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 megabyte bill.

h.r. 4904 is the companion to a piece of legislation senator gary peters and i introduced, senate bill 2340. i'd like to thank senator peters for being the lead cosponsor of the senate version of the megabyte act and thank senator thad cochran for cosponsoring. s. 2340 passed the senate by voice vote last week. my friends in the house of representatives, representative matt cartwright, representative will hurd, representative steve russell and representative elijah cummings are the lead sponsors of h.r. 4904. it passed the house june 7, 2016, by a vote of 366-0. the megabyte act reforms the federal government's management of information technology software licenses, the nonpartisan government accounting office called the goo found that i implementing the management software policy of software licenses saved a single agency $181 million tax dollars

per year, taxpayer dollars. if implemented, the megabyte act could save -- could yield billions in savings across the federal government. now, the federal government spends $82 billion a year on information technology. in 2015, for example, for the second year in a row, g.a.o. listed i.t. software license management as a stop priority for its annual duplication report. the g.a.o. stated that the executive branch does -- quote -- not have adequate policies for managing software licenses. of the 24 major federal agencies, only two have implemented comprehensive and clear management policies of federal software licenses. furthermore, none of the 24 major federal agencies have fully implemented all five industry best practices recommended by the g.a.o. the megabyte act saves taxpayers dollars and cuts government

waste through the following actions. the office of management and budget director shall issue a directive requiring that the chief information officer of each executive agency to identify clear rolls, responsibilities and central oversight authority within the agency for managing enterprise software license agreements and commercial software licenses. agencies will also establish a comprehensive inventory, including 80% of software licensing spending and enterprise licenses in the agency. they shall regularly track and maintain software licenses to assist the executive agency in implementing decisions throughout the software license management life cycle. and they shall analyze software usage and other data to make cost-effective decisions. i notice that every now and then someone has a database software package, and they never use a database. we, the taxpayer, can save that

money. as you provide training relevant to software license management and establish goals and objectives of the software license management program of the agency. and lastly, i will mention that they should consider the software license management life cycle phases including the requisition, reception, deployment, maintenance, retirement and disposal phases to implement effective decisionmaking and incorporate existing standards, processes and methods. congress has the responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used to efficiently -- used efficiently and effectively, for all the reasons stated above, i offer my strong support for the megabyte act and urge the senate to pass h.r. 4904, sending it to the president's desk. with that said, i ask unanimous consent that the committee of homeland security and government affairs be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 4904 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report.

the clerk: h.r. 4904, an act to require the director of the office of management and budget to issue a directive on the management of software licenses, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged, and the senate will proceed. mr. cassidy: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cassidy: i yield back. mr. casey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i would ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: mr. president, let me start today by commending the remarks from the junior senator from south carolina. throughout this week in several, i guess it's now three times this week, his words and his passion have both inspired us

and informed us. i think he's also challenged all of us to do more for our country, so i'm grateful that i was here for his remarks today, and i commend him for those words and for what he -- what he talked about on the floor today. mr. president, let me ask first consent that steven deitz, a senate fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the duration of my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. three months ago, i spoke on the floor to highlight the needs -- the need to expand our arsenal of financial measures against the terrorist group isis, which we know is also known as isil and known by other names or acronyms. i'll use the acronym isis. i said at that time that these agents of hate, violence and chaos could be significantly

diminished by attacks on their finances. not long after that, the president signed into law the bipartisan protect and preserve international cultural property act which i sponsored here in the senate which will undermine isis's ability and efforts to pillage antiquities in iraq and syria for profit. but we need to keep up the pressure on this issue on isis. all terrorist organizations, of course, need resources to survive, and this is a vument we must fully exploit. dismantling the financial networks that support terrorism is a critical part of our mission to protect the united states of america. isis is the best example of how pressing the need is today. militarily, isis continues to destabilize iraq and syria at

the expense of millions of civilians who are caught in the crossfire. it continues to cultivate affiliates in northern and western africa, central asia and other parts of the middle east. it continues to sow the seeds of terror in neighboring countries like turkey and saudi arabia, and further afield in europe, africa and of course here in the united states. thousands, many thousands of innocent lives have been tragically and unjustly lost in these attacks. financially, isis relies on a variety of revenue streams, and we must attack all of them. u.s. and coalition air power is disabling oil refineries and stopping smuggling convoys in their tracks. u.s. air force major general peter gurston, deputy commander of the combined joint air task force operation inherent resolve

reported on april 26 of this year -- quote -- "isis's ability to finance their war through oil refineries has been destroyed." unquote. that's good news, but we have a lot more to do. as a result, isis is cutting its fighters' salaries, it's plundering anything and everything it can reach, it's looting banks, kidnapping for ransom, extorting money directly from the eight million people caught in its territory. according to the center for signals of terrorism, such extortion now accounts for more than one-third of the income of isis. tough sanctions have helped curtail isis's ability to access the international banking system, but isis is using informer channels to receive and spend money off the grid. none monetary transfer --

nonmonetary transfer systems and informer exchange houses operating across multiple countries have been less vulnerable to traditional sanctions. as isis adapts, so must the united states. the department of the treasury has been relentless in identifying and blacklisting individuals and entities that finance terror. i applaud them for this work. and yet, because terrorist groups exploit financial jurisdictions to channel their ill-gotten gains, the united states cannot effectively stop terrorist financiers by itself. our coalition partners must join this fight. we cannot afford weak links in this chain. in february of this year, i visited saudi arabia, turkey and qatar to conduct oversight of our terrorism finance strategy. i found that the events of the

last two years have brought this issue of terrorism financing into sharper focus for the countries in the region. while many of our coalition partners are taking steps in the right direction, much more work needs to be done to stem this tide. we need to see more investigations turn into arrests, more prosecutions and more sentencing that takes terrorists' financiers off the streets. as with nuclear nonproliferation, we need to build and reinforce the international architecture that governs international cooperation to stop terrorist financiers. last week, senator isakson and i introduced the storm act, storm, the stop terrorist operational resources and money act. this act authorizes a new

designation called -- quote -- jurisdiction of terrorism financing concern. if a country is not doing enough to stop terrorist financiers. once designated by the united states of america -- in fact, once designated by the president of the united states of america, that country would face significant penalties that include the cessation of aid and the suspension of arm sales. to avoid the penalties, the country can also enter into a technical assistance agreement with the united states to remediate the problems that led to its designation. the storm act also sanctions foreign financial institutions that make deals on behalf of isis or launder money for isis. like this chamber's recent action to sanction foreign banks, the deal with -- that deal with hezbollah, we must ensure that no part, no part of

the international banking system is left open to isis. we expect overseas banks to join with us by using all, all of its tools at its disposal to make certain that they are not unwitting -- unwittingly or negligently acting for isis. banks that fail to do so have no right to do business with the united states of america. so the storm act will be a powerful tool in the president's arsenal -- and future president's arsenal to starve terrorist groups of the resources they need to survive. i'd like to thank the senator for his original cosponsorship of this important legislation. it is essential that we send it through the foreign relations committee, through the congress both house and senate and to the president's desk for signature as soon as possible.

