vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 52, the nays are 44. three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative, upon rrgs the motion is not -- upon reconsideration, the motion is not agreed to.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i sck ask that the chair lay before the senate the conference report to accompany h.r. 2577. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: conference report to accompany 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. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. 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 the conference report to accompany 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. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the mandatory quorum be waived. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to calendar number 524, h.r. 5293. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of h.r. 2* 52 the 3, an making appropriations for department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2016 and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: you send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: 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 the motion to proceed to calendar number 524, h.r. 5239, an act making appropriations for the dch defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2017, and for other purntion sewned by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask that reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that the mandatory quorum be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate

proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 5089, s. 1935. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 508, s. 1935, a bill to require the secretary of commerce to undertake certain activities to support waterfront community revitalization and resiliency. ms. baldwin: i further ask -- the presiding officer: is there objection further proceeding? without objection. ms. baldwin: i further ask that the committee-reported substitute be agreed to. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. ms. baldwin: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: if there is no further debate, the question is on the bill as amended. all those in favor signify by saying aye. those opposed, say "no." the ayes appear to have it.

the ayes do have it. the bill, as amend, is passed. ms. baldwin: i ask that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the tabling, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. johnson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. john john i rise today to ask my -- mr. johnson: i rise today to ask kirkpatrick to strengthening a bill. last year the center for verlgtive reporting published a article about opioid overprescription, whistle-blower retaliation and a culture of fear of the toma v.a. medical center in wisconsin. it also detailed the tragic story of a veteran who passed away at the toma v.a. in 2015 from mixed drug toxicity.

he had over one dozen different drugs in his system when he died. jason's life is honored by a bipartisan bill introduced by my colleague from wisconsin that i am pleased to cosponsor, the jason simcakoski memorial opiate saved act. it aims to guidelines. when i learned of the problems at the toma v.a., i immediately directed my homeland security and government a fairs committee staff to investigate. they reviewed thousands of cases, documents and conducted 22 interviews. we held two hearings in toma and two in washington, d.c., to examine what happened at the facility and hear from whistle-blowers across the country. and on may 31 of this year, we release add 359-page report detailing the findings of our bipartisan investigation.

the unfortunate conclusion of our investigation is that with proper disclosure, the tragedies of the toma v.a. could have been prevented. one of the individuals who blew the whistle on these problems is a psychologist named dr. chris kirkpatrick. his portrait stands beside meevment chris came to toma in 2008. he treated veterans, the finest among us, for ptsd, substance abuse, and chronic pain. it didn't take long for him to realize that something was not right. chris told his family and union that he thought doctors were overprescribing, overmedicating patients. the chief of staff at the facility was a doctor that had been known as the candy man as far back as 2004 because of the amount of opiates he prescribed for veterans. when the candy man found out that chris was questioning his prescription practices, chris was warned to stop.

but rather than address chris' concerns, the v.a. fired him. tragically, later the day that he was terminated, chris committed suicide. chris' managers later said they felt coerced into firing him. yet no one ever investigatorred chris' suicide and the agency was never held accountable. inspectors general are supposed to be the government's watchdogs. instead, aof promptly-- --instead of promptly investigating, preparing, appeared making an investigation of its report public, the v.a. office of inspector general took almost three years to prepare a short, extremely flawed report administratively closing the investigation and then buried the report. then last year under pressure from news reports and my committee's investigation, the office issued an unsolicited white paper that defended its flawed work and as tacked chris. they even -- it even accused him

of being a drug dealer. they were retaliating against a dead man. sean kirkpatrick, chris' brother, upled up the office's actions best. he told our committee, and i quote, "the haphazard attempt to discredit and slander chris was absolutely outrageous to us. when our brother was merely questioning opiate abuse and concerns that the veterans were not being cared for properly." unquote. sean kirkpatrick offered invaluable testimony to our testimony and asked us to make commonsense changes to help ensure that what happened to chris won't happen to someone else. to address these recommendations and the problems our investigation uncovered, i introduced the dr. chris kirkpatrick whistle-blower protection act. among other things, the bill requires agencies to discipline supervisors that retaliate against whistle-blowers and mandates training so employees

know their rights and supervisors know how to handle complaints. the bill requires the v.a. to inform its employees about mental health services available to them and review their protocols to address threats from patients. the bill also prohibits v.a. employees from accessing the private medical records of coworkers when they blow the whistle as means to retaliate against them. i ask the full senate to honor dr. chris kirkpatrick and protect veterans and future whistle-blowers by passing these commonsense reforms. it would be particularly special for the senate to pass the bill today, as sadly it is the 7-year anniversary of chris' passing. this bill received unanimous support of democrats and republicans on my committee back in december by a vote of 16-06789 -- 16-0. it has the support of every republican in the senate.

yet unfortunately one or more democrat members are now blocking it. i haven't been told who they are. so i have come to the ploor to ask that if a floor objects to this bill, he or she explain why. protecting whistle-blowers and putting our veterans first shouldn't be a partisan issue. i know it sure hasn't been one for me. in fact, just yesterday, the jason simcakoski memorial opiate safety act was approved as part of cara. i was happy to cosponsor the bill that the junior senator from my state, a democrat, introduced. i'm not aware of any republican member who tried to block its inclusion in cara. and i was happy to do whatever i could here in the senate to ensure its passage because it's just good policy. and it's just good for our veterans. i ask my colleagues to give this bill the same respect by judging it based on policy, not politics; to put our veterans first.

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent ... mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin has the floor. mr. johnson: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to -- immediate consideration of calendar number 199. i ask the committee reported substitute amendment be withdrawn, the johnson substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, the title amendment be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i reserve the right to object. mr. president, we as the republicans want to work to improve veterans pweufts. -- veterans benefits. so very, very important. they give a lot and we don't do enough to take care of them. i understand senator johnson's legislation. i appreciate that but there are a number of bills we want to pass. the democrats have our bill. he has his bill. i hope we can work together in the next little bit to come up with a package of bills that will give republicans a few of the things they want and give us some of the things we want. because the issue before us, as valid as it could and might be,

it addresses an issue the senator from wisconsin seeks to address. but a variety of matters are left undone. so i hope we'll be in a position to pass the legislation by this senator from wisconsin, but we're not there yet, so i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. johnson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: may i ask the minority leader are you objecting for yourself or on behalf of others? and further, is there a reason for the objection? the presiding officer: it is not in order to ask questions of someone who does not have the floor. the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: mr. president, it is extremely disappointing that the minority leader has objected to a commonsense piece of legislation that was passed again. let me repeat -- unanimously out of my committee. not one democrat member of our committee objected to this. it was a good piece of legislation. it's so important. i am shocked, coming from the

private sector, how much retaliation actually occurs within government, even though we've passed numerous bills protecting whistle-blowers. the fact of the matter is is had these tragedies been known, had the whistle-blowers been protected, had the office of inspector general made its investigation reports public, tragedies would have been prevented. one of the veterans that died at the toma v.a., his name was thomas baer. i was talking to his daughter a week or so after he passed from neglect as he suffered a couple strokes waiting to be cared for. and she said, senator, had i only known of the problems at the toma v.a., i never would have taken my father there. he'd be alive today. all i'm asking for is a commonsense bill that was, again, passed unanimously by my committee. and unfortunately it's being

objected to and it will not pass today. at a moment in time in our history when there are so many divisions in this country, this is one -- this is one thing that we all agree in this body to honor the promises to the finest among us, our veterans. this bill honors those promises. this bill would protect the whistle-blowers that have the courage to come forward and report problems at the v.a. health care centers. this bill would help protect veterans in the future. one of the things i'm most proud of as chairman of the committee is i've worked in a very bipartisan fashion. i've forged agreements. i've looked for areas of agreement to unify us. by using that approach, a businessperson's approach, we reported out 83 pieces of legislation. this is one of them out of my committee. 26 of those pieces of legislation have been signed into law. by again finding areas of

agreement that unify us as a committee, as a senate, as a congress, as a nation. this should have been one of those bills. i sincerely hope that we can overcome whatever objection which was not stated here on the floor and pass this very important piece of whistle-blower protection as soon as possible. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i share the regret of my colleague from wisconsin that our friends across the aisle are the dysfunction that characterized the last congress when they were in charge is unfortunately creeping into this congress as well, in spite of a year and roughly a half of relatively

good productivity by the congress on a bipartisan basis. but to come in and make objections against commonsense ways to protect whistle-blowers that are determined to try to make sure that we keep our commitments to our veterans is just, well, it's shameful. and i share the disappointment of my colleague. but moments ago our democratic colleagues failed another test, a test to whether they care more about american families or about special interest groups. this, mr. president, is what i'm talking about. the test that our democratic colleagues failed is one to see whether they care more about averting these sort of devastating birth defects caused by the zika virus or whether they care more about the special

interest groups that raise money off of legislation designed to solve problems and to prevent public health disasters like this. unfortunately they made the wrong choice. they failed the test. but this is what the zika virus can do. this is an example of microencephaly, or basically shrunken skull. and you can imagine what this does to the baby's brain, what this means in terms of trying to provide medical care by a loving mother and a father, trying to make sure that this baby, no matter how long it may live, has at least as comfortable a life as it can have until it passes away. and of course the prognosis, the life expectancy of a baby with microencephaly is not good. and that's an understatement. zika, we know, is a preventable disease. we know with mosquito

eradication, we know with proper precautions that people can take, not leaving standing water in places where mosquitoes can propagate, and if we do our job here by providing the adequate funding needed to avert this public health crisis, some day and hopefully not too long, not too far away, we can actually develop a vaccine so that pregnant women and women of child-bearing age don't have to worry or live in fear that this might happen to their baby. just yesterday the harris county public health office -- that's in houston, as the presiding officer knows -- confirmed that the first baby in texas was born with zika-related microencephaly. so this tragedy depicted by this photograph is real, and it's at

our doorstep. now, this particular case was one where the woman involved, the pregnant woman, traveled to south america where we know the zika virus is present. but all of our public health officials are telling us that it's slowly working its way up from central and south america, and it is literally at our doorstep. this is not a time to refuse to do our duty and simply coast through the rest of the summer. we're talking about life long irreversible problems that take lives and affect families for years to come. experts across the country that i visited with in galveston at the national lab, at the texas medical center in houston, they say we need to act and we need to act now. but you know they're not alone. it was just last may when our democratic colleagues asked us to act and act with urgency.

but today they turned down the very money that they argued for last may when they decided to gamble with the lives of children like this instead of protecting them. as i said, they ignored their own calls to get this done quickly, and they refused to pass urgent measures that would protect our country from a public health crisis. so as i said when i started, mr. president, this was a test today to see whether our democratic colleagues cared more about babies like this or special interest groups, and they failed the test. it's simple as that. but i want to make sure everyone understands how we got here. twaog months ago a -- two months ago a bipartisan agreement was introduced to handle the zika threat. that's two months ago. senator blunt of missouri, senator murray of washington

worked together, as we're supposed to do, to come up with a bipartisan compromise, in this case to an appropriations bill. but after about a week -- after it was introduced in this chamber, it passed overwhelmingly. not one democrat opposed the $1.1 billion appropriation amendment that was attached to the military construction v.a. appropriations bill. not one democrat opposed it. because until recently they seemed to agree with us that this is a major public health crisis in the making, particularly as i said, because we expect the mosquito-borne virus to hit the mainland in places like texas, florida, louisiana, other warm parts of the country. we expect it to hit the u.s. mainland in full force as temperatures continue to rise this summer.

