the senate used to work. without those restraints, it has become a block on the nation rather than -- it essentially has impaired our progress rather than being what senator schumer said, which is that beacon of hope and common sense that we so need anytime, particularly now. host: raymond, maryland, democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. you are right if you remember, there was a day, meeting to make president obama a one term president. then, senator mcconnell used to allow his supreme court appointee to not have a hearing. guest: you are remembering some important examples of what happened during the obama presidency. i would add one other thing -- i was kind of surprised, as i got into the book, at just how much power one person, specifically senator mcconnell, could have. one example of that is that in 2015, when he reached what he has said was his lifetime goal of being majority, all of a sudden, the senate started to function. after six years of upshur option -- obstruction, he became a c

which senator is actually ?olding up the nomination why doesn't senate majority leader mitch mcconnell [inaudible] why isn't mcconnell force a vote on the nominee? marc: mary elizabeth is one of the stars on our team that's been with us since day one and helped staff justice gorsuch and is in charge of the nominations. i will phone a friend on that one. he got out of committee so basically he's waiting for final vote on the senate floor. and so that -- i believe he got out of committee several months back so he's another one that should be on our list of those that should be waiting. the challenge leader mcconnell faces, when you are not allowed to bring up for voice vote he has to go through cloture and has to prioritize these and that's one that's been obstructed. reporter: toxic nature that's been going on for several years, i mean, the democrats are pushing back because republicans. what are you doing to ease or water down that toxicity? what can you do? and secondly, explain to those who don't understand ho

senator murkowski: thank you, senator barrasso. senator wyden. senator wyden: mr. secretary, during your confirmation hearing you mentioned teddy roosevelt nine times. oregonians have a strong appreciation for roosevelt as a conservationist and as a president. with his signature he created the crater lake national park and it is the deepest lake in the united states known for its beautiful blue. . two million acres, sacrificed for private exploitation. second, you proposed opening america's precious coast to offshore oil drilling. only to walk it back in one state where it seemed there was a potential republican senate candidate who opposed it. i could tell you in our state, orr gonians don't want to look out over haystack rock and see oil darics. third, during the most expensive wildfire season in recorded history, you played a shell game with the wildfire account at interior to pay for unrelated helicopter ride, and this is another matter that the inspector general is looking at. unrelated helicopte so my first question, mr. secretary, is, would teddy roosevelt b

senator fessenden then told the republican senators that a crisis had arrived requiring the senate's active position in affairs. he, however, warned that the caucus should proceed cautiously and with unanimity or with actions would alarm the country and weaken the hand of executive without affecting any ultimate good. that is bad to act in a radical way in the caucus. and the only events that the maine senator had no doubt that measures should be taken to make the cabinet a unity and remove from it anyone who did not coincide heartily with the views and the relations of the war. and he obviously had in mind secretary of state seward. and several senators wanted to approve the resolution to the effect that without mentioning the name of any cabinet member for dismissal. senator james doolittle of wisconsin, a conservative republican, insisted instead of a resolution, the caucus should appoint a committee to speak to lincoln regarding their concerns. senator preston king of new york a friend of seward's agreed with doolittle, festen, however, doubted the caucus could reach an agreement

senator flake: thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. [indistinguishable voices] [indistinguishable voices] >> around the time you announced from the ement senate -- what's different now from the presidential primary? winning a primary in one state doesn't determine what you nationwide. president trump obviously never won the general but he's n new york our president. so, like i said, it's long odds for me. i'll be content to do something else. ut i hope that somebody out there reminds republicans, because i think republicans are wanting to be reminded of what to be a conservative, and what i means to have decency politics again. the at did you think about response that you got today? they don't throw tomatoes, i feel good. are long. the odds why not you? for've been in politics now 18 years, 12 in the house and six in the senate. time to do something el

senator lee, a republican senator from the state of utah, senator sanders, democratic senator from vermont, senator murphy, another democratic senator from connecticut have joined in cosponsoring this effort. it really is going to put us to a test to justify what we are doing in yemen today. because what is happening in yemen has been characterized by the united nations as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and that's saying something. some eight million people are dying of famine in yemen because of this war. some 16 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance immediately. this is no skirmish. this is no just exchange of fire. this is cairn j and destruction -- carnage and destruction, the likes of the world has never seen, and we are part of it. if we are part of it and should be part of it, then we should make that decision as a senate and a house of representatives as the constitution requires. but going to the bleachers, standing by the sidelines and watching more and more military operations take place around the world without asserting our constitutional respon

