this year's theme is word to the whitehouse. students were asked, what issues do a presidential candidates to discuss? one of our second prize middle school winners is from clinton, new jersey. zachary kesselhaut, an eighth grader at clinton township middle school, wants president of candidates to discuss cyber warfare and cyberattacks. his video is titled "cyberwarfare: the next big problem." gentlemen.nd ableu are not going to be to insult the greatest presidency. >> the affordable care act. >> the candidate. >> for president. >> of the united states. >> we are going to. >> earn your vote. >> to make our country great again. the 2016 election is coming up fast. candidates are rising and falling quickly. their platforms mainly concentrate on social and economic issues, but none of them have mentioned what could be the biggest issue ever as a country. ♪ >> everyone agrees, computers have made our lives easier and we are more connected as a human race than ever before. computers are organizing our lives, connecting the world and

whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, may i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 20 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. this is the 133rd climate speech that i have delivered and it has been an amazing week. on saturday, "the new york times" posted its cover story about dying coral reefs in our oceans. on sunday, the cover story in "the providence journal" was about drowning salt marshes in rhode island. both are the handiwork of climate change. but even more amazing, listen to what a koch brothers operative said last week -- and i quote -- "charles has said the climate is changing so the climate is changing." that was cheryl corrigan speaking of koch industries, the massive fossil fuel conglomerate led by charles and david koch. and the "charles" was charles koch. she went on, "i think he's also said, and we believe that humans have a part i

whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i am here today to highlight law enforcement legislation that would help crack down on human trafficking, terrorism financing, money laundering, the narcotics trade, tax evailsvation, public corruption and a litany of other crimes in the united states and around the world. these crimes all involve money, and the united states has become a favorite destination for criminals looking to hide it. earlier this month, the international consortium of investigative journalists published the first of the so-called ""panama papers,"" a leak of11.5 million confidential documents from a panama-based law firm that sets up shell corporations and tax shelters for wealthy clients. the documents we've seen so far show that, along with the caribbean islands you might expect, several american states are popular places to form shell corporations. our friend, senator kent conrad, who used to be chairman of the budget committee, was fond of using this floor chart here showing what's called the ug land hous

senator whitehouse and i come at this with concerns about the overall climate change. massively expanding demand for energy globally. at a rate that people have visions for solar and wind. there's no way that will keep up with the demands. 60%60 percent of clean energy is being produced by nuclear. and so do you believe this is a place we have to expand innovation and deal with the overall problem of climate change? >> that is important because this is not just a political issue, not even just about climate change your energy security but it's a humanitarian issue. we need to provide that energy. that has to include nuclear. >> thank you very much. >> it looks like i still have it. [laughter] >> well, i confess use aa much better job of putting out something and i did. but interesting thing about this is those on your side and those on the side knows on the side who are realists. we still agree on this bill and know that it will serve everyone's best interest. i'm not sure with all this coverage. we have nine members. somehow i've never been able to convince john mccai

-- whitehouse and i see? >> absolutely and that's important because this is in just a political issue. it's not even just about climate change or just about energy security. this is a humanitarian issue. there are billion plus people in this or that don't have electricity we need to provide energy and have all the tools on the table and i has to include nuclear so i think this is critical work. >> thank you very much dr. merrifield experience. >> thank you very much senator. it looks like i still have a gavel. senator inhofe. >> i confess that you did a much better job of putting out something than i did but the interesting thing about this is those on your side who are driven, their whole lives are driven by climate change and those on this side who are realists. [laughter] we still agree on this bill. we know that this is going to serve everyone's best interest. and know that it will serve everyone's best interest. i'm not sure with all this coverage. we have nine members. somehow i've never been able to co

senator whitehouse, sheldon whitehouse and i drafted this legislation together, again, working with others in this chamber we talked about earlier. we crafted it with a lot of different stakeholders from around the country, holding five forums on various aspects of the debate. these forums were in washington but we brought in the experts from all over the country,. the best practices in the country are represented in the legislation. we've done the fact finding, consulted with the experts, doctors, law enforcement, with patients in recovery, the drug experts in the obama administration, including the white house office of national drug control policy, the department of health and human services, the department of justice. we brought in people from all over, and they agreed this is where we can make progress and make progress now. that work is important. it should not be ignored. but much more important is the fact that people out there are waiting for us. they're waiting for us to act. thousands of veterans, pregnant women, first responders are waiting because this legislation affects all