the legislation we passed here in the senate was reconciled as it's supposed to be in a conference committee with different legislation passed by the house. that bicameral, bipartisan compromise is what we considered earlier today after senate democrats decided to block it for the first time a few weeks ago. it seems that after they called upon us to pass the bill in may, they decided in the interim that it's not as urgent as they once said. but for months now senate democrats have talked about the need to get this legislation passed to prepare us for the zika virus. and it was the democratic leader who said this on may 23, 2016. may 23. it's now july 15. he said "instead of gambling with the health and safety of

millions of americans, republicans should give our nation the money it needs to fight zika, and they should do it now. not next month. not in the fall. now." this is the democratic leader. when we delivered on his request that he made on may 23, he votes "no," even though he and every senate democrat voted "yes" to pass the senate bill at exactly the same level that this conference report provided. and then in an amazing reversal, senator murray of washington, who as i said a moment ago, quite responsibly worked with senator blunt from missouri to come up with the original amendment funding this zika prevention effort at $1.1 billion. she then voted against her own amendment and effectively.

but back in may she sang a different tune. she said at that time "families and communities are expecting us to act. parents are wondering if their babies will be born safe and healthy. and congress, we should do everything we can to tackle this virus without any further delay." that was on may 26, 2016. but today, again, this same senator who said these words on may 26 voted "no." and you have to ask yourself why. what do they consider that is more important than stopping this? what could it possibly be? what could be more important, more demanding? what could be a higher priority for these senate colleagues than voting to fund the research and the prevention that would stop this from happening to one more

baby in america? well, it doesn't end there, unfortunately. the hypocrisy that we've heard. on june 20, the senior senator from new york, the next democratic leader in waiting, said, "every day we wait, every day is increasing the risk that we will have problems with zika." well, that's not exactly a profound statement, but it is a true statement. my point is, mr. president, people are pretty disgusted with what they see here in washington these days, where people rather than trying to find consensus really find ways to say "no" and to block important legislation like this.

this is the very definition of dysfunction, and i have to tell you, i am beyond disappointed at the i had po hypocrisy demonstry all of our senate democrats voting for the funding at the $1.1 billion level, only in our a second time to vote against this rescue appropriation really to prevent this sort of thing from happening. it really is beyond frustrating. it's disgusting. now, if there's any -- anything good, any good news in all this i would say fortunately months ago the obama administration finally agreed with senate republicans to set aside more than a half a billion dollars of unspent funds for the ebola crisis. and so there was roughly -- i think it was $589 million that

was set aside, reprogrammed for that purpose. but that's no excuse for failing to act comprehensively, as our senate democrats have urged us to do time and time and time again. this is nothing -- this is nothing to play around with. this is not a trivial matter. this is a life-altering, a life-shortening, a devastating birth defect that is preventable. so what could be more important? wcialg it's our job -- well, it's our job to send this bill to the president's deck. but as long as our senate democrat colleagues refuse to do so, as well as they refuse to defend the health and well-being of americans across this country, as lon there is not mun do about t but there is something the american people can do about it and they can

call and they can write their senator. they can say, i don't care what your objection is, it better be pretty darn important if you're going to block funding that would prevent this from happening to my baby, or babies in my family or in my neighborhood. health experts across our country need the resources to study the virus, to contain the virus, and to keep it from spreading. and, as i said, hopefully eventually to develop a vaccine. but for our democratic colleagues to block this legislation again, months after saying it was so urgent, it amounts to tying the hands of our doctors, our local public health officials, and researchers from city to city. so clearly, the responsibility rests with them when we see

locally transmitted cases of the zika virus in the united states caused by mosquitoes carrying that virus. the responsibility will be with them for refusing to act, in light of the clarion call by public health officials that this is a real public health emergency. to take this bill hostage is not only hypocritical, it is profoundly irresponsible, and i don't know how some of our colleagues can sleep at night knowing that they're putting these families and their families at risk. there is simply no excuse for blocking this critical funding. wcialtion as i said -- well, as i said, there was a test that was taken today, and our democratic colleagues once again failed the test. mr. president, on a separate and equally somber note, today

senator cruz and i offered a simple resolution that would condemn the horrific attack in dallas last week that took the lives of five police officers and wounded several more. it is a small way but an important way we can honor those that we've lost, express sympathy to their families and take a stand against violence and hatred targeting police officers. and i hope this chamber passes this resolution without delay. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: mr. president, for more than a year now, i have come again and again to the senate floor to highlight some of the remarkable work that's

being done by the men and women who work at the department of homeland security for our country. that department, the department of homeland security, was created on the -- in the wake of the attack on 9/11. it has today over 200,000 employees. it was created by combining some 22 federal agencies, including the coast guard and others, fema and others. but the department's employees are stationed all over this country of ours. in fact, you find them all over the world. and from keeping drugs from crossing our borders to screening passengers at airports to safeguarding critical cybersecurity networks, the men and women at the department of homeland security take on some of the most diverse and challenging jobs really of any federal employees. last month i spoke on this floor to highlight the work being done by a small group of folks who work at the homeland security,

an agency called the department -- rather, domestic nuclear detection act. with -- with just 125 employees, this office tracks and detects radiological and nuclear materials. they protect americans from some of the most dangerous materials known to human conditioned. -- to humankeystone x.l. pipelined. -- to humankind. another office of health affairs leads the department of homeland security's efforts to track and to coordinate the response to potential biological threats for infectious disease. in 2014, the outbreak of ebola in africa, the office of health affairs was charged with tracking this deadly virus and studying the potential threat that it poses to americans here at home. this office has had to

