vote:

volley: vote:

the presiding officer: do any senators wish to vote or change their vote? if not the vote is 90 in the

affirmative. 8 in the negative. h.r. 2028 is approved as amended. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. a senator: i ask consent the senate be in morning business for 20 minutes equally divided. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. alexander: mr. president, senator feinstein and i said what we said before the bill but i would like to reiterate something that i'm sure she would agree with. first, i want to thank the majority leader for scheduling our bill early. he scheduled it earlier than any appropriations bill had been scheduled in the last 40 years. the reason i'm sure she agrees with that because she told me that and because not only good the majority -- did the majority leader make this a priority but so did the democratic leader senator reid. we worked hard to set an example for the senate for the next 11

appropriations bills. according to the congressional research service, this is the earliest that the senate has passed an appropriations bill in the last 40 years. more than that, the vote was 90-8 which is unusually large by partisan vote for such a large and complex bill. i think that reflects the fact that more than 80 senators made contributions to this bill. we processed more than 21 amendments and our experience is when senators have a lot of input into a bill, they're more comfortable with it and more likely to support it. i want to thank especially not just the leaders but the republican and the democratic floor staffs for helping us with this. passing a bill like this is more of an exercise in human nature sometimes than it is an exercise in policy. and they're the essential grease in making that happen and i thank them very much for it. this is the basic constitutional work of the united states sena

senate. both the republican and democratic leader have gotten us back on track in doing this. i appreciate having a chance to be a part of it and i thank the senators for their cooperation with senator feinstein and me as we set out to get what i believe is an excellent result for the people of this country. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: the american people have been frustrated in recent years over the dysfunction they see in washington, and their assessment of us has been correct. and the biggest symbol of dysfunction has been the inability as the chairman of our energy and water subcommittee just pointed out to do the basic work of government. there are 12 bills that fund the government, the basic work of government. we haven't passed each of those 12 bills since 1994. so under majorities of both parties we have had at least

some degree of dysfunction in recent years. they all get balled into one great big bill. it looks awful and there's no way to conduct the affairs of the government. so what i said was we were going to devote the floor time, which is always at a premium in the senate, to give us a chance to do the work that we were sent here to do, regardless of party. and, fortunately, we had chairman alexander, who's arguably the best -- or maybe the second-best only to the senator from maine -- bill manager on our side, take up the first bill, and there were some snags along the way. it took a little longer than we had hoped, but we're completed, and we're completed at a record early time, and we're going to keep on doing this right up

until we break on july the 15th to go to the convention. we're going to give the senate every opportunity to do the basic work of government this year. and some have said because it is an election year, you can't do much. i'd like to remind everyone, we've had a regularly scheduled election in this country every two years since 1788, right on time. i've heard people say, well, we can't do it because we have an election next year. and people have said, we can't do whatever it is because we have an election this year. it is not anexcuse not to do our work. and we're going to turn to transportation chaired by the senator from maine, senator collins, and military construction chaired by senator kirk. we're going to bind those two together and try to move them across the floor together. we're not going to try to. we are going to do that. and then we're going to turn to the national defense

authorization act and pass that before the memorial day break. and then we're going to turn to the defense appropriations bill right after authorization and hope that we can do that in a record short period of time, because all of the amendments should have been offered on the authorization bill, which will come right before it. so i want to thank senator alexander for his good work. i look forward to senator collins picking up the baton here and continuing the great progress that we're making. i yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, before the senator from tennessee leaves the floor, i, too, want to commend him for his excellent stewardship of this highly complex appropriations bill and the cooperative way with which he worked with the ranking member, senator

feinstein, and indeed all of the members, not only of the appropriations committee, but of the entire senate. he deserves a great deal of credit. i also want to commend our leader for making it a priority for us to get the appropriations work done. never before in recent years have we started the process so early. the appropriations committee has completed its hearings. we've marked up several bills. we're proceeding with floor consideration. and this will avoid a situation that i believe all of us really abhor, and that is at the end of the fiscal year year being faced with voting either for repeated continuing resolutions, which lock in last year's priorities and do not reflect this year's