. >>> victories for ted cruz and bernie sanders in the race to the whitehouse >>> you're watching alazeera live from doha. coming up, one of libya's two rival governments steps down for the sake of political unity. iceland's prime minister becomes the first major casualty from the fall out of the panama papers. the international criminal court throws out the case against kenya's deputy president

democratic senator sheldon whitehouse will join me next. ted cruz tries to clip away at donald trump's delegate lead. jacob soboroff will join me to break down cruz's strategy to win over delegates in colorado. tired of working for peanuts? well what if i told you that peanutcan work for you? that's right. i'taing full time delivery of 7rams of protein and 6 essential nutrients. ever see a peanut take a day off? i don't think so. harness the hardworking power of the peanut. our partnership with habitat for humanity at pg&e, we believe solar should be accessible to everyone. allows us to provide the benefits of solar power to the types of customers who need it most. pg&e provided all of the homes here with solar panels. the solar savings can mean a lot, especially for low-income families. with the savings that i am getting from the solar panels, it's going to help me to have a better future for my children. to learn how you can save energy and money with solar, go to pge.com/solar. together, we're building a better california. the new crafts

senator whitehouse and myself is that funding was consistent. the judiciary committee worked hard to drop legislation -- to draft legislation to get this within a fiscal year. there would be funding to get this legislation. however, as my colleagues know, this is an authorization bill. it directs how funding will be spent, it's not a spending bill. having said all that, as senator shaheen knows, i supported her efforts to add additional resources over and because i believe this is an urgent problem and it rises to the level of being an emergency. , anda fiscal conservative that means it is not paid for by offsetting other programs. we have done this with health care emergencies when we have something like the ebola crisis. i think this is a crisis. i'm a cosponsor of senator shaheen's amendment. i do not support the efforts of some who say there is no money in here. this is an authorization bill, the first step towards getting the money in the future. that is the point. drug the author of the free community built. $1.9 million has been spent, cr

. >> tonight-- whitehouse >>. it was a bad night for hillary clinton, in the democratic primary and even a worse night for her in the republican primary. we're winning because we're uniting the republican party. >> reporter: the cruz campaign claims the latest victory will compel him to future state contests and cause trump to fall short of the candidates needed to win the nomination before the july republican convention. it is a convention where he hopes to be the party nominee to take on hillary clinton. the path to her party's pension nomination-- presidential nomination has been complicated. bernie sanders was the winner for the contest in the mid before concern state. >> with our victory tonight in wisconsin we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses. [ cheers ] >> we have won almost all of them with overwhelming landslide numbers. >> reporter: he says his grass root support will propel him to win bigger contests and allow him to increase his delegates. she still has the lead in delegate support.

victories for ted cruz and bernie sanders in the race to the whitehouse >>> you're watching al jazeera live from doha. coming up, one of libya's two rival governments steps down for the sake of political unity. iceland's prime minister becomes the first major casualty from the fall out of the panama papers. the international criminal court throws out the case against kenya's deputy president based on insufficient evidence. the front runners in the presidential contests have suffered gets in the state of wisconsin. bernie sanders picked up another win over hillary clinton. on the republican side ted cruz beat donald trump. >> reporter: it was a decisive victory for ted cruz in wisconsin, defeating front runner donald trump in the state's primary. it was a win cruz promised would change the course of the republican race for the white house. >> tonight was a bad night for hillary clinton. it was a bad night in the democratic primary and a worse night for her in the republican primary. [ cheers ] >> we're winning because we're uniting the republican party. >> reporter: the cruz campaign cl

so the legislation that i have introduced along with sheldon whitehouse from rhode island, senator whitehouse is anybody who follows the senate knows we agree on very little, but we agree on this. we were both former attorney generals. he was former u.s. attorney. he has seen a similar experience in his state. so we encourage this legislation that would help inmates learn valuable skills they could transfer back home to their communities and help them turn from a life of crime. and it's important to note that not only does reduced recidivism impact an individual life, which is reason enough to do what we can to help, but it also helps that individual's family because the collateral damage from somebody making a mistake and ending up in prison, it does not stop with them. it stops with their families, including their children and their whole community. but as i said, it also makes financial sense, too. the justice department spends around 30% of its budget detaining federal inmates. by reinvesting more of this money in recidivism reduction programs, instead of building more federal prisons, we