disseminate that threat information -- death threat information to other federal agencies and state and local health officials as well as part of our efforts to coordinate and be ready if this disease does make it to our shores. the office of health affairs also works with customs and border protection to establish a screening protocol for passengers arriving here from ebola-impacted countries. the office of health affairs continues to monitor and keeps us prepared for any remaining threats we might face from ebola, but this summer we have, as we heard, yet another challenge on their plates, and as we discussed in this chamber as recently as a few minutes ago, over the past couple of months, the zika virus has spread mostly throughout south and central america and the caribbean. here at home we have confirmed more than 111 travel cases. given the potentially

devastating effects that zika can have, americans are understandably concerned about how best to protect themselves, their families, or their future families from this previously little-known virus. that's why we're lucky to have the hardworking men and women at the department of homeland security's office of health affairs. as we speak, the office of health affairs through its national biosurveillance integration center is working closely with the center for disease control to track the spread of the zika viemplets we are also communicating information to health officials across our country and to our partners overseas. already the office has produced several zika-related safety advisories on everything from zika transmission and prevention to mosquito abatement to scow zika screening procedures. as we reach the height of mosquito season here in the outs--in the u.s., the office is

working with federal agencies across the federal government. two exception employees within the department and the office of health affairs who help coordinate the department's zika preparedness and response activities are lieutenant commander tiana garrett and ingrid hope. pictured here to my left is lieutenant commander tiana garrett. now, i am an old navy guy, and you take a look at this. this is -- this indicates you're in the navy or the. mr. gardner: that you are a -- this indicates that in the navy or the coast guard you are a lieutenant commander. if i call her commander garrett, i am not messing up. that's just the way we do things in the navy and the way we do things here. mr. carper: but commander

garrett is an officer in the u.s. public health srvetion not in the navy or coast guard but she serves in a vitally important agency called the u.s. public health service. as a biosurveillance operations analyst, commander garrett is responsible for tracking and providing updates to federal, to state, local partners on the spread of the zika virus and other disease outbreaks. through her work at the national biosurveillance integration center, commander garrett provides regular updates to thousands of government officials, representing the office of health affairs and ensuring others know that the department of health and social service and its office of health affairs is there to help. commander garrett also uses her master's degree in epidemiology and her ph.d. in cell biology to help develop health advisories to inform the d.h.s., department of homeland security's workforce will zika virus exposure and how to prevent it.

commander garrett's colleagues describe her as a true public servant who has dedicated her ceerd and much of her life -- career and much of her life to ensuring the health and well-being of others. another office of health affairs employee within the department of homeland security is focusing on the zika virus is this lady right here, and her name is ingrid, ink grade hope. ingrid is the acting deputy division director for the workforce health and medical support division. hope is charged with making sure that the department of homeland security's policies to protect its own employees from the threat posed by the zika virus and other infectious diseases. given the potential for front line d.h.s. employees to come in contact with this virus and other viruses, it is vitally important that they have the guidance that they need to reduce their own risk of exposure. just like families in delaware and around the country,

department of homeland security employees have been hearing about the zika virus on the news. we've heard about it on the floor here today. while you and i can make changes to you are schedule or change our travel plans to limit our exposure, the department of homeland security employees at our ports of entry and along our borders cannot do that. their jobs put them in harm's way to protect us. to protect us against any number of threats to our homeland. the zika virus is no different. miss hope does invaluable work by informing department of homeland security employees on how to limit their exposure while on the job. she also makes sure that the workforce knows how to defect the virus and how to keep themselves and their families as safe as possible. without her important work, our officers on the front lines would be far less prepared to deal with the potential public health crisis. so, mr. president, as we continue to debate supplemental

funding to combat the zika virus, we cannot forget the hard work needed to turn this funding into results. it is my hope that congress can reach a bipartisan agreement to provide the zika virus that is needed. and once that fund something approved, we must all keep in mind that the zika virus will not simply disappear. countless man-hours and woman-hours are put into collecting information analyzing this relatively unknown virus, developing tests, treatments, vaccines, and protecting the most vulnerable among us. so we say "thank you," to the men, today especially to the women at the department of homeland security's office of health affairs. i urge my colleagues here in the senate to think about how much work is done each day -- every day in an effort to make it safer for the rest of us on this planet. and to also enable us to stay several steps ahead of this

virus and eventually to overcome it. we cannot let our differences here hinder the work of our dedicated public servants. so to miss hope, to lieutenant commander garrett, and to all the men and women at the office of health affairs in the department of homeland security, we say "thank you" today and every day. "thank you" for your selfless and tireless efforts to keep americans safe and secure from the many threats that we face. and while you continue to track and keep us informed on these threats and viruses and other organisms that would otherwise go unnoticed, know that your efforts behind the scenes have not gone unnoticed. we've noticed. and know that they've not gone unappreciated. we appreciate them. and it's not just for this senator, but i know i speak for all of my colleagues as well. so thank you and god bless you. i want to take just a moment before i say a word about the

battle against isis in the other part of the world, in iraq and syria, i want to say with zika funding for a moment the administration has asked for i think about $1.9 billion to combat this disease. i think there's been a disagreement between whether or not it should be larger or that amount, $1.9 billion, or it should be something less. mr. president, we held a round table several weeks ago on the zika virus and we had folks who had come from medical background and other background who came to us to talk about some of the best things, smartest things we can do to reduce the threat of the spread of the zika virus in this country. i believe there was unanimous agreement that one of the very best things we could do was to improve access to contraception. we talked -- they talked to us about the cost of providing care for an infant that is born with