mr. president, i would yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, just days ago, five police officers were shot and killed. others were very seriously wounded.

in the middle of a rally trying to bring people together. trying to allow americans to be able to have what many call our conversation on race. as several have mentioned before on this floor about my friend the junior senator from south carolina, tim scott, senator scott's comments on race all this week as have several others on this floor that have talked about it. i hear many people in my own state and the conversations that i've had around my state about issues of race, and i keep hearing this ongoing statement. we need to have a greater conversation about race. and i think we somewhat are a little confused about how this gets resolved in some ways. i want to make a quick comment and a challenge to my fellow senators and others that may be around. the challenge is very straightforward and simple. we talk about a conversation on race as if it is something that can happen nationally at a rally, at a protest, in the

media, among leaders. it's not really how america solves issues and problems. we solve it around dinner tables. it's always been the place that we've resolved issues as a nation. it's how families sit down together and have a chance to talk it out. over the past week, i've had this recurring conversation with people, just a simple question. have you ever had a family of another race sit down with your family for dinner at your home? have you ever invited another family of another race to your home for dinner? that doesn't seem like a challenging question, but i'm amazed at the number of people that i've posed that question to that have looked at me that have hesitated and have said of course i have. then i said when and they had to hesitate and think and said, no, i don't think really that's ever happened. i have people that i work with,

very people that i interact with, play sports with, go to school with, live in my neighborhood but i don't think i've ever had a family of a different race than mine over for dinner. so here's my simple challenge to us. if we're going to have a conversation about race, maybe the conversation should start with each of our families at our dinner tables. it's why senator scott mentioned earlier, i've laid out a challenge, just a simple statement, what i call solution sundays. if you're going to be part of the solution in america, maybe on a sunday for lunch or for dinner to invite another family over of another race just to sit and have conversation. everybody put their featured the same table -- feet under the same table and develop a friendship and a relationship. every person can do that, every person can be part of the solution. every person in our country can start to move that conversation a little farther. it's part of who we are. we don't solve things based on a

vote in america. we solve things around our dinner table. mr. president, i would challenge every american to invite someone from another race to their home and just sit and have sunday lunch together and watch and see what begins to happen in our nation. mr. president, today is also an anniversary day. today's happy birthday to the jcpoa, what is commonly known as the iran nuclear deal. happy birthday. you're one year old today. in many ways we've seen some progress in some areas. iran does have fewer centrifuges than what they had a year ago president iran has allowed the inspectors to come into some locations. that's a positive thing. iran has allowed engagement in some of their purchasing of some of their nuclear materials. that's a positive thing and i'm

grateful for the progress and i hope that progress continues, but at this point it's just a hope. quite frankly today for me, recognizing the one-year birthday of the iran nuclear deal is a reminder to the administration that america and the congress has not forgotten that this is a deal that has to be implemented with great strength because the issues that we face in relationship with iran are multitude. let me just highlight a few things just to be able to talk through some of the issues that i have seen and things that are still coming, things that have happened in the past year and things that are still to come. for instance, in the past year, the international community has released around $100 billion to iran, $100 billion has flown back to them. what's happened in that time period? they have recapitalized their banks. they have recapitalized in several areas that they needed in their economy, but they've also increased their military

defense spending by 90% in the past year. that flood of money has accelerated the iranian military buildup. we have actually contributed to that as americans. about a month or so after and shortly connected to the iran nuclear deal being announced and going through the process, iran released several folks that were considered hostages by the americans, people that had been jailed in america, that were americans jailed in iran. they released those individuals and shortly thereafter the administration released from the judgment fund $1.7 billion to iran saying this is part of the return from some of the money that was required from iran from 1979 in the fall of the shah. $1.7 billion. interestingly enough, months later iran and its movement increased its military spending

exactly $1.7 billion and the iranians announced those two were connected. american tax dollars directly funded $1.7 billion of iranian military buildup. i wish i could even stop there. just months ago the administration announced that we were going to start purchasing heavy water from iran. you see, we don't produce our own heavy water. heavy water is used in development of nuclear materials for a nuclear weapon but it's also used in research. united states doesn't produce our own heavy water. we purchase it from canada mostly. but instead this time we purchased nuclear water for over $8 million from iran. so we didn't purchase from our ally. we purchased from iran. i wish i could tell you that is all that it is but secretary moniz announced with that, this statement upon the purchase of heavy water from iran. the idea is okay.

we tested it. it's perfectly good, heavy water. it meets specs. we'll buy a little bit of that. that will be the statement to the world, he said. you'll want to buy heavy water from iran. you can buy heavy water from iran. it's been done. even the united states did it. we have moved in the past year from sanctions on iran to being iran's salesman to helping them sell heavy water to the world. telling them don't buy from our allies and canada anymore. we tested the iranian water and we like it. you should buy that. that's a pretty big shift in the last year to move from we have sanctions on you as a terrorist nation to we are your salesman. people of the world should start buying their nuclear heavy water from iran. that's all just in the past year. wish i could stop but many people have noticed if they're watching the media at all that iran has launched multiple test missiles in the past several

months. october the 10th, they launched a missile with an 800-mile range. november 21, they launched another long-range missile. on march 8 and 9, they launched other missiles as test missiles. all these are in violation of the missile test treaty ban that has been in place for years on iran. what has been done so far to be able to sanction, back down sanctions? nada. so they're recapitalizing their military. they're testing new missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear armaments. they're continuing to pursue nuclear materials in opposition to the direct agreement. just days ago germany released out a long report from their domestic intelligence agency which is their equivalent of our f.b.i. they released out a statement saying the findings by the federal office for the protection of the constitution,

that's their f.b.i., in a 317-page report said that they had found that iran has a clandestine effort to seek illils sit nuclear technology and equipment from german companies at what is even by international standards a quan at a timively high -- qawnt at a timively high level. they underscored the finding in a statement to parliament saying iran violated the u.n. security council's antimissile development regulations. seeking nuclear materials in a quan at itatively high level frm german companies in a clandestine way. they're continuing to advance. at the same time out in plain sight iran has purchased from russia the s-300 missile defense system. they continue to have a tremendous number of religious and human rights documented prisoners that are in iran, estimated 821 individuals right

now. by the way, some of those also americans that are currently imprisoned in iran right now, some of them for just the simple practice of a minority faith. i asked the president's director of national intelligence just weeks ago what has changed in iran being the largest states sponsor of terrorism in the world in the last year? his response to me was nothing. they are still advancing against bahrain to have a coup. they're still funding the civil war and coup that's happening in yemen. they're still funding hezbollah. they are still propping up assad and in fact have increased their funding levels there. all of those things still continue to advance, just with more money and with more supplies now than what they had in the past.

