the next few weeks. we did need to move on a positive train control extension and i want to get into the reasons for that here in just a minute, but i think probably the most important fact as we look at this particular issue is that nearly every railroad in the country, including every major freight railroad, will not meet what is an unrealistic december 31, 2015, deadline for implementing positive train control. positive train control, or p.t.c., when working as intended is a critical safety technology that will prevent certain types of rail accidents and save lives. we have the ability to make rail transportation even safer by ensuring full implementation of positive train control. and as the chairman of the commerce, science, and transportation committee, i can

senator thune says he hopes the changes will help avoid another melt down like 2014. sorghum harvest reached the half-way mark. usda's crop progress report shows it hit 51percent this week. that's seven points ahead of average. kansas leads the nation in planted acres with three-point-three-million acres. nearly 40percent is cut, running ahead of average. texas is second in acreage with harvested. both of those states saw big jumps in acreage this year. texas added 850-thousand acres from last year. strong demand -especially from china encouraged farmers to plant more sorghum. u-s sorghum growers are on pace to harvest one of the biggest sorghum crops in about a decade. and growers in the texas panhandle had good growing conditions right out of the chute. we head excellent moisture and got off to a great start. rains kept coming all the way to the first of august, then they turned off. dry the rest of august and september. record heat in september taht we hadn't had all summer. got into 100's. but still this crop held on, thrived and is going to be what looks like -fo

thune: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from kansas, who is the distinguished chairman of the ag committee on which i serve, and as well with the leader and whip here, and support -- rise in support as well of restoring what would be some very devastating cuts to an important program, the crop insurance program that, and the cuts were supposed to be imposed by the budget agreement that was reached and that we're going to be voting on later today. crop insurance plays a critical role in supporting south dakota agriculture. it's my state's number-one industry. crop losses due to drought, wind, hail and excessive moisture provide the greatest challenges to economic survival and sustainability in production agriculture. crop insurance provides the only viable risk-management tool to meet those challenges. and so it is imperative that we preserve crop insurance and maintain its viability. and i -- the agreement that's been discussed here today, i support on the floor. i'll work with the lea

thune said more resources are needed for suicide prevention work and fighting drug and alcohol abuse. but upgrades in law enforcement will also help -- allowing children and other tribal members to feel safer. tribal officials working on suicide prevention say those steps should include residential suicide prevention centers close to home, instead of sending idaki o t rerviofotrtmt.h rg tt eaeninap ci i'theoliobeus idha trernft a w ysndacthsa ianhewe ibere lo m,tgtoe ng term, and it's got to be residential," said council member robin tapio. "because we're just spinning our wheels sending these kids to rapid city." jake>> tapio hopes thune and noem will persuade federal officials to provide money for treatment centers on the reservation... which she says could be under construction soon after funding gets there. he's won election to one of two seats up for grabs on the north pole city council in alaska. jake>> santa claus has a new job... a politician. he's won election to one of two seats up for grabs on the north pole city council in alaska. santa claus... yeah... this guy legally ch

thune: mr.sident, this week, we have been discussing taking up legislation to address the problem of sanctuary cities. in fact, just earlier today, we had a procedural vote on a motion to proceed to actually get on the bill. it failed. it got only 54 votes. the threshold here in the senate to get on a bill is 60. democrats here in the senate decided to block consideration of this bill and to put that 60-vote threshold in play, and as a consequence, it failed. we got 54. i think only two democrat senators voted to proceed to this legislation, and, mr. president, i would argue that is very unfortunate because this is a -- this is a piece of legislation which is -- which represents common sense. it represents what i think the american people want us to be focused on when it comes to this issue of dealing with crime in our communities, dealing with the issue of illegal immigration in a way that ensures that those who come to this country and commit crimes aren't allowed to stay here. and right now,