this disease that we've heard a lot about, distorted heads and damaged brains. one of our witnesses told us that the cost of raising that child from birth to the end of their life can be as high as $10 million per child. $10 million per child. if we through our efforts reduce even by a total of 190 births, the likelihood that some child is going to be born with this terrible deformty, terrible condition, 190 times $10 million is $1.9 billion. and i think we face the threat of saving and really avoiding even more pregnancies if we find a way to narrow our differences

and provide the funding being requested by the president. again, what i think democrats object to in terms of paying for the funding for the zika virus is that it actually is paid for, actually reduces funding for family planning and reduces funding for contraception. and what we heard at our round table a week or two ago is that's really where we should be putting our emphasis and putting our dollars. i want to leave that thought, if i may. the other thing i want to do, mr. president, i come to the floor every week or two, and i bring this map with me. and this is a map familiar to some, not familiar to others. this is iraq down here. iran over here to the east. to the west of iraq, we find syria. here's damascus.

syria up here. here's turkey. here's a place that i've been a number of times. i suspect the presiding officer has been here as well. it's the capital of iraq. it's baghdad. what the isis folks did that started about two years ago is they began a drive, very effective drive really from this part of the world heading for baghdad and almost reached baghdad. and they got within about 20 miles or so of baghdad here. anbar province which is represented here has three cities, three towns that are considered the sunni triangle: fallujah, ramadi and a place up here called tikrit. if you connect the lines between those cities, they're called the sunni triangle. and there are a lot of sunnis who live in that area. coming up north, almost due north of baghdad is a town, a

city, one of the larger cities in iraq called mosul. and it is held today by the isis forces. and in salmon-colored area right here represents areas that are still held by salmon -- rather, held by isis forces. the area in green generally to the north of the east and southeast of the areas now held by, in salmon by the isis people, these areas have been liberated from isis. and what's happened in the last, since two years ago, the amount of land controlled by isis which used to be the combined salmon colors and the combined green, that amount has been controlled by isis has been reduced by half. in addition to that, the number of people two years ago that were signing up and coming to this part of the world to fight on behalf of isis two years ago,

2,000 fighters from around the bolder were coming here -- around the world were coming here to join the fight for isis. last month, 200. two years ago when isis was on a roll through syria and through iraq, ten fighters per month were coming from the u.s. and they were headed right here to fight with isis. again, a month ago 10 per month from the u.s. last month, one. during the battle for this part of the country against the isis forces who were trying to establish their caliphate, their own country. not only have we reduced the land iraq holds by a half, significantly reduce the land controlled earlier in syria. but we've seen this coalition that we're a part of actually began to gel into an effective

fighting force. i spent five years of my life, mr. president, as a naval flight officer in the vietnam war, southeast asia and another 18 years after that as a p-3 aircraft mission commander flying a lot of missions up in just north of philadelphia called willow grove and flew missions all over the world tracking soviet nuclear submarines. but i have some experience with being involved in missions where you have naval aviation assets, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, working, communicating with naval ships, with naval submarines not just with the u.s. but our nato allies. i'll tell you, it's hard to do. we have different procedures, sometimes different languages. and it's difficult to coordinate our operations and our exercises. and i think when you put together a coalition with 60 different nations and try to figure out how to work and how to coordinate what everybody is

doing, some of us are providing our part. that's what we do. we have two carrier groups in this part of the world, one in the mediterranean sea, the other is down here in the persian gulf. often those carriers were launching i believe f-18's, f-16's, still using b-52, the ones i used to fly in the navy years ago. they were operating out of a variety of bases including qatar and other places to do high-precision bombing from, against the isis forces. we're using drones, using a-10 war hogs. we have a lot of air assets, naval assets and others in the air force. we have helicopters as well. but it's not just us. while we're doing work in the air and providing ground support from the air, we are also providing, i think, a lot of help with intelligence and helping us with that are certainly our hraes in -- allies

in this part of the world. we also have boots on the ground. a lot of boots on the ground are provided from iraq. boots on the ground that frankly fled from isis two years ago are now taking the fight to isis today. when ramadi was retaking the iraqi troops led the way. when fallujah gentleman -- when fallujah was taken, the iraqi troops led the way. when tikrit was taken the iraqi troops led the way. they were supported by us and others in the coalition but they led the way. this is mosul, big city. right below it is a smaller city called kiara. i think a bunch our military folks call it key west. it has been taken by the iraqi forces. it's here in the salmon color but it is now in the hands of the iraqi troops, government. there is a larger air base there

at kiara. it's about 40 miles from mosul. this air base will be used to help stage the coming effort this summer, this fall to retake mosul. while this is going on in this part of the country, this part of the country, raqqa, which is the spiritual capital, if you will, of the caliphate, the isis caliphate. and over here we have a combination of u.s. alliance forces coming in from the northeast approaching raqqa. we have syrian troops with the support from russian air coming this way, sort of the pinscher movement underway today. when asked how things are going, most people would really not know of the progress that's being made. a lot of people maybe still think it stopped two years ago, but it's not. a great deal has been

accomplished. during that period of time we've seen not only recapture of a lot of land, dropoff of a lot of folks around the world, including those who want to sign up for isis, those numbers have dropped dramatically. we also know the f.b.i. has arrested in the last two years close to 100 individuals here on isis-related charges. in cyberspace over 125,000 pro-isis twitter handles have been taken off-line. and today, for every pro-isis twitter handle there are now six anti-isis handles that are threatening isis actions and challenges twisted ideology which have nothing to do with the muslim faith. i think isis may now suspect it's losing. two daysing a, mr. president, a "washington post" story with the headline -- quote -- "isis quietly preparing for the loss of the caliphate." this area right here.