senator whitehouse?me say first how happy i am that the chairman had a twinkle in his eye when he made that comment about senator booker and myself. let me, second, say to dr. lyman that it is very much not our intention in this bill to short circuit the safety review of any nuclear facility. the concern that i have is that the review process of the nrc has become so reactive, getting through that obstacle course is facing hazards that have nothing to do with short-circuited or long circuitedness but simply not being appropriate to the technology in the same way that if you had to pass a test for how solid the canvas was on the wings of your proposed aircraft when you are actually proposing an aluminum winged aircraft or where the pilot's goggles needed to be and what they needed to be made of when, in fact, you are proposing a closed cockpit aircraft, it's an issue of relevancy not of shortcuts. what i would invite you to do and any other member of the panel who wishes to do is to put in writing some be

do want to remind all of the witnesses that senator whitehead had asked you to each respond -- whitehouse -- asked you each to respond in writing to this question about the safety implications of the legislation on the nrc's capacity to protect safety and its regulatory structure. and i would encourage you to do that and to respond to these issues. each of the senators may have further questions and it's customary for them to submit those in writing and since this legislative hearing -- this is a legislative hearing and we expect committee action on senate bills 2795 next week, i'm asking our senators and committee staff to provide those questions regarding this bill to the majority office by 4:00 p.m. tomorrow on friday. and i'm asking the witnesses to be sure to respond in writing by 5:00 p.m. on april 25th. monday april 25th. i know that's short time but we're going to be moving ahead, so if you can, respond to these questions quickly, we would appreciate it. all questions for the record regarding the general topic of advanced reactors will be due within the usual two-week deadline. an

senator whitehouse? >> let me say first how happy i am that the chairman had a twinkle in his eye when he made that comment about senator booker and myself. let me, second, say to dr. lyman that it is very much not our intention in this bill to short circuit the safety review of any nuclear facility. the concern that i have is that the review process of the nrc has become so reactive, getting through that obstacle course is facing hazards that have nothing to do with short-circuited or long circuitedness but simply not being appropriate to the technology in the same way that if you had to pass a test for how solid the canvas was on the wings of your proposed aircraft when you are actually proposing an aluminum winged aircraft or where the pilot's goggles needed to be and what they needed to be made of when, in fact, you are proposing a closed cockpit aircraft, it's an issue of relevancy not of shortcuts. what i would invite you to do and any other member of the panel who wishes to do is to put in writing

just closing and the votes to bring tabulated will have an up-to-the-minute time of the rest of whitehouse the news continues in seven seconds. male announcer:this is the bay area news station,kron 4 evening news starts now. >>pam moore: here and was expected to the marathon session tonight in the san jose city council is expected to take action to tighten rent control for the passions run high on both sides of the edition. >>rob fladaboe: 10 at the city council is expected to lower the cap crabs to 5%% of also being asked to consider and i get double tied those increases to inflation the council on do anything to him from hundreds and hundreds of renters and landlords at san jose city council chambers on tuesday split between renters green t- shirts that read san jose we belong and property owners ran back to the same for the housing providers the issue by how much of the current 8% annual increase in the lower for rent- controlled apartments to men in jobs and not enough rental so it is more on about one-third of the decision to unocal the bill before 1979 the run control increasingly mo

meetings are set to chat with senator dianne feinstein and senator sheldon whitehouse.t obama will go to university of chicago to argue for the judge's consideration to the high court. check grassley of iowa will meet with garland next tuesday. john kerry is the most traveled secretary of state in u.s. history. he broke the record as he arrived in the middle east earlier today. 1.06rip pushed him past million miles. the former champ was condoleezza rice. the obama administration is transferring left over money from the largely successful fight against ebola to combat the zika virus. devoted towill be the center of disease control and prevention. the centers focused on vaccines and combating mosquitoes that spread it. the world bank is cutting its growth forecast for the economy. the russians statistical services 3.1 million russians officially live in poverty. inbal news, 24 hours a day more than 150 news bureaus around the world. from bloomberg world headquarters, i'm mark crumpton. 6:30 p.m. herer in new york and i'm joined by paul allen in sydney with a look at the m

destined foror the whitehouse.eve me a break. >> as a visitor. >> are you --- ever r running f presidt?t? >> no, b but i don't think tha far downn the road. i made a decisionn n in cycle fofor 2016 not to run for president. >> y you knknow, the's's prumumptuous and there's just out of yourr mind. i will have a f few thoughts abt that in my commentary tononig. stay with usus. ♪ don't want to live with theunce. or wonder whwhetr i should seek treatmement. i am ready. bebecaususe today there's harvoni.i. a revolutiony y treatment for the most commomon type of chronic hepatit c c. harvoni isroroven to cure up to 99% of patatients whwho' had no prior treatment.t. it's the one and only curere that's one pipill, once a day for 12 weeks.s. certain patits... can beured with just 8 weekeks of harvoni thth harvoni, there's no terfereron and there are no complex ns. ll yr doctor if you haveother le hiv, or othemedical conditions, and about all e e dicines you tatakencluding herbal supplemements. taking amimiodarone with harvon

but first, let's bring in keith whitehouse and ed henry for the state of the race on both sides. ed? >> chris, donald trump is still dominating the presidential race, but hit some new roadblocks late yesterday in wyoming where ted cruz swept all 14 delegates while trump was shut out, raising new questions about his organizational strength and whether he can get the delegates needed to seal the nomination before the convention. trump repeated his charges the system is simply rigged, but added a new threat for party leaders. >> the republican national committee, they better get going, because i'll tell you what, you're going to have a rough july at that convention. you better straighten out the system because the people want their vote. >> on the democratic side, both hillary clinton and bernie sanders are back in new york after two very different side trips. sanders traveled to rome for the prestige of pushing his anti-wall street message at a vatican and a surprise meeting with pope francis, though the pontiff seriously down played by telling reporters it was a polite handshake.

this is an amendment, i already have several of my democrat supporters and cosponsors, senator whitehouse, senator heitkamp, senator booker are all very enthused about this. to direct the f.a.a. to establish rules to allow critical infrastructure owners and operators to use unmanned vehicles, aircraft assistance to carry out federally mandated -- federally mandated patrol of an area, and that could be in a pipeline or anything else that are currently being patrolled, some by aircraft and this would allow unmanned aircraft to do that same thing, and it's a safety thing because some of these patrols have to take place in bad weather, and sometimes risk is involved, but if you don't have a person in the airplane, it's an unmanned plane, then this is the ideal use for it. it does establish a pathway for critical infrastructure operators to use the airspace under the f.a.a. guidelines. there is still f.a.a. under their guidelines, but nevertheless it is an opportunity to use it. so today critical infrastructure owners and operators are required to comply with significant requirements to monito

candidates won their parties' primary inflecting tough losses on the farmers in the race for the whitehouse crews to be out donald trump he came in second at 35%. >>reporter: in the and but every candidate has a shot of winning wisconsin delegates even the man trout run of the race john crews live in the winner of the state automatically is awarded 18 delegates met in the total of 42 delegates up for grabs remiss and is celebrating wisconsin democrats of a total 86 delegates their water pours selling. >>will tran: secretary of state says he wants to make sure there is enough staff in plenty of about four hours. >>will tran: that at one point had a 17 point lead, the mayor is doing about the rise of property crime + a nightclub was burglarized a san francisco will show you the new surveillance video the bay bridge tunnel is being inspected by federal officials would say about the likely repairs coming to the tunnel. >>anny hong: will see clouds and shower possibilities but first talk about the heat is going to be felt here to look at the sentencing of brent walker's guys all across the bay a

we also have the support of the republican whip, john cornyn of texas, and sheldon whitehouse of rhode island. what is it about this bill that can bring together people that are so different -- liberals, conservatives, democrats, republicans? it is a common belief that we bring to this that at this moment in history we need to take an honest look at the incarceration policy in america. you see, the united states of america has 5% of the world's population, 25% of the world's prisoners. over the last 35 years, we have increased the number of federal prisoners by anywhere from 800% to 900%. our federal prisoners we're building as fast as you can imagine and they're dramatically overcrowded and it raises the obvious question: are we safer? if we spend $30,000 a year to incarcerate a person, take them off the streets and away from their family, are we safer because of it? well, in some cases, we clearly r our first obligation is public safety. if someone is a threatening, deadly, violent criminal, they ought to be taken off the streets as long as they are a menace or danger to society. but

but first, let's bring in keith whitehouse and ed henry for the state of the race on both sides. ed? >> chris, donald trump is still dominating the presidential race, but hit some new roadblocks late yesterday in wyoming where ted cruz swept all 14 delegates while trump was shut out, raising new questions about his organizational strength and whether he can get the delegates needed to seal the nomination before the convention. trump repeated his charges the system is simply rigged, but added a new threat for party leaders. >> the republican national committee, they better get going, because i'll tell you what, you're going to have a rough july at that convention. you better straighten out the system because the people want their vote. >> on the democratic side, both hillary clinton and bernie sanders are back in new york after two very different side trips. sanders traveled to rome for the prestige of pushing his anti-wall street message at a vatican and a surprise meeting with pope francis, though the pontiff seriously down played by telling reporters it was a polite handshake.

today he met with democratic senators d s durbin, feinstein, whitehouse. 11 more republican senatorseeting with him, but only two republicans say they support holding hearings on garland's nominations. one is senator mark kirk of illinois, who is facing a tough re-election in a very blue state and the other joins me now. senator susan collins of maine. she met with judge garland yesterday and is urging her republican colleagues to do the same. senator, welcome back to the show. >> thank you, chuck. >> what do you make of judge garland? is he somebody that belongs in that echelon of, of nominees, that he is of that caliber of a judge? >> he's clearly an accomplished juror. he's highly intelligent. i found that he had thought very deeply about the issues facing the courts, and we had a very good discussion for more than an hour. i can't say, for certain, that i would vote for him. that's why we need hearings. >> what do you want to hear from the hearing? what is it -- obviously, hearings are important in this process, but what specifically are some areas that you want to hear him have

right now, garland is sitting down with rhode island's sheldon whitehouse. he's a democrat. dianne feinstein and dick durbin today, also democrats. including today's sessio, garland will have met with 14 democratic senators and with 3 republicans. and nbc news congressional correspondent, luke russert, is on capitol hill. so luke, he's the -- the meetings are continuing, but they're with democrats. it's not democrats he needs. he needs republicans. any progress on that front for garland? >> reporter: well, he had a very productive meeting yesterday with susan collins of maine, steve. and you know as well as i do, she's a moderate, so she doesn't necessarily speak for the base of the republican party, but she was very glowing and even gushing about judge garland. take a listen to what she had to say about her meeting with him. >> on this issue, the next step in my view should be public hearings before the judiciary committee. i am not optimistic that i will be changing minds on this issue. but i think if more of my colleagues sit down with judge garland, that her going to be

whitehouse's goal isn't to punish those who disagree with him on climate? well, one reason is that a rico suit was won by the united states department of justice under the clinton and bush administrations against the tobacco industry. so there's this little matter of this being the law. the journal never seems to mention the fact that the government won the civil case against the tobacco industry. before the rico lawsuit was won by the department of justice, the "wall street journal" editorial page had worked it over pretty well, calling it abuse, hypocrisy, a understand a shakedown. so i understand that they don't like that fact, but it is now a fact that the department won that case. a second reason is that if there is indeed a core of deliberate fraud at the heart of the climate denial enterprise, no industry should be too big to dodge the legal consequences. most of the writers i mentioned noted themselves similarities between the tobacco fraud scheme and the climate denial operation. as has sharon eubanks, the lawyer who won the tobacco lawsuit for the

first is march 25 where the committee sat with the mayors office and acting budget director melissa whitehouse who give a update on the cities finances as they had updateing the cities joint report. after the committee the committee had the opportunity to discuss the needs and priorities of the fire department. it was clear from both the administration side as well as the committee side the top priority was the need for the department to have a vehicle and equipment replacement plan. vehicles were identified as a clear need for the departments and discussed as previous meetings and administration recognizes that as a top priority. the establishment of annual funding source for the department would be of benefit to the department of a variety of levels where the department cz count on a annual allocation. the budget committee met monday. at the meeting in march it was suggested by committee members it would be a good idea to invite a representative from labor to decuss budget needs of the department. prez dchbt o'connor of local 798 joined in addition to it commissioner covington and hardeman.

senator sheldon whitehouse, democrat, and i have worked on this legislation together along with many other people in this chamber. we've also worked, as i said, with many on the house side. we've worked with folks on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the capitol because this has become an issue that affects us all and it's a nonpartisan issue. we have to move it forward. we had five forums that we held here in washington, d.c., bringing in experts to get counsel and advice. they helped us develop a legislative proposal that was thoughtful because it actually addressed the real problem. in april of 2014, we had a forum on the criminal justice system which included alternatives to incarceration. and you'll see that in our legislation. the notion is for people who are users, who get arrested for possession, let's not just throw them in jail because that hasn't worked. let's get them into treatment and get them into a recovery program that works. in july 2014 we held a forum on how women are impacted by this drug epidemic, looking particularly as addiction and treatment responses

senator whitehouse. >> thank you. secretary king, welcome. you're not really there yet but there will be -- this is kind of preview of coming attractions. i don't know that the supplement versus supplant conversation really takes us to it, but in the education bill, i worked very hard on innovation schools initiative. i worked very hard in rhode island for many months bringing together all the different players who were usually in touch with their national organizations, as well to make sure they weren't getting out of line with teachers, with principals, with school departments with reform groups, with everybody. and i worked very closely with the chairman, as well. and we were able to get a pretty robust innovation schools piece into the senate bill. the senate bill then went into conference. i was not in the conference negotiations. there was a conference vote at the end, but the work was done with a much smaller group. so i can't speak firsthand to what happened. but what i'm told is that it was your organization that wanted that innovati

senator sheldon whitehouse a few weeks ago. she has referred it to the fbi.s is a commitment the abuse of governmental authority. it is so far fetched with this. ne: thank you so much. good seeing you again. pfizer and allergan. michael block and i hear. what he is trying to do is he had susan sarandon. that is what it feels like. we will look back. you can talk about the tax emergent structure. >> this is not bad structure. period going forward. you have a situation where never mind. it is good to pay taxes. i am actually proud taxes. the right tax structure. the right tax code. businesses will go elsewhere. people will move elsewhere. following the rule of the tax law. these companies have sharareholders. they have people. they have jobs there. in the sense of a lot of these big drug companies here getting their butts kicked they are slow-g-growing now. all of these european companies are kicking their butts.. >>>> there has to be a competite environment. just two years ago we saw an exit from london t to geneva. that was all about regulation. is that what

. >> thank you, senator whitehouse. senator sullivan? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you and the ranking member for calling this hearing. it's a really important one and i want to commend the witnesses today. i have read through your testimony and really appreciate the diverse views and a lot of the insights that you're bringing to this hearing. i wanted to ask a couple questions that relate more to -- and i appreciate the focus on the small communities, because that's one of the things that we struggle with in alaska. you know, a number of those senators have been talking about the challenges of old infrastructure. actually, in my state, i have the challenge of no infrastructure. big difference. i'm sympathetic with communities that have to get rid of pipes and deal with old aging infrastructure, but we are kind of unique in that we have entire communities with no infrastructure. so in rural alaska, there are over 30 communities, thousands of my constituents that have no running water, no flush toilets. they use what we call in alaska honey buckets an

whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 20 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you. i'm here for my 132nd time to wake up speech. we are now back from recess, and while we were away, one little thing and three really big things happened. the little thing has to do with the so-called war on coal, which we have heard so much nonsense about in this chamber. there was this article saying "natural gas has been waging a war on coal for more than a decade, and this is the year it plants the flag." natural gas has been waging a war on coal, not obama, not liberals; natural gas. the article predicts a resulting -- quote -- "wave" -- close quote -- of coal plant retirements. who wrote this? some green lefty publication? actually, it was the "wall street journal's" news department. so, as coal companies go bankrupt left and right, there's the coal story. natural gas has been wage be the war on coal for more than a decade. spinning

i'd like to begin by thanking senator whitehouse for his important work on this legislation. he and his staff have been crucial partners in helping to move it forward. i'm also grateful for the support of our other cosponsor, senators rubio, vitter, and cassidy. srs. 433 is an important bill ad clarifies several key provisions of the controlled substances act in ways that will strengthen efforts to fight prescription drug abuse while ensuring that patients retain access to needed medications. as we all know, prescription drugs play a crucial role in treating and curing illness, alleviating pain, and improving quality of life for millions of americans. unfortunately, these drugs can be abused. a balance is necessary to ensure that individuals that need prescription drugs for treatment receive them, but that such drugs are not diverted for improper uses. to this end, s. 483 makes three important changes to the controlled substances act. first, it clarifies the factors that the attorney general is required to consider when deciding whether to register an applicant to manufacture

. >> thank you, senator whitehouse. senator sullivan? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you and the ranking member for calling this hearing. it's a really important one and i want to commend the witnesses today. i have read through your testimony and really appreciate the diverse views and a lot of the insights that you're bringing to this hearing. i wanted to ask a couple questions that relate more to -- and i appreciate the focus on the small communities, because that's one of the things that we struggle with in alaska. you know, a number of those senators have been talking about the challenges of old infrastructure. actually, in my state, i have the knowledchallenge of no inf a infrastructu infrastructure. big difference. i'm sympathetic with communities that have to get rid of pipes and deal with old aging infrastructure, but we are kind of unique in that we have entire communities with no infrastructure. so in rural alaska, there are over 30 communities, thousands of my constituents that have no running water, no flush toilets. they use what we call

he's meeting with dick durbin and then dianne feinstein and sheldon whitehouse.nn's political reporter manu raju has more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. there will be meetings with vulnerable republican senators including kelly ayotte and they do not support moving forward with confirmation proceedings that are happening, just to have the courtesy visits. you're seeing an intense suggesting that there should be confirmation hearings and criticized substantially from the left. he backtracked and may face a primary challenge by making those comments. mike pompeii is considering a run against him. this is an intense pressure campaign from the right which is a big reason why it may be hard to see merrick garland confirmed this year. carol? >> manu raju, thank you. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" is up after a break. e saliva cof and you got this turning. that's why i need this kind of resolution and computing power. being able to use a pen like this on the screen directly with the image, it just gives me a different relationship to it and i can't do that o

do want to remind all of the witnesses that senator whitehead asked you to each -- whitehouse asked you to respond in writing to the question about the safety implications of the legislation on the nrc's capacity to protect safety and its regulatory structure, and i encourage you to respond. each of the senators may have further questions and it's customary for them to smidt those in writing, and since this legislative hearing -- this is a legislative hearing and we expect committee action on senate bills 2795 next week, i'm asking our senator and committee staff to provide those questions regarding the bill to the majority office by 4:00 p.m. tomorrow on friday, and i'm asking the witnesses to be sure to respond in writing by 5:00 p.m. on april 25th. monday, april 25th. i know that's right short time but wore going we moving ahead so if you can respond to those questions quickly, we would appreciate it. all questions for the record regarding the general topic of advanced reactors will be due win the usual two-week deadline. to our witness is want to thank you all for coming and sharing

house we passed h.r. 944 and today we are passing senate bill 1523 which was introduced by senator whitehouse. estuaries are unique waters that are important to the ecological and economic bases of our nation. congress first authorized the program in 1987 with amendments to the clean water act to promote the protection of nationally significant estuaries in the united states that are deemed to be threatened by pollution, development or overuse. unlike many of the programs in the clean water act, the national program is a nonregulatory program and it is designed to support the collaborative voluntary efforts of federal, state and local stakeholders to restore degraded estuaries. ing the process instead of a top-down driven regulatory approach, the program has been effective in promoting local involvement. in addition, leverages non-fd monies by providing funding for the program. in re-authorizing the national estuary program. it makes prudent fiscal adjustments. the amendment to senate bill 1523 strikes the text of the senate bill and instead uses the legislative text of the house-passed h.r.

senator whitehouse. >> thank you. secretary king, welcome. you're not really there yet but there will be -- this is kind of preview of coming attractions. i don't know that the supplement versus supplant conversation really takes us to it, but in the education bill, i worked very hard on and i vovation schools initiative. i worked very hard in rhode island for many months bringing together all the different players who were usually in touch with their national organizations, as well to make sure they weren't getting out of line with teachers, with principals, with school departments with reform groups, with everybody. and i worked very closely with the chairman, as well. and we were able to get a pretty robust innovation schools piece into the senate bill. the senate bill then went into conference. i was not in the conference negotiations. there was a conference vote at the end, but the work was done with a much smaller group. so i can't speak firsthand to what happened. but what i'm told is that it was your organization that wanted that inno

i think senators booker, heitkamp, whitehouse, moran and king for cosponsoring this amendment with me. i want to turn to a provision that is in the base text of the f.a.a. bill that is of particular importance to oklahoma but impacts the entire aviation community that could commercial, military and general aviation aviators and it's because it impacts air traffic controllers. the a.t.c. instructors, it's a f.a.a. bill includes a provision. this is the bill that we're considering right now to encourage the hiring and retention of high-quality air traffic controller instructors. this is particularly important to me because the f.a.a. academy where all the air traffic controllers are trained is located in oklahoma city. these instructors who are required to have prior experience as air traffic controllers are discouraged from working full time due to existing government regulations because they are former air traffic controllers. without full-time instructors, we need four times as many part-time instructors to provide the needed ininstruction time to train for the next generation of con

whitehouse: that is not getting me there. i need a system in which a school can pursue an education agenda, because if teachers are receiving here is my new innovation agenda -- and they have been receiving agendas like there'sr decades now -- always a new agenda and they always have the and they do new reports, and the local school -based innovation gets stifled by that. that is my concern. murkowski: thank you, welcome. as you know, secretary, the alaska was compelled to stop testdate wide assessments the statewide assessments underway this year. their assessment to the alaska measures of progress began on march 29, and through a series of failures -- first of all, there were a lot of different anomalies for students throughout the state. you would be going down to question one, is there a where is questionquestion 3? these were anomalies that were not just in one district, but in multiple districts. in some there were skipped questions. in some there was no sound on the text to speech accommodations will, assorted error me