it's a one-year birthday from the iran -- for the iran nuclear deal and iran is a rising power in the region and continues to advance towards nuclear technologies. so what are we going to do about it? one is i think we need to continue to remind everyone that's out there that this is a very serious threat. iran with a nuclear weapon is completely unacceptable in this world. the largest states sponsor of terrorism in the world should not have nuclear weapons. the world community should at least agree on that. i have pushed on several areas. i authored a bill dealing with -- it's a resolution in fact detailing out when the administration should do snapbacks. the administration has been very vague about when they'll also snap back sanctions. so we took their deal that they had, went through it in great detail, put it in technical language and put it into a resolution to clearly state here

are the boundaries of this resolution so it has no fuzzy gray areas. we've also demanded through an appropriations amendment that we get greater detail in the $1.7 billion in transfer money from the judgment fund that was transferred to iran. currently we have almost no detail on that other than we know iran used it for its military development because they announced that and put that out. third, i've worked with senator fisher from nebraska creating a judgment fund transparency piece so we will never again transfer american dollars to any states sponsor of terrorism around the world. couldn't we have that as a minimum criteria that we will not spend the hard earned tax dollars of americans to help supply the military requirements of the largest states sponsor of terrorism. i cosponsored a bill with senator rubio which prohibits

ex-im financialing to iran, to make sure iran is not coming to the american taxpayer to get some sort of subsidies to been to do that. as i mention -- be able to do that. as i mentioned before we'll continue to remind the administration that no one is forgetting because we do not have the option of losing track of a nuclear iran. happy birthday to the iran nuclear deal. i hope in the years ahead we can say we have a non-nuclear power iran but i will tell you based on what has happened in the past year, i remain incredibly skeptical of that. i yield back. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to speak about the need to pass the water resources development act of 2016 also known as wrda.

despite strong bipartisan support, the senate has yet to take a vote on a common sense necessary piece of legislation. mr. peters: frankly, i'm extremely disappointed. wrda will help communities across the nation who need to repair, expand, or modernize their water infrastructure. the bill invests in the nation's ports and inland waterways to improve commerce and moves us towards major upgrades to locks and dams and places like the upper mississippi river system. wrda will improve flood protection in order to better safeguard communities from damage. it will restore ecosystems and promote public access to for recreation. this legislation empowers local partners and water resource project implementation and improves the approval process for the u.s. army corps of engineer projects. wrda promotes innovative technologies to address water resource challenges, including

additional support to drought stricken communities. this bill also makes essential investments in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, including emergency assistance to communities facing water contamination like flint, michigan. earlier this week i had the opportunity to again meet with families from flint. the devastating water crisis continues to have an unimaginable impact on the children and families there. and i was heart broken to hear more about some of their daily struggles, but i was also inspired by their resiliency. the provisions that are included in the wrda bill will help ensure that flint residents have the resources and support necessary to address this ongoing and catastrophic tragedy. wrda will help flint residents, but

it will also help communities all across our country with drinking water and infrastructure challenges. it will modernize the state revolving loan fund programs and capitalize the water infrastructure finance and innovation act program also known as wifia, a new program to fund large-dollar infrastructure projects all across our nation. the many benefits of the wrda bill from drinking water protections to waterway improvements to water body restoration is why it enjoys broad, diverse support. over 100 stakeholder organizations have called on the senate to bring w wrda to the floor. these groups include the american society of civil engineers, the u.s. chamber of commerce, nature conservancy, united steelworkers, national association of counties, the national league of cities, the u.s. conference of mayors, and

the national association of clean water agencies. our dedicated partners across the aisle are also ready to move this important bipartisan piece of legislation. senator inhofe recently joined 28 -- 28 -- of his republican colleagues on a throart senate republican leadership calling for a vote. the environment and public works committee passed the water resources development act with strong, overwhelming bipartisan support, a vote of 19-1. this commonsense bill is ready for a vote in the senate. communities across our country, including the families of flint, are ready and waiting for us to act. i truly hope that the wrda bill can be prioritized for action on the floor when we return in september. we simply must act, and we must act as quickly as possible.

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the remainder of my remarks be placed elsewhere in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. peters: mr. president, when you think about fast-growing start-up companies, you might think about silicon valley, boston, or boulder. while these cities certainly have very vibrant start-up ecosystems, innovative start-ups and small businesses are being founded and are growing across the united states, including in my home state of michigan. in each of our states, there are hardworking entrepreneurs who have established job-creating start-ups. these dynamic companies act as entrepreneurial leaders,en -- innovators and job creators with our communities. retail, health care, transportation, and education are being revolutionized and reshaped by entrepreneurs our local communities. they are reimagining the future by using technology to solve

problems and create innovative products and services. according to the kauffman foundation, start-ups are a major force for job creation in the united states. start-ups under one year old start about two million jobs per year, accounting for 20% of gross job creation, though they only represent 8% of the firms in this country. despite the thact that start-ups are vital to our country's economic and job growth, many members of our community may not know that these innovative companies exist and many start-up companies may not know where to access the resources to help their companies succeed. in 2013, i joined a bipartisan group of colleagues, including congressman issa, to create the first annual start-up day across america to bring attention to start-ups throughout michigan and across the united states.

that year i had the opportunity to visit start garden, a combined venture capital fund and start-up work space in grand rapids with congressman eye zynga and amash. we heard firsthand about the businesses being developed in michigan. i met with a group of entrepreneurs at the addison building in detroit backed by detroit venture ventures. founded in 2011 with just four employees, detroit lab now has upwards of 100 people working for it, building cutting-edge technology in downtown detroit. they dream up, design, and build mobile apps and have made them for general motors, domino's pizza, kimberly-clark, d.t.e. energy and many others. they also provide a paid-apprenticeship program that teaches michiganders how to code

upon completion of the program. it is not scrus about apps and tech, though. i also visited pony ride, a coworking space in courttown where i met matt, founder of detroit denim. he and his team are making high-quality jeans in detroit and shipping them across the country. in 2015, i visited start-ups in travers city, where i heard about a company in northern michigan pulling in talent from across the midwest including cheri capital foods that works with michigan farmers to help them find new customers. this year i have teamed up with senators warner, daines, and scott to encourage our colleagues to visit a start-up anywhere in their home state during the week of august 4. like me, they know that start-ups are taking root across the nation in richmond, virginia; boyceman, montana;

charleston, south carolina; kalamazoo, michigan. and other communities. michigan in fact has one of the fastest-growing venture capital communities in the nation. a critical asset that will help us become the start-up capital of the midwest. we have world-class colleges and universities, more engineers than any other part of the country, and an infrastructure to export not just nationally but all across the globe. while i'm focused on connecting talented michiganent preeners in to the -- entrepreneurs to the capital, need to grow and succeed. i will also continue working with my colleagues on federal policies that will support these important start-ups and small businesses. that means strong science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, along with expanding efforts to encourage our nation's students to learn how to code. even basic programming skills are incredibly marketable, not just among tech start-ups but

throughout the entire economy. we also need to make sure start-ups are able to compete on a level playing field on the internet and have access to fast, affordable broadband no matter where you live. additionally, we must work together to help entrepreneurs master challenges and impediments that stand in their way as they seek to establish their firms and to create jobs. start-ups play a key role in economic growth and we have to do more to help them. a recent report from the economic innovation group found that since the end of the recent recession, new firms have increased by only 2.3% and are concentrated in only 23% of the -- of u.s. counties, especially in dense, higher-population areas. we have to ensure that every american community has the opportunity to experience the economic benefits that new business establishments bring. we have to ensure that every