senator thune? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you and senator hatch for holding this very important hearing. it's been as already noted 2 1/2 years almost since the finance committee opened its bipartisan investigation in to the irs' targeting on social welfare groups because of their conservative political views. i think the question we have to ask at this point what have we learned. certainly that the irs was guilty of gross mismanagement or in the words of our ranking member vast bureaucratic dysfunction. but i believe we do the american people a disservice if we attribute the inexcusable behavior of irs employees simply to incompetence. to do so would ignore the fundamental problem at hand, the fact that the culture at the irs allowed employees to believe that they could let their personal/political views guide how they treated taxpayers and that there would be no repercussions whatsoever for doing so. simply put we need a cultural change at the irs. american taxpayers should expect at the very least a culture

thune: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. thune: democrats have spent a lot of time lately talking about the importance of keeping the government open. mr. president, senate republicans couldn't greap more. we know that congress has a responsibility to ensure that our nation's priorities are funded, and we spent a lot of time this year working on that. in may we passed the first joint house-senate balanced budget resolution in more than a decade. and by the end of july the senate appropriations committee approved all 12 appropriations bills for the first time since 2009. the first time in six years the senate appropriations committee approved all 12 of the appropriations bill. there's one problem, mr. president, and that problem is for all their talk about providing for the government, apparently democrats are reluctant to take any action when it comes to actually passing these bills through the senate. republicans tried to bring up the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations bill last week. democrats refuse

as senator thune noted, i worked for senator rockefeller and senator evenway and had the privilege of serving many of you today. as a result, i am well acquainted with this room and the deliberations of this body, but i can assure you that sitting at this table is humbling. i want to introduce my family sitting behind me is my husband of 15 years, mark, and sitting beside him are our children, caroline francis, age 8, and emmett joseph, age 5. they are our sweetest accomplishment and greatest joy. i know they are not here today, i would also like to note my parents, elliott and william who are at home in hartford, connecticut. my brother, brian who is touring the country as drummer for the band, so my parents have the unique ability to claim they have children who are a rocker and a regulator. it's a tremendous honor to have been renominated by the president to continue to serve as commissioner at the fcc. that's because we are in the early days of the communications revoluti revolution. network technologies are reaching further and faster into all aspects of civic and commercial life

there's talk about nuclear smuggling, senator thune. thinking about this nuclear terrorism issue? is this something we're in the back channels or perhaps there's something imminent they're going to work more chosely with us in terms of thwarting this part of the situation? >> yeah, i wouldn't be surprised at all. and i think one of the-- you know the president's probably too biggest miscalculations when he called isis the jv team and mocked mitt romney for arguing that russia was a great threat. i think what you're seeing happening in the middle east is suggestivive that russia clearly wants to regain its influence and its empire and i think that if nothing is done to prevent or to stop that, that's only going to continue to grow and i think this attempt to try and get, for the extremist groups to get radioactive material to target americans, fits in with russia's agenda. russia wants to be a disrupter and drive the united states out of that region. maria: i mean, you know, when you think about the fact we just did this deal with iran,

he is on trial stemming from the 1978 lieutenant than say robbery -- lieu thune say robbery. it was believed there were $2 million at the terminal. when $6 million was discovered, the robbery crew was elated. >>> the sale of synthetic marijuana is banned in new york city. mayor de blasio signed three bills into law this afternoon aimed at cracking down on the drug known as k 2. it's been linked to one death in new york city and officials say hundreds of millions of dollars in k 2 sales are used to fund terrorism. the mayor says the goal is to go after suppliers and offer treatment for users. >> this is an important day in ensuring people are safer and fighting crime all over the city. i am proud to sign laws that are going to save lives and improve the quality of life for new yorkers. >> violators could face prison and a fine of $15,000. a business selling k 2 can have the cigarette license suspended or revoked. >>> abusive drugs like k 2 increased so much that governor cuomo launched two new public service announcements warning of the dangers. the state has seen an eight- fo

