A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from arkansas. A senator are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are in a quorum call. Mr. Pryor i would ask that it be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Pryor mr. President , i rise to talk about the business on the floor, which is the omnibus appropriation bill. Let me start by thanking chairwoman mikulski for her leadership. She has put long hours in this over the christmas and new years break where most people were home with families and doing things in their home state and on vacation, she never stopped working, and her team, her staff on the Appropriations Committee never stopped working, and the staff as always is kind of the unsung hero around here. They did so many great things to put this together, both democrats, republicans, house and senate. Everybody had to Work Together to get this done. Im proud that they did. Im also proud to be the one of the appropriations subCommittee C
Mr. Chairman, let me start with a few general comments. As i think you indicated in your remarks and i think that all of us have underscored the region as a whole has a great importance and a lot to offer in terms of security and u. S. Interests. So one of our challenges has been to ensure through our diplomatic and other engagements that we can work with the governments of all four countries in ways that support each other. And clearly as i was underscoring in my remarks i think that rocco and algeria morocco and algeria can be helpful to libya so one of the issues the colleague can address is to try to use those strengths to security support throughout the region. Likewise, in terms of economic development, unfortunately it is a region in which it isnt sufficient economic integration that drives down the economic prospects of the region. So one of our efforts come and again some of the lines of activity that we are seeking to try to break down the barriers and encourage that kind of
For them onxt a tactical context we will agree with them. They are fighting other oppositions groups. Given this relationship of convenience, as you described coordinating going on, sharing a bit of information and equipment that goes on between extremist elements and moderate elements. That is hard to say. Ofs is a very fluid kind thing. ,here are 1600 of these groups various fighting groups. They realign themselves constantly. It is hard to make generalized statements. Moderates were seized by some Islamist Groups in december. Was he involved in that seizure . Research tove to see what groups are involved. I dont know off the top of my head. Is there anything that was seized in connection with that rate in december that has been subsequently used by any of the extremist groups . We do not know. I cannot say. Iranian Nuclear Capabilities and the Ongoing Nuclear negotiations are obviously of enormous interest to this committee and congress. I would like to focus on a different aspect o
The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Alexander i want to join in this a little bit because i recognize two things about the senator from oklahoma, one, hes been out front in trying as the senator from maryland said get value for the taxpayers dollar and second, hes working in a cooperative way to help us get a result. Those are two great characteristics in a body of 100 people that operates by unanimous consent. Im grateful for that. On the first point i agree with the Early Childhood money. We really have about 18 billion there. From various streams of federal dollars that are aimed at children below 5 or 6. Then we have state dollars, then we have local dollars, then we have private dollars, and weve grappled with ways to try to make sure we spend that more effectively. One way is to emphasize centers of excellence like nashville or denver or jersey city where they try to put all that money together. Im committed to work with senator harkin and senator mikulski to ta
Active communities that we have had in a long time. And that says a lot, because we have an active community. We have a active community. And we have our first ajamb stream promo from angel. So Community Keep tweeting at us at hashtag ajamstream. Women make up 14 of the active duty military, but until recently they werent allowed to work in Ground Combat jobs, but a decision by leon panetta lifted that ban, and put a deadline of january 1st, 2016, to open all of the jobs or prove why women arent fit. I think its a great thing. I think its a step forward to more equal opportunity for women. I think some females should be allowed in combat. I dont feel it is for every female. They should be able to do everything exactly to what the guys have to do, and if im just concerned that it would cause problems with the mission. For the women that have served in combat zones, i have not seen a huge number of women that wanteded this. With 55 of female marine recruits failing the pullup test, the c