isis quietly preparing for the loss of the caliphate. the article detailed how isis is trying to compensate for losing this battle for the territory that two years ago was so important, but trying to compensate for that in ways that undermine their claims of legitimacy and relevance. as isis suffers these defeats, it is important to show for them and for us that despite the horrific terrorist attacks in orlando, in brussels, in istanbul and other places, isis is losing this war. when isis loses on the battlefield, it can no longer credibly use its winner message that they're a winning team to track recruits. i'll close with this, mr. president. i am a baseball fan. when i was in cleveland less than a month ago for the funeral of one of our former colleagues,

former governor voinovich, with whom we served. george voinovich passed away, former senator, former governor. wonderful, wonderful human being. i went to the funeral literally at the time of the nba finals. everywhere i went in cleveland, i saw people wearing cleveland cavalier hats or shirts or paraphernalia to make it clear that they were supporting their team. cleveland has a pretty good baseball team. the all-star game is this week and the indians are playing. if you go to cleveland these days, ohio these days you see a lot of people wearing indian hats and shirts and so forth. the reason why they're wearing is is because it is kind of natural people want to be part of a winning team. when 2,000 people a month were coming all over the world to fight with isis, isis was

perceived as a winning team. when people were coming from this part of the world to fight with isis, they were perceived as a winning team. they're not a winning team. they're not a winning team. they're becoming a losing team. and to the extent that we can continue to make sure that they are seen as a losing team, we successfully convey that, we reduce, i think, the likelihood of people in this country being radicalized, particularly young pipeline being radicalized and convinced to do horrific things against americans in this nation. i'll close, mr. president, with quoting a tpoel low named peter bergen. peter bergen is probably one of the most knowledgeable people on terrorism and threats that we face with these kind of attacks. and he said, he reminded us in testimony last month in the senate, since 9/11, every american who's died in a terrorist attack in this country has died at the hands of an american citizen or by someone

who is here legally. i'll say that again. since 9/11, peter bergen reminded us that everybody in this country who died at the hands of a terrorist attack has been killed by an american citizen or by someone who is here legally in this country. and people in this country are far less inclined to do those kinds of horrific things if we can successfully convey what's going on on this battlefield on the other side of the world. that's why i come to this floor every week or two to remind all of us of that truth. with that, mr. president, i'm not sure who's next in line, but i yield back the floor. i see my friend, mr. scott, tim scott. maybe yearning to speak. so i yield to him and wish him well. mr. scott: thank you. mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. scott: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today for the final time this week. this has been a very emotional ten days for all of us, and i

believe a pivotal time for the future of our nation. for me, personally, i believe our brightest days are still ahead of us, and i'll tell you why. i'm a kid who grew up in a single parent household, mired in poverty, disillusioned at times, who nearly flunked out of high school, whose life was changed by a strong, powerful african-american model and an optimistic visionary chick fil-a operator named john moniz who happened to be white. why do i say this? i think this is incredibly important that while our problems appear in black and white, our solutions are black and white. my life is a testament to god's love, a mother's love and the love of my mentor. i don't deny that our nation must have tough, painful conversations. family conversations. but i have experienced what's

possible when the family talks, and it's really a cool thing. my life story is a story of second chances, a love story of sorts. it's a dark hour in race relations for america. but i bring you hope, real hope. in the deep south, with a provocative racial history, the voters of the first congressional district of south carolina, a heavily white district, the home of the birthplace of the civil war, elected the grandson of a man who picked cotton. i'll say that one more time. in the heart of the south, the home of the civil war, a majority white district, these voters elected the grandson of a man who picked cotton over the children of the former united states senator and presidential

candidate strom thurmond and a very popular governor, governor carroll campbell. i am hopeful, because i have experienced the power of a state that has been transformed. the great state of south carolina. so to my american family, please remain optimistic. among -- on monday, i discussed the importance of supporting our law enforcement community. yesterday, i followed it up by asking you to also realize that while the vast majority of our law enforcement officers only seek to protect and to serve, there is still work to be done. there is a lack of trust between the black community and law enforcement. one that we as an american family must come together and solve.

i believe an old saying is a vital part to finding solutions. the only way to know where you're going is to know where you have been. as i mentioned earlier, part of the rich and sometimes provocative history of america is to point in one of two directions. one is to realize that over the past 240 years, we have had our challenges. our nation has nearly been pulled apart. but out of the crisis of our past has come the hope for our future. in a relatively short amount of time, we have made in my estimation remarkable progress as a nation. and while i'll talk about a few of the policies i believe will help us move forward, as well as some things that are more about simply getting us to interact

together, to sit down and break bread, the one thing our collective history has taught us is that we must not lose hope. yes, there are unresolved pain, suffering and misery, but this is the greatest nation on earth, and we're the greatest nation on earth for a reason. four men in our foundation opted to sacrifice themselves on behalf of other flawed men, and together we have done something unique in the history of our planet. that is simply to create a country that is based on the premise that all men are created equal and that our path forward will be blazed together. as the book of joshua says, we have to recognize our memorial

stones so that we have a chance to move forward. so there is obviously no single solution here. i hope to share a few today, some of which i have talked about before, some of which have broad support in congress, and some that have nothing to do with the federal government. believe it or not, the government is not the answer to what ails us. we can help in places, but the good news is 300 million americans, we as a nation, as a family, we are the solution. the first section of solutions sits in the realm of law enforcement and the justice department. over the past few years, i have talked to a wide variety of officials from across the law enforcement arenas as well as groups like the urban league of the naacp legal defense fund and

many other groups. one solution that seems to be acceptable and almost exciting to so many folks is the notion of body cameras. so i've introduced my safer officers, safer citizens act which provides more resources for police departments to obtain body cameras. as well as to help pay for some of the start-up costs for storage and other requirements. while we know body cameras cannot be the panacea, we also know this. if an officer is wearing one, we have a much better chance of understanding the situation from all sides. this is why so many law enforcement officers and agencies support using them. it's why you're seeing from cities from los angeles to new

york outfitting their officers with more and more body cameras. i've also introduced the walter scott notification act, along with my good friend, senator grassley. our system for tracking police shootings, it's not working for our nation. it's a patchwork system not guilt for the 21st century. so -- not built for the 21st century. so long story short, this bill changes that. hopefully it fixes the problems. we must know where we are to know where we must go. i'm also glad to see my colleagues in the house, including my very good friend, congressman trey gowdy starting a bipartisan working group to take a hard look at the relationship between the glak community and the law enforcement community. i am very hopeful that a similar group will start in the senate.