senator nelson. and i appreciate you being on the floor today, more poorly appreciate your leadership on this issue. i yield time to him. >> madam president? >> senator from florida. >> i think the senator from ohio for his l gracious comments, ani just simply want to say my part as to why this is so important that we pass this legislation, because it's very obvious that an old told number -- untold number of women and children in the u.s. are being sold into sexual slavery via the internet. and we now b have an opportunity to do something about it by passing this legislation. and it is so bad, because with just a few clicks of a few punches on an iphone, victims from all walks of life and parts of the country, all across, are being forced into brutal slavery and unspeakable crimes. i want to repeat that. i want americans to understand what is going on behind the scenes, that women and children are being forced into sex slavery in modern-day america. and it could very well happen to someone that you

along with senator alexander, she's brought together senators with different viewpoints and made real progress toward fixing the glaring failures of the current system. it's especially disappointing that their efforts are being blocked precisely when they stand the greatest chance of helping millions of americans. it's not entirely surprising that my colleagues across the aisle are happy to talk the talk about lowering premiums for working families but refuse to actually walk the walk when given the golden opportunity. but it sure is disappointing. mr. president, i ask that i be added as a cosponsor to the collins-alexander amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i understand that the senate has received a message from the house to accompany h.r. 1625. the presiding officer: majority leader is correct. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the chair lay before the senate the message a company h.r. 1625. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the following message from the house. the clerk will report. the clerk: resolve that the house agree to the amen

foreign relations committee i talked to senator and he believes he the senate could make a good decision after giving the committee an opportunity to have hearings and consider all of the intended and unintended consequences of thisce resolution. i know our colleagues meanwhile and intentions are good but sometimes in the area of international conflict and global interactions with different countries sometimes our actions beget the unintended consequence and it is good to be safe in the first place to take this matter to the senate foreign relations committee right have every confidence that senator corker as the chairman and ranking member menendez can guide the members of the committee through a process to help us in the end make a better decision. mr. president, i yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. e dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: you thank you,

- senator leahy, senator hatch, and senator cochran. two of those three, senators hatch and cochran, will be retiring this year. senator cochran in just over a week. and a grateful nation things them for their service. -- thanks them for their service. for me personally i am honored to have come full circle with them and i wish them well in their life after the senate. i want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for welcoming me to this body. many of whom are here with me today braving the wintery weather outside. thank you for your friendship, your advice, your willingness to include me and my staff in the great work you are doing. i particularly want to thank my senior colleague from alabama, senator shelby, and his staff. i aappreciate their -- i appreciate their gratefulness in helping me as a freshman senator. and my family -- my amazing wife louise, incredible kids, carson, christopher, who so fully supported me in my quest to reach the senate, but more importantly in my life. i have grown with them and certainly beca

senator flake: no. i am not running for re-election to the senate. run for president is not in my plans but i have not ruled nything out. i think republicans want to be reminded, i think, of what conservatism really means. the limited government, economic freedom, free trade, reverence for the free press, immigration. i hope that somebody reminds republicans of that. i think they're willing and waiting to be reminded. [applause] >> so in light of that, what do you think -- what do you think it would take for a republican challenger to have a real shot? and do you think the donor support would be there? senator flake: make no mistake, the republican party right now is president trump's party. i think that's reflected in polling. let me put it this way. those who vote in republican primaries are overwhelmingly supportive of the president. i don't think that will always be the case. i think that could turn. and will turn and must turn. but that is the case right now. so it would be a tough challenge for anyone to take. and i just hope someone does it. >

senate. in 1968, i had the job of recruiting state chairman for citizens for nixon agnew. i was a very young, wet behind the ears former legislative assistant to senator howard baker. we were working in the willard hotel in the fall of 1968. the idea was to try to find outstanding citizens who weren't necessarily republicans because in the southern part of our country, there weren't a lot of republicans, especially in the state of mississippi. so i called around the state of mississippi to find out who might be willing to head up this nixon agnew campaign. everybody i called said, well, there are two young men here who are just the most outstanding young men. both are cheerleaders at ole miss, or had been, and both are going to grow up to be the governor of mississippi, which was at that time, i guess, the nicest thing you could say about some aspiring young man because nobody thought the two united states senators, east land and stennis would ever retire. growing up to be the governor of mis

senate. mr. president, one year ago today, the senate judiciary committee oaptd opened its hearing on neil gorsuch. the stanford law review has published my argument made in that hearing and will be repeated if president trump makes another supreme court nomination. today i want to look at the lower courts because no less than 138 positions on the federal district and appeals courts are vacant. that does not include 33 vacancies that will occur in a year or so. everyone must understand the seriousness of this crisis. by itself 138 is just a number. it's a big number but it needs a frame of reference to know if this is normal or a serious problem that has to be addressed. i certainly don't want to be accused of partisanship so i will rely on the standards and criteria used in the past my my democratic colleagues. let's use some democratic standards to evaluate the number of judicial vacancies that we face today. one standard is that democrats have specifically identified how many vacancies are una

the senate used to work. without those restraints, it has become a block on the nation rather than -- it essentially has impaired our progress rather than being what senator schumer said, which is that beacon of hope and common sense that we so need anytime, particularly now. host: raymond, maryland, democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. you are right if you remember, there was a day, meeting to make president obama a one term president. then, senator mcconnell used to allow his supreme court appointee to not have a hearing. guest: you are remembering some important examples of what happened during the obama presidency. i would add one other thing -- i was kind of surprised, as i got into the book, at just how much power one person, specifically senator mcconnell, could have. one example of that is that in 2015, when he reached what he has said was his lifetime goal of being majority, all of a sudden, the senate started to function. after six years of upshur option -- obstruction, he became a c

can the senate save its self. he also serves as the former chief of staff to senator rockefeller. guest: good morning. host: a little more about your background at the senate. the kind of things you involve yourself with. i work in us and it for about 12 years for a number of democratic senators. i got hooked on initially as an intern for a republican senator nearly 50 years ago. i've had a long love of the senate. i was in the majority and minority. committee staff and personal staff and leadership staff. i worked on things as diverse as the ethics code to the metro funding to the foreign intelligence surveillance act. it was 12 wonderful years. the first five in the majority. next six in the minority. what is it like as far as the process? how does that differ from the house? guest: i talk about what we used to call the great senate in my first book. then i renamed it mansfield senate after mike mansfield. , at itste has always best, work in a bipartisan way. the general requirement that you needed a super majority, it was the place where the parties came together to reconcile d

before i came to the senate, senator cochran was chairman of the senate republican conference. he's chaired the senate agriculture committee, too, and most recently he's alternated between serving as ranking member and chairman of the all powerful appropriations committee. throughout his 45 years in congress, he's participated in, crafting, and enacting historic legislation. but his main focus has always been on the people, the people of mississippi. his highest priority has always been on the men and women he was elected to represent in places like jackson and gulfport, greenville, starkville, and hattiesburg. one example is when he fought so hard for recovery funding after hurricane katrina. many people forget that that awful storm was much bigger than new orleans. mississippi was hit almost equally as hard and senator cochran made sure that his state got the help it needed to get back on their feet. his career is one of service and collegiality. even amidst all the fractious debates. he treats friends and political adversaries with respect. he listens to what people have to

and senator sanders. it's important to pick up on what senator lee was putting down, the notion that this is a limited resolution that speaks to our participation in an unauthorized, illegal partnership with the saudi's to bomb the country of yemen. it does not affect our partnership with saudi arabia and others in the gulf region to continue to confront terror, al qaeda, a specific car about in legislation allowing for 2001 a ums authorized activities to go forward, but it is also important to note that if you care about that priority taking on al qaeda, taking on cases in the region command that you should support debating a resolution because all of the evidence suggests that the continuation of the civil war inside gannon is making a qa p. the arm of al qaeda that has the clearest intentions to attack the homeland in a sense, both more powerful. a qa p. controls much more territory inside yemen than they did at the beginning of the civilak war. if you take the time to meet with yemeni yemeni americans