american community has the requisite tools to support entrepreneurs as they turn their ideas into action. transforming their neighborhoods and the economic trajectories of their neighborhoods in the process. ultimately, success for any company comes down to matching talent with capital. small businesses and start-ups now have a variety of sources of capital to create and expand jobs, s.b.a. loans including the 7-a loan program that i have championed in the past. state-backed loans through the michigan economic development corporation facilitated by the state's small business credit initiative, venture capital, friends or family, and now even crowdfunding. just as there are a number of factors that contribute to a vibrant start-up ecosystem, there will be a wide array of stakeholder decisions and industries that will continue to shape michigan's future economy. i am committed to ensuring that

our growing start-up community will be a fixtour of job creation and creativity for jobs to come. mr. president, i yield. the presiding officer: the senator florida. mr. rubio: with all that's occurred in our country over the past few weeks, i wanted to take a few moments to bring everybody's ateption to something that happened -- attention to something that happened in my home state of florida. this weekend the navy's flight demonstration squadron known as the blue angels will take to the skies over pensacola for the pensacola beach air show. it will be their first air show appearance in florida since that fatal day on the 2nd of union when they lost captain jeff ke. oose, the number 6 airplane in

the blue angels lineup. captain koose was an american hero. like all blue angel pilot and the men and women who support the mission, captain koo sext was the very best of what our military and nation has to offer. he was a war hero. he served our country proudly in afghanistan. he was a decorated aviator who certained the strike flight air medal in the marine and z corps and navy achieve medal. i commend the marine corps for training such a skilled aviator as well as navel air station pensacola where he first started flying. he was a hometown hero, a local boy from durango, colorado, who tanned fort lou college. he performed a flyover with his teammates over super bowl 50 and then watched the denver broncos win their third super bowl championship. avenues loving son to his

parents, a devoted husband to his wife christina and a loving father to his twro young children calvin and sloan. the same attributes that he demonstrated throughout his life, service, sacrifice, loyalty, faith, devotion, they were all present in his final moments as well. he could have ejected, but instead he stayed with his plane and steered it away from a more populated area to spare any additional loss of life. i know that in our country today there is ample reason for pes mitch. we hear plenty from various voicevoices about what is wrongh our country. let's take a moment to reflect on his life. they are everything about our country. the love they share for one another, the sacrifices they make in service to our nation, and the devotion they have to their calling represents the very best of the american spirit. and the rumble of those engines over the skies of pensacola this weekend will not us is be a resumption of their duties as

aviators and military professionals, it will be a tribute, a tribute to captain koose and the life he spent doing what he loved. for the people of pensacola, the cradle of naval aviation and the place the blue angels call home, the blues are their team. think about whatever major sports team you have in your home tiewngdz the love the community gives that's professional or college athletes who compete on national television. it pales in comparison to the bond the people of pensacola have to the blue angels. our state and community in pensacola took the loss of the captain very hard. to the people who saw him around towrntion he was jeff, a friend, a neighbor, and someone to be proud of. and true to the spirit of pensacola, the community has rallied to provide comfort to captain koose's teammates and family. i am so proud that my home state is the home for the blues. i am proud that pension cola

continues to embrace the bluesaged to make every member of the blue angel's family a -- i am proud they will return to the pensacola beach this weekend and i am proud that the united states military mapped of extraordinary americans like captain jeff kuss. i ask all americans to keep captain kuss and his family in your prayers. thank god for him, for our military men and women and the families who sacrifice alongside them. i ask god bless captain kuss and his family and got bless the blue angels and they fly this weekend a nnd the weeks, months and years to kovment mr. president, on a separate topic, i recently addressed the senate and our nation about truly a disaster that is wreaking havoc on my home state of florida a thick and putriddal goa bloom that has appeared along large stretches of the

st. lucie river and the indian river lagoon. nutrient-rich water is running into lake okeechobee from north of that lake -- at the center of our state. historically, that water sat in lake okeechobee but runs southward through the everglades. with development and is aal in systems and so forth, that all stopped. now that water constituents in the lake held back by the herbert hoover dike, which was put in place to prevent flooding and the loss of lives who live around lake oa okeechobee. when the water rises to levels that threaten the integrity of that dike, it needs to be released. instead of being released in a clean form to the south the way it once was it is now released to the east and to the west. these waters rich in nutrients are released to he is waries and canals which have nutrients in them because of storm water runoff or because of the seepage from flood water tanks.

when that water reaches the ocean, the estuaries, the conditions become ripe for algae bloom. that is what we're seeing now. although the bacteria is always present in the waters it needs the present circumstances to form. and unfortunately the conditions we have now have been a perfect storm. this winter and spring provided numerous storms and produced so much rain that the army corps of engineers began discharging water in january, and it hasn't stopped since. i recently requested the army corps to stop these harmful discharges. they agreed to slow the discharges but not to stop them entirely. but the state of florida's emergency declaration, more water is able to be held north of the lake which allows for less water to be discharged out of the lake east and west. i was there a couple of weeks ago and it's a disgusting sight to see and to smell and to breathe. the algae has forced the closure of several beaches, killing fish and oysters, hurting tourism,

harming local business businesses. people are canceling their vacations and this is hurting the economy in the treasure coast in enormous ways. we've done a number of things to help. i supported our governor's request that president obama declare this a federal disaster, declare it so that resources can be made available to the impacted communities. i asked that the president approve this request promptly so that the much-needed resources can be deployed. my office has also been working with the small business administration for months on the harmful impacts of the discharges. in april, for example, we were able to get the s.b.a. to ensure disaster loans made available to businesses suffering from these discharges. and we were recently able to confirm with the s.b.a. that the disaster loans will apply to those currently affected by the current algae blooms. we've been in touch with the centers for disease control

about making sure the concerns many have about the impacts of the algae are looked at and addressed and i was pleased to learn this week in a meeting that the c.d.c. has been working with the state of florida and have asked them to stand ready should the state require more assistance. but perhaps the single most important long-term solution that we can put in place is the need for the senate and for the house to pass and for the president to sign the authorization for the central everglades planning project which will divert these harmful discharges away from the coastlines and send more water south through the everglades. we cannot lose our focus when it comes to these projects. as you've heard a moment ago, the senator from michigan mentioned the water bill. i along with 29 other senators sent a letter to the senate leadership asking that the water resources development act receive floor consideration. i have also urged the leaders of the senate to take this action specifically because of the merits of the central everglades

