senator lamar alexander, we are sitting in the senate health education labor and pensions committee room. you have chaired this panel for about a third of your senate career. why this committee? sen. alexander: ted kennedy used to say there is a lot that comes through here. if you want to fix something, this is where you come. if you want to get medical miracles into the doctor s office rapidly, you come here to pass 21st century cures. the opioid crisis, here. the big argument over labor, here. a lot happens here. we have 23 members in the senate, from elizabeth warren to bernie sanders to rand paul. so, if we can get a consensus here, we figured the country can live with it as well. highlight your chairmanship over the years? sen. alexander: highlights? well, one emotional highlight was when i was sitting there at nd all 23 senators voted to report the bill fixing no child left behind. it may sound silly to viewers, but think about elementary and secondary education. i
miracles into the doctor s office rapidly, you come here to pass 21st century cures. the opioid crisis, here. the big argument over labor, here. a lot happens here. we have 23 members in the senate, from elizabeth warren to bernie sanders to rand paul. so, if we can get a consensus here, we figured the country can live with it as well. highlight your chairmanship over the years? sen. alexander: highlights? well, one emotional highlight was when i was sitting there at nd all 23 senators voted to report the bill fixing no child left behind. it may sound silly to viewers, but think about elementary and secondary education. i mean, everybody is an expert. it s like being at the university of tennessee s football stadium, with 100,000 people, all of whom have played a little football, so they know what play to call. that is the way they all were. everything from sexual orientation to common core. yet we were able to agree on a bill that the teachers unions and the governors asso
sen. alexander: ted kennedy used to say there is a lot that comes through here. if you want to fix something, this is where you come. if you want to get medical miracles into the doctor s office rapidly, you come here to pass 21st century cures. there s an opioid crisis? here. the big argument over labor? here. a lot happens here. we have 23 members in the senate, from elizabeth warren to bernie sanders to rand paul. so, if we can get a consensus here, we figure the country can live with it as well. highlights your chairmanship over the years? over the years? sen. alexander: highlights? well, one emotional highlight was when i was sitting there at nd all 23 senators voted to report the bill fixing no child left behind. it may sound silly to viewers, but think about elementary and secondary education. i mean, everybody is an expert. it s like being at the university of tennessee s football stadium, with 100,000 people, all of whom have played a little football, so they know
if you want to get medical miracles into a doctor s office more rapidly, you come here. if there is an opioid crisis, here. big argument over labor, here. so a lot happens here. we ve got 23 members of the senate, from elizabeth warren and bernie sanders to rand paul. so if we can get a consensus here, we think the country can live with it as well. greta: highlights of your chairmanship over the years? senator alexander: one emotional highlight was when i was sitting there and all 23 senators voted to report the bill fixing no child left behind. it may sound silly, but think about the elementary and secondary education. and everybody is an expert. it is like being in the university of tennessee football stadium with 100,000 people, all of whom played a little football, so they know what play to call. that is the way we are with everything from sexual orientation to common core, yet we were able to agree on a bill that the teachers union and governors association and state sch
from these senate democrats and take you inside the senate chamber as the senate returns for afternoon business. we will have this online for you. senate democrats on c-span.org and get more on our network, later on today. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that at 5:30 p.m. on monday, september 24, the senate proceed to executive session for the en bloc consideration of the following nominations. executive calendar 849 and 850. i further ask there be ten minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form and following the use of yielding back of time the senate vote on the nominations en bloc with no intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc, the president be immediately notified of the senate s action, that no further motions be in order and that any statements relating