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, so many are still grieving from the atrocious killing of 17 people in the high school in florida. indeed, our entire state is grieving. broward county is grieving. parkland is grieving. i think you're going to find on march 24 in the rallies and the marches that will occur in 500 cities around this country and will have a focus of the main one in washington, i think you're going to find that a lot of people are grieving because a lot of people all across this country have been touched by these massacres that continue to occur, starting over almost three decades ago in columbine, in colorado. we certainly had our fill of it in florida just in the last two years. 49 people gunned down with an assault rifle, a six-hour m.c.x. at the pulse nightclub. another assault pistol gunning down five people in the ft. lauderdale airport and now an ar-15 gunning down 17, and he would have gotten a lot more had he been able to open the third-story window overlooking the court

>> from the senior member of the senate. senator smith? >> thank you very much, chair alexander and ranking member murray, i appreciate it. mr. ring, thank you so much for being here and thank you also for your willingness to serve. i appreciate it. so in 2016, just a couple of days before thanksgiving, a minnesota trucking company, which had collective bargaining, closed its doors and began to re-organize as a nonunion company. and the workers at the company that had collective bargaining, they lost their jobs and many of them also didn't receive their final paychecks. so unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence. it happens all too often, where company owners attempt to set up new firms to avoid having to bargain with the union at an older firm that they own. and we've seen this occur not just in the trucking industry but also in building trades and other industries where it's pretty easy to shift assets from one corporate legal entity to another. and of course this practice of shifting work from a union company to a nonunion company,

thank you very much. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you, senator hassan. senator baldwin? >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member, and thank you, mr. ring, for your willingness to serve. i want to focus on the issue of joint employment. for a majority of the nlra's existence, the board found joint employment when a company directly or indirectly controlled workers' employment. this is important because meaningful collective bargaining can only occur if every company controlling workers' employment is sitting at the bargaining table. do you believe that employers must exercise direct and immediate control in order to be employers under the nlra? >> senator, i appreciate the opportunity to talk about the joint employer issue. i know it's a very controversial issue, as we can tell from the various questions. under the prior standard, the standard is direct control. under the newer standard, it is the right to control, and that's, i think, the difference that has been the struggle. i have always thought of the joint employer issue as something that is very, very fact spe

senator inhofe: thank you, senator reed. senator ernst. thank you, all, for the service senator ernst: thank you, mr. chairman and gentlemen, thank you for being here today. senator ernst: thank you, mr. chairman and gentlemen, thank you for being here today. general vow tell, i will start with you. senator ernst: thank you, general, when i was in afghanistan months ago, i visited military and diplomatic leaders in kabul and kandahar, and bagram and it seems the taliban is now transitioning from an ideologically inspired group into a narco terror group which is using ideology as a veil and as such, the department of defense is focused on destroying processing facilities and their yields opposed to just simply destroying the poppy fields, and the state department is focused on enforcement in conjunction with the f.b.i. and the d.e.a. is this strategy different from those strategies that we've used in the past and if so how are they different? general votel: senator, thank you. they are different. we are using the authorities that have been

senator schumer is essentially weaponizing a senate procedure and demanding cloture votes on our nominees that he essentially supports. 11 of the president's nominees have been approved without a single dissenting vote. still forced to go through 30 hours of debate to essentially slow down the senate calendar simply for the purpose of obstruction. even senate democrats have begun to call this out and to say it is getting to the point of ridiculous. at this rate, the united states senate would take 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. so let me give you one more example of the comparison historically. in the first entire term of the george h.w. bush administration, his entire four years, he faced one cloture vote. in the entire four years of the clinton administration he faced 10 cloture votes. under the george w. bush administration, the entire first term he faced four cloture votes. barack obama faced 17 in his first entire four years. we have faced 79 in our first 14 months. that adds up to 32 combined in the entire first four years of those admini

senator, roger stevens. tonight i am going to a town meeting and neighbors and i are going to vote on a budget on a dog leash law, maybe a fire engine. up thempted to bring presidential authority on nuclear weapons. i would like to ask you about that. your colleague, senator corker, had a hearing for the first time in 30 years on presidential authority on nuclear weapons. some groups feel that national will not be abridged if others in the line of security are part of that decision. have you put any thought into that, do you have an opinion? sen. flake: i was there for that hearing and was glad that we had it. it was comforting to hear the protocols we have in place in terms of the use of nuclear weapons. i am pleased that general mattis is where he is. i hope that he stays. when i mentioned the concern all of us have, some of it is that if there is a team of rivals, and maybe rivaling who can agree with the president more to put yourself in a better position. that is not what we need in any area, but in par

senator rubio: mr. president, thanks for bringing us here, because i think we all agree -- we all know what the issues are that are fought over on this issue, but i think what everyone agrees on is we never want to see this happen again, anywhere in america. and you mentioned something about the shooting that i think is critical. this was a multi-systemic failure. and without pointing fingers or laying blame on anyone in particular that may or may not be here to defend themselves -- the sheriff's office knew this was a problem. the school districts knew this was a problem. the fbi had been alerted to a problem. the department of children and families in florida knew that this was a problem. but the big problem is none them talked to each other. nobody told the others what they knew. and there is a bill out there that senator hatch is going to file very soon, and congressman rutherford and others here have already filed, and it's call the stop school violence act. and i'll let them describe it more in de

senator coons: it was a great trip. senator lindsey graham and i led this trip. we had a chance to visit jordan and israel and in israel we spent four days looking at its security situation. and i was truly struck in my eight years as a senator, i haven't seen an immediate security situation as threatening as today. think about it. we have isis still active, threatening both egypt and israel. gaza, we have hamas digging tunnels, preparing to fire rockets. in lebanon, we have hezbollah embedding tens of thousands of advanced munitions and rockets, threatening the north of israel, and we took a helicopter tour of all of this and got a briefing with a general, the deputy chief of staff of the i.d.f. in syria, a failed state where you got both isis still active and hezbollah, shiia militias, the irgc under a russian air cover. iran aggressively challenging israel and recently directly sending a drone into israeli airspace. it is important that we make clear that when iran and russia challenges israel directly they are also challenging the united states. we need resol

if you don't, support the resolution that senator lee, senator murr first, and i -- senator murphy, and i have introduced. mr. president, let me give you at least two reasons why congress must reassert its constitutional authority over the issue of war and why we cannot continue to abdicate that responsibility to the president. and those have everything to do with the two most significant foreign policy disasters in the modern history of the united states -- the war in iraq and the war in vietnam. in both of these cases, congress sat back and failed to ask the hard questions, as two administrations -- one republican, one democrat -- led us into conflicts with disastrous consequences. interestingly, today is an historically significant day for us to debate this resolution. 15 years ago -- 15 years ago today -- on march 20, 2003, the war in iraq began and the bombs started falling in baghdad. 15 years ago today. i was one of those who opposed the iraq war in the beginning. and today it is now broadly acknowledged that the war -- that war was a foreign policy blunder of enormous magnitude.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm here today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of robert f. kennedy's monumental campaign for president. kennedy's brief, tragic run at the presidency has had an enduring impact on so many generations of americans. and the reason i think is because robert kennedy had the courage to challenge a divided nation to face up to its failings, to challenge a divided people to acknowledge their own contributions to our nation's ills, to challenge us to step back from the stale, cheap politics of the moment, to challenge us to do better by each other. history may not repeat, but it often rhymes. conditions are different now, but a lot of anxiety that swept through the country in 1968 echoes the anxiety of today, especially the economic anxiety felt by millions of americans who are working harder than ever but feel opportunities slipping away from themselves and from their children. too often our political and business leaders refuse to see th

senator burr: senator harris. harris: to follow-up on senator cotton's questions, we you commit to coming back to the committee after doing an assessment of vulnerabilities created by these of the smart devices by our troops, and give us some suggestion about what might be a more appropriate policy? i would welcome the opportunity to continue the dialogue on that. senator harris: thank you. i'd like to talk about insider threats. director of the national intelligence, as of october 2015 4.3 million americans held at security clearances. some of the most damaging national security breaches in recent years, however, have not come from traditional spies, but insiders at our own agencies. several of these instances and three insa, particular received a lot of attention and did a lot of damage. have you studied what happened in those cases? date,akasone: senator, to in my current role i have not studied. i would offer that i think what you point out here is very important. we considered most of our threats from externa

crapo, senator alexander, senator inhofe, senator booker and senator murkowski and i can continue to work o. that i think is a really valuable prospect in all of this and one of the things that moves me to do this. let me close by thanking senator crapo for also working with me on neima which we're still working to get past but which we hope will get passed and it parallels very nicely with this legislation because what that would do is get the nuclear regulatory commission to update its permitting process to accommodate new technologies. when asked what i mean by that i use a very rough example, which is the current light water reactor permitting process makes about as much sense as the test for these new technologies as taking a tesla and having it pass the d.m.v. carburetor requirements would. it is a n tecogy. it requires a difrent tesng regime, and we are -- our other bill would authorize and require the n.r.c. to update and work with the innovation community to make sure when these things are ready for permitting, permitting is in fact ready for them. so with great appreciation

as senator leahy on this bill and senator crapo and so many people up here. i come from a state that's always been a leader on domestic violence, as you know, starting way back with senator wellstone and his wife sheila who we miss very much. i became the hennepin county, cut the red tape, and get the help they need with protective orders. we are pleased with that work we do in minnesota. senator leahy has actually visited us there to talk about it. this time, i always view this bill as a way to update the law and see some new things that can make it work better. i'm real pleased that both leaders here have been working with senator cornyn and myself on the hundredton act, inspired by abby, a former university student and rape survivor, establish a pilot program to expand evidence-based practices in responding to sexual assault, helping to prevent retraumatization of victims. i want to thank senator franken for his work, and senator cornyn for introducing the bill with me. why is it important that the law enforcement rely on trauma informing techniques when r

senator coons: thank you. senator grassley: senator blumenthal. senator blumenthal: you've heard discussion of a number of bills relating to gun violence. as you've observed some of them in essence repeat what is already the law. which is why the n.r.a. supports them. and i'm not going to characterize them individually but i want to ask you about a proposal that is not already the law at the federal level, it is at the state level, at least in certain states, it's called red ag statute or an extreme protection order statute. connecticut has it so does indiana, california, oregon and the state of washington. and recently it was adopted in florida. essentially it enables law enforcement, state or local police, to go to a judicial officer, state judge, and say in effect, this person is dangerous to himself or others. and in connecticut, it has worked since 1999, before sandy hook, to enable law enforcement to in effect prevent people who are in crisis, people who are in imminent risk to prevent them harming others. in many of these cases, domestic vi

senators. to hear from the governors about the open we would crisis. senator murray and i will each have an opening statement, and then i will introduce the witnesses, and we will hear from the governors and senators who will each have five minutes for questions. in january, i dropped by a meeting at the tennessee governor's residence in nashville. the governor had invited the heads of all of ours dates -- our states' institutions who were involved in educating doctors and they were talking about planning how to discourage the over prescription opioids. the governor told me in our state of 6.6 million people there were 7.6 million opioid prescriptions written in 2016. and that even though the state has reduced the amount of open wheel it's prescribed, that is a very high number. the number of overdose deaths is still rising because the abuse of fentanyl. according to a recent report on the centers of disease control opioidvention, "it -- overdoses spiked 37 -- 30% between july and september 201

senator hatch: thank you. senator isakson. ms. gianopoulos, i was in the real estate business before coming to congress and did a lot of shopping centers and watched the increase of sales over the internet at christmastime. i think 20% to 22% of sales at christmas are made by the internet and not going to the store and shopping and buying which is exponentially grown retail sales over the internet. is a growing in comparable rate other products other times of the year? ms. gianopoulos: you know, senator, we didn't take a look at the growth of ecommerce per se. we were focused on the challenges that were associated with ecommerce as it relates to counterfeits. as i said in my statement, it's very difficult when you're going online and just looking at a photo of an item to determine whether or not it's real. you may go into a store and be able to pick it up and see if it's a different weight or color or something like that. what some counterfeiters do, they take a photo of an actual item and put it online even though they're giving

senator alexander: the senate committee will come to order. we are holding our sixth hearing in this congress on the open wheeled converse. talking about what is working in their state is governor larry hogan from maryland and governor kate brown from oregon. we thank you both for taking time from your very busy schedules to be here. to ahearing is a follow-up roundtable that senator murray and i hosted last week with 13 governors who were here from the national governors association meeting. or you do senators of both parties attended sometime during that roundtable, is a large gathering of senators. to hear from the governors about the open we would crisis. senator murray and i will each have an opening statement, and then i will introduce the witnesses, and we will hear from the governors and senators who will each have five minutes for questions. in january, i dropped by a meeting at the tennessee governor's residence in nashville. the governor had invited the heads of all of ours dates -- our states' institutions who were involved in educ

senators mccaskill cornyn heitkamp and senator portman and senator mccain has been a passionate advocate for addressing this issue for so many years and do wish that he could be here to participate and be able to vote for its passage but we know his work over the years has played an incredibly important role in getting us to where wedada are today. this group led the effort to conduct investigatory oversight. last year senator portman pointed out a chair to commerce committee hearing on his bill where we heard testimony from experts on both sides of the issue. listen carefully to what her witnesses had to say and at the hearing we work together to make targeted changes to the legislation in the bill that ultimately advanced there are committee and a senator appointment at pointed out that support from the community. the bill was strongly supported by members of both parties. we racked up by portion support 58 out of 100 senators are now co-sponsors of this bill. the bill supported by the white house we know as soon as it leaves a senator will land on the president's does world the presid

senator flake: thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> winning the primary in one state doesn't determine nationwide -- president trump never wanted to make the general election in new york, but he is said,esident, but like i i'll be content to do something else and hope somebody out there might republicans because republicans are wanting to be reminded of vitamins to be a conservative. to have it means decency and politics. what did you think of the response you got? >> i feel good. i have been in politics for -- i plan to do something else. i have not ruled anything out. you're here today and the president decided to come here on monday, is he feeling the heat and feeling nervous? >> i am sure new hampshire will welcome him. i don't know. obviously, there is concern among republicans of where the party is, particularly after the wak

every single one of them in the house and the senate. fortunately, those efforts failed, but even with tax reform now, the law of the land, it seems my democratic friends are so unwilling to admit their mistake that they'd rather try to sabotage the law that is already helping families and making american job creators more competitive. just yesterday, for example, senate democrats announced they'd like to spend a trillion dollars -- a trillion dollars of taxpayer money and they want to roll back america's brand new tax cuts while they're at it. this popular new tax bill has been in effect for a couple of months. they want to roll it back already, take the money and spend it. there they go again. just can't help themselves. tax more, spend more, take money away from american families, give it to the federal government. this is a familiar refrain from our democratic friends. even amidst this tidal wave of good news from tax reform, even in the face of higher take-home pay, new jobs, new investments, raises, worker bonuses, and foreign comp

>> yes, senator. yes, senator, i do. president macura has been a long-time critic of the venezuelan government and the treatment of the citizens by the maduro administration. he took efforts to have venezuela taken out of the common market group of south american countries. so i think there is some positive moves being made by the argentine government in its criticism of how the venezuela administration is treating its citizens and the lack of democracy. and i intend to do all i can to support their efforts to remedy the situation. >> and as i mention in the opening statement, just yesterday the argentine judiciary deferred for public trial christina kirschner and other officials in connection with a cover-up of the '94 bombing of a jewish community center in buenos aires by the iranian government. their abuse of power and obstruction of justice in holding iran responsible for the terror attack, which by the way killed 85 people. and i would just ask if you could commit to the committee if confirmed that you'll not only

and i want to thank senators durbin, senator warren and senator booker for coming on board that resolution. and i hope this bipartisan resolution will gain more and more support in the coming days. mr. president, many americans are unaware that the people of yemen are suffering today in a devastating civil war with saudi arabia and their allies on one side and houthi rebels on the other. in november of last year, the united nations emergency relief coordinator said that yemen was on the brink of, quote, the largest famine the world has seen for many decades. end quote. so far at least 10,000 civilians have died. three million have been displaced and over 40,000 have been wounded in this war. 15 million people lack access to clean water and sanitation. more than 20 million people in yemen, over two-thirds of that country's population, need some kind of humanitarian support with nearly 10 million in acute need of assistance. more than one million suspected cholera cases have been reported, one million cholera cases have been reported representing potentially the worst cholera outbreak in wor

senator hatch: thank you. senator isakson. ms. gianopoulos, i was in the real estate business before coming to congress and did a lot of shopping centers and watched the increase of sales over the internet at christmastime. i think 20% to 22% of sales at christmas are made by the internet and not going to the store and shopping and buying which is exponentially grown retail sales over the internet. is a growing in comparable rate other products other times of the year? ms. gianopoulos: you know, senator, we didn't take a look at the growth of ecommerce per se. we were focused on the challenges that were associated with ecommerce as it relates to counterfeits. as i said in my statement, it's very difficult when you're going online and just looking at a photo of an item to determine whether or not it's real. you may go into a store and be able to pick it up and see if it's a different weight or color or something like that. what some counterfeiters do, they take a photo of an actual item and put it online even though they're giving

>> thank you, senator. mr. chairman, and mr. ranking member and members of the committee. it is an honor to appear here. if confirmed i'm committed to representing the president and the american people and their national interests in a country so key to our security and prosperity in the western hemisphere. i would like to thank first, my wife carol and our son chris for their support. without that support, i would not be here today. mr. chairman, colombia's transformed itself. you find myself challenged by the fact that your introduction and the ranking members introduction were a perfect articulation of our policy. it is a representation of the bipartisan nature of that support over the past 20 years and i would be happy to read my abbreviated statement. i would prefer, in fact, to in the senate tradition associate myself with those remarks and leave myself available for a full set of questions. it is a well known account. it is one that we all understand and i look forward to talking to you about it. if

senate. thad, as we all know, is very courteous, well mannered, has a low-key demeanor most of the time, you know. he's quiet and he's patient. and he's built seniority through power and perseverance. some people say that thad cochran is the last true southern gentleman. i think there's a lot of truth to that. some people say he represents the lost art of being nice, and we all need to work on that. he's always -- has been and will be a hero here and back home in mississippi. thad, i wish you well. you and your wonderful wife, kay, and i think all of us should strive to continue on the wise path that you've paved for us here in the senate. i believe we're all grateful, mr. president, for his service to mississippi and to our nation. we wish you godspeed. thank you. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i have known and admired thad cochran for 40 years since he first came to the senate. ms. collins: at the time i was a yo

i've talked to senator mcconnell. i've talked with senator schumer. i've talked with key republicans and democrats. if you are watching as the boat was going on last night and a debate was going on last night, he saw as many democrats on the republican side and republicans on the democrat side as i think i've seen in years. i think it is a sign that this country is actually going to have a voice in what is going on, it is going to be the congress. it cannot be done tweet by tweet from the white house. that worries me because the tweets are from the president who changes position almost in , one hours time. you can't tweet about his we are more. tariffs onweet about this one and not on this one, and see the stock market take one of the three biggest falls in all of history. i think there are enough grown-ups in both parties for the senate and house to realize that we will have to try to keep the country stable. anna: it definitely seems like there is a realization in both chambers, both parties that the process needs to be different. there has been som

senator murkowski: thank you, senator cassidy. senator cortez masto. senator cortez masto: thank you secretary zinke. i want to start with renewable energy. we have had this conversation, the state of nevada 87% of the land is owned by the federal government. our partnership is key. the interaction that we have with alt federal agencies is important to the state of nevada. one of the areas that we have been focused on is renewables. responsible development when solar and geothermal energy on public lands has long had a broad bipartisan support, including from you during your time in congress as a co-sponsor of the public land renewable energy development act. it's played a growing role in our economy. solar now supports more jobs than natural gas. over twice the jobs in coal, according to a 2017 department of energy report. yet for the second year in a row the administration's proposed budget looks at cutting d.o.i. renewable programs by almost half. proposed 50% cut for fiscal year 2018 and 40% cut for fiscal year 2019. looking at these numbers it app