ayotte: thank you. mr. president, i first of all want to thank my colleague from georgia who is the ranking member republican on the senate intelligence committee. so senator chambliss has seen so much in terms of the real threats that we face from terrorists in this country, and i appreciate his leadership on ensuring that america remains safe, his leadership on this issue of ensuring that the guantanamo detainees are not released to get back in the fight against us, to attack not only our soldiers but us and our allies, and i guess i would start with this, is the defense authorization right now, as it stands, and even the side-by-side offered by chairman levin, that is a dramatic change from current policy of where we are now with regard to guantanamo and the transfer of guantanamo detainees internationally into the united states of america. between last year's defense authorization and this year defense authorization. so what has changed? the only thing that has changed is the fact that the re-engagement

ayotte: may the quorum call please be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from new hampshire is recognized. the presiding officer: thank you, madam president. madam president, first of all, i want to rise today to thank my colleagues. and, first of all, i'd like to thank my colleague from maine, the senior senator from maine, senator susan collins, for the important work that she's been doing on the employment nondiscrimination act. i would also like to thank my colleagues for supporting an thapld that was brought forward -- an amendment that was brought forward recently and passed by this body, the portman-ayotte-heller-hatch-mc cain amendment. i firmly believe that people should be judged based upon the quality of their work. discrimination has no place in the workplace. in my home state of new hampshire, we have a long bipartisan tradition of working to advance commonsense policies, and new hampshire already has in place a state law preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation. i appreciate that the employment nondiscrimination act i

ayotte: the senator yield for a comment? and in fact the evidence is, looking at the facts that commanders are bringing more cases, are pursuing more cases than over the recommendation of their jags in skwaeult -- in sexual assault cases. the letter we've gotten from admiral winifield deputy chairman of the joint chief of staffs he pointed out there were over 90 cases where the commanders had a different view from their jags. cases were had and people were held accountable. the presiding officer: there are situations where joint -- mr. graham: there are situations where joint jurisdiction lies. there have been cases where the civilian community went first. there were 49 cases in the army where the civilian community decided not to prosecute in sexual assault that the army took up and they got an 81% conviction rate. in the marine corps 28 cases turned down by the civilian community where the marine base was at, that went to the court 57% conviction rate. in the navy, in the air force it's the same thing where you have civili

but kelly ayotte brought up trying to keep guantanamo going indefinitely. and it lost, it only got 43 votes. and that ends up being way more interesting than i think the senator expected it to be, because what her mistake proved, just in bringing that thing up and seeing it go down with such a bad vote, what it proved is that a majority in congress doesn't feel the same way about guantanamo that they used to. senator ayotte just proved through her failure yesterday that congress is way more ready to shut this thing down than they have ever been in the 90-6 pass. and if congress has changed on the question of guantanamo, what is to say they have not changed more than that? yesterday's richard engel obtained and posted this draft agreement between the american government and the afghanistan government, calling for an enduring military presence in afghanistan long after 2014 when u.s. troops were supposed to come home. richard reporting yesterday that in the draft agreement, in a sense, the war in afghanistan just starts all over again. albeit on a smaller sca

ayotte: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank my colleague from pennsylvania, senator casey, for his leadership on amendment 2172, which is very important. and i appreciate that what he just said on the floor, the cases of the bravery of afghan women, the leadership that they have shown under tremendously difficult circumstances and how the sacrifice that we have made to ensure that afghanistan and our men and women have made in uniform to ensure that afghanistan does not become a haven for terrorists again. and one of the keys to that is that no society can be free, no society can have true safety and security unless the women in the society also have safety and security. and i want to thank senator casey for his leadership of ensuring and standing by for afghan women, because we cannot succeed in afghanistan if women go back to what they endured under the taliban, which was horrific and was wrong. and none of us should accept. so he really has been a leader on this, and i thank senator casey for being so concern