planning project included in that bill and because of its importance to florida. but i want to focus the rest of my time here on a new problem that emerged this last friday, and it deals with the discharges from lake okeechobee. as i mentioned, these discharges, the water being released, that's been ongoing since january of this year. and what the discharges do is it lowers the salinity levels and causes the algae bloom. when you think you've had enough problems to deal with on this, the federal government came in out of nowhere last friday and threw in another wrench. the obama administration through the u.s. fish and wildlife service, quote unquote recommended the senator from florida water management district force more water from the north and they did so in order to protect ten snail kite bird nests. if the local water district does not comply with this, quote unquote, recommendation, the federal government has threatened to sue them. now as i've just covered, the

lake okeechobee discharges are part of the problem. and yet here come federal regulators from a completely different department asking for more discharges. and why? to protect ten bird nests. look, in florida we love our wildlife. we love our florida panthers, our dolphins, our manatees. if you drive across the state i can't tell you how many animals you'll see on people's license plates because florida department of motor vehicles provides many options for people to show how much they love and support the different animals, the flora and the fauna that our state has. in fact, i'm one of those people with one of those plates. i have an a garrett on mine, although it is a university of florida gator. we love our wildlife in florida, but when you have situations and conflicts like this one, you essentially trying to figure out whose side to be on, ten bird nests or a species with numbers on the rise or millions of treasure coast residents and the

marine life that inhabits those waters, the answer should be clear. stop the discharges and side with the millions of people on the treasure coast. the federal government is clearly not on their side. what the u.s. fish and wildlife service is demanding is truly beyond comprehension and an example of the federal bureaucracy run amok. if the local water district does as the federal government demands and they release held water into lake okeechobee, the army corps of engineers is going to be forced to increase discharges into the st. lucie and caloosahatchee estuaries. these regulatory decisions are having a real impact on floridians, our ekolg, our economy, our very way of life up and down the treasure coast. i asked the director of fish and wildlife as well as the secretary of the interior to immediately reverse this harmful, this tone-deaf instruction that if they complement -- implement will

prolong the ecological life along the waterways. no sense at all. reverse this order and let's focus on everything else we need to be doing on this algae issue and that we were focused on before the federal government decided to create yet another problem to deal with. lastly, on a point of -- i wanted to make here on a third and final topic. i'd like to acknowledge a valued and long-term member of my senate office who recently left our office. emily box served our team for nearly seven years, started as an tpheurpb on -- intern and thn coming here to the senate, taking on every challenge asked of her and helping me develop higher education and health care policies. among the many issues emily handled for us, she worked on the zika issue and finding a way to help those afflicted with it. everyone has come to trust emily's expertise. we thank her for her service to

our office and the people of florida and truly wish her the very best. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. coats: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. coats: mr. president, it's time once again for the waste of the week.

this is waste of the week number 48, 48 weeks i've been coming down to the senate floor during this senate session of the two year session talking pw-rt waste, fraud -- about the waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money. the ever growing need to tackle the soaring debt has been brought to our attention once again this week by the nonpartisan congressional budget office. on tuesday the budget office released its long-term federal budget update, and it's not pretty. once again the c.b.o. bluntly told congress that we need to reduce the federal debt as soon as possible. how many times have they -- do they have to send a report here saying, look, the house is on fire. you've got to do something about it. i say once again, and i can say

once again, once again, once again, once again the congressional budget office, nonpartisan -- it's not republican, not democrat, not liberal, not conservative. these guys deal with numbers, and the numbers don't lie. you don't have to be a math genius to figure out that we are spending far more than we take in and we have to borrow against that. and just under this administration we have nearly doubled, doubled from $10.7 billion of national debt to almost $20 billion of national debt. and this is a legacy the president wants to carry? you never hear him talk about this. never hear this mentioned. obamacare, the best thing that's ever happened in the world. if you've been listening to the disaster that is rolling out under obamacare and the premiums that have doubled and the co-pays that have tripled and the exemptions that have been lost and all kinds of things happening to people in america here today under this flawed federal program, you would

understand this. but we are talking here about a budget out of control, spending out of control. i've been a part of efforts to deal with this on a macro basis and all of those have failed. they failed because the president of the united states has refused to come to conclusion in working with us. he made attempts to do it, made nice statements but in the end it was always can't go there. so i decided i would at least try to point out documented issues of waste, fraud and abuse, that the very least we can do is stop this kind of spending. we've totaled up a pretty good total approaching $250 billion of documented waste, fraud and abuse. so c.b.o. projects that the combined social security trust funds will be exhausted by 2029, five years earlier than the social security trustees estimated a little bit ago, forcing automatic benefit cuts on seniors and people with

disabilities. let me repeat that. forcing automatic cuts to seniors and those with disabilities. you hear senators talking about we're going to have to do this? no, i don't hear this on the floor. you hear the president talking about this? no, let's pass this on, 2029. i mean, hey, that's way in the distant. why do we need to worry about that now. that's what they were saying when the debt was $10.7 billion. that's what they were saying when the debt was $5 billion. we can do this later. well, the clock is ticking. is anybody out there listening? hello? hello? we're on the road to insolvency. and your elected representatives and your president isn't doing anything about it. as you can tell, i get pretty worked up on this. i'm down to some of the small stuff, pointing out, can't we at least do this? can't we at least come together as a senate and as a house of

representatives and can't we at least eliminate the waste, the documented fraud, the abuse of programs? i'm now on week number 48. i've got a card here that details -- here it is. i've got a card here that details all of the issues that we've done. it keeps adding up, adding up, adding up. and i'm only scratching the surface. i could be down here every day day, maybe every hour of every day the senate is in session talking about the waste of the week, what the c.b.o. puts out, what the government accountability puts out, what independent agencies put out, you know, we can do 24-hour filibusters and just rack one up after another. this is your federal government action and the tragedy is these are the tax dollars that you work hard for every week and that you send to washington and you want them responsibly used. yes, of course we have to fund the military. yes, we want to take care of the veterans. we want to take care of our national security.

we are a threat from isis, a threat from terrorists around the world and some of them domestic. and we want police forces and we want intelligence and we want all those entities that are involved in keeping us safe. we need to fund those. how about medical research? what about disease control? we're talking about ebola. we're talking about zika. we're talking about a number of things that the centers for disease control deals with down in atlanta. how about education? how about roads? how about sewers? how about water lines? how about raft of things that require spending in order to keep our nation healthy, in order to keep our nation functioning, in order to make us competitive in the world. all that is at risk. all that is at risk because our entitlements keep growing out of control. and no one is saying there's a fire on the way. it's growing, not diminishing and you're not calling out the fire department to deal with this, with this issue.

well, let me get to the essence of this recent, recent issue here. remember the lifeline program? well, that's the program that provides people of lower means, perhaps some in rural areas, a lifeline, so they can call 911. there has been some documentation that people can't -- some people can't afford this. the president came along. they call it the obama phone program now. it's advertised -- i think it's a private advertisement, but it's a government-sponsored legislative program, then it's contracted out. free cell phone. the government pays for wireless service. free phone, free minutes, free enrollment, no payment ever.