and my final point on the federal level is that i have had the pleasure of working with a group of colleagues, john cornyn and many others, working on this notion of criminal justice reform, and i am very hopeful that that work will continue and to move forward and produce real fruit. much of this work that needs to be done won't be done on the federal level if it's done by the government. it will be done by the local government and the state government. i've talked to so many in the law enforcement community who talk about the need for more training. specifically, de-escalation training, diversity training and more efforts to get police officers out of their cars and into communities so that they form positive, healthy relationships, so that when they're walking down the street that the folks know them. i spoke earlier with senator

lankford who talked about this notion of getting officers embedded in communities so that the officers know the very people they're talking to. this seems like common sense and it seems like the right direction. it's a two-way street. i think the dallas police chief said it very well. he made the point better than i could ever say it. he said if you have issues with policing in your neighborhood, well, we're hiring. that's really important. the dallas police department, along with police departments all across this country, they're hiring. they said and he said we'll train you up and we'll put you back into your community. these are the sort of real-world solutions and actions that build

trust in communities. the second set of issues we have to tackle -- and this is no surprise to anyone who has heard me over the last couple of years, focuses on one specific word. the word is opportunity. too many communities in our nation feel like they have been left behind, like no one cares, so why should they care? as someone, as i said earlier, who grew up in a single-parent household, i can tell you how strong that sensation to quit becomes, how quickly it grows. when you feel like i felt in the past, frustration rises. you start seeing the world differently. you don't trust people who aren't from your neighborhood. this is a dangerous recipe. so how do we tackle this problem? the answer, from my estimation, is kind of simple -- education,

jobs and investment. the cornerstones of my opportunity agenda. on the jobs front, i've worked across the aisle with senators like cory booker to introduce the leap act which allows for a very successful south carolina apprenticeship program to become a national model so that kids could earn and learn at the exact same time. we know not everyone wants to go or could afford to go to college, but that doesn't mean that they should not be able to find opportunities to provide for their families, by incentivizing apprenticeship programs, we can help folks see their potential, experience their potential and live fulfilling and profitable lives. i've also introduced the investing in opportunity act, which seeks to create a path for

private sector dollars. not government dollars, but private sector dollars to be invested in distressed communities. we have 50 million americans living in distressed communities , and over $2 trillion of unrealized capital gains just sitting there. we should incent those dollars to be invested in those communities. finally, education. my good friend, trey gowdy, says that education is the closest thing to magic in america. i think he's right. you can look at our incarceration rates, our unemployment rates, our high school dropout rates, our lifetime average incomes, and they all point to one specific area -- educational achievement. trust me, i'm the guy that just told you i almost failed out of

high school. i know this firsthand. for me, the answer is very clear. give parents a chance to find the best school for their children, and they will, period. and finally, the solutions on a personal level. again, i turn to dallas. as i was watching one of the surgeons at parkland hospital, he was talking about his feelings towards law enforcement. he was saying that he was struggling the night after the shooting. he had worked all night trying to save the lives of these officers, and he was tossing and turning, torn up on the inside that he could not save their lives. i can't imagine how he felt. i can't -- dr. barrasso, a

surgeon -- imagine how he felt trying to save the lives of men, women who were willing to give their lives for others. . i can't imagine. but he was an african-american man. as he walk up and prepared for the next day, he struggled. he struggled with his personal relationship, his personal concerns with law enforcement. so what is he doing? i think this is instructive for all of us. he said he is making sure that his daughter sees him buying lunch for officers, sees them interacting in a friendly way because he doesn't want to pass on to his daughter any sense of

fear of law enforcement but respects, appreciation and affection for men and women who wear the uniform. i've seen it in my hometown of north charleston, south carolina. it's an amazing experience. on christmas morning, dozens of officers with dozens of volunteers show up at city hall. and at 6:00 in the morning, these guys, gals, go door to door in the poorest neighborhoods in north charleston. i've been there once or twice, and knock on the door and they look into the eyes of a little girl or little boy who's expecting for for christmas, and they hand that child a toy. there are simple ways to bridge the divide between the african-american community and other poor communities and law

enforcement. powerful ways, simple ways to make a difference. as i've said a couple times, the government cannot make us get along. we've seen it tried before. it just simply cannot force you and i to take the leap of faith to try to trust again. the notion of america is really built on the foundation of faith, faith in each other, faith in a higher calling. if we are to mend the relationships in our family, we will have to do so by looking into each other's eyes, walking in each other's shoes, and listening, not waiting to talk but listening, listening with

not only your head but listening with your heart so that you hear and feel the pain and challenges of others. this is a simple commandment from god's word it's matthew 22, verse 29, to love your neighbors as yourself. this is not simply a comman commandmant, however. this is action. you have to do something. the congressman from south carolina and i are going to bring pastors and law enforcement officials together in south carolina so we can have an honest, sometimes painful conversation about how to move forward together. in charleston county, i had a chance to speak with the

