thune: i would ask unanimous consent the quorum be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: pretty much every american has to deal with illegal robocalls. how many times you answer the phone to discover you've won a contest that you never entered or asking to provide personal information like your bank account or social security number. illegal robocalls, i think we can all agree, are a major nuisance. scammers use these calls to successfully p.r.i. on vulnerable populations like elderly americans who are sometimes less technologically savvy. scammers target the kind of personal information that can be used to steal your money and your identity. and when scammers are successful, the consequences for their victims can be devastati devastating. well, there are laws and fines in place right now to prevent scam artistists from p.r.i.ing n americans through -- from preying on americans through the telephone these measures have been insufficient. in many cases robocall scammers simply build it into the cost of doing business. on

thune: we have been trying.d a meeting last thursday, members of the senate finance committee, met with the president and his negotiating team at the white house to make the argument that we need to close these deals, get usmca s on steel the tariff and aluminum. not impose auto tears with the europeans. there is a concern that the administration's proposals currently are going to be overall harmful to the economy, but i also think the president is very resolute. he made it very clear last week that if china does not play ball, he will do this. i think he believes profoundly, and the people around him on some level do, that he has to exercise strength. the only thing they understand is drawing a hard line, and he is doing that now. i hope it has the desired result because we need to close these deals out. we have a lot of industries and sectors that are being harmed by this -- these trade tariffs already in place, could be further harmed if wretched it up. i'm hoping the deal closes quickly. david: you mentioned

thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that at 12:45 p.m. today, the senate proceed to legislative session to consider calendar number 94, senate bill 151. i further ask that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill as so amended be read a third time, and the senate vote on passage of the bill as amended, with no interintervening action or debate. finally, if passed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, i see another colleague on the floor, so i will make my comments brief. madam president, we had a briefing this week in a room in the capitol where the public is not allowed to enter. it's called the scif. it is a briefing that is given to members of the senate of top-secret classified information. it related to the situation we now find ourselves in in relation to iran. it was troubling, troubling to hear the comment

let's dig in with john thune, senate majority whip.efing today, what do you take from it? >> we had the administration team explaining why they reacted the way they did with good reason, there are credible threats, specific threat and they did a good job laying out why we are doing what we are doing and taking the action we have taken and i think we have to be prepared. this is an area of the world that is very volatile and very dangerous and we have to protect american troops and american interests. shannon: chris murphy tweeted this. i'm listening to republicans twist the iran until to make it sound like iran is taking offense of measures about the us and allies like it came out of nowhere. i read the until too and that is not what the intel says. after the briefing a comments, the strategy is not working. >> i don't know what those guys are saying but there are a lot of people in the blame america crowd when it comes to these issues, it is always america's fault. we know what iran does, the world's largest state sponsor of terror an

thune: madam president. the presiding officer: majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, this week is national police week, a chance to reflect on the sacrifices of our nation's police officers and to thank them for everything that they do on our behalf. yesterday i spoke on the floor about military appreciation month, like members of the military, police officers are a special breed. they willingly rush into danger and put their lives on the line for the rest of us. that's not a natural human instinct, madam president, to rush into danger. most of us are inclined to run away from danger. but police officers do the opposite. they not only stand their ground in the face of danger, they walk into the midst of it to protect the rest of us. the centerpiece of national police week is peace officers memorial day which commemorates the sacrifices of all those who have given their lives in the line of duty. last year more t

. >> reporter: democrat pick senator mark warner and republican john thune are sponsors. >> so many students who go to our best colleges get a doe gree and trade in their cap and gown for debt and uncertainty. >> reporter: in the senate it will need to pass as part of a larger tax bill. >> even in a place as dysfunctional as washington, this one should be a no- brainer. >> reporter: reporting from capitol hill. >>> ivanka trump said in a statement that she supports the bill and hopes congress can set its differences aside and provide solutions. >>> let's see how wall street is doing. the dow is up about 117 point ?oots war why ares could be heading nord. >> the toronto raptors beat the bucks in the eastern conference finals. kawhi leading with 33 points. raptors can punch their ticket to the finals if they win tomorrow night in game six. >> some bay area sites like the sfo termal is being lit up in blue and gold. people will be surprised with giveaways. >> we have you covered with all things warriors. go to kpix.com/warriors. find out how about klay thompson. >> we have a big holiday weekend

senator thune. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr.dickson, thank you for your service, for your willing to serve. you bring some great experience to this position, and we look forward to working with you. i know you've been asked a lot of questions about 737s today, but i have a home state question i want to ask you, then try to get to a couple other ones. this week, ellsworth air force base is holding an exercise. the prtc is the largest training airspace in the continental united states and is poised to play a critical role in training aircraft like the f-35. in order to optimize these semi-annual exercises and accommodate realistic training scenarios, the faa must grant the air force waivers to exceed the range's current ceiling of 26,000 feet and fly up to 51,000 fe 51,000 feet. securing these waivers is a slow-moving process. this is in part because the prtc is governed by three air route traffic control centers -- salt lake city center, denver center, and minneapolis center. streamlining the waiver process would afford our milit

someone like joni ernst in iowa, john thune from south dakota, pat roberts from kansas. and they're saying that farmers right now are hanging with the president. i think john thune told politico maybe because they think they're doing the right thing. however, that patience will only last so long as they're seeing their bottom line dip. christine romans pointed out what's happening in iowa, not only the trade war but also the flooding. there's already been $10 billion in subsidies for pork, soybeans, corn, dairy, because of trade wars and disagreements in china as well as mexico and canada. so farmers are really taking the brunt of this right now. and politically, that not only affects the president but also on down. republicans who are up for re-election in these states that typically would be pretty good state for the president. it really does -- go ahead. >> can the president continue to buy off? that's been the strategy so far. provide aid. we had a farmer saying he was counting on that. can the president do that? is there enough money to buy off the economic damage f

neil: senator thune, thank you very much. all right.ing up after this, including the brouhaha around the treasury secretary's comments on capitol hill. not so much having to do with any of this back and forth on whether the president engaged in a coverup, but that the effects on tariffs are going to be no big deal for you. after this. this is your car. you had a good run, but it's time to sell or trade it in, and you need to know what it's worth. with truecar, just enter your license plate and see your car's value in real time. sports package and low mileage? nice. incident with a shopping cart... not so nice. sunroof? real nice. within minutes, you'll have a true cash offer and you can head to a local certified dealership to cash out or trade in. enjoy a better way to sell or trade in your car with truecar. ifor another 150 years. the fire going ♪ to inspire confidence through style. ♪ i'm working to make connections of a different kind. ♪ i'm working for beauty that begins with nature. ♪ to treat every car like i treat mine. ♪ at adp

senate majority whip john thune is with us, republican from south dakota.e right now for the senate intelligence committee to subpoena donald trump jr. to testify, what does that mean? >> i think what it means, neil, is that the senate intelligence committee is doing their diligence on their side. their investigation has been very bipartisan. they are wrapping it up. i suspect this is probably one of the last things they'll do before they get ready to file their reports. this thing has been looked at multiple ways. you have the mueller report. it's all out there. no collusion. that's the conclusion they came to. and the democrats in the house who seem insistent on continuing to drag this thing out, i think they are missing with the american people care about. the american people think this issue is done. the washington bubble and the folks who have trump derangement syndrome here in washington, d.c., and a lot of the democrats perhaps in the left-wing audience around the country are really the only people paying attention to this. most americans care about

who have turned this chamber into a legislative graveyard, republican senator john thune of south dakota says congress hasn't ignored the problem we passed. >>legislation that would strengthen the next program. put more resources and are in some of those targets particularly schools, food and says we could save lives by enforcing the laws we already have. >>in washington. alexandra lee mount. >>also tonight clippers always tracking local stories, here's a look at what's going on in your neighborhood right now we'll start tonight in the east bay where a massive fire destroyed 4 homes it happened in hayward to meet harris at 2 15 this morning safe. the massive flames in this video 2 story homes destroyed. we're under construction, the 8 other homes were damaged nobody was injured. and the cause of the fire is being investigated. jurors in alameda county began deliberations today in the case of a livermore couple who claim roundup weed killer. >>caused their cancer. the husband and wife are diagnosed in 20 11 in 2015, respectively they say they were exposed to round up for more than 3 decad

after collecting data from twitter for over four months, thune study fod that nevadans take more selfiesin the country washington, d.c., hawaii, new york and california also made the list if youto want ave more likes on your instagram posts, a study found that left cheek selfies will get you morn e love t right check selfies. >> i don't know what that is, like this side or that side. i think it's like a psychological thing how the brain processes emotions you know, i don't know o that's guess. >> a lot of people need to think about that when using this new snapchat filter. people are obsessed with it. you can get a glimpse of what oppositeexike as someone of the so miley cyrus tried it, tweeting, um, why did snapchat turn me into joe jonas it's her brows you decide she does kind of look like him here it is side by side. she's a good looking dude. >> you know what and he's a good looking woman. look at that one guy even t used ito set up a fake tinder profile. look at this guy this is jake s hes within an hour, jessbe me the most popular girl where he lives in derby, england. so of course

i'm grateful that senator shelby, senator leahy, colleagues of ours, including rubio, ernst, thune, blunt, sasse, and others have brought us to this point with their tireless work on this subject. so i'm grateful to the president for his leadership an focus on getting an outcome. i'm glad that we passed this legislation and sent to the -- it to the house. i would urge our colleagues over in the house to support it. i ask unanimous consent to proceed to calendar number 78, s. 1332. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 78, s. 1332, a bill to set forth the budget for the united states government for to 20 and -- 2020 and so forth. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on, s. 1332, to set a budget for the united states fiscal government for 2020 and setting budgetary levels for 2021 through 2029. mr. mcconnell: i

the fraught and scams and harassment senators ed markey and john thune let the way on the traced actate thursday. >>it increases the financial penalty for those individuals making robocalls from $0 to $10,000 per call. >>a r p is one organization that strongly supports that race that it says older americans are among the most vulnerable to robo calls in part because they tend to always pick up the phone. >>the of like my mom and she 76, she cannot let a call going without picking it up. it's generational kathy stokes says that's erp is working to ensure members of congress in the house. >>also passed the bill in american homes received 48 billion. >>calls. that's with a b and that 40% of them could be scam calls the house is expected to vote on the legislation soon and texas senator john cornyn points out. >>it passed with nearly unanimous consent in the senate. there's one thing that unites republicans and democrats in washington dc is we all hate robocalls you can also protect yourself by adding a phone number to the national do not call registry. >>at do not call dot gov. in washi

thune: mr. president, very eight requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. thune: mr. president, we reached a milestone last week with the confirmation of president trump's 100th federal judge. frankly, it's a milestone that should have come earlier. and had this been another president, it almost undoubtedly would have come earlier. but unfortunately, the response to this president has been characterized by what the leader aptly referred to yesterday as, quote, unhinged partisanship. end quote. two and a half years on from president trump's election, democrats still can't get over the fact that they lost. somehow, my colleagues missed the section in government class where you learn that's what happens sometimes in democracies. sometimes you win, and sometimek it to my colleagues -- sometimes you lose. it's not fun. no one likes having their candidate lose. but that's wh

john thune, south dakota. see what we get. thank you. >> julie: all right. what do you have on tap? >> the president moves to block democrat subpoena for documents related to the former white house legal counsel as the showdown over the mueller report intensifies. >> the democrats divide is growing. why college democrats who do so much grass work for the party are urging a boycott of the congressional campaign arm and how much it could cost the democrats in 2020. >> julie: 10 minutes and counting. we'll see you then. venezuelan opposition leader juan guaido returns to the national assembly as his battle to oust nicolas maduro heats up. what happens next in venezuela? we have a live report from caracas next. our members shop a little differently. so we reward every purchase . let's see what kate sent. for you. for all of us. that's for me. navy federal credit union our members, are the mission. my time is thin, but so is my lawn. now there's scotts thick'r lawn 3-in-1 solution. with a soil improver! seed! and fertilizer to feed! now yard time is our time. thi

. >> reporter: democratic senator, mark warner, and republican john thune, are lead sponsors of the billwould provide the tax break. >> so many students work hard to get a degree. they come out and trade in their cap and gown for a mountain of debt and uncertainty. >> reporter: the idea is backed by two dozen other senators and 140 members of the house. but in the senate, it will either pass as part of a larger tax bill that is being produced. >> in the long run, the worst thing that we could do is say, even more to students, someone else is going to pay that debt and not you. >> reporter: why not focus on compelling or forcing colleges and universities to just charge less? >> that's got to be part of the solution. >> it's not going to solve every problem. but we think it's realistic. >> even in a place as dysfunctional as washington this, should be a no-brainer. >> reporter: know var rnavarro payment benefit he's receiving has changed his life. >> i will be out of debt sooner. >> reporter: late last night, we got word that this legislation has support from ivanka trump, someone known to

thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, friday's announcement that the administration had reached an agreement to remove steel tariffs on canada and mexico was great for america's consumers, producers, and workers, mexican and canadian retaliatory tariffs on u.s. products have already been lifted. that's a big deal for american producers, especially for farmers and ranchers who were hit the hardest by mexico and canada's retaliatory tariffs. it removes a significant roadblock to the united states-mexico-canada trade agreement. with the reforms adopted by the mexican government, two issues have been addressed. now it's time for the house democrat leadership to take up the agreement in the near future. the united states-mexico-canada agreement would boost auto manufacturing to digital services to dairy farming. it would create 176,000 new jobs and increase wages for workers. it's time to take up this agreement. madam president, as i said, the united states-mexico-canada free trade agreement would be a

senator john thune said there are ongoing discussions and conversations with the white house adding we'llw more before long. richard shelby said the nomination was in trouble, asked you should not have controversy following you in or out of the job. a white house source told cnn that moore is being encouraged to keep a low profile after the west wing cancelled his visit to capitol hill. moore has been under scrutiny over writings that seem to disparage women and his views about the fed. moore suggested the decline in men's earnings is the biggest problem facing the economy. fed chair jerome powell was asked about wages wednesday. >> i think men and women should make the same for the same work by and large. >> he declined to comment directly on moore's remarks. >> not my role to engage with potential nominees to the fed so i'm really not going to go there. >> yeah, you know, that was our own donna borak who was there at the press conference trying to see what he thought about wages and whether steven moore is right, whether the biggest problem is not income inequality, but men's earnings a

so congress is at a standstill and colleague john thune feels like your hands are tied. do you think that the president is making a mistake by shutting the door on working with democrats? >> um, yes. and i don't think he needs it. i think that the president is very frustrated. i heard that was listening to your show a while -- while i was waiting, brooke, i heard the comments from speaker pelosi. i don't think those will help. now, speaker pelosi is entitled to her opinion and i respect her opinion. i try to cut her some slack because she's in a tough spot. i think her democratic majority would like to impeach the president. i think the speaker is against it because she knows it wouldn't be very popular with the american people. and the other problem of the speaker has to be frank, she kind of has a shadow speaker in congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez. so she's in a tough spot. but having said all of that, the right course of action is not for each side to go to the corner and respective corners and as i said yesterday, not for both sides to act like 8-year-olds hidi

senator john thune said there are ongoing discussions with the white house about more.e about that before long. senator richard shelby said he thought the nomination was in trouble. shelby a current member of the senate banking committee, you should not have controversy following in and out of the job. the white house told cnn moore is being encouraged to keep a low profile, and the west wing cancelled a visit to capitol hill to meet with republican senators. moore has been under scrutiny over his writings that seem to disparage women, his personal financial issues and views about the fed. he suggested the decline in men's earnings is quote the biggest problem other the past 25 years in the economy. federal chair jerome powell was asked about wages on wednesday. >> i think men and women should make the same for the same work by and large. >> powell declined to comment directly on moore's remarks. >> certainly not my role to engage with potential nominees to the fed, so i'm really not going to go there. >> moore has not been formally nominated yet. he told the "wall stre

we'll talk to senator john thune about this and other subjects on how much the government can do, bew much as we and parents do tomorrow on coast to coast. right now here's "the five." >> hi, i'm greg gutfeld with emily, juan, jesse and she needs a license, dana perino. "the five." a new gallup poll says four in ten americans embrace socialism. we should gasp at this. i'm not surprised it's not higher. the fact is, people that know what socialism is, those that fled socialist countries, they're getting old. many are dying. the knowledge of such horror goes to the grave. they're being replaced by the lowest form of life

then in the days to follow, senator john thune said it would be a leheavy lift to nominate h.that big of a majority in the senate. >> susan collins was very vocal. >> and susan collins is running for reelection. she's facing a lot of criticism in maine, her home state, for voting to approve justice kauf gn -- kavanaugh. she couldn't afford this kind of a vote. >> let's also show you stephen moore was just on fox business just a few minutes ago. let's take a look at what he had to say. >> god'shonest truth, i thought it would be a one-day story. if i had any sense this would happen that people would being looking at my writings from 20, 25 years ago, i would have told the president, i wouldn't have told the president i couldn't do that. >> if he had known he was going to be vetted is what he's saying, he wouldn't have done it. >> this isn't the only problem with stephen moore. he had a tax leen against hien a judge found he failed to pay child support money . it raises questions about what kind of vet doing the white house do. granted he wasn't officially nominated. this isn't

. >> john thune voicing concern about the farmers, no criticism from the president, not from ben sasse jeremy herb. thank you so much, appreciate it. >> it's wealth redistribution, taxing consumers, bailing out farmers, may be too late for some. really interesting. >>> the secretary of state cancelling a planned trip to moscow today. more on where he's headed and why. >> and a prosecutor just made a key decision on julian assange. a live report ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ this mother's day, get mom the one gift she's always wanted... ♪ get engaged... ...with our diamond price match guarantee, there is no better time. dare to be devoted. jared. guys, i've got an idea! oooh, what is it? so people love iphone xr, right? well, it does have an incredible camera. and it comes in all those amazing colors. uh huh. what if we give the people iphone xr, when they join t-mobile? iphone xr on us? yeah, iphone xr on us! what's not to love about that? for a limited time, join t-mobile and get the awesome iphone xr on us. ♪ ♪ in big ways and in small, bank of america is here to help you get things done. what would

. >> so the number 2 republican in the senate jon thune told cnn today the quote from him it seemed like it started when pelosi held the news conference. that made it difficult for the productive white house. it seemed like this was a conceived strategy. she had to know going in there that would light him up. she had to have known that. you're saying it's staged and plans. because babe maybe he was planning but when she says the president is involved in a cover-up and when she is right before meeting with him doing a deal nothing like it since he went in office, did she sort of want to blow it up herself? >> no, i mean, look, there is a difference in our caucus over how quickly and aggressively we move forward on potential impeachment and the inquiry. she has a regular wednesday caucus. she was at the caucus. that was a marilyn subject of discussion. she came out and press jumped on her. and she said honestly what the discussion was during the caucus. i mean, what would you call the is administration nas stonewalling every attempt to bring people before judiciary or intelligence or any o

this is john thune, a member of the republican leadership and seems like we have a little bit of an issue hard to figure out how much gets done around here unless the atmospherics get changed. all of these things need to get done but it's a heavy lift when you have this operating environment. >> the trump/pelosi relationship is fascinating for all the obvious reasons. they are both prakitivities, neith neither are idealogs, and when you show the list of what has to get done is the senate. the house has passed a lot of bills actually. they are not being taken up in the senate and beyond funding the government and raising the debt ceiling which were the first two items i'm pretty skeptical that things will get done for 2020 election for the reason that neither side wants to give the other a victory. i don't think mitch mcconnell will bring up a bipartisan bill that will give house democrats something to run on in 2020 and the idea of any of those bills that you mentioned that are not must dos, ie, keeping the government open, i'm pretty skeptical right now. >> this hill reporter associates

so you say that this isn't a huge shocker, but you have senator thune and others say it's in troublees are there. that's outside even of it, perhaps, hope some of the things of the president had expressed about changes he wanted in the fed. >> melissa: i agree with everything dagen had to say i think it would be great to have somebody on the fed wasn't just pure academia. that's one of those problems, the way you look at economics from an academic point of view versus being out in the economy and practicing. the different perspective of not being wedded to the ivory tower when you're making these decisions. >> andy: i've got a guy in the bronx. [laughter] >> dagen: "i know a guy!" [laughter] >> melissa: i think we leave it there. yes? there you go. albright. new court action in the jussie smollett case. cook county state attorney kim foxx is on defense today, making her case on the defense, i should say. making her case there is no need for the special prosecutor to examine her office's actions in the controversy. the latest on that next. ♪ country honorably.r whether it's two years,

a fraught and scams and harassment senators ed markey and john thune let the way on the traced act which passed in the senate thursday. >>it increases the financial penalty for those individuals making robocalls from $0 to $10,000 per call. >>a r p is one organization that strongly supports the traced act. it says older americans are among the most vulnerable to robo calls in part because they tend to always pick up the phone. >>the of like my mom and she 76, she cannot let a call going without picking it up. it's generational kathy stokes says that's erp is working to ensure members of congress in the house. >>also passed the bill in american homes received 48 billion. >>calls. that's with a b and that 40% of them could be scam calls the house is expected to vote on the legislation soon and texas senator john cornyn points out. >>it passed with nearly unanimous consent in the senate. there's one thing that unites republicans and democrats in washington dc is we all hate robocalls you can also protect yourself by adding a phone number to the national do not call registry. >>at do not cal

who have turned this chamber into a legislative graveyard, republican senator john thune of south dakota says congress hasn't ignored the problem we passed. >>legislation that would strengthen the next program. put more resources and a hardening some of those targets particularly schools, food and says we could save lives by enforcing the laws we already have. >>in washington. alexandra lee mount. >>now to turn to weather with our chief meteorologist. hey guys we've got over right 5 guys that's right where we were friends. hey we've got the fog will it right now some drizzle showing up along the coastline is that fog very thick out there once again stretching inside the bay and some of the valley's now too going to be interesting here in the long range though we've had a chance some showers overnight tonight least in the east and the south bay that will continue tomorrow morning. we've got larry low pressure moving all in a southern california under storm just lighting up the sierra nevada this afternoon will do so again your head los angeles we have be prepared for some rain there tomor

on that note, i want to bring in senator jon thune, south dakota republican. mr.ge degree, are getting hurt by these tariffs. the president has a plan to siphon $15 billion to american farmers to make up for the shortfall that they're not going to get from china. is $15 billion enough to keep the farmers on the president's side? >> i'm not sure i know the answer to that, stuart. i do know one thing. farmers want to see the president succeed. they really -- they know china has been a bad actor when it comes to trade and they want to see him get a deal that will open up more of their markets to our farm commodities and other types of products and things that we make and we raise and grow in this country. so i'm hoping that these negotiations, discussions that we're in the middle of will ultimately get us to a good end and good result. in the meantime, if they do make payments to farmers, i think farmers obviously would view that as a short-term solution. what they want in the long term is a market, of course. stuart: is the republican party, are the republicans unit

. >> thank you, senator thune. >> i'd like t to thank you and e ranking member for holding today's hearing. thank you again for sitting down with me recently i very much enjoyed our conversation. i want to address a topic that others have praised and say that i firmly believe that privatization is reckless and i want to reinforce the emphasis just now on the importance of the rapid force movements on implementation i think it is critical for our airspace. i'm pleased they suggested that privatization in the last reauthorization and i believe it is time to focus our energies on the modernization. i want to express the commitment to the regulations i was assured to learn in a meeting that you support the pilot training rule and i every that they are unquestioned. my question is simple if confirmed what you post any effort to weaken or lower the rule administratively including the so-called enhanced classification program. i enjoyed our time together as well and look forward to the opportunity to continue to work together on the aviation issues. the qualification rule as view state has been a

i firmly believe atc privatization is reckless and i want to reinforce what chairman thune said on movement on implementation of nexgen. it is critical for our airspace. i am pleased congress rejected privatization in the last reauthorization and i believe it's time to focus on modernization. with that i want to move on to my question and express my appreciation for your commitment to upholding critical safety regulations. i was reassured to learn in a meeting that you support the 1500 our pilot training rule and the safety benefits are unquestioned. my question is simple. if confirmed will you oppose any effort to weaken or lower the 1500 our requirement administratively including through so-called enhanced qualification programs? >> thank you for the question. i enjoyed our time together as well and look forward to the opportunity to continue to work with you and the committee on aviation issues which i'm very passionate about of course. the 1500 hour rule, the first officer qualification rule as you state has been a success. the track record of aviation safety in the us over the last dec

. >> democratic senator mark warner and republican john thune are lead sponsors of the bill that wouldx break. >> so many students who go to our best colleges and universities work really hard to get a degree and come out and trade in their cap and gown for a mountain of debt and uncertainty. >> the idea is backed by more than 27 other senators and more than 140 members of the house but as the senate it will have to pass as a larger tax bill yet to be introduced. some critics warn while popular, it would encourage more borrowing and higher education costs. >> in the long run, the worst thing we could do is say even more to student, someone else is going to pay that debt and not you. >> why not focus instead on compelling or forcing colleges and universities to just charge less? >> i think that has got to be part of the solution. >> it is not going to solve every solution but we think it is realistic. we think it is something that could pass. >> even in places as dysfunctional as washington, this could be a no brainer. >> navarro says the benefit he is already receiving has changed his

snort john thune who thinks trade wars nobody wins but he says that we have to keep a harder stance on china to get a good deal. listen. hopefully this additional pressure will have the desired effect and we negotiate a good deal, something that will be beneficial to our farmers and businesses. reporter: u.s. trade representative it's office. that is $300 billion worth of items. this is in addition to the $200 billion worth of stuff that the president has already raised 25% tariff on of the president says, we will always win. listen. >> we have all the advantage. very small factor for us and we have a much bigger economy now. since my election we've gone up so much, we have a much bigger economy than china but if you take a look, 600 million versus 100 million. it's a different world. reporter: on the everything else that could possibly be tariffed from china at 25% there is a public hearing on june 17th. after that date, the report could be finished. then after that report is finished, the president then has that in his back pocket if he wants to tariff everything that china imports a

thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, howard c. neil sen jr., of utah, to be united states district judge for the district of utah. mr. thune: mr. president, monday is memorial day. it's the day that our country pauses to honor those who laid down their lives for our country. we enjoy tremendous freedoms as americans. tremendous privileges. we do not enjoy these privileges by chance. they are hard-fought gains secured for us again and again by each new generation of american soldiers who laid down their lives in the cause of the free. it's important