this well-intended program, this program that was to provide people a lifeline in case of emergency, ability to dial 911 and get the emergency people out, a lifeline that was important to low-income earners that couldn't be -- that couldn't afford a phone, well, that has some benefit. that is something maybe we ought to do, but we ought to put controls on it to make sure that the program has not been used. initially, this program helped low-income enrollees pay for a land line phone service, but land line, as you know, is out of the way. i doubt if any of these pages even know what land line is. they grew up in the cell phone era. it happened just a few years after i came to the senate. but this program, like almost every other program the government sponsors, many well intended but it runs amok

because of mismanagement, misuse of the law, misinterpretation, abuse, waste, people taking advantage. under the obama administration, the costs in the number of beneficiaries have skyrocketed under this program, and with this increase came a number of issues. the inspector general for the federal communications commission, which is called the f.c.c., which administers this program through contracting out did a study, and they noted that prior to 2012, it was, as they said -- i'm quoting them -- well known that some individuals were receiving duplicative benefits or receiving benefits despite their eligibility for those benefits. examples. they found people -- there are supposed to be one per home, one per family available if you can't afford another one. they found families with dozens of phones, handing them out, posters like this, get your free

phone. people were grabbing them up as fast as they could. word got out on the street, get a free phone, the government's going to pay for it. yet another program that the government's going to take care of. so well intended? yes. but there was a public outcry which he stuff like this came out. what's the deal here? i thought the phone was for emergency purposes. i thought the phone was an opportunity to give them the opportunity to call 911 when needed. or maybe a couple could share it. we found out that the inspector general said that the one per household rule really wasn't hardworking very well, and so the f.c.c. apparently implemented a rule that basically said override, override the eligibility for this because maybe these people need more than one cell phone, and the program has learned that

abuse within this program is more widespread than anybody previously believed. first the i.g. learned that, as i said, the f.c.c. instructed employees to override the computer system that prohibits more than one applicant per household. secondly, the f.c.c. on its form that you have to send in basically said all you need to do is provide a check in the box that says we're only asking for one phone, but multiple applications came in from the same people, and no one asked, as the law requires, applicants to provide any supporting documentation. the i.g. found that this override option is also enabling subscribers to use fake names and fake social security numbers to avoid detection. how many times have i been down here talking about fake names,

stolen i.d.'s -- stolen social security numbers used to object taken federal benefits with no oversight. the i.g. noted that between october, 2014, and april, 2016, get this -- nearly 4.3 million people enrolled in the lifeline program, by overriding the internal eligibility controls. let me repeat that. the i.g. noted that in the period between october, 2014, and april, 2016, nearly 4.3 million people enrolled in the lifeline program by overriding, overriding the internal eligibility controls. that's more than 35% of all subscribers in accounts and that rivals the population of the entire state of oregon. these are people who needed the phones. these are people who overrode it so they could get as many phones

as they want. obviously, our washington bureaucrats has not been good stewards of our taxpayer dollars, and sadly this is not the end of the story. it's important to note that the i.g. is still in the process of reviewing these egregious actions to determine just how widespread the problem is. in the meantime, what i'm calling for here on the senate floor is that the f.c.c. stop allowing people to enroll in the lifeline program through the override process and to verify every single beneficiary so that we can weed out the bad actors. isn't that what you would expect? whether you're in private business or whether you're in the government business, and you're selling a product or distributing a product, and in this case distributing a product based on taxpayer dollars, don't you think they would want to, number one, adhere to the law,

to the regulations, not have that some of arbitrary override, when you have free stuff on the street and people are gobbling up free cell phones -- free service, i mean, of cell phones by the millions. what's the total? the total that we can project for unverified obama phone beneficiaries is $4.76 billion of unverified. i'm not here to say this program should be abolished. i understand why people need the opportunity and emergency purposes or household ought to have a phone and that they qualify under the eligibility criteria. i'm okay with that. but if they are abusing the program, i'm not okay with that at all, and i guarantee you the american taxpayer is not willing to accept that. they did not send us here to

stand by and as a responsibility as a u.s. senator watch this kind of abuse go on and on and on, on to just this senator's very simple and scratch on the surface effort to document waste, fraud and abuse. we now have $239 billion-plus of documented fraud, waste and abuse by accountable government agencies, and it's totally unacceptable. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: mr. president, as we leave washington for our summer recess, we also are marking the one-year anniversary of the signing of the joint comprehensive plan of action,

jcpoa by the p-5 plus one. a number of my colleagues have come to the floor to mark this occasion led by our friend and colleague, senator coons of delaware. this nuclear agreement provides profoundly important time to hold iran accountable. time that is supremely valuable, but only if we use it wisely. that lesson should animate the conversation around the country as well as in this chamber that time must be used wisely and energetically and aggressively to make sure that we prevent a nuclear-armed iran but also stop its funding and support for

terrorist extremism. we must use the time provided for us by this agreement to confront iran's maligned activities beyond its nuclear program. to fortify the security of the united states and israel, our major strategic partner in the region and to assure that we are working in close coordination with this all-important ally. we must make sure that our positions are alined when we need to be, that there is no space, no daylight between israel and the united states where we must and should be working together. and we need to enhance strong enforcement of the jcpoa or nuclear agreement with the p-5

plus 1 to ensure that iran is never able to break across the enrichment threshold, to obtain a nuclear weapon. a simple start back is that we are at war with isis, whatever it's called, isil or by any other name, and we are in that war to win. we must win it and we must confront the fact that we are succeeding but also that isis is enhancing its activity as it mess as that sizes with extremist violence sponsored and supported and inspired around the world, in europe as well as in country in san bernadino and orlando where massacres are

stated to be in alignment with isis, supported and inspired by isis and where isis itself is claiming credit for those activities. in the middle east, iran continues to be a leading state sponsor of terrorists, irrespective of the nuclear agreement, we must work together to find new ways to push back on iran's financing of terrorism. just recently, the international financial action task force made the alarming decision to suspend countermeasures against iran for 12 months concerning its money laundering and terrorist finding activities. this action is truly appalling. as i have made clear in a letter that i wrote to our treasury

secretary, jack lew, with seven of my senate colleagues urging him to address this dangerous decision to prevent any further attempts to reintegrate iran into the international banking system as iran has not eliminated its entrenched practice of financing terrorism. again, time is only as valuable as we make it. we must use the time we have under this agreement to separate iran from its terror proxies like hezbollah and the assad regime. that is why i also support the senate moving to extend the iran sanctions act. now is the time to call iran to account, identify and target the specific individuals and entities engaged in terrorist financing, human rights violations and fueling the

tragic syrian conflict that has killed so many innocent people and separated so many from their homes, particularly children whom i have seen in one of the refugee camps in jordan. each year, as part of the current ten-year memorandum of understanding on the united states military assistance with israel, we provide israel with more than $3 billion in aid. as a member of the armed services committee, i have been fighting to ensure that this year's defense bill will fund israel's missile defense programs and will continue to do so as we enter the conference with the house on the ndaa, as we will do shortly. our goal has to be to reach the $601 million that has been authorized. i'm hopeful that we will do so. i will fight to make sure that

the conference committee report includes that number. while i know these annual increases for missile programs are vital to our defense cooperation, we really need a long-term agreement to defend israel against threats in an uncertain regional environment and to assure its qualitative military edge over iran or any other adversary. we need to use this time to renew a robust decade-long memorandum of understanding on united states military assistance or m.o.u. with israel as soon as possible. i am hopeful again, hopeful, that the m.o.u. will be concluded as quickly as possib possible. indeed, last november senator bennet and i co-led a letter to the president concerning the need to renew this m.o.u., and i

followed up in april with another letter, a letter by senators coon and graham, a bipartisan effort on the same issue. the m.o.u. needs a historic increase in military aid. one other point. i know that much of that assistance is used in the united states to make equipment like the joint strike fighter whose engines are manufactured in connecticut, but israel should also retain some flexibility to use these funds to develop its own unique capability. the current m.o.u. allows for israel to harness 26.3% of our security assistance to purchase domestic israeli equipment, and i urge the administration to work to maintain this goal in the next m.o.u.