priorities, or the bills are bundled together into an omnibus bill that is many thousands of pages long and that does not receive the kind of in-depth debate and amendment that it deserves. so i commend the leader of the senate for making this a priority and for ensuring that we are all doing our job. mr. president, i would yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senator from arizona be permitted to speak for up to -- the presiding officer: the senate's in a quorum call. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i suggest that proceedings under the call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senator from arizona be permitted to speak as if in morning business for up to five minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. flake: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. flake: i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to

speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. flake: thank you, mr. president. in the fall of 2014, an outbreak had the world on edge in west africa, the ebola virus had come about in three countries were being decimated. it was at this time that the director of the national institutes of health gave an spwraou where he argued that a vaccine would likely be available if the congress had not slowed funding for the agency. he added t -- he added that the ebola crisis had forced n.i.h. to divert money from other critical research. these were striking charges, especially for an agency that has a budget of $30 billion. so it stands to reason that if underfunding n.i.h. was allowed -- was allowing a crisis such as this, that we ought to be appropriating more money to the agencies. but we can't ignore the fact, obviously, that the nation is $18 trillion in debt and running a nearly half trillion-dollar

deficit. so i began to look into n.i.h. funding, some of the research pronls that were being -- projects that were being funded and here are some of the questions that the researchers were trying to find answers to. one of the things they were trying to find answers to at n.i.h. shall -- and this was part of a taxpayer-funded grant -- is why do some people see jesus' face on toast? that's right. taxpayer-funded study to determine why people see the face of jesus on toast. another study that was funded by n.i.h. was, do drunk birds slur when they sing? that was part of a $5 million n.i.h. grant that found not only is the answer "yes," but according to n.i.h. standards, there is a bing drinking bird out there -- a binge drinking bird out there now. they also wanted to answer the question, what type of music do monkeys and chimpanzees prefer to listen to? i'm not sure what's more

surprising -- the fact that n.i.h. actually studied this or that the answer is "metallica." now, another thing they studied at n.i.h. is, is yawning contagious. i would submit that anyone who's seen a senator give a speech knows that the answer to that is "yes." the n.i.h. decided to spend taxpayer money studying it anyway. so i began investigating projects being funded by other research arms within the federal government, including the national science foundation and darpa in the defense department. here are some of the questions those agencies are using their multibillion-dollar budgets to try to answer. where does it hurt to be stung most by a bee? one researcher used part of a $1 billion n.s.f. grant to sting each part of his body. he came to the conclusion that it's most painful on the

nostrils or on the lips or on oh, shall we say, more sensitive areas. though he admitted that his advisor would not allow him to be stung on the eyeball, so we really don't know which body part holds the title of being most painful. another thing that was studied by n.s.f. and darpa is who will be america's next top model? that's right, taxpayer money was spent to try to find out who would be america's next top model. researchers used taxpayer money to scour twitter and instagram to develop scientific models that could forecast success for models in the fashion industry. it turns out that having a strong social media presence helps more than meeting the industry's -- quote -- "as thetic standards." this is a ten nominee none that researchers dubbed "the kendall jenner effect," not surprising there. another thing that was studied are, are chimpanzees better

gamers than humans? at least one chimpanzee, who was sometimes bribed with candy to keep working, was unfortunately -- was better than humans at gaming. unfortunately, that chimpanzee has since died from complications from diabetes. now, that study, which found that humans are not above trying to cheat in order to beat a chimp at a video game, was funded a as part of a $340,000 grant awarded by n.s.f. and n.i.h. i'm not going around here trying to say that n.i.h., n.s.f., darpa and other federally funded research is a waste of money. it is not. to the contrary, i believe federally funded research can do wonderful and amazings things. in 1961, at the height of the cold war, the united states faced the soviet union in a heated space race. president john f. kennedy stood before congress and aimed for the moon. said, "i believe this nation