first to you, senator ayotte. the work on women in afghanistan, we can see this all evapora evaporate. we saw hillary clinton and laura bush recently at a conference on this very subject. this is something madeleine albright pushed for when she was secretary of state. how do we make sure that women's rights and their representative rights in the parliament as well as education for women and other rights for women in business are not completely blown up by failure of this kind of agreement? >> well, andrea, i want to thank you for having us on, and i want to thank senator casey. he and i have an amendment to defense authorization that requires the department of defense to come up with a strat they focused on the security of women. we don't want to go back to the horrible scenes in the soccer stadiums with what the taliban did to women and the reality is afghanistan cannot succeed without women having security in the country, having economic opportunity, having the opportunity to have an education. you just can't su

since senator ayotte is not here to object, i will just take it from her time if no one objects. the presiding officer: no objection. mr. blunt: but the fact that this is in the bill, further improved, i believe, by the amendment, but clearly says that we're going to change the culture in the military, and that would not be nearly as far along as it is if it hadn't been for the hard work of my colleagues, particularly senator mccaskill and senator gillibrand. they are here on the floor talking about a difference of opinion, not on solving this problem, because we all believe this problem is going to be solved. i think we all believe the bill takes a step, a significant, strong step toward doing that. i think most senators are going to agree that the mccaskill amendment adds another element there, and i'm glad that the defense committee, the armed services committee and now the united states senate is taking additional steps to solve this problem. it's a tragedy for every military in the military, man or woman who has been the victim of a sexual assault, reported or not. whatever

ayotte: thank you, madam president. today i rise to talk about the impact that obamacare is having on the people of my state, the state of new hampshire. it's been over a month since the health care exchanges have opened, and in that short time we've already seen so many problems with obamacare. frankly, it's a mess. the failure of healthcare.gov is something that has revealed deeply troubling incompetence in terms of implementing a web site that people can use and have access to and is security and protects their private information, and, frankly, we're in a position where really the web site is merely the canary in the coal mine. the flaws in this law are much deeper than the web site. even former supporters of obamacare are telling me that it's not working. i'm hearing from my constituents about this, and, frankly, i feel very badly for them because so much of what's happening to them is as a result of how the law is drafted and concerns that were brought forward years ago at this point. for example, i've heard from

joining me from her home state of new hampshire, senator kelly ayotte. thank you so much, senator, for joining us. >> good morning, candy. thank you. >> good morning. there is a -- a movement by senator lindsey graham to black all of the president's nominees until survivors of the benghazi attack are allowed to come and testify to various committees. are you on board with that tactic? >> well, candy, we've written several times, not only secretary kerry, but the president asking the survivors be made available to congress to get to the bottom of this. i understand we've been brushed off many times. i think that senator graham is going to be speaking to the administration about this, trying to cooperatively address this issue. it's not acceptable that they've not been made available. to say that there's an ongoing investigation in terrorism, that would preclude oversight by the congress in any terrorism case including 9/11. i think there are ways we can work together and make sure that we're protecting the sensitive nature of this. but to not get to the b

and no, senator ayotte, your joke of a plan is no plan at all. here is the plan. we have a health care law and it's already working. right now. joining me now congressman emanuel cleaver and salon's joan walsh. thank you both for coming on tonight. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> congressman, let me go to you first. what do you make of all of this? >> i think it's silly to talk about something that costs american lives and a program that was approved by congress, upheld by the supreme court designed to provide health insurance for all americans. i think many of my colleagues on the other side are actually hoping for rain instead of sunshine. because they fear the sunshine because it will give people insurance and they think it will be political arepercussions tha will hurt them. >> joan, you know, repeatedly the gop said our health system is just fine. the way it is is just fine. >> best in the world. >> in fact, senator john barossa repeated that this weekend. >> it's time to start over. this health care law is terribly flawed. it is broken. this is not what