we must rely on american manufacturing and american jobs where there is value added, and whenever possible, but israel has the same interest in its production capacity and its defense industrial base, and both must be strong and aligned. as i look forward to the year coming and to the enforcement of the nuclear agreement, i believe we must very frankly do a better job of enforcement as i am positive that iran will test us and seek any advantage it can find. that is the stark, simple truth about that agreement. this administration and any president who follows must harness the cools provided in the nuclear -- tools provided in the nuclear agreement to know

what iran is doing and bring transparency that will push back iran's breakout time and deter any failure of compliance. the iaea must be fully funded and we must have more inspectors on the ground to keep an eye on iran's facilities. the best agreement in the world is meaningless if it is unenforced. i know that from my own background as a law enforcer for most of my professional career. the law is deadletter if it is not enforced effectively and aggressively with the credibility that deters violation. as we move past the one-year mark, the united states must strengthen enforcement actions against iran. we must do everything possible

to hold iran accountable, and that action must include passing the iran policy oversight act, legislation led by my distinguished colleague, senator cardin, the ranking member on the foreign relations committee, and i am an original cosponsor of it and have helped to draft and lead it. it will strengthen and improve the nuclear agreement. in no way contradicting or undermining it by providing vital oversight and vigorous enforcement to prevent a nuclear armed iran. it addresses three preeminent priorities, steps that are well within congress' power, its proper authority and its control. first it enshrines in our law that our policy on deterrence remains in effect. and all options, including

military option remain on the table. second, this bill reaffirms our dedication to countering iranian terrorism as well as iranian human rights violations and its regional influence that may perniciously undermine the stability of the area president by providing a regional strategy and strong sanctions, and third it empowers our key strategic partner in the middle east to counter iran and its terror proxies by authorizing the president to provide israel with additional military aid, intelligence cooperation and missile defense and codevelopment. this nuclear agreement, the jcpoa, provides us time. it is valuable time if we use it to stop a nuclear iran, but it

is only as valuable as we make it. that fact bears repeating as i have repeated it again and again. and the time must be used to support israel with a historic increase in military aid and push for strong enforcement of this agreement to set back the clock on iran's apparently ceaseless nuclear ambition. i look forward to working with my senate colleagues and the administration on these issues in the time to come, and my hope is that this effort will continue to be as it has been very ernestly a bipartisan effort. we can never allow partisan differences to come between us on this issue. there should be no space between

us across the aisle as there should be none between israel and the united states in seeking to stop a nuclear armed iran, seeking to halt its sponsorship of terrorism that endangers us both as nations, seeking to advance common interest where we have them and where our vital national strategic goals align. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk shall call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. a senator: mr. president, request that proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president, so many conversations, so many discussions here this week of the tragedy in dallas recognizing the toll on those

who serve us every day, who put on the uniform, put on the badge, go out to protect our vote, to protect our communities, and the loss of life that we suffered there in dallas. i think it is fair to say the nation has come together to grieve and the collective conversations that have come about since that time. i wanted to speak just a few moments this afternoon about how the impact of the tragedy in dallas touched many in alaska, particularly the bedroom community of eagle river, alaska, just just outside

anchorage. along with the officers murdered was senior corporate lorne ahrens of the dallas police department, and his father, william, and his stepmother sue live in eagle river. and on that friday morning, last friday morning, bill and sue became members of a very exclusive fraternity that no law enforcement family ever wishes to join, and that's the fraternity of families who have lost an officer in the line of duty. now, lorne never lived in alas alaska. he did visit on several occasions. he grew up in southern california and served with the la county sheriff's department and then with the dallas police department, but if you read the accounts of the articles in the alaska papers, not only in the anchorage paper but in the

juneau newspaper yesterday, the accounts of lorne and his story and his connection with alaska, one would have assumed that he was one of ours, that he was an alaskan. and i think it just spoke that the loss, the tragedy that we all saw last thursday reminded us that we are truly one community in so many ways. bill and sue ahrens attend the anchorage baptist temple. when news that william's son had been killed in dallas, this church community truly opened their arms. they opened their hearts to support the family not only over

that difficult weekend but really to provide them what any church community would do, what any broader community would do to provide them that support. one can certainly understand the grief is inconceivable and really just almost inconsolable. lorne ahrens was a huge guy. if you followed the descriptions in the paper, a big guy, a former semi pro football player but he was a small cop with a big heart they said. his stature made people feel that he was almost invincible. but much as we might not want to believe it, our law enforcement heroes are not invincible. they put on the badge in the morning. they kiss their wives and their kids and then they enter a world that is entirely unpredictable and unfortunately increasingly

dangerous. lorne's wife, katrina, is a detective with the dallas police department. she understands this probably more than most but really how do you explain it to your children? in this case their children, sorsha who is just 10 years old and their son magnus age 8. but fortunately katrina magnus, sorsha, bill and sue will not be alone. the law enforcement community closes ranks to support survivors and their children at the local and national levels. there's a really wonderful organization known as the concerns of police survivors that really come in and enter the families' lives. and it doesn't make anything -- it doesn't make everything all right, but hopefully it will help. the national law enforcement officers memorial fund will work with the dallas police department and the family to honor lorne's memory imperpetuity just a few blocks away from here on judiciary

square. since coming to the senate, i've actually grown pretty close to the folks that maintain the national law enforcement officers memorial. i've gone to the candlelight vigils during national police week. i've read the names of fallen officers from the state of alaska. my staff has decorated the memorial are items. they are a sent by family members that perhaps could not make it back to washington for the memorial. i've driven down to alexandria to meet with the families of the fallen at the annual concerns of police survivors conference. this has become really quite personal to me. next may, the name of lauren aarons will be inscribed on the national -- of lorne ahrens will be endescribed on the national law enforcement memorial.

i hope to welcome them here on capitol hill along with katrina, magnum. communities throughout the nation are grieving the loss of lorne ahrens as well as his four law enforcement colleagues from the dart and dallas police department this week. but it becomes even more personal to the communities in which they were connected, where they lived, where they called home. in lorne's kairks his home community, the city of dallas and, yes, in foraway smaller -- in faraway smaller places like eagle river. as we recognize lorne ahrens, know that the people of alaska stand with the ahrens family at this very difficult time and throughout their lives, because he truly was one of ours.