the work that senator thune and i are doing about getting more services for a broadband, which i think is the number one thing i have been hearing. it feels like a complete resurgence of issue. i attribute it to, one, the economy is better. number two, technology has shifted. this is no longer do we have broadband. and also the great opportunities. gardener and i introduced the streamlining and infrastructure act. federal highway construction project and streamline gsa policies. what else do you think congress can do to promote more efficient permits procedures to reduce construction costs and speed up the process. >> senator, thank you. i think the policies are terrific. they should be put in place a all across the country. less than 1% for the price of the project. we get lots of rewards. i think there are other things we can do. i think we have particular problems on federal lands in this country. one-third of our lands is federal. we should come up with deployment practices -- or practices that make deployment on those lands easier. we should have a shot clock for the federal gover

as senator thune noted, i worked for senator rockefeller and senator evenway and had the prif linl ofefbing many of you today. as a result, i am well acquainted with this room and the deliberations of this body, but i can assure you that sitting at this table is humbling. i want to introduce my family sitting behind me is my husband of 15 years, mark, and sitting beside him are our children, caroline francis, age eight, and emmet joseph, age five. they are our sweetest accomplishment and greatest joy. i know they are not here today, i would also like to note my parents, elliott and william who are at home in hartford, connecticut. my brother, brian who is touring the country as drummer for the band, so my parents have the unique ability to claim they have children who are a rocker and a regulator. it's a tremendous honor to have been renominated by the president to continue to serve as commissioner at the fcc. that's because we are in the early days of the communications revolution, network technologies are reaching further and faster and to all aspects of commercial life. they are tr

and as you know, senator rubio and senator thune wrote a letter to us recommending the framework for testing with the department of transportation and the department of commerce on the upper portion of the 5 gigahertz band. and i think that that is a terrific start. i hope that you check in with us regularly because i think pressure from the congress keeps us on guard and keeps us on course. >> we will. in the remaining time, unlicensed spectrum has become very important. a lot has changed in the 1990s. in the 1990s, i had hair. with the bipartisan agreement, i agree that the serious need. but i really want the see more focus on licensed spectrum. i'm not going to waste the remaining minute i have on that. i do know you agree with me on how important lifeline is. there are some things we can do to make it better. i've heard you say before it's an essential program. i would like to ask my last question just about, is there a need for congress to reinstate the minority immediate tax credit? >> i think the answer is yes. you know, who we see on the screen says a lot about what we are as

another, senator thune and i and others have contacted the commission on our concern that we shouldn't try to apply the anti-monopoly title two regulations to the broadband marketplace. neither of those letters ever had a response. not even a response. we got your letter and we're not going to respond. so how does that work? do these letters go to the commission and collectively you and the chairman just decide you're not going to answer? how does that work and how do you think it should work? >> well, senator, i apologize if you did not get an official response to those letters. most of those letters do in fact go to the chairman's office, i'd be perfectly happy to offer responses myself. i think it is important we continue to work with this committee and you're the folks that created the law that created the agency. so i want to make sure that our relationships are actually improved and we're more responsive. >> well, i think maybe, maybe in the future, i'll see that you for sure are copied in because if the letter goes to the chairman's office, the chairman is not responding, and i

it's information me thune police want the public to have ahead of halloween. >> if they get on line to look at the map, it gives specific addresses of level 3 sex offenders and then our suggestion is just avoid that one house. >> under state law, police cannot publish information about registered level one or level two sex offenders. those considered to have a low to moderate risk of offending again. but methuen police chief joseph solomon says, because of plea deals and other factors, the category doesn't always correspond to the crime and because of that, he believes the law should change. >> it would be nice to be able to just put everything out there. >> while police can't publish that information, residents can go to their local police departments and ask. this woman, who lives in haverhill, says she went and looked and couldn't believe what she found. >> i'm very surprised. my surrounding area, there's like 52 of them, just since, like, a couple blocks away. >> solomon says while those numbers may seem overwhelming, the information isn't meant to scare but to empower. >> we just