i appreciate my good friend kelly ayotte being here today. i have to tell you, the meetings that we had last year, one of the most moving moments in time was to have two senators, john mccain and tom harkin, talking about what they had done together so many years ago to existence,a law into and so many things have occurred since then. we had a unanimous vote in 2008 on the ada amendments act and we have continued to make tremendous progress. i do think that last year when not was considered it was considered in its fullness. it was rushed and we did not have a kind of hearings that it takes to ratify a treaty. treaties have a different standard, for obvious reasons. i am glad this year we are taking a more methodical approach that. i want to say to the advocates of this lease of legislation, is tremendoust to see the effort underway to move people along in this regard . whenever a bill or a treaty is passed, error some unintended consequences, and i think it is our obligation to look at the effects that a treaty like this could have on domest

senator kelly ayotte who has been a champion of the treaty and an advocate for it. as well as working with us to try to achieve the goal. i know she is here in her own right as well as speaking on behalf of senator bob dole who was a great champion of the treaty in the senate. as i recognize you let a also think congressman bartlett who i understand is here with us on the house. congressman thank you very much. appreciate your being here with us and with that senator and ayotte. >> thank you very much chairman menendez ranking member corker honorable members of the committee. i am deeply humbled to be here today first of all my primary purpose in being here today is to read the statement of senator robert dole, someone who was an extraordinary leader in the united states senate. he is someone who is a role model in terms of what it means to be a public servant and we all appreciate that he is a chew american hero with a service that he gave to our country. i'm deeply honored to be here. i personally support with this committee is doing. the convention on the rights

i'd like to follow up on questioning by both senator ayotte and senator coburn on benghazi. director comey, for 14 months it's been the consistent excuse of this administration that the reason members of congress do not have access to the survivors of benghazi is because of the fbi investigation. you're aware of that, correct? >> i'm not, senator, i'm not. >> so just getting back to what senator coburn said, there should be no reason that the fbi investigation should be used as an excuse for us not to have access to question those witnesses whether it's in an open hearing or in a secure briefing setting. >> yeah. i don't know. as the fbi director or, i don't have an objection to it. i don't know whether the prosecutors would feel differently or there's some other reason i'm not thinking of, but speaking from my perspective, yeah. i don't have an objection to that. >> director olsen, i would just like to -- and maybe for both directors here -- talk about the difference between our desire to prosecute and the difference between gathering intelligence. i mean, from the my stand

i appreciate my good friend kelly ayotte being here today. i have to tell you, the meetings that we had last year, one of the most moving moments in time was to have two senators, john mccain and tom harkin, talking about what they had done together so many years ago to move the ada law into existence, and so many things have occurred since then. we had a unanimous vote in 2008 on the ada amendments act, and we have continued to make tremendous progress. i do think that last year when this was considered, it was not considered in its fullness. it was rushed, and we did not have a kind of hearings that it takes to ratify a treaty. treaties have a different standard, for obvious reasons. i am glad this year we are taking a more methodical approach to that. i want to say to the advocates of this piece of legislation, this treaty, it is tremendous to see the effort underway to move people along in this regard. whenever a bill or a treaty is passed, there are some unintended consequences, and i think it is our obligation to look at the effects tha

senator kelly ayotte who has been a champion of the treaty and an advocate for it as well as working with us to try to achieve the goal of getting the votes necessary. i know she she she is hearing hr own right as well as speaking on behalf of senator bob dole who is a great champion of the treaty in the senate. as i recognize you let me also thank congressman bartlett who i understand is here with us from the house. congressman thank you very much and i appreciate your being here with us. with that our distinguished colleague, senator ayotte. >> thank you very much chairman menendez, ranking member corker honorable members of the committee. i am deeply humbled to be here today. first of all my primary purpose in being here today is to read the statement of senator robert dole, someone who is an extraordinary leader in the united states senate. he is someone who is a role model in terms of what it means to be a public servant and we all appreciate that he is a true american hero with the service he gave to our country. so i'm deeply honored to be here. i personally support with this

senator ayotte who will be speaking for this amendment and for the underlying bill for the mccaskill and them and the underlying bill, senator fischer, also on the armed services committee, will be part of that debate. we introduced a bill, the armed services committee did, that has the most comprehensive legislation targeting sexual assault that's ever been considered by the congress. we add to that these important elements of another mccaskill amendment. 26 provisions are in the underlying bill that deal with this issue. it's among the most difficult decisions i think we met but also one of the important decisions that we met. the idea that commanders would have responsibility for the atmosphere they create, one of the things that was mentioned more than once was what finally happened as we integrated the armed forces. president truman, i stand here by his desk, one of our predecessors in the senate from missouri signed the order that integrated the armed forces. president eisenhower pursued that further but only when the command structure was given absolute responsibility to deal

i rise principally today, madam president, in support of the ayotte-chambliss-inhofe amendment number 2255 which would restore many of the legislative limits and requirements that congress has placed in recent years on the transfer of guantanamo bay detainees and prevent medical-related transfers to the united states. i believe these legislative safeguards are vital to our national security and essential to good intelligence collection. for several years now we have been debating the status of guantanamo bay and the detainees who remain there. time and time again in the course of these debates i have asked this administration to come up with a viable long-term detention and interrogation policy and, frankly, they have failed to do so because of a stubborn commitment to a poorly thought out campaign promise to close guantanamo. the call to close guantanamo bay may sound like a good campaign sound bite to some people but, frankly, in the real world of national security it undermines good intelligence collection and increases the risk that dangerous detainees will be back on the streets

new hampshire senator kelly ayotte joins us. nice to he sue. >> good to see you, greta. >> what's going on in new hampshire. how many choices it you have up theren othe exchange? >> it's a real mess, greta, essentially only one insurer on the exchange and 10 out of our 26 hospitals aren't included in the exchange. so capitol of new hampshire not in the exchange. can i go oon major hospitals. sullivan county no hospitals in the exchange. >> why only one insurance company on the exchange? >> not enough competition, first of all. you know, this law actually reduces competition unfortunately. secondly. that's the only insurer that signed up for it and then finally, where we have is the insurance company is making the decision to limit the number of hospitals so that they can keep cost down. what i have been told. >> so you have 26 hospitals in the state. and -- is that right, 26? >> 26. >> how many are now being kicked off the exchange? >> 10. >> 10 out of insurance condition. >> 10? pay g. to this hospital pay out of pocket. >> the

ayotte: i thank you, mr. president. i want to thank my colleagues, senator collins, senator mikulski for their leadership on this issue and for bringing this important discussion to the floor today. i also want to thank senator murkowski, who i see in the chamber as well, who has been a leader, as well as senator mccaskill, who is a member of the armed services committee with me. this has been an issue that has brought people together, and it has brought people together for the right reasons. an issue that the women of the senate have really, i think, driven but it's important to understand that this is not a woman's issue. the issue of ending sexual assaults in our military is an issue for everyone. this is an issue about justice. this is an issue about fairness. this is about making sure that victims of crimes, both men and women get the justice that they deserve, get the support that they deserve in our military and that they understand and appreciate that we want them to have a climate in the military where if they

>> i would like to follow up on a question from both editor ayotte and senator coburn on benghazi. , for 14 months it has been a consistent excuse of the administration is the reason why members of congress to that of access to the survivors of benghazi is because the fbi investigation that you are aware that? >> i am not. >> eating back to what senator coburn said, that there should fbio reason that the investigation should be used as an excuse for us not to have access to lessen those witnesses, whether an open hearing or secure briefing setting? as fbin't know -- director, i don't have an objection to it. i don't know whether the prosecutors would feel differently or some other reason i am not thinking of, but speaking from my perspective, i don't have an objection to that. >> director olson, i would just like to -- and maybe for both the directors -- to talk about the difference between our gatheringprosecute in intelligence. from my standpoint with the threats that you are far more aware of the and im, to me, it sounds like intelligence gathering is a far higher than britain peo

why are people like pat toomey and kelly ayotte and rob portman and mark kirk and these other republicans able to come along when the rest of their colleagues on the republican side aren't? >> one of the real concerns was religious exemption, and we anchored it in title vii of the civil rights act, and that's answered a lot of the concerns that they had about balancing religious organizations and this issue of employment discrimination. by taking the standard of the civil rights act, that helped a lot. the only thing they were really worried about were lawsuits, and by looking at those 21 states you referred to and their record, we find that lawsuits do not materialize in surprising numbers or cause a real problem for business, and thus, businesses are very much on board with nondiscrimination. so, those have been two key factors in bringing this together. >> what do you make of the argument from the house leadership that they are not going to allow a vote on this on their side of capitol hill because they believe it's legally unnecessary? they believe it already is illegal to fire someon

why are people like pat toomey and kelly ayotte and rob portman and mark kirk and these other republicans able to come along when the rest of their colleagues on the republican side aren't? >> one of the real concerns was religious exemption, and we anchored it in title vii of the civil rights act, and that's answered a lot of the concerns that they had about balancing religious organizations and this issue of employment discrimination. by taking the standard of the civil rights act, that helped a lot. the only thing they were really worried about were lawsuits, and by looking at those 21 states you referred to and their record, we find that lawsuits do not materialize in surprising numbers or cause a real problem for business, and thus, businesses are very much on board with nondiscrimination. so, those have been two key factors in bringing this together. >> what do you make of the argument from the house leadership that they are not going to allow a vote on this on their side of capitol hill because they believe it's legally unnecessary? they believe it already is illegal to fire someon

ayotte: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to talk about a very important issue and that is the issue of sexual assaults --. the presiding officer: the the senate is in a quorum call. ms. ayotte: may i ask the quorum call be the rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. ayotte: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to talk about a very important issue that i spoke about on the floor yesterday, and that is eliminating sexual assaults in our military, making sure that victims are supported, that they get the support that they need and yesterday on the floor i talked about important reforms that we are doing together on a bipartisan basis to make sure that victims receive special victims counsel so each victim is now going to receive an attorney that represents him or her in the system and stands up for their rights, making retaliation a crime under the uniform military code of justice so victims of sexual assault understand that they will if they are retaliated against, that there will be a crime for

we'll speak to senator kelly ayotte. send us a tweet @marthamaccallum and @billhemmer and we'll put some of them up on the screen. bill: 140 character or less. bill: some college student reacting to the news they will be losing their insurance. student at bowie university in maryland are having their insurance canceled and they are not happy. >> it makes me feel angry and frustrated. >> student are caught in a trap, they are stuck trying to figure out how to be covered or deal with a sickness. bill: bowie state says they should gin their parents' plan for enroll in medicaid. martha: an embarrassing moment for health and human resources secretary kathleen sebelius when the website crashed right in front of you. >> i think it's great this is happening. it's okay, it will come back. you know, that happens every day. martha: okay, that's okay. it will come back. this happens every day. she was visiting a miami hospital. they should have gone that was not going to work out the way they want it to. in tennessee remember this m

. >> next we have senator kelly ayotte. senator, welcome back. >> thanks, david. >> i know there is a delay between us and we'll bear through that. respond to leader pelosi who, in effect, says there is some hysteria politically around all this, these things will get righted and ultimately people lz -- will see the benefits of the affordable care act. do you not see it that way? >> no matter how much congresswoman pelosi tries to spin this, this is a mess, david. i'll tell you what i'm hearing from my constituents. they're writing me about cancellation notices of plans they wanted to keep, rising premiums so some of their deductibles are doubling, they're paying more for health care, people losing hours because the definition of the work week is 30 hours. in new hampshire there is only one insurer on the exchange. 10 of our 26 hospitals are excluded. so this really is a mess, so she can try to spin it, but this -- i think it's time -- the president said he fumbled the rollout. it's time for a time-out which i've been callin

kelly ayotte is in studio 57. we'll talk with her about that and the obama care crisis. >>> cbs takes you on board one of the first flights allowing some electronics being used from takeoff to landing. which airlines have already put the changes into effect that's ahead. >>> a search for answers and a sigh of relief, a group of skydivers and two pilots all survived a midair collision t happened saturday over superior, wisconsin, near the border with minnesota. elaine quijano is with us. >> reporter: good morning to you charlie. it was supposed to be a routine formation jump. all the skydiverss involved wer instructors or coaches. what ended up happening instead was nothing short of miraculous. faa investigators spent sunday examining what was left of the cessna 182, after it collided with another cessna, 12,000 feet in the air. >> we were on the step getting ready to leave the aircraft when they collided. >> reporter: skydive instructor mike robinson and his colleagues were just seconds away from doing a formation

. >> next we have senator kelly ayotte. senator, welcome back. >> thanks, david. >> i know there is a delay between us and we'll bear through that. respond to leader pelosi who, in effect, says there is some hysteria politically around all this, these things will get righted and ultimately people will see the benefits of the affordable care act. do you not see it that way? >> no matter how much congresswoman pelosi tries to spin this, this is a mess, david. i'll tell you what i'm hearing from my constituents. they're writing me about cancellation notices of plans they wanted to keep, rising premiums so some of their deductibles are doubling, they're paying more for health care, people losing hours because the definition of the work week is 30 hours. in new hampshire there is only one insurer on the exchange. 10 of our 26 hospitals are excluded. so this really is a mess, so she can try to spin it, but this -- i think it's time -- the president said he fumbled the rollout. it's time for a time-out which i've been calling for

next we have senator kelly ayotte. nator, welcome back. >> thanks, david. >> iknow there is a delay between us and we'll bear through that. respond to leader pelosi who, in effect, says there is some hysteria politically around all this, tse things wil get rited andltimately peoplez t -- will see the benefits of the affordable careact. do you not see it that way? >> no matt how much congressman pelo tries spin ths, this is a mess, davi i'llell you what i'm hearing from my constituents. they're iting me about cancellation notices of plans ey nted to keep, rising premiums so some of their deductibles are doubling, they're payng more for heah care, pele losing hours because the definition of the wo week is 30 hours. in new hampshire there is only one insurer on the exchange. 10f our 26 hospitals are excluded. so this really is amess, so s canry to spin , but this -- i think it time -- the president said he fumbled t llout. it's timeor a time-out which i've been calling for so we can go back to the drawing board and really

i'm not sure but why not have senator pat twomey and kelly ayotte and this new crop of conservatives -- why not give them a chance to get things done? it seems they are being labeled the establishment now, two. why should they pay? 10 years ago, republican was a bad thing but maybe move past that. host: i want to show our viewers the female vote in the new jersey race to compare. the female vote for chris christie, 57% compared to his female opponent who garnered 42% of the female vote in that state. guest: absolutely, chris christie had a great night. one thing to learn is clearly you can be a conservative. chris christie is a conservative. he defunded planned parenthood in new jersey. and yet his priority has always been helping people in new jersey, standing up for them against washington, helping them overcome the hurricane. you can be a hard-core conservative and also give the sense that you care about getting things done in standing up for your voters. that's a big key. one got the sense in virginia that cucinelli was more it just it in ideas and being a cultural warrior. it is

. >> that's why i think suzanna martinez, kellie ayotte -- >> should gender be a factor? does that represent the change candidate, just the fact she's a woman? >> most people would say, look, we want to make the decision on merit, but obviously there's a huge magnetic quality to have been the first woman vice president or president. that's a big thing. >> let me ask you a question. you were part of a primary process, a lot of people feel like hillary might just romp to the nomination. people thought romney suffered by going through -- >> do you think. >> let's keep in mind that nearly 3 years out, they are littered with people who are inevitable. >> it will be -- >> the one person we're not talking about is joe biden. how miffed would you be if you were the sitting vice president for two terms, you ran for president yourself twice, you were brought in for your experience, he is an afterthought. why why is that? >> because hillary clinton came this close, very, very close to becoming the nominee of the democratic party. i think because of that, and because so many people w

kelly ayotte is in studio 57. we'll talk with her about that and the obama care crisis. >>> cbs takes you on board one of the first flights allowing some electronics being used from takeoff to landing. which airlines have already put the changes into effect that's ahead. >>> a search for answers and a sigh of relief, a group of skydivers and two pilots all survived a midair collision t happened saturday over superior wisconsin, near the border with minnesota. elaine quijano is with us. >> reporter: good morning to you charlie. it was supposed to be a routine formation jump. all the skydiverss involved were instructors or coaches. what ended up happening instead was nothing short of miraculous. faa investigators spent sunday examining what was left of the cessna 182, after it collided with another cessna 12,000 feet in the air. >> we were on the step getting ready to leave the aircraft when they collided. >> reporter: skydive instructor mike robinson and his colleagues were just seconds away from doing a formation

so they're going -- they -- kelly ayotte and rob portman secured a vote on their amendment that deals more with antiretaliation issues or religious groups. they look as a way of strengthening protections for religious organizations in the employee nondiscrimination act. senator toomey is going have another religion-related amendment. it's going broaden the number of groups that qualify under the religious exemption. senator merkley, who is kind of the bellwether for -- the chief sponsor said last night he supports the proposal for ayotte and portman, not so sure about toomey. so that's the fate of that legislation is -- the fate of that measure is still unclear. they will get votes on both of them. >> will the senate vote on the bill before thanking giving? >> that's the plan. majority leader harry reid said we're going get it done. please, he said the senators he doesn't believe senators need use all the time left on the clock for debate on this bill. it's set to, i mean, after you vote on the couple of amendments it's set to pass in the coming days. we don't know exactly when. but t

senator ayotte, good to seeu as well. and, yes, to answer your question our lawsuit was brought under our tennessee consumer protection act. saying that these practice practice were falsely misleading. >> has that been a good tool for ag. is it a sufficient enough tool? i guess i pose as well we have the panel here. the way i see this right now we have the authority of the state ag under the consumer protection act. so you action that the ftc could take. then we now have the cfpb working on the issue. mrs. pee tray yous, thank you for everything do you. how do they fit together to make sure we maximize getting out i know all of you are talking about education. and i fully agree part of what we do on our consumer protection sackett making examples of people so other people can understand not to fall or a scam. i wanted to get your thought. you think the consumer protection act is a good vehicle at the state level. how do you think about the three agencies working together best to make sure that we're working together. doin

ayotte: thank you, mr. president. i came to the floor yesterday to share so many stories that i'm receiving from my constituents about them receiving cancellations for policies that they wanted to keep, higher premiums under this law. each story is very sad, and i feel badly for the people of my state and across this country who are suffering under this law. my constituents are pleading for relief. here's just one example. a small business from peterb0oro, new hampshire, who voted for president obama twice told me her family has a household income of $50,000, and their total health insurance will now cost over $19,000 for the year. which is more than their more than. and their local hospital isn't even on the exchange because in new hampshire we only have one insurer on the exchange and 10 of our 26 hospitals have been excluded from that exchange. this constituent from peterboro wrote to me, "we are frustrated, afraid and angry beyond words. i urge a postponement of implementation of the affordable care act while thos

senator ayotte. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you for hold holding the important hearing. let me follow up as to what senator tester said. as i understand it, so in the case of mr. alexis, opm did actually go the seattle police department to get the underlying police report? >> no. they can d not. -- we did not because we do a lot of investigations and our understanding was that seattle didn't name kind of information available. they routinely referred us the state of washington data base. that's where we went. we didn't try to get the underlying police report. we just -- the decision of opm was just that we've dealt with seattle in the past, they won't give us a report. well with there is certain -- our obligation to find out the dispositions or charges. it's not if we decided we're not going make an effort. based upon the fact in the past -- it occurs with other jurisdictions they will refer us to another data base. that's what they did. we did not go -- in this particular case and say you depart from the policy

with that, our distinguished colleague, this senator kelly ayotte. >> thank-you very much, chairman, ranking member, hon. members of the committee. i am deeply humbled to be here today, first of all. my primary permits to the purpose in being here today is to read this statement of senator robert dole, someone who was an extraordinary leader in the united states senate. he is someone who was a role model in terms of what it means to be a public service, and we all appreciate that he is inter-american hero with the service that he gave to our country. i am deeply honored to be here. personally support what this committee is doing, the convention and the rights for persons with disabilities i think is very, very important for us to work together to get this passed. and so i look forward to working with the chairman and other members of the committee to do that and to address any concerns that members of the committee may have to read my primary purpose of being here today is to read this statement of senator robert dole, and so i will do that now. chairman menendez, ranking member cork

[applause] now i know, i know that people like mitch mcconnell and kelly ayotte -- [booing] i know they have been trying to distance themselves from the tea party ever since they nearly drove our country into default. but the truth is, sadly, there is very little difference today between the tea party and so- called mainstream republicans. just ask carol shea-porter. just ask annie kuster. they see it every day in the now sadly unrepresentative house of representatives -- [applause] yes, there is very little daylight between the tea party and the republican party. think about it. both would have millionaires do less. cut taxes for multinationals. reduce social security benefits and medicare coverage, cut student loans, cut veterans benefits, invest less in education, invest less in affordable college, do less to combat climate change, do less on gun safety, do less on immigration, and keep people trying to survive on the minimum wage from ever earning another penny. the only think they want more of the only think they want more of is rush limbaugh. [booing] rush limbaugh is not an appla

i understand that -- that there's already a statement been made about the ayotte; -- is that correct? on guantanamo. and she's ready to debate and i think senator levin has a side-by-side amendment that he is ready to debate, too. so that, in my opinion, about as far as we've come on progress and i'd withhold any other comments i'd make until after the chairman has made his comments, which will probably be after -- after lunch. oh, by the way, i would continue -- i would ask our members to continue to file all the amendments that they can have just in anticipation that we're, as we have in the past, ultimately come to that conclusion that we're going to have amendments. hopefully. a senator: mr. president? mr. reed: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i have a unanimous consent that's been approved by the majority and minority leaders and i'd like to present it at this time. mr. president, i have six unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority an

sexual assault issue be equally divided between senator senator gillibrand on one-sided and senator ayotte and senator mccaskill on the other side. >> without objection. >> and i would yield five minutes of senator ayotte's time to the senator from missouri. >> the senator from missouri. >> the think you senator mccaskill might colleague from missouri for yielding. i want to thank senator mccaskill and senator gillibrand for the focus they have made on this issue. they have clearly been at the frontlines of changing the underlying bill. two things that senator gillibrand said that i want to agree with you the underlying bill is strong and it's a step in the right direction and the a result of our committee debate, our committee action and i think i heard the senator from new york say she was hoarding the mccaskill amendment which adds even additional things to that and i also am supporting the amendment. it does a number of things that i think make the bill even stronger. it says the commanders reevaluated based on this is one of the factors. no longer will this just be something that happ

like senator ayotte, i'm a former prosecutor, and the vast majority of cases that would review a mental disturbance will not have a disposition. the criminal justice system does a very bad job of adjudicating the mentally ill, because the mentally ill really, for a prosecutor's standpoint, if they haven't hurt anyone, putting them in prison sometimes creates more problems than it solves. so most prosecutors, when they are confronted with a mentally ill issue, like someone who says they've heard voices, someone where the police has been called to a motel room on a disturbance where someone says there's microwaves coming through the vents and someone is -- people are here to get me, they will do a police report and most of the time the police department won't even try to file charges. that is a disturbance call that is related to someone in their minds, they do this all the time. now, that is not something that -- especially in a city as large as seattle or a city as large as kansas city or a city as large as st. louis, that kind of disturbance call, where someone is making a racket becau