mr. president, i'd like to bring up a matter that oftentimes people would just as soon not have a discussion about, and that is -- that is abusive relationships that, unfortunately, we see with young people and teenagers all across this country. teenagers, young adults, are victims of abuse in their relationship. there's no part of the country where we don't see this. according to some research, more than one million high school boys and girls admit to being physically abused by their boistled or their -- boyfriend or their girlfriends. bun in three teens will -- one in three teens will be in an unhealthy or abusive relationship that includes sexual or verbal abuse.

one out of three teens reports knowing friends that have been abused but most just don't know how to intervene. only a third of the teens in abusive relationships reported their experiences to anyone, not even their parents. and we're not just talking about those that are nearly 18 years old. nearly two-thirds of young people between the ages of 11 and 14 who have been in a relationship have been verbally abused by people who are supposed to care for them. one in three teenagers has been hit, punched, slapped, kicked, or choked by, again, someone who is supposed to care about them. research also tells us that teens who are abused in dating relationships are more likely to succumb to post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, and even violent beample behavi.

and yet over 80% of parents don't know that teen dating violence is an issue that affects young people from all backgrounds, all parts of the country, and children who are not even old enough yet to be called a teenager. and it's often much harder for teens to leave an abusive relationship than for adults because they often don't know how they can access resources or even that they exist at all. and as a parent, this is really hard for me. i think it's hard for all parents. we try to do everything that we possibly can to keep our children safe as they're growing up. we make sure that we buckle the seat belt. when they're little kids, we put them in the infant seat. we teach them how to safely cross the street. we make them wear their bike helmets. we teach them about "stranger

danger." again, were uni one in three tes up in an abusive relationship. statistics are one thing but the experiences of real americans inform our work here in the united states every day far more than just the mere numbers of statistics. so today i'd like to tell you about a beautiful young woman who has inspired a bill that i have introduced, and this is a young woman by the name of brianna rochelle moore. she goes by the name of brie. brie was a strong, engaging, hearntion accomplished young woman. she excelled in all kinds of sports, in swimming, track and field, volleyball, many other sports. her school offered a japanese immersion program. so at the age of five, she started to learn and read and speak sand write japanese.

she was an accomplished flute player, she sang beautifully at many public events across the city of anchorage. she was really the quintessential alaskan woman. in addition to her athletics and her arties sticks talents, the girl could hunt, she could fish, she could ride a dirtbike and snow machine better than most boys and then when they broke down, she could even fix them. she did well in school. she volunteered to nurse sick, abandoned and dying pets. she worked her way up from being a dental hygienist assistant to the dentist assistant. and she was about to change her major in college to premed. she was motivated, fun children, happy. every whereby she went, her friends would say, bree saw the good in everyone, spreading happiness wherever she went. she had the gift to make everyone else's life better.

but, bree was also in an abusive relationship. and on june 26 of 2014, her boyfriend -- her boyfriend shot and killed her. she was 20 years old. that same year, alaska was ranked number one in the nation for the rate of women murdered by men, over twice the national average -- not a statistic that in alaska we are proud of. after her death, three of bree's coworkers said that they knew -- they knew something. they knew that she was being abused. she came to work a couple times with a black eye, but they also said, we didn't know what to do or who to call. if there was just something that we could have done.

and they and bree's parents will be forever haunted by the knowledge that they did not understand or act on the signs of dating abuse and violence that took this marvelous young woman's life. in the two years now since bree's dernlings her parents -- death, her parents have learned that bree's relationship with her boyfriend was an absolutely textbook case of dating violence. but those closest to her didn't know what was happening, or if they did know, if they had this sneaking suspicion, they just didn't know what to do about it. mr. president, bree moore was a young woman who was destined to make a difference, and while her life was tragically cut short, she continues to make a difference. bree continues to make a difference. last year the alaska legislature passed a provision in law

entitled "bree's law," and it mandates that every school across alaska teach dating violence and abuse awareness and prevention in grades 7-12. now, the bill was controversial. i recognize that. many wondered how school districts would pay for adopting the curriculum and providing the courses, but they made it through the controversy and that bill passed and is now signed into law. in december of this last year, here in washington, d.c.,, the every student succeeds act was enacted, and a provision within that law allows schools to use their safe and healthy students funding to -- quote -- "improve instructional practices for developing relationship-building skills such as effective communication and improved safety through the recognition and prevention of coercion, violence, or abuse, including teen and dating violence,

stalking, domestic abuse, and violence -- sexual violence and harassment." so, mr. president, i have come to the floor today to honor a young woman from alaska. i come to the floor today to speak about the legislation that i have introduced that would name that provision within the every student succeeds law, name that provision after bree moore. so my bill would allow -- would not require, but it would allow schools, parents, teens, everyone to call this provision of federal law "bree's law," and the programs and activities funded by it, bree's laws and programs and bre e's laws activities. bree moore was a young woman that every father and mother, every sister and brother, every friend, every employer could be proud of. she was bright, she was funny,

she was moat elevated to help the less fortunate. she was accomplished. she was devoted. so it's fitting that those who loved and respected bree should see her honored, see her life honored in this way. and it's right that the united states congress honor her in this way. and by doing so, making a further commitment to protecting young women and men from dating abuse and violence in the years to come. and i.t. fitting to know that -- and it's fitting to know that as the young people of alaska learn how to recognize, prevent, avoid, and act on dating violence, that they remember and honor bree moore and that they learn from her and her life; that all of the good that bree was and still is goes on to inspire and help future generations.

and like amber haggerman who was a 9-year-old abducted and murdered in 1996 for whom the amber alert system is named, i think it is fitting that young people across the country have the opportunity to know that the united states congress believes so strongly in their future that they would take this opportunity to name a provision of federal law after bree. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll. quorum call: .

quorum call:

mr. cotton: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: i would like to recognize kim catheter. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. cotton: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be eviscerated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. cotton: i would like to recognize kim carter of hot springs as this week's arrest arkansan of the week for her commitment to ensuring arkansas children have the love and support they deserve. kim is a foster parent in hot springs and with her family, has spent over a decade helping nearly three dozen children. her support for arkansas' children doesn't end there. kim is also the director of camp taneco, a local church camp. under her leadership and direction kim has helped the camp expand its reach -l

tremendously. each year dozens of area children are able to participate in the cam's summer programs. kim also started a day camp for local children to attend in the summer which has been a huge success. to those who know her kim is known asthma ma kim. in hearing her stories it is not hard to see why. according to her friends and neighbors, kim's impact on children can't be overstated. whether it's her own children, one of the many former foster children, friends of her own children or campers and camp staff, everyone seems to have a story about kim. kim's dedication to arkansas' children is inspiring and her compassionate spirit is a living example of the close-knit and caring communities that we have across our great state. i'm pleased to recognize kim carter as this week's arkansan of the week and thank her for committing her life to making the lives of children in arkansas brighter. mr. president, i yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call: