Minority leader harry reid congratulated chris murphy for leading the 15hour debate against gun violence on wednesday in the senate. His remarks were followed by Mitch Mcconnell criticizing senate crast democrats for the debate calling it a talkathon. This is 20 minutes. Mr. President . For 14 hours and 50 minutes, beginning Late Wednesday morning and ending early thursday morning, the entire nation watched the senator from connecticut teach our republican colleagues a lesson and another things not the least of which is courage. It is easy to say we stood for 14 hours. We talk a lot about filibusters in the senate. They dont happen very often. I have been in congress for 34 heres and i have probably led two more than anyone else. They dont happen much. There are a lot of fake filibusters but this was real. I admire and appreciate the junior senator from connecticut very much. Four days after 49 innocent americans were gunned down in a nightclub, senator murphy stood here as indicated f
[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] Foreign Relations committee will come to order. This morning we will look at how we are moving beyond the war on drugs was in the broader challenges of transnational organized crime and what strategies can be effective in combating this threat. While Illegal Drugs and crime associate with them are still Devastating Community on both sides of our southern border, its not yet clear successful the huge investors made over the decades have made in eradicating supply and production. The bottom line is this. Where the rule of law is weak or nonexistent, Transnational Criminal Organizations will prosper in engage in corruption. In 2011 the Obama Administration issued a strategy to combat transnational organized crime. This was an ambitious aspiration strategy that sought an evolution in thinking. Now nearly five years later we need to ask what is working and what is not so we can get this right moving forward. I witnessed today is ambassador
This issue for about eight years. The conversations are moving to action. So today id like to focus on four specific areas. As supporting those most at risk and the importance of research. In iavas annual member survey, over 80 of they continue to mismgs the role of the family and friends with over many 5 . Ened as a result getting that help. For those in care, three of four of our members are yew the v. A. Which is up so , and comparable with those yew the with more help seekers, its critical to ensure that the proper is resourced. Its a Different Task of hiring and retaining talent. The hire process is confusing and lengthy, at times deterring or rejecting qualified we need to know how best and to use updated where the need is. Climate surveying, v. A. Is using staff. We obvious who support v. A. Says missions, some of who is are members. Our members have shared stories relaying how they individual saved their lives. Finally need to ensure that high quality care, just under 40 actual
Game of governing and politics. Phil, you made a point that tweeting wasnt the same. Some people dont know what the hell it is now but it has changed dramatically since 2008. I put it even further context in, when i was in the white house, a couple of oust would meet up with leon panetta every night and we would look at the three tvs, abc, cbs, whatever the other one was and, see whether our good stories had risen or whether the bad stories had gone down. You could see wolf kind of standing out in the yard there without even an umbrella sometimes. That was a good day if your good story was up. Or down. That was all we dealt with. Now the, the onslaught of information, moving information all sorts of sinister reasons has fundamentally changed governing and strategies. Just three things that kind of pop out to me. And just in phrases. Its, what i hear you guys saying is that that youre underlying fundamental belief that people are coming to washington to get something done. You have look
Their young men and women providing security, increasing pride. We laid out a Campaign Objective and we wanted to be emerge with competent Afghan Forces. But as importantly credible in the eyes of the Afghan People. The polling data shows that we are consistently over 80 shows that consist way over 80 of people have confidence in the Afghan Security forces. We had a pretty sad incident take place where 21 Afghan Forces were killed. That negative was turned into a positive in the wake of that event. The outpouring of pride and support for Afghan Forces, the desire to take care of the families of the fallen, the outrage the Afghan People have felt was actually a great indicator of the developing nationalism inside of afghanistan, the pride the Afghan People have their in their country, but more importantly the pride in the Afghan Forces. That has clearly had a positive affect on the forces themselves. If the people are proud of them and what they do and they appreciate and recognize what