long-time sheriff in charleston. he simply said both sides have to come together because this is not a one-sided issue. senator lankford and i are discussing a new idea called solution sunday, a wonderful idea that senator lankford shared with me earlier this week. and we'll talk more about that in the coming weeks but the premise of the idea is you have to do more than just go to church together and we as a nation aren't even doing that very well. but you have to eat together and do projects together. so you'll hear more about an exciting idea, slus solution suy in the coming weeks. i'll continue to reach all to my colleagues and my friends would may not look like me, who may have a different philosophy than i do so that i can understand their hopes, their dreams, and their frustrations, because

listening is so important. and as we look around our nation, it appears to me that we haven't done nearly enough listening to each other. in closing, i hope we all remember we have survived turbulent times before. the civil war, the great depression, world war ii, 1968. and in south carolina, 2015. i still marvel at how our state responded to the shooting at mother emmanuel, the power of forgiveness, the power of love conquering hate. earlier this year i lost my grandfather. i haven't really talked about it publicly. he was 94 years old and meant so

much to me. this was a man born in sally, south carolina, in 1921. i can only imagine what he has seen in south carolina. i can only imagine the life, the challenges and the struggles of an african-american in the deep south, 1921, 1931, and the 1940's. he didn't finish element elemen- elementary school. he had to pick cotton. he never learned to read. he eventually got a job at the port of charleston, a job that while it did not give us much in the way of tangible resources, it provided a measurable lifeline for our family. now this is a story that's been

repeated generation after generation in this country. i heard this story from a very different frame from my good friend marco rubio. it's a story of success. it's a story of significance. it's the story of america. my grandfather's grandson and yours truly as united states senator, my brother, another grandson, rose to the rank of command sergeant major in the united states army. my nephew, his great grandson, has graduated from georgia tech, duke university, and now is on his way to emory for medical school. that's the beauty of america. from cotton to congress in one lifetime. we are a beautiful nation.

we are an amazing family. families fight sometimes. that's okay. we must remember that we are one single family. we can all get to where we're going. we must get to where we're goi going, and we will get there together. i want to one more time slow down, pause, and remember the sacrifice, the sacrifices made by five dallas police officers. the tragedies in baton rouge and minnesota. we have been through so much, but a bright future is still there for our taking. let's make sure we grab it together. let me just say thank you to my

staff who worked very hard all week long to make sure that we were prepared for these presentations. i want to specifically thank my communications directo directorn smith who together helped put most of these words together, helped us work through the emotions, the challenges, and how to frame the conversation that we believe america must have. as my communications director who happens to be a white guy, my chief of staff who happens to be an african-american female, as we work together it reminded that in the midst of our struggles, our challenges, our difficulties that i depend on a rainbow coalition, a patchwork quilt to present my thoughts, my

heart to america. we are america. we are americans. god has blessed the united states of america. thank you. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: mr. president, i haven't watched the last three speeches in detail of my estee esteemed colleague from south carolina but i've watched good parts of them. i'm tremendously expressed about his personal experiences, about his empathy for what's getting on in america today, and his positive attitude which i admire very much. mr. president, today before we adjourn the senate will unanimously pass a resolution condemning last week's violent attack in dallas. this attack was on the police officers of the dallas community and of course other law enforcement agencies were also

targeted but the people killed were dallas police officers. we're all devastated by this murderous rampage that claimed the lives of five officers and wounded nine other police officers. every member of the senate stands with the police department of dallas and we've been so impressed with the chief of police. we stand with the dallas police department, their victims -- i'm sorry the victims, their families, the brave men and women who serve the people of dallas. i support this resolution because the least we can do in the senate is to honor these heroes. i support this resolution because the least we can do in the senate is to recognize the sacrifices made, much of it on national television. i think it's important that we also acknowledge the peaceful protesters who are marching that

day for justice and an end to violence. they were calling for and doing it in a very peaceful manner the end to the brutality and hostility that's taken the lives of americans of all backgrounds but disproportionately people of color. in the days leading up to the rally in dallas as we heard from my friend from south carolina, two men were killed, alton sterling in baton rouge, louisiana, and philando castile, st. paul, minnesota. the young man in louisiana was held down by two police officers and then killed. just the next day a man was killed in his car with the fiance and her 4-year-old daughter there listening and

watching. our friends in the african-american community demand recognition that their lives are valued, respected as everyone's life should be, should be done equally. it was my suggestion that we had just owe -- add an order to the resolution to at least recognize the purpose of the peaceful demonstrationors in this resolution. there was a decision made that that not be part of the resolution. i accept that. but i wanted to make sure that we recognized these peaceful protesters and why they were there. there are many victims here, be they law enforcement officers, innocent people, innocent people of color. they all deserve to be acknowledged, but, mr. president, as has been said by a number of people here the last few days, we can't sweep these

problems that we have under the rug. i thought it was tremendous that the senator from south carolina talked about three things we should all agree on, body cameras, data collection which is a code word for profiling, and of course something with the criminal justice system that is so close to having on this floor that we could vote on. it's bipartisan. it should be done. so i appreciate very much the senator from south carolina mentioning these three things, and i think they are certainly worth mentioning again. we can support the police officers of america, men, women. we mourn those who have fallen and honor their bravery while also acknowledging that we must do better in preventing the senseless killings of people of color. mr. president, i echo president obama's words from the memorial service in dallas.

he must be recognized for these great words when he said, find the characterrers of americans to open our hearts to each other. find the characters of americans to open our hearts to each other. we need to do that. if we do, we can find empathy for each other. the empathy to understand the challenges law enforcement faces every day and the empathy to understand the frustration and anger within communities of color across our nation. i look forward to the resolution passing. it's something the senate should be proud of. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. cassidy: i rise in support of h.r. 4904, making government accountable for the acronym for the