should commit itself to achieving that goal before the decade is out. of land ago man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. no single space project in this period would be more impressive to mankin mankind or more imporr the long-range exploration of space," he said. armed with a clearly defined goal and backed with concentrated research of the federal government, mechanic's best scientists -- america's best scientists, researchers and engineers got to work. eight years later, neil armstrong and buzz aldrin were working on the moon. that's a feat that no other country has been able to repeat. that moonshot stands in stark contrast to a contelllation of federally funded science -- constellation federally funded in the federal budget. projects that ask, for example, are republicans or democrats more disgusted by eating worms? this researcher, who you'll coo

a picture of -- who you'll see a picture of here, this researcher found that the answer is that republicans are more disgusted. that said, once folks hear that the study was funded with -- the presiding officer: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. flake: i ask for two additional minutes, unanimous consent. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. flake: when folks here their this study -- when folks here that this stud was founded by taxpayer dollars, they'll be disgusted. n.s.f. and n.i.h. spent taxpayer dollars getting enterprising researchers who were not deterred by the fact that dinosaurs are now extinct. they found that an alligator was close enough they had to put him on a treadmill to find out how fast he could running. they found, as nobody, certainly not the presiding officer from louisiana, that alligators don't

like treadmills very much. he wasn't very cooperative. but they went ahead with the study and found that humans could probably outrun a dinosaur. good thing. are cheerleaders more attractive when they are part of a squad? this was a taxpayer-funded grant. thn.s.f. representers found that the sannes "yes." cheerleaders are more attractive as part of a squad or individually. their tongue-in-cheek research paper postulate postulates poste -- "having a few wingmen or wingwomen may in fact be good dating strategy particularly if their facial features complement and average out one's idiosyncrasies." that brings us full circle ago the white house has just asked congress to aappropriate funding

to tackle xi kavmen tack xi kave that we do need to -- to tackle zika. that i believe we do need to find a solution but we ought to look hard at the other things that these agencies are spending money as we talk about more money for these research projects. to that end, i have released 20 questions, government studies that will leave you scratching your head. this is a study that's -- you can see the cover of here. the report not only profiles many of the questionable projects i've highlighted here, it seeks to set a passage that will ensure this our money is spent wisely. the report recommends that we -- that these agencies set clearly defined national goals and to te -- and objectives for federally funded research and following the example set by president kennedy's moonshot more than a half-century ago, we ought to glyph the agencies a clear -- we ought to give the agencies a

clear mission. we also need to ensure that these research projects are transparent. so when funding goes to these research projects, we ought know how much is spent on each individual pronl, not just the -- project, not just the broader grant. we don't know exactly how much money was spent on the cheerleader effect, because we can't; they won't tell us. so i'm introducing legislation today in conjunction with this report that requires that the federal agencies tell us how much money spent 0 on these individual projects. it is time that koh washington sets clear goals for federally funded research and we improve transparency michigans. with that, mr. president, i yield back.

the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of h.r. 2577, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 138, h.r. 2577, aen act making aappropriations for the departments of transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2016, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the pending amendments are withdrawn. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i call up the collins-kirk substitute amendment number 3896. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from maine, ms. collins, for herself and others, proposes an amendment numbered 3896. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: i ask unanimous consent that the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i call up the lee amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: mr. mcconnell for mr. reed proposes an amendment numbered 389 to amendment number 3896. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i now ask consent that the following amendments be calmed and reported by number: nelson amendment 3898 on zika, cornyn amendment number 3899 on zika and the blunt-mor pri amendment number 3900 on zika. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report the amendments by number. the clerk: mr. mcconnell proposes en bloc amendments number 3898, 3899, and 3900. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk for the nelson amendment o amendmen. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to

invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on amendment number 3898 to amendment number 3896 to calendar number 138, h.r. 2577, an act making appropriations for the departments of transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2016 and for other purposes signed by 1 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask that the reading of the names be disnsed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the mandatory quorum being waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: send a cloture motion to the desk for at cornyn amendment of. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on senate amendment number 3899 to amendment number 3896 to