whitehouse: mr. president, today is the 135th time i've come to the give voice to the issue that i feel will most significantly define this generation of leadership in the united states and, frankly, around the globe. i know that there are many people in washington who would prefer to ignore what our carbon emissions are doing to our oceans and to our climate, but we disregard nature's warnings at our peril. the changes to our environment fueled by our carbon pollution are far-reaching, from the coastlines to the prairies, from mountaintops to deep oceans, from pole to pole. as a tear restial species, we naturally pay more attention to what is happening on land, like increasing average global temperatures and upheavals in extreme weather. we don't so much see what is happening in our oceans. every year we emit into the earth's thin atmosphere tens of gigatons of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. nearly 36 gig di gigatons of can dioxide in 2013. not all that carbon dioxide stays in the atmosph

this is t hard part on the because do not want a democrat and we certainly do want a clinton in e whitehouseria:ou will support the republican nominee? >> i personally will howeve what type or strap record i don't tnk he has a chance in the generallection. >> you will do i it lding your nose? a lot of people that will turn oufor electition are the same people getting the news from keeping up with the car -- and in things like that. trump has thbrand i think that when the peoplshow up to the popolls. especially inew york because d cruz was an anti-9/11 bill and he hates new york. i don't understand why new york would vote f him. maria: girls, thank you so much for coming out. coming up next, texas rocked by a dust storm. nearly 100 miles wide, credible images coming up next. high praise from president ronald reagan about my next guest calling him the dirty area of the n.y.p.d. former nework detectives beau dietl will be joining us. >> at the end of old-fashioned cop with the rest to take tests or a promotion. as long as they got involved in this case he also took it upon himself before and af

support and to commend my colleagues for their focus on this issue and to specifically thank senators whitehouse, feinstein, graham and flake for their contributions to this bill that have strengthened it. i would be remiss, of course, if i didn't recognize and thank the tremendous efforts that our staff contributed together to getting this bill to where it is today. senator hatch has thanked many of the floor staff, the leadership staff, staff of the house, and i'd like to add to his thanks my thanks to matt sangrin in senator hatch's office and to my tireless and dedicated and recently departed from my office chief counsel ted schrader as well as jonathan staller, andrew crawford and erica songer on my staff. this major achievement is the product of many contributions, and that's how the senate is supposed to work. given the wide support this bill enjoys today in the senate and the fact that there is already an identical house version with bipartisan support, i am hopeful that the house will act and pass this bill without delay and i was pleased to learn earlier today that the administration h

. >>> the grass was definitely greener at the whitehouse lawn.>> a father hanging on to a school bus for dear life all while his daughter was on the ride. >> she was screaming to the driver. >> he grabbed the mirror when the bus didn't stop at its normal spot. however, the driver said he was told not to stop in that place on that day and he would have let the girl off. but that girl's daughter started punching the door and screaming, so the driver kept on going. the driver has now been suspended and thankfully this father wasn't hurt. >>> peert, this is all you. this year's final four was a blow-out. number one north carolina ended syracuse's cinderella run. same story between villanova and oklahoma. the while cats annihilated the sooners. 95-51. the championship match all set. villanova going to play north carolina tomorrow night. tip-off 9:19 p.m. eastern. that's why i got my villanova tie on. we're very excited in the nova nation. we have pictures from last night. you ge the alumni email. this was the scene when the clock ticked to zero and th

this year's theme is word to the whitehouse., what issues do a presidential candidates to discuss? one of our second prize middle school winners is from clinton new jersey. zachary kesselhaut, an eighth grader at clinton township middle school, wants president of candidates to discuss cyber warfare and cyberattacks. his video is titled "cyberwarfare: the next big problem.” >> ladies and gentlemen. >> you are not going to be able to insult the greatest presidency. >> the affordable care act. >> the candidate. >> for president. >> of the united states. >> we are going to. >> earn your vote. >> to make our country great again. >> the 2016 election is coming up fast. candidates are rising and falling quickly. their platforms mainly concentrate on social and economic issues, but none of them have mentioned what could be the biggest issue ever as a country. ♪ >> everyone agrees, computers have made our lives easier and we are more connected as a human race than ever before. computers are organizing our lives, connecting the world and

whitehouse: there we go. i'm on the floor today i guess just a few moments ahead of the rankingember on our senate foreign relations committee, my friend ben cardin who is on his way but he's authorized me to proceed with a few remarks on the topic that he and i and perhaps others would like to address, which is tomorrow's signing in new york of the paris climate agreement. over 160 nations around the world are going to be participating in signing that agreement that will move many of them immediately into their program of compliance and signify for others a statement of intention to join, but i think it's the largest international agreement in terms of the number of countries involved ever. certainly the biggest one that i can think of. so it's very significant in that respect. one other thing about paris i think was also very significant, and that is what took place in america's corporate sector in support of a strong paris agreement. the president and groups lik --h particular leadership from companies l