has a number of good recommendations, and in addition i want to remind my colleagues that senator thune and i introduced the taxpayers' bill of rights enhancement act to further beef it up. i have three short questions. mr. commissioner, for taxpayers to move beyond the targeting scandal, they need to know that those who allowed it to occur have been held accountable. my understanding is few, if any, disciplinary actions were taken against mid-level managers who who were directly involved in the improper targeting. the bipartisan report details one such manager who was not only never disciplined but received a bonus and has been promoted. how can tax -- so my question. how can taxpayers applying for tax exempt status feel confident they will be treated fairly when individuals who oversaw the targeting remain in place, were never disciplined, and in some instances even promoted? >> i would note a couple of things, senator. first, as i noted in testimony. the chain of command, starting with the commissioner down five levels, all of those are new, all of those has been changed. secondly, o

representatives bob goodlatte and anna eshoo on the house side, and on the senate side, senators john thune and patrick leahy. we thank them for their support of educationallal events like this. and just a little bit of housekeeping before we get started, the twitter hashtag is e.u. safe harbor, and all of our twitter accounts, the panelists' information is on your program. we also have a few upcoming events, both of which are listed. on october 21st, there'll be a happy hour with the facebook team and october 22nd the second annual congressional app challenge will kick off. for more information about how to get your office involved, visit our web site or talk to our executive director. i'm now going to turn it over to mary ellen call a hand -- callahan, former chief privacy officer for the department of homeland security. >> thank you very much, rachel. thanks for coming. i want to thank my panelists who i'll degreely introduce. -- briefly introduce. from my far right, damian levy is the head of the trade section of the european union to the united states. adam. >> losser is the director f

here is debate with senator jack reed, john thune, dick durbin, and john mccain. this is 40 minutes. done. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise to discuss the conference report on the the conference report on the >> the sen.senator from mr. -- from rhode island. >> thank you, mr. president. we will be voting on this in the next hour. this report is the product of months of negotiation and compromise between the house and senate, andcommand i want to commend chairman mccain, thornberry, and ranking member smith for a thoughtful,a thoughtful, inclusive, and cordial process. and there are many provisions that provide for service members and their families. 38 billion request about the president for enduring baseball term requirements essentially skirting the law known as the budget control act. again, this is a maneuver to get around a statutea statute which was signed by the president and voted for by congress which has imposed budget caps on every department and cen

senator mcconnell, reid, grassley, nelson, mccain, king, thune, flake, senator carper in particular, senator blunt and others have described the need for this bill, and i so appreciate their support. i urge my colleagues to support cloture on this substitute manager's package so that we can start moving on to other amendments that are pending. i also want to thank senator burr and his staff. over the past couple of days, they have been going through comments and proposing technical changes and perfecting changes to the substitute. it's my understanding that chairman burr will ask a unanimous consent agreement on that perfecting amendment shortly. i do want to thank senator collins for agreeing to changes in her provision, section 407, to start to address concerns that were raised by its inclusion. i also want to thank senators whitehouse, leahy and wyden for reaching an agreement on text that senator whitehouse very much wanted to include, and i'm pleased we were able to include that in this unanimous consent package. so, mr. president, i appreciate the support of my colleagues. i ur

a senator: i ask consent that the thune amendment at the desk be agreed to, that the committee-reported amendment as amended, be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, that the motion to rereconsider be crdz played and laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on homeland security be discharged from h.r. 3116 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 3116, an act to extend by 15 years the authority of the secretary of commerce to conduct the quarterly financial report program. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged from the measure and the senate will proceed. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the sasse amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, and the motion reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of

rid of those and create transference around the remainder makes it easier for 98% of the firms over thune 75,000 firms that are exporting to increase their exports and to bring more into the global economy. >> there are a lot of elements to this. state-owned enterprises is one and you mentioned property rights protections. how's that going to work with how does the company lose technology overseas and not have her ripped off? >> we have a whole series of disciplines that first and foremost to the enforcement of intellectual property rights. for countries to have laws and enforce those laws to protect trademark as appropriate. we have a mechanism for ensuring whether it's in the creative industries, people walking into movie theaters and recording a movie on their camcorder and selling it immediately on the internet. we have god rules against downloading illegal material from data mines or from cable. we have got rules to make sure the digital environment is the first trade agreement to deal with the digital agreement to make sure it's a free and open internet and data can flow across bord

worked together on this, senator warner has been very engaged in this discussion, as has chairman thune, and that's the protection of sensitive personal information as well as how do we protect the systems themselves. now, clearly, this information sharing will help in that fight. there is no doubt about that, but in addition to supporting this bill, i want to continue to work with my colleagues to see that we have a way to notify people in a consistent way when their information has been shared. there are at least a dozen different state laws that address how you secure personal information, and there are 47 different state laws that address how you tell people if their information has been stolen. that's too much to comply with. we need to find one standard. this patchwork of laws really is a nightmare for everybody trying to comply, and frankly a nightmare for citizens who get all kinds of difficult notices and all -- in all kinds of different ways. without a consistent national standard pertaining to securing information, without a consistent national standard pertaining to what hap

last week senator thune and i sent a letter to takata asking for additional documents and information regarding these side air bags. and we also asked more questions about the use of ammonium nitrate. last week also the national highway traffic safety administration announced that it may be considering to expand its recall to all the model year vehicles with any takata air bag. nhtsa must use all of its tools under the law to maximize consumer protection. these potential grenades stored in a steering wheel or dash board must get off the road. the american driving public

the work that senator thune and i are doing about getting more funding from the universal service fund for a broadband, which i think is the number one thing i have been hearing. it feels like a complete resurgence of issue. i attribute it to, one, the economy is better. number two, technology has shifted. this is no longer do we have broadband. it's do we have high speed broadband. the kid on a reservation that goes to one house and you have 20 kids stand in a back yard because that's where they have wi-fi. i think you understand the enormous need here. and also the great opportunities. one thing i don't think has been focused on too much -- senator gardener and i introduced the streamlining and infrastructure act. federal highway construction project and streamline gsa policies. what else do you think congress can do to promote more efficient permitting procedures to reduce construction costs and speed up deployment? >> senator, thank you. i think the policies are terrific. they should be put in place all across the country. when crews are repairing or building roads, adding broadban

south dakota senator john thune joined googling at west central middle school to talk about online safetyd montana senator steve danes stopping by electric city coffee for a cup of joe and a chat with owners thad and heidi. daines. senators have back on capitol hill next week. coming up later today on the c-span networks, the heritage foundation will look at the life and career of former british prime minister margaret thatcher. a panel of historians and aides will consider her career live at 4:00 eastern on c-span. tonight on american history tv in prime time, civil war historians on andersonville. we visited the camp sumpter military prison in and herbsonville, virginia, where more than 45,000 soldiers were imprisoned and 13,000 died. that's tonight at 8:00 eastern here on c-span 3. >>> this monday on c-span's new series landmark cases, by 1830, the mississippi river around new orleans had become a breeding ground for cholera and yellow fever, partly do to slaughterhouses in the area dumping their by-products into the river. to address this problem, louisiana allowed only one government

aimed at federal spectrum, chairman walden said today he'd like to see some legislation, chairman thune is working on some legislation. but the timing has been kind of up in the rare. when do you think any action on needs to get done by? >> guest: well, i wish we would have had it done in the last congress. the fact we're talking about legislation and really we have federal agencies now understanding and being more open to talk to us, i think we've made great trades in the briefing. -- great strides in the briefing. i've sat in meetings where they've said, no, don't touch it. [laughter] and that's not the case anymore. so as far as chairman walden's time frame for that, i don't know. i don't try to get in his way. but i do think we're now in a better place to have these discussions. >> host: and what kind of financial haul would you like to see some out of this spectrum auction? >> guest: well, as you know, not all spectrum is equal. so there are particular slices that are more advantageous for people to have. predicting a return on that, a return on that at auction, i wouldn't have any

and that's why with john thune, i have sponsored a resolution that calls for the creation of a new nationalhe priorities for the american people, goals like creating 25 million jobs over the next 20 years, things like balancing our budget, things like securing andcare and social security achieving independence and security for the country. it's my hope that the next president is going to embrace this agenda and cooperate with congress and i look forward to working with the new president and colleagues in congress to turn this promise of the national strategic agenda into reality. thank you. god bless our country. [applause] >> get ready to it to the treets with our panelists. [applause] >> let me turn it over to ryan and he's going to explain. >> so as andy said, the big question is what is next, where do we go from here and what is the focus between now and the primary. and what it is, today, we heard candidates talking about problem solving and that is excellent, but now it's the next step to make a real tangible commitment to do it. and the tangible commitment needs to be working with th

thune: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. thune: democrats have spent a lot of time lately talking about the importance of keeping the government open. mr. president, senate republicans couldn't greap more. we know that congress has a responsibility to ensure that our nation's priorities are funded, and we spent a lot of time this year working on that. in may we passed the first joint house-senate balanced budget resolution in more than a decade. and by the end of july the senate appropriations committee approved all 12 appropriations bills for the first time since 2009. the first time in six years the senate appropriations committee approved all 12 of the appropriations bill. there's one problem, mr. president, and that problem is for all their talk about providing for the government, apparently democrats are reluctant to take any action when it comes to actually passing these bills through the senate. republicans tried to bring up the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations bill last week. democrats refuse

last week senator thune and i sent a letter to takata asking for additional documents and information regarding these side air bags. and we also asked more questions about the use of ammonium nitrate. last week also the national highway traffic safety administration announced that it may be considering to expand its recall to all the model year vehicles with any takata air bag. nhtsa must use all of its tools under the law to maximize consumer protection. these potential grenades stored in a steering wheel or dash board must get off the road. the american driving public cannot afford any more wasted time. and don't we think that these corporations that are causing this outrageous situation that has killed seven people in the united states and severely injured dozens more, don't we think that they ought to be held accountable? if executives at takata knew about their defective products, and if they knew that and did nothing -- or worse, if they covered it up, then they ought to go to jail. not another fine. not another settlement. somebody ought to be going to jail. lying about a dange

in the coming weeks, i look forward to working with chairman inhofe, chairman thune, senator boxer and chairman shuster to produce a reform-oriented compromise that enhances efficiency, reliability and safety of our nation's transportation system. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor, and i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be set aside with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cruz: madam president, on october 15, 2015, senators dianne feinstein and patrick leahy released the following statement marking the five-year anniversary of the arrest of lui xa, the wife of chinese democracy activist and nobel peas prize winner. this week marks the five-year anniversary that liu xa was placed under arrest in china. she has never been charged with a crime and remains confined to her apartment because her husband, respected democracy activist liu chabot

with senators toomey, grassley, cruz, johnson, cornyn, sullivan, purdue, isakson, rubio, barrasso and thune. we're introducing this legislation. we're getting a vote tomorrow to end the practice of sanctuary cities violating existing federal immigration laws. this legislation takes a commonsense approach to this problem. and there are three key parts to the bill. first, this bill changes the incentives for cities by creating penalties for states, local governments and law enforcement entities that choose to have them, these policies in place. these penalties come in the form of the removal of certain streams of federal funding for sanctuary jurisdiction and the penalties apply to whatever government entity is actually making that bad decision. in cases where a law enforcement entity like a jail or police department has a policy or practice that refuses to comply with federal immigration law, they will be prevented from receiving community oriented policing services grants or state criminal alien assistance program grants. so that entity