calendar number 138, h.r. 2577, an act making appropriations for the departments of transportation and housing and urban development and related agency for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2016, and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the mandatory dwoarming waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk for the blunt-murray amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on senate amendment 3900 to amendment number 3869 to calendar number 138, h.r. 2577, an act making prongs for the departments of transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2016, and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators as follows --

mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that the reading of the names be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i'm pleased to begin the senate debate on the fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill for transportation, housing and urban development and related agencies. this bill funds many programs that are essential to the american people. let me begin by thanking the committee chairman, senator cochran, and the vice chairwoman, senator mikulski, for their leadership in advancing this bill. i also want to pay a special thank you and acknowledge the hard work and commitment of senator jack reed, the ranking

member of the subcommittee. the two of us have worked together so closely in drafting this bill, and we have worked to incorporate the recommendations of more thank 70 senators from both sides of the aisle. this bill targets limited resources to programs that meet our most essential transportation and housing needs. it makes vital investments in our nation's transportation infrastructure, providing $16.9 billion for the department of transportation to support much-needed upgrades to our roads, bridges, seaports, railroads, transit systems, and to airports. the bill also provides $39.2 billion for the department of housing and urban development to meet the housing needs of

low-income, disabled, and older americans, to shelter the homeless and to create jobs in our communities through economic development programs. mr. president, i want to underscore for our colleagues that we have met these essential needs in a fiscalaly responsible manner. our bill is $827 million below the current enacted funding levels and $2.9 billion below the president's budget request. we have also ignored gimmicks in the president's budget request that would shift more than $7 billion in transportation programs from discretionary to mandatory spending. the bill before us is critical to meeting the vast needs of our nation's crumbling infrastructure. the tiger program is an example

of a valuable program that helps us do just that. we provide $525 million for this oversubscribed program which supports not only infrastructure projects but also helps to create jobs and boost economic development in every one of our home states. the need for the tiger program is demonstrated by the statistics. last year 625 applicants from all 50 states and territories requested nearly $10 billion in assistance, illustrating the need for and the popularity of this vital program. to maintain our nation's airspace and ensure that it remains the safest in the world, $16.4 billion is provided for the federal aviation

administration. funding is increased to continue to modernize the nation's air traffic control system, support the research and safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the airspace and to help improve our nation's airport infrastructure. consistent with the fast act which we passed at the end of last year, $44 billion is made available for the federal aid to highway programs, including the new freight program and the fast lane grants for critical freight and highway projects. mr. president, i also want to highlight several safety-related provisions included in our bill that will enhance the safety of commercial motor carrier vehicles. the department of transportation regrettably has continued to delay its proposed rule on speed

governors which will improve safety on our nation's roadways by prevent commercial trucks from speeding. our bill once again requires the department to issue the proposed rule expeditiously since the department has already missed the deadline that congress established in last year's omnibus funding bill. mr. president, the growth of autonomous vehicle technologies, or driverless cars, has led the department to reexamine existing regulations and policies that could affect the safe deployment of these vehicles. our bill provides additional funding to ensure the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles on to our nation's roadways and to reduce the cybersecurity vulnerabilities in their electronics. the bill also builds on the

critical infrastructures, investments for rail, providing $50 million for railway safety grants to address the serious and troubling problem of rail accidents. additional funding is provided to help address the substantial backlog of rail infrastructure needing repairs. for housing programs, this bill provides sufficient funding to renew all existing rental assistance for section 8, for public housing, elderly and disabled housing programs. the appropriations committee continues to face constraints that required us to make difficult decisions regarding funding at a time when resources are limited under the 2015 budget agreement. our priority is to ensure that our nation's most vulnerable

individuals and families do not lose assistance that prevents many of them from being at risk of homelessness. therefore, the bill provides necessary funding to keep pace with the rising costs of housing these families who might otherwise become homeless. it is important that rental assistance support those who truly need it. we are aware, however, of a recent had you had -- recent h.u.d. inspector general report that found that more than 25,000 households had incomes in excess of qualifying limits. mr. president, we don't have extra money available to pour into households where the individuals do not meet the eligibility requirements. in response to this finding by the i.g., we've included

language prompting h.u.d. to update its regulations that ensure that there's a process in place to identify and transition such households out of public housing when it is appropriate. the transportation and housing appropriations bill faces challenges stemming from these unavoidable increases for rental assistance for low-income families and disabled and elderly individuals. in fact, mr. president, rental assistance alone consumes more than half of our subcommittee's allocation and is an astonishing 84% of h.u.d.'s budget. and that makes funding other important needs difficult. nevertheless, senator reed and i share a passion about reducing

and ending homelessness. we have, therefore, included $2.33 billion for homeless assistance grants, and we've also managed to make critical investments to reduce homelessness among our veterans and our youth. to further help our homeless young people, we provide $40 million in grants that are targeting this underserved population. additionally, to better support youth who are exiting the foster care program, the system includes $20 million for family unification vouchers and makes changes to this program to improve its effectiveness. i know many members share our concern that young people who age out of the foster care program should have, must have

somewhere safe to go. for our nation's homeless veterans, the bill provides $57 million, including $7 million to serve our native american veterans living on tribal lands. despite the administration once again this year proposing to eliminate this program, this subcommittee continues to provide funding recognizing that while we are making progress on veterans' homelessness and have decreased it by 36% since the year 2010, we have yet to reach the goal of ending homelessness among our veterans. as the percentage of homeless veterans continues to decrease, less funding will be needed. senator reed played an absolutely essential role in another important issue that we address in this bill, and that

is the presence of lead paint in homes which is of particular concern to families with children under the age of six. our bill requires h.u.d. to expeditiously complete its rule making to update its lead standards based on the most current c.d.c. guidelines and action that senator reed and i requested in a february letter to the h.u.d. secretary. while this bill helps families in need, it also recognizes the hardships that local communities are facing. boosting local economies is critical to job creation and helping families obtain financial security. thus, our bill supports local development efforts by providing $3 billion through the community

development block grant program, and $950 million through the home program. these programs support the development of both affordable housing and other infrastructure projects which, again, promote economic development and lead to job creation in ways that allow local communities to tailor the programs to meet their specific needs. now, mr. president, the bill before us does not solve every problem facing our transportation system or our housing programs. we simply do not have the money to do that, even if we had a higher allocation in this era of very high debt. this is a fiscally responsible bill, and it is a bill that sets and reflects important

priorities. mr. president, i very much appreciate the opportunity to present this legislation to the chamber as we begin the debate on the transportation h.u.d. appropriations bill. i urge my colleagues to consider the careful balance struck by the compromises and the negotiation our committee worked so hard to achieve. and again, i want to thank the ranking member for being such an extraordinary partner as we sought to write this very important bill. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, thank you. i rise today to join senator collins in support of the fiscal year 2017 transportation, housing and urban development appropriations bill. and i too want to join her in commending chairman cochran and vice chairman mikulski for their great work. i particularly want to commend chairman collins for her

extraordinary work, her thoughtfulness, her insight, her diligence, all those aspects are evidenced in this bill. she has once again developed a balanced and thoughtful bill that includes provisions for members on both sides of the aisle, and this bill allows our nation to continue moving forward by investing in critical transportation and housing initiatives. suffice it to say without her leadership we would not be here today with a bill that not only merits our attention, but earns our support. it includes policies and funding that will grow our economy, improve the safety of our national transportation system, create jobs and preserve affordable housing for our most vulnerable citizens. working within a tight allocation, this bill makes important contributions to development and safety of our national transportation system. the bill provides $16.4 billion to fully fund the needs of the

federal aviation administration, for example, including $1 billion for nextgen modernization which will move our aviation system to a new level of performance and safety. this will funding level also fully accommodates the need for contract towers in essential air service and provides new safety staff and pay for air traffic controllers. the very popular tiger program, which the chairwoman mentioned, is funded at $525 million. that's a $25 million increase from last year. tiger grants allow states and local governments to make transform alternative investments in their transportation infrastructure. that traditional programs aren't able to address. the fiscal year 2016 grant competition just ended two weeks ago for tiger grants and d.o.t. reports that they received over 600 grant applications totaling nearly $100 billion in requests. so you can see this money is extraordinarily important to

localities, and we have just barely increased it but without the chairman's leadership, i don't think we would have made that increase. again let me thank her. there is a high demand for this program as evidenced by the applications and interest, and that goes to underscore a point that the senator from maine has made about the need for even more significant investment in infrastructure. another aspect of this legislation is a boost to essential transit programs throughout the country to sustain and expand their services. this bill provides $2.3 billion to the federal transit administration's capital investment grant program to help meet growing demand across the country. this bill also continues investment in the washington metrorail system, while holding them accountable for improved financial management. it also ensures that the f.d.a. has the resources it needs for strong safety oversight. indeed the bill before us maintains a key focus on safety

across all modes of transportation. for example, the bill fulfills the promises of the fast act through a $199 million investment in positive train control grants to protect passengers and workers on computer and interstate rail lines within the next -- with the next generation of railroad safety technology. the bill funds new research at the national highway traffic safety administration on the safety and cybersecurity of autonomous vehicles. as a autonomous vehicles are integrated into the general driving population, there is the potential to save thousands of lives with this innovative technology. however, an appropriate safety framework must be in place to realize the benefits of this promising transportation revolution. in addition, the bill continues ongoing crew by rail safety initiatives of both the federal federal railroad administration

and the federal highway safety administration and that's with respect to the movement of crude oil and crude products across the country. the bill also provides $85 million for rail grant programs that were recently authorized by the fast act. these grants can be used for rail safety and good repair projects such as positive train control implementation and grade crossing improvements. for amtrak, the bill provides a $1.4 billion. this is in response to the fast act. the thud appropriations bill now allows revenue generated on the northeast corridor to remain there, again in consistent with the fast act. this investment will fully fund the northeast corridor in the national network while putting amtrak in a better position to address the $28 billion state of good repair backlog. i'm also proud of what we were able to accomplish together for our nation's housing programs. the bill preserves h.u.d.'s rental assistance programs, expands housing for youth and families experiencing

homelessness and increases lead-based paint remediation programs. these programs are vital to our nation's safety net and also to the prosperity of local economies. i'd like to speak briefly about how this bill increases protections for children against lead-based paint hazards. the bill and the chairwoman has directed and discussed this, indicates to h.u.d. to align its blood level regulations with the level recommended by the centers for disease control. this is a significant change that will help young children. if you just look at my home state of rhode island where 935 children were entering kindergarten this year, they were exceeding the c.d.c. standards for lead poisoning, but under the h.u.d. standard, only 32 of these children would have been considered to be exceeding the lead standard. now when we get this legislation, there will be 900 children that not only are

properly identified, but they will have access to the remediation, we hope, in their homes so that they will not be further affected by lead exposures. to help mitigate the threats that are generated by lead in the homes, the bill provides $25 million in new resources for public housing agencies to address lead-based paint hazards in public housing units as a result of this new health standard, so we're really trying to synchronize the best medicine with the kind of practical assistance that will make a huge difference in the lives of children. and there is also $135 million grant for lead hazard reduction, $25 million more than in the 2016 authorization and appropriation. this increased funding brought lead-based hazard reduction in over 1,750 additional units. and the bill increases support for the training of maintenance staff in public housing agencies, to ensure that

lead-based paint hazards are identified and properly managed. and finally, it encourages h.u.d. to increase tenant awareness of lead-based paint hazards in the home to help ensure that families are able to address hazards before damage is done. these are immediate cost-effective measures that will change the lives of children living in low-income housing. preventing lead poisoning is an issue i have long worked on, and i am so pleased to see the studies that are the steps and strides in addition to the studies that we are taking in this bill. the bill also provides funding for other critical h.u.d. programs including $40 million for new intervention targeting for homeless youth, 6,000 new vouchers for homeless veterans through the h.u.d. bash program, services to help families and young people get jobs and increase their earnings. en, senator collins, i would

like to thank you for your tremendous work, your leadership and your commitment to make sure that these resources are directed appropriately and properly. we always wish we could do more, but this bill provides a workable balance of resources for transportation housing programs. it responds to the priorities of the members of this chamber. it makes wise investments that will benefit our nation not only in the present but also in the future. in that regard, i must once again return to the issue of lead exposure to children in their homes. this is something that has a lifetime effect on children. i have not the expertise of the president when it comes to these issues, the president pro tempore, but childhood lead exposure can have incredible cognitive impacts for the lifetime of a child and have huge costs to society, and the steps we're taking are going to

help those lifetime costs be reduced. again, let me thank the chairman, chairman collins, and pressure her leadership, her willingness and her extraordinary effort. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. kirk: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that we

dispense with the current quorum call. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. the senator from illinois is recognized. mr. kirk: mr. president, we are bringing this appropriation bill up today and i urge its adoption. this year the milcon v.a. bill was the first appropriations bill. we are coming to the floor five weeks earlier than last year. the bill is now 16 months earlier than before. we are in a very advantageous position of telling the house to do their own work, which never happens with regard to the senate. we're very proud of that. we're so proud that we have crafted this bill in an open and collegial way, with the full support of my ranking democratic member, senator jon tester of montana. this bill, this bipartisan bill was adopted unanimously by a vote of 30-0 in the full appropriations committee. in milcon, the bill provides $7.9 billion for over 200

critical construction projects. it adds $515 million to milcon to ensure that our military is ready to fight and win. there are no o.c.o. gimmicks in the bill. my top priority in this legislation is missile defense in europe. last year the bill funded the aegis assure b.m.d. site in poland. we built on that in this year's bill. this bill funds the long-range discrimination of lrdr in clear, alaska, at $155 million. for the veterans' affairs administration and related agencies, our bill provide $75.1 billion to protect our veterans. this is a regard high funding in this legislation in this bipartisan bill. the budget is up $3.4 billion over last year or 4.8% after last year, reflecting the higher medical costs in the economy.

the v.a. must now be informed, we must work much better for veterans now. this bill includes strong oversight provisions for the v.a. to protect the protectors of our veterans, by that i mean the whistle-blowers. in this legislation is my v.a. patient protection act of 2016 that protects whistle-blowers and makes sure that doctors and nurses and other medical care professionals are able to have the full whistle-blower protections that they deserve. this bill provides strong whistle-blower protections and punishment for those who retaliate against whistle-blowers. in the matter of opioid safety, we have included a provision where there are no -- like no co-payments for opioid antagonists such as things like narkan. the bill includes a provision that will screen medical providers to make sure that v.a. refrains from transferring bad

doctors from one hospital in one state to another. the bill adds 100 staff to the v.a. inspectors general office, very important in this time. we continue to insist that the v.a. develops a fully interoperable, fully electronic medical health record with department of defense and using open source code. my vision here is to make sure that we use open source code for v.a. medical records and d.o.d., to make sure that core of 25 million patients is protected, with no net burden on the soldier when they are leaving active duty. so the entire record goes over, so we have complete couldn't -- continuity of care. by having open source coding, we repeat the success of the motorola android system that happened in my state where 70,000 paths were written just for that code. i want to make sure the electronic medical record industry is always located right

here in the united states business center. the bill adds $8.7 million to fix the veterans crisis line that we found. now the veterans suicide hotline will never go unanswered. and it also adds $20 million for a gender-specific health care for female veterans. the bill adds $30 million to combat veteran homelessness, and we have received a request on this from over 25 senators. the bill adds $12 million for important medical receipts for vets like genomeic research. in committee, we adopted an amendment that i supported by a vote of 23-7 to allow the v.a. to treat veterans and their spouses with in vitro fertilization services for service-connected problems there. this is a strong bill, it's a very strong bill, and it does right by our troops and especially our veterans. my senate colleagues should pass

this measure quite quickly, just like it did in the full committee. with that, i yield back, mr. president. mr. president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk shall call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: