minnesota. a vote on that advice:30. a vote on that at 5:30. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. infinite spirit, your thoughts are too high for us to comprehend and your ways are past finding out. you transform our discordant notes into harmony, and your goodness and mercy pursue us. abide with our senators.

give them the insight to discern truth from falsehood, the high from the low, and the enduring from the transient. impart to them a perspective that will enable them to find the right path. god, bless america. may we not forget that without you, no nation can long endure. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: it's clear that many americans are concerned about the about the administration's ability to properly vet thousands of individuals from syria and from iraq. elected officials in both parties have expressed concerns as well, as have administration officials. that's why many americans are asking us to take a step back

and press pause on the program so we can ensure we have the correct policies and security screenings actually in place. the senate will consider ballots , bipartisan legislation tomorrow to do just that. passing the american safe act which the house has already done with a bipartisan, veto-proof margin, would show americans that their concerns of being heard -- are being heard here in washington. the aim is to ensure that we have facts first so that we can help advance america's tradition of compassion and address the legitimate concerns of her citizens at the same time. i'll have more to say on this legislation tomorrow, but i would urge colleagues across the aisle to treat this issue with the seriousness that it deserves. this debate should be driven by facts and common sense, not fearmongering about targeting widows and orphans or other strawman arguments that the white house has made from time to time.

americans deserve a vetting process they can have confidence in, and frankly the refugees coming to this country deserve one, too. safeguards that weed out isil sympathizers can help ensure legitimate refugees to our country or not unfairly stigmatized. the american people are concerned, and they're looking to us to lead with both safety and compassion. i'm calling on colleagues to help us do so tomorrow by advancing this balanced and bipartisan legislation. also, mr. president, later this afternoon, i will be meeting with malcolm turnbull, the prime minister of one of our closest allies, australia. our alliance with canberra is an important one and our countries share many fundamental values, and i'm looking forward to meeting the prime minister. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the minority leader.

mr. reid: on the legislation about which the republican leader spoke, i will have more to say about that tomorrow. we're going to have a vote tomorrow afternoon on that as to whether or not we should move to the bill. mr. president, along with the rest of the world, i was pleased to learn this weekend that five political prisoners were finally released and will soon be home with their families from iran. these americans were unjustly held. i'm glad they will soon be in the arms of loved ones once again. preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is one of the most pressing national security challenges of our generation. a nuclear-armed iran is a threat to the national security of the united states, the state of israel and the world. last summer, i announced my support for the historic nuclear agreement the united states and the global community made with iran. this agreement required iran to take steps to ensure that its nuclear infrastructure could not be used to build a nuclear bomb.

these steps include, among other things, dismantling thousands and thousands of centrifuges that are used to enrich uranium. the steps include removal iran of its enriched uranium, thus reducing the stockpile and eliminating the core of its plutonium reactor. the end result of these steps is that iran's breakout time, the time it takes to make enough physical material to build a bomb, has been extended from a matter of a few weeks to a year and scientists say much, much longer. over the weekend, the national atomic energy agency confirmed iran had successfully implemented these initial requirements, an important next act in the implementation of the nuclear agreement. i applaud president obama, secretary of state john kerry, secretary of energy dr. ernest moniz and under secretary wendy sherman for using america's

diplomatic power to make the world a safer place. this diplomatic approach also avoids the significant costs and risks a military option would pose. one need only look at iraq to find out what military options cost. trillions of dollars, because of the worst foreign policy decision in the history of our country, the invasion of iraq. hundreds of thousands of people dead, millions have been displaced. thousands of americans are dead. tens of thousands badly wounded. the diplomatic approach avoids the, i repeat, costs and risks the nuclear option posed. no one, though, should think that all the components of the joint comprehensive plan of action have been completed. they haven't been. we're now at the beginning of a critical period where iran must allow unprecedented inspections,

signed to allow international communities to know that if iran tries to break out and race toward building a nuclear weapon, we'll know about it. iran poses a threat to our nation's most supportive ally in the middle east, the state of israel. for my four decades, congress, the safety and security of the israeli people have been the utmost importance to me and congress generally, as you can see, with the results of the last four decades. we must do everything. we must strive to protect the israeli people. that's why iran must be held accountable for any action that it takes to oppose a threat to that small democracy. iran must never obtain a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. i'm pleased that the administration announced it would pull sanctions on individuals and companies providing support to iran's

ballistic missile program. one thing is clear. iran must continue to be monitored with intense scrutiny. i remain concerned about iran's ongoing human rights abuses and political oppression. iran also remains a state sponsor of terrorism, using its proxies against israel against our interests throughout the middle east. congress must accept the critical role we play in providing a vigorous oversight of the iran agreement and iran's compliance with the agreement. and monitoring iran's actions in the region. this past weekend marked a key step forward to ensure iran never gains access to a nuclear weapon. mr. president, we should always remember the iran deal, as it's been called, the iran deal, was to stop iran from having the nuclear weapons capability. that has been accomplished. i look forward to working with my colleagues to keep iran accountable, to preserve the national security of both this

nation and our ally, the state of israel. on another subject, mr. president, this morning, the supreme court announced its decision to review the fifth circuit's illogical ruling on president obama's executive actions on immigration. it was only a question of time that it would come because the action of the appellate court was so out of line with precedent. i'm pleased with the supreme court's decision to take a look at this case. the president's executive actions rely on well-established constitutional authority, and i have full confidence that the supreme court will rule that these programs can be implement ed. i met while i was home recently with the undocumented parents of u.s. citizens and lawful permanent residents. instead of having the peace of mind that come with these deferred action, these law-abiding men and women, young and old, continue to live in constant fear of being separated from their families. they must be allowed to vacate

the shadows and contribute to the country they love and call home. mr. president, what is the schedule of the senate this afternoon? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:00 p.m., with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. i see no one on the floor, so i would ask that the court declare there -- would demand a quorum call. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, have you ever flown a drone? you know, it used to be that you had to fly helicopters, or it used to be that you'd fly what we call unmanned aerial

vehicles, the ones that have been so helpful to us in the war against terror. that would usually be an air force pilot. but now you can go down to best buy or to walgreens or to your hobby shop and you can buy a drone this big. if it's an older model, it'll cost you $100. if it's a newer model, it'll cost you $500. and you can have a lot of fun. as a matter of fact, i can't wait until they develop the drones which they are testing right now that i can sit on and that i can go from point "a" to point "b" and avoid the red lights and the traffic jams and

so forth. but along with this new technology comes some certainly new challenges. and so, as our commerce committee is approaching the f.a.a. bill, the federal aviation administration reauthorization, otherwise of which in a couple of months that authorization law expires, we're going to have to address the issue of drones because we have had now a number of near misses of drones. a study just in december came out. 241 near misses. as a matter of fact, the new york area airports clearly had the most with, in this study

period, of 86. but my state of florida had both miami and orlando with a substantial number. most of the major metropolitan areas' airports of the entire country, los angeles, 39 near misses, chicago, boston -- i mean, you can go over the entire country. and a substantial number. another report that came out just at the end of last year pointed out that just in september there were 122 incidents, and just in october there were 137 incidents. mr. president, if a seagull

sucked into the jet engines of usairways could cause the complete loss of power that captain sully sullenberger had to, since he couldn't get to an emergency landing in a field, he had to put it down in the h.u.d. son-- in the hudson river. in a seagull with flesh and blood and seagull bones and web feet sucked into the engines can stall out a jet engine, you can imagine what a drone that you buy at best buy, this big, made of plastic but metal parts, such as the camera -- you can imagine what that would do, and it is

just a matter of time ... unless we take action. now, i got a picture here. i'd like to zero in on this. this is a drone the size that i just showed with my arms flying past a palm tree in my state of florida. but if that drone goes higher, higher than the f.a.a. limit right now of 400 feet, and gets into the flight path of an incoming airliner or one that is outbound, then we have a major disaster on our hands. and we want creativity. we want inventiveness. this is a new technology, and i.tit'sgreat.

look at what you can do now with aerial photography that you don't have to go and rent an airline. look, howevers at what i howeves being used for. did you know that drones are being used to go over a prison wall and deliver contraband? and how about the reverse of getting messages out? and so, obviously, the government is going to have to get into it one way or another. now, one thunk that yo one thino with this technology, you could require the software to be put in these drones that would prohibit it from getting close to an airport. there is that kind of technolo technology. i suppose you could put the software in it that would

prohibit it from getting above a certain altitude. but the question is, when somebody breaks those limits, how do you go about identifying it? should there be some kind of registration of them? should there in fact evening be licensure -- even be licens lic? we probably don't have to worry about the commercial uses such as aerial photographery because those users are going to be very careful. however, for the hobbyist or the kid that can now go and purchase it ands, an, and you see the probabilities of an accident waiting to happen. now, i don't have the answer, but in the next two months, as we're getting ready on the

f.a.a. bill, we're going to have to come up with some answers. so i raise this issue for the senate. it is a real problem. we've got to face it. we've got to address it, and we've got to prevent these kinds of terrible accidents that can occur if we do nothing. mr. president, i intend to do something on the commerce committee. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. a senator: move that we vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: ask permission to speak. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. blunt: mr. president, i want to talk today about something that got overlooked i think late in the year as we passed the surface transportation bill, the highway bill. as you'll recall, it was called the fix america's surface transportation act, or the fast

act. it wasn't very fast. i was glad to see the president sign the law last month. it's one of the things that people understand they can't do for themselves -- defend the country, have a transportation system that works, take advantage of who we are as a nation, located in strategically as fine a place as you could be located to do business and create jobs and have opportunity all over the world. and the fast act in my state would provide $5 billion to missouri over the next five years to improve our roads, our bridges, our rail system. that's about the amount of money we'll send in over the next five years. so we're either slightly a donee state or slightly a donor state. we might be better off if we kept all the money, but that's not what's happening right now. we're certainly better off if we know what the highway program

looks like for five years. an effective transportation plan is good for the country, but is particularly good where i live. if you look at any map of river structure of the country or any railroad map of the country or any highway map of the country, a significant part of coming together of all three of those things -- rail, water, highways -- all happen right where we live. and because we are the hub of the railway, the highway, the water system, it's really important that we have a system that makes the most of that where we live. i told the missouri general assembly when i had a chance to speak to the house of representatives in jefferson city over the first week of the year, this is a competitive advantage for us, but we need to make the most of it. and when we've had the highway bill that we've had in the five

years you and i have served in the senate, mr. president, nobody could rely on anything. this is the first five-year bill we've had in 17 years, but before 2009, we just ended a four-year highway bill. and then since 2009, we've had 37 short-term extensions of the highway bill. so if there's anything fast about the fast act, it certainly wasn't quickly getting to a highway bill that works. the longest of those 37 extensions was two years. i think the second longest may have been six months. and not only is that no way to build roads and bridges, but it's clearly no way for legislators to have an idea in our home states how to respond to that plan. because by the time you figure out how to respond to the plan, how you can maximize it to the advantage of your state or my state or anybody else's, how we

can maximize that plan to our advantage, the plan's over wh. by the time you have a legislative session and look at the plan and the state department of transportation analyzes it, you start talking about it, the six-month extension of the highway bill is over. or even the two-year extension. there are all kinds of studies that indicate a significant loss of what you can buy with the money you're spending if the highway bill is two years or less. i think the discounts about 30%, because people don't bid as competitively as they would bid to be part of those projects. they're not willing to move people to where a major project needs to occur. they don't buy -- they can't buy the equipment and plan to depreciate it out. and so you wind up paying a lot of more than that you would have to pay. and that's where we've been since 2009. and the states have been in a place where they didn't have any way to maximize a federal

program because the federal program was gone before they could really calculate how they could most take advantage of it. so i hope that now we do one of the things that really people expect the government to do, one of the reasons they pay the taxes and one of the reasons the tax for transportation has always been pretty well received is people think okay, i pay a tax when i fill up my car with gasoline, fill up my car with diesel, fill up my truck with diesel, my truck with fuel. when i do that, i pay a tax and then i use the roads. so that seems fairer to people than most taxes. but we haven't had a system that allows us to make the most of that. in our state, 22% of missouri's major roads are considered now in poor condition. the american society of engineers gives us a "c."

and this is one of the areas where we would want to be an "a." if you're a "c" instead of an "a" the average missouri motorist pays about $400 more a year in extra maintenance because we're trying to maintain a system that has gotten in a poor condition. 44% of our highways are congest ed. congestion costs motorists lots of money in just wasted fuel. you don't have to spend much time around washington in a car to realize how much time you can waste in traffic. but we see that happening more and more all over the country. we have in our state more bridges than any other state, and they are among the worst conditions of the country. with 30% of our bridges rated as structurally deficient or functional obsolete. there's just a tiger grant awarded to replace the champ clark bridge across the

mississippi river that i believe was built in 1919. and if that bridge has to be shut down before it can be replaced or would have been shut down, the detour to get where that bridge gets you is 75 or 80 miles driving around to get where that bridge currently takes people. we have lots of bridges in our state that are county bridges. they're not state bridges. i talked to county commissioners. one of their principle concerns is what the fund that helps us with our off-system bridges. senator casey and i created a fund to do this in 2012. we added it to the 2012 highway bill. and since then, it's provided about $775 million annually to states. and out of that state fund, whenever you're part of the

off-system road system, the system pays 85% of a bridge that the county otherwise in most cases wouldn't be able to replace. we have one county that i think has 4,000 people and 40 bridges. that's a lot of bridges for 4,000 people to try to be responsible. it's our smallest county, and that's maybe a different debate. but they have 40 bridges. we have lots of bridges in our state. the county road -- county bridge system has about 50% of all the bridges we have in missouri. the bridge system, the highway system critical to us if we want to compete. and as the middle of the country grows things and makes things, it's a great opportunity for us to get things not just on to the river system and on to the railway system all over the country and all over the world.

transportation really matters. the fast act -- and i have a hard time saying the fast act without thinking how slow the fast act really was in getting passed -- the fast act creates two freight-based programs that allow states to compete for funding for major projects. we need to figure out in a world where we want to compete, how we can compete more effectively. how do you get things places that are made? how do you get things that are grown? how do you get things that are needing to be shipped? how do you get them places in a better way? in the life of this bill, the state of missouri should receive about $150 million to look at those freight projects because those projects and the effective use of how you get things places creates jobs. we see the missouri department of transportation has already

developed a state freight plan to encourage strategies. now this bill makes that plan more of a reality. the fast-track also includes some help for our nation's rail systems. i had a bill, the track, rail and infrastructure network act, that allows, when you're improving a railroad system, that you have the same kind of streamlining that we recently were able to provide for highway construction. where you don't get caught up on something that has to be needlessly litigated for long periods of time when in fact what you really need to be doing is getting that highway finished. and the highway part of this bill, or have the expediteed ability for these issues to go to the top of the list to get resolved so that people can get the things that they make, where they want to get them.

they can get the things they buy quicker than they would get them otherwise. they can get to work, they can get to school, they can get to the hospital when somebody is sick. i mention that, particularly we just had floods in our state in the last few days, and for awhile interstate 70, interstate 44, interstate 55 were all three closed. there was a time when two of those were closed at the same time, and they were closed for 24, 36 hours, and it makes a difference in how people are able to live their lives. the permitting improvement act that i cosponsored was also included in the bill. this is a piece of legislation that senator portman and senator mccaskill introduced that will now allow better coordination between deadline setting for permitting decisions, the same

kind of thingdz -- thing for highways that we're also doing for railroads that makes this important transportation system work. winston churchill once looking at the united states said we were the best located country in the world. an ocean on either side, neighbors that we could deal with north and south, and the ability to get anywhere would be another addition to that location advantage we have. the fast act includes two important provisions to give relief to electricity providers. one is a law that creates emergency route working groups for electricity and other things to where you have a vehicle that needs to get from oakland, missouri, to jop lan, missouri you don't have to get it authorized to come across that

state line in what's been declared an emergency. the same thing would have happened in recent days in the, in several places in our state close to a border, close to the equipment they need. but because of -- and the flood means there's an emergency. well now those vehicles can cross the state line without having the special permission that had to be received in the past. secondly, the grid reliability act i introduced with my missouri colleague, senator mccaskill, this just simply allows reliability if you have two conflicting federal agencies, one saying you can only use that plant so much of the time and another one saying we've got an electric emergency. you have to use every facility you've got to provide the electricity that's needed. that can now be done. so many committees of jurisdiction here -- the

commerce committee that i'm a member of, certainly the committee that is focused on infrastructure, focused on ports and other things that i haven't mentioned a lot but really important. i've mentioned it other times on the floor of the senate. this is one of the great accomplishments, i think, of the last congress, or the first year of this congress that may easily go overlooked. but i can tell you that county officials all over america and state legislative bodies all over america are looking at this bill and figuring out how do we use this as a way to move our transportation system into the 21st century? how do we use this to help provide opportunity? how do we use this to help provide the kinds of jobs that provide the kind of pay that families need to live on and live the kind of life they would like to live? and so, mr. president, i look

forward to seeing this bill implemented. i think all of us need to watch carefully to be sure that we're making the most of one of the responsibilities of government: defending the country, having the transportation system that works are both things that individuals and families can't do for themselves. and i believe the fast act gives us a the better chance than we've had since 2009 to look at the future with a greater degree of certainty and to work in an area that is critically important for the country but even more important for missouri and others who live in the middle of these transportation networks where they come together. i would yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. blunt: mr. president, i move that the quorum call be suspended. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to benjamin reinke, congressional fellow with the committee on energy and natural resources, effective today through december 31, 2016. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: and with that, mr. president, i'd suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. officer without objection. mr. grassley: tomorrow the senate will vote on the motion to proceed to h.r. 4038, also known as the american security against foreign enemies act. this bill would prohibit the admission into the united states of refugees from iraq and syria or any other refugee who has been present in those countries in the last five years unless that person receives a thorough background investigation. the bill would require the director of the f.b.i. to certify to the secretary of homeland security and also to

the director of national intelligence that each of those persons has received a background investigation that is sufficient to determine whether he or she is a threat to the security of the united states. then a second provision, the secretary of homeland security, with unanimous concurrence of the director of the f.b.i. and the director of national intelligence, would have to certify to congress that each refugee is not a security threat. and, finally, it requires the homeland security inspector general to conduct a risk-based review of all certifications for the admission of iraqi and syrian refugees made by the department of homeland security, the f.b.i., and the director of national intelligence each year

and provide that annual report to the congress. this bill passed the house overwhelmingly, and in a bipartisan manner, in november. i intend to vote on the motion to proceed tomorrow. this is a conversation that we need to have here in the united states senate. this is not an issue that we can take lightly. despite the plea from president obama in his state of the union address, we cannot allow america's welcome mat to become a doormat for radicalized islamic extremists who are hardwired to kill innocent people and destroy our way of life. unless and until the united states can figure out a foolproof screening process to prevent terrorists from

masquerading as refugees to infiltrate our neighborhoods and our communities, president obama needs to listen to the concerns voiced by more than half of the nation's governors, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of capitol hill, and the american people across the entire country. after the september 11 attacks, we paused our refugee admission program to reassess the security vetting procedures. so there is precedence for suspending the refugee program, and this bill does not suspend the refugee program only in regards to the single incidence that i know that we've been threatened, if them -- that people were going to be snuck into the country under the

umbrella of "refugee" -- and of course that's from iraq and syria. we need to move cautiously in accepting refugees from iraq and syria, given the attacks in paris and san bernardino. that's in california -- and even elsewhere around the world. we need to fully understand the risks and the schemes that these terrorists are using before we open the doors to 10,000 more syrians. other countries face the same challenge. just last week the french interior minister warned his colleagues about the intent of islamic state to use authentic-looking syrian and iraqi passports to smuggle its pooperatives into europe. there's no doubt that the group has obtained thousands of blank

passports and intends to facilitate travel by counterfeiting those documents. but, more importantly, we must consider a pause in accepting this -- these refugees until we can be sure that our background checks and investigations are the best that they can be. however, today there is little doubt, even from our leading intelligence officials. we may not be a able to stop a paris-like attack. we cannot tell who the thousands of refugees the state department wishes to settle here are terrorists. james comey said -- quote -- "my concern is" -- quoting again --

"my concern there is there are certain gaps in the data available to us." stopping the quote there. "in screening syrian refugees." this data, such as fingerprints, background, and buy graphic information -- biographic information is ciewcial crucialn adequate screening for potential refugees entering the united states. director comey also said -- quote -- "there is risk associated with bringing anybody in from the outside but especially from a conflict zone like that." end quote. the united states has been successful in fighting off many large-scale terrorist attacks on our soil. but, of course, it only takes one mistake. just last month the f.b.i. arrested two individuals who reside in the united states and

entered the country as refugees, one of whom was arrested for attempting to knowingly and wi willfully provide material support and resources to the islamic state of iraq and leva levant. the federal agent testified last week that one of the men charged planned to set off bombs at two houston malls. i asked for the immigration and criminal histories of these individuals to investigate further and to satisfy myself, and i'm still waiting for their response. so the concerns are real. so the threats are real. we cannot jeopardize our national security simply by rolling out our welcoming mat to these terrorists. president obama's strategy in

syria has exacerbated this human catastrophe. similarly, this administration has no inclination or strategy to create conditions where refugees can one day return home safely to their own homes. by housing these refugees, the united states is only aiding in a short-term treatment of this whole massive refugee problem and the problems of warfare in the middle east while risking, at the same time, the safety of the american people. we must instead focus on defeating isis and alleviating the current humanitarian misery, all while creating a future for syrian refugees in their homelands. getting back to the number-one responsibility of the u.s. federal government, that is, to

protect the homeland and to secure the country against all threats. moving this bill on our vote tomorrow is one step that we can take to advance this principle and to show our concern that the number-one responsibility of the federal government is the defense of the american people. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: