peered a water resources and development bill on the agenda for much of the legislative day today. they will break between 12:30 into the 10:00 eastern to attend their party lunches. and now live to the floor at the u.s. senate here on c-span2. . the se. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. god our guide, we know not what a day may bring. w're grateful for the knowledge that you guide our steps and direct our paths.

as our lawmakers face the challenges of their work, give them the wisdom to know and do your will. open their minds and hearts to the movement of your providence, providing them grace for every exigency, disappointment or fulfillment, sorrow or joy. guide our lawmakers that they may be just in purpose, wise in counsel, and unwavering in duty. may they uphold the honor of our nation and secure the protection

of our people. we pray in your great name. amen. the president pro tempore: pleas e join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i understand there's a bill at the desk due a second reading. the presiding officer: respectr- - the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 3231 an act to amend the united states code to protect unpaid interns in the federal government from discrimination and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: it in order to place the bill on the calendar, i would object to further proceedings. the presiding officer: objection having been heard the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, last night i took action to move to the 2016 water resources development act, an important authorization bill supporting our nation's waterways. chairman inhofe has worked across the aisle with ranking

member boxer to craft this bipartisan bill. i hope we can reach an agreement to pass it very soon. now on another matter entirely, last night senate democrats blocked critical funding for veterans for pregnant mothers and babies, and for service members. not the first time or even the second time that they put partisan politics ahead of the health and safety of the american people. it's now the third time. why democrats would filibuster critical funding for zika control at a time when cases are growing is really inexplicable. why democrats would filibuster critical funding for defense at a time when threats are growing is inexcusable. in case colleagues across the aisle missed it, here's the latest on the spread of zika. there are now more than 2,700 cases in our country, more than

30 of those are likely local mosquito-borne cases. yet, instead of acting with urgency to approve funding to combat zika, democrats have chosen once again to filibuster it. in case colleagues across the aisle missed this too here's the latest. north korea continues to show signs of aggression with its recent tests of another missile. iran continues to provoke our ships in the persian gulf, actions that the u.s. commander in the central command calls worrying, isil calls for terrorist attacks around the globe from a wedding in turkey, a church in france to a nightclub in orlando. yet instead of acting with urgency to approve acting to confront these tests senate democrats have continued to filibuster the bill as well. it makes you scratch your head when the democratic leader boasts how he's led such a

cooperative minority. in what sense? in what sense? democrats have used filibusters to blow up a bipartisan appropriation process for two years in a row now. two years in a row. this is not by definition, my definition of a cooperative minority. they bragged openly about their filibuster summer strategy. they filibustered to protect executive overreach that even fellow democrats claimed to oppose. they've even filibustered legislation designed to help victims of modern-day slavery, if you can believe that. now once again they're filibustering to block funding for zika control for veterans and for other men and women in uniform. we hear the democratic leader say he wants his party to do away with the filibuster altogether if democrats win back control of the senate. if he's so concerned about this abuse, maybe he should stop

abusing it himself. stop filibustering critical resources for zika, stop filibustering help for veterans, stop filibustering the funding of our men and women in uniform because they count on us. mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 2848, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2848, a bill to provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, and so forth and for other purposes. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, i believe that i have an opportunity to speak on the floor now on a pending measure in morning business, but i'm going to yield as soon as the democratic leader comes back,

which i expect to be momentarily and would ask unanimous consent to then reclaim the floor. he's just arrived. i'm going to yield to the democratic leader at this point for his leadership time. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i appreciate very much my friend, the assistant leader, for always looking out for me, as he has for 34 years. i appreciate it very much. we came together here 34 years ago to congress, and i appreciate all he's done over the years, especially his friendship. mr. president, quickly, it is hard for me to understand how my friend, the republican leader, can stand here and talk about

zika. let's just look back at what happened. we passed here with 89 votes, a compromise zika funding bill. democrats and the president wanted more money, and we agreed to $1.1 billion. it flew out of here. it went to the house. the house decided they wanted to do a few things. they wanted to strip funding for birth control provided by planned parenthood. remember two million women visited planned parenthood last year. and with all the problems with zika now, there are a lot more that are going to be showing up at planned parenthood. the legislation exempts pesticides in the clean water act. it cuts veterans funding by

$500 million, half a billion-dollar. that money was being used to speed up the process of the veterans claims. it cuts ebola funding by $107 million. it rescinds $543 million of obamacare money. it strikes prohibition on the confederate flag, so in effect the republicans in the house decided they would send back this billowedded with poison pills. we just passed a bill that i told you that went over there, straight funding for research and taking care of the problems with zika. that was it, very simple. and even though the republicans voted 89 votes with us a few weeks before that, they suddenly decided we'll go along with flying the confederate flag, cutting obamacare, destroying planned parenthood. so how can he with a straight

face talk about zika. zika is a very dangerous virus. we are learning more about it every day. one of america's pronounced scientists today says that now zika affects everybody. zika is now infecting -- the virus goes in people's eyes and leads to vision impairment and blindness. so it's not just women of child-bearing age. it is going to affect a lot of people. so please, please, mr. republican leader, don't talk about this anymore. it takes away from your dignity. yesterday i objected to committees meeting here to bring attention to the fact that the senate republicans refused to hold a hearing on chief judge merrick garland, this man who should go to the supreme court.

it was said by a senior member of the republican caucus, orrin hatch of utah, that he was a consensus nominee, but they refuse to allow this man to go on the supreme court. they want to save that supreme court nomination for donald trump. donald trump picking who goes on the supreme court, a man who believes in waterboarding. he said waterboarding isn't enough torture. we need to do more than just waterboarding. that's just one of the little snippets from this man. so this morning a number of senators are going to go over to the supreme court steps with former clerks of judge garland, and we're going to hear positive movement -- positive statements about merrick garland, as if we need more. we've got plenty. this is a good man. i'm glad to see that the

republican leader is talking about some movement on zika. maybe we have a path forward on that. we're going to continue to take steps to keep attention on this important nomination and on, of course, zika and other things that republicans simply aren't doing their job. you've seen these charts we have, and we're going to continue to show it. very simple: do your job. the republicans simply are refusing to do their job. in the meantime i want to find other ways to focus attention on what they're not doing to help chief judge garland. and my friend, the democratic leader, is going to attend a meeting which he does whenever they have one, with rare exception, the judiciary committee. he loves this committee. he's the ranking member, was chair of the constitutional subcommittee, and tomorrow we have, it's my understanding,

to try to do a markup of some district court judges. so i look forward to what's going to happen at that meeting in judiciary tomorrow. mr. president, on this morning's "wall street journal," a paper not ever confused with being liberal or pro-obama, there's very positive news about the number of americans who now have health insurance. according to centers for disease control, our nation's uninsured rate stands at 8.5%. 8.5% from where it was before, that's stunning. because of obamacare, almost 92% of americans now have health insurance. 92%. 92% of americans. people no longer have to worry if they have a child with diabetes or someone has been in

an accident, or you're a woman, you now can get insurance. insurance companies don't control what goes on. so i remind my republican colleagues who love to come down here and berate obamacare, could obamacare be better? oh, it could be a lot better. if we had 5% help from the republicans, 2%, 1%. but they have done nothing, nothing to help the health care delivery system in this country. in fact, they've done things to hurt it. some 70 times they voted to defund obamacare, do away with it. it wasn't long ago that we talked about how many, many millions of people had no health insurance. that's no longer an argument. it's been six years. the affordable care act cut the number of uninsured americans significantly.

the nation saw the sharpest decline of uninsured people in 2014 and obamacare coverage kicked in. this is no coincidence. republicans have been making much of premium increases; the fact is the vast majority of americans are protected by obamacare provisions that safeguard against these huge tax rates and tax increases. these are the facts. all across america our constituents are getting the health coverage they were promised when congress passed the affordable care act. and i repeat, it could be made better if we had a few republicans who would break away from the trump mentality and try to help us. it's time for republicans to stop denying the evidence. obamacare has worked and it's working. mr. president, after seven weeks, we're finally back working. we finally returned from an historically long, unprecedented long, long, long summer vacation.

about two months wasted by republicans who could have been doing their jobs. we would have been happy to join with them in getting things done here on the senate floor, in our committees. if republicans were serious about their constitutional duties, they would have some time getting chief judge merrick garland the hearing he deserves. he deserves this. why are they afraid to give him a hearing? they're afraid to give him a hearing because if they did, this good man's credibility, competence, his experience and just the simple fact he's such a nice man would be overwhelming. they don't want to do that. the american people would know that they're trying to hold up somebody that should be on the supreme court. the american bar association said he was unanimously well qualified. they can't give a higher rating. if they could, they would. senator hatch said there was no question garland could be confirmed and that he would be a

consensus nominee. the senate republicans will not even give this good man a hearing. it's nothing short of being shameful. "usa today" editorialized -- and i quote -- "flat-out ignoring a vacancy on the nation's highest court which senate republicans vowed to do while president obama remains in office is an abrogation of its constitutional duty." close quote. the people we represent across this great country cannot believe that their representatives have put partisan interests above their constitutional duties, and they cannot believe that the chairman of the judiciary committee has gone along with this scam. and that's what it is. over this recess, the "des moines register," iowa's largest newspaper, wrote another -- published another letter. there have been a number of them, lots of editorials. but here's what this one iowan said -- and i quote -- "i'm a 60-year-old registered republican and this year i'm not voting for chuck grassley. senator, you have tossed 225

years of legal tradition in the trash heap and made this country weaker. i think of the people in iowa are not served by waiting over a year for a judicial hearing. where is the senator i first voted for 40 years ago?" mr. president, i've been in congress 34 years, and this is something that is a familiar refrain we hear from people all over iowa. that's how i feel. where is the senator i first started serving with here in the congress those many decades ago? i consider all the present obstruction of merrick garland nomination, and i am again forced to ask where is the chuck grassley i've come to know over these last three and a half decades? i can't imagine this man who we always thought was an independent person would refuse to do his job on the judiciary committee, as chairman failed

to schedule a hearing on this qualified nominee. mr. president, the first speech i gave on this floor those many, many years ago was talking about the taxpayers' bill of rights. presiding was the senator from arkansas, david pryor. senator grassley heard my speech. he agreed to help me. and between grassley and senator pryor, we got that passed my first year in the senate. it was really quite a big victory. we have not only put the taxpayer on more equal footing with the tax collector, senator grassley worked with pryor, he worked with me. that's the way grassley used to be: independent. i can't imagine, but now i have to accept it that he's refusing to do his job by blocking a vote on garland's nomination. but this is precisely what the chairman of the judiciary committee has done. he's blocked it. he was nominated 175 days ago.

for 175 days this senior senator from iowa has refused to lift a finger in consideration of this nominee. the senator i knew would not see the independence of this very good committee, famous committee, been around forever in the senate. i can't imagine what he's done. since he became chairman, we've seen the independence and prestige of the judiciary committee manipulated by senator grassley's boss, the republican leader. for narrow, partisan warfare. we all know where the republican leader stands on president obama's supreme court nominee. long ago senator mcconnell decided to abandon any degree of bipartisanship or decorum to spite president obama. we heard that within hours of scalia having passed away. the republican leader admitted as much last month when he told a gathering -- and i quote -- "one of my proudest moments was

when i looked at president obama and i said mr. president, you will not fill the supreme court vacancy." isn't that something to be proud of? one of the republican leader's proudest moments was a time he abandoned his constitutional duty and failed to do the job he was elected to do. the republicans proudest moments are not accomplishments. they are obstruction. what a shame he's putting senator mcconnell's political vendetta against president obama over the will of the people of iowa and the other 49 states. it's disappointing senator grassley is going along with this obstruction. where is the senator i've known for such a long time? i'm not mad at senator grassley. i remember who he used to be, what he used to be. and that's why i overcome any

animosity that i have with senator grassley. my only concern, as i think this great record of this man from iowa is being tarnished, some say beyond repair. his legacy is going to be damaged. we've seen that in editorials out of iowa and letters to the editor out of iowa. lots of them. donald trump is an american nightmare. he's the most unqualified party presidential candidate from a major party that anyone can remember. he's a bigot, he's a scam artist, he won't show us his tax returns. and senator grassley is holding the supreme court vacancy for this man. just last week the chairman of the committee even compared donald trump -- listen to this one -- to ronald reagan. wow. i served here with ronald reagan. i didn't agree with everything he did, but i admired him as a person. i think he had a good

administration. i thought that what he did in bringing the cold war to an end and swallowing a little bit of pride as you have to do to do important things, he met with -- i'm sorry -- the congressional leaders on more than one occasion and he more than anyone else brought the cold war to a close. it wasn't an unblemished record; a commerce fiasco with lots of problems but he was a good person. with all due respect to the senator from iowa, i know president reagan and i worked with him, and i've indicated a few differences with him. but i can say unequivocally, donald trump is no ronald reagan, and that is the most significant understatement i made on this floor in a long, long time. the fact that my colleague from iowa lumped ronald reagan in

with an egomaniac, selfish person like donald trump should scare the people of iowa. this is not the grassley we've come to know all these many years. instead of spending his days as trump's fan, the judiciary committee chairman should do his constitutional duty and give president obama's supreme court nominee due consideration, the job the people of iowa elected him to do. senator grassley should do his job and give merrick garland a hearing and a vote, and it should be now. don't make another iowan question where is the senator i first voted for 40 years ago? i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, i listened carefully to the statement made by the republican leader, senator mcconnell, about the zika crisis that we face. i would like to give the members of the senate and those following this debate an update

of what occurred in the united states of america between the time that we adjourned and now returned to this session of the united states senate. the last time i came to the floor to speak in july to talk about zika, there were 3,667 people in the united states and u.s. territories that had zika infections. included in that number, 599 pregnant women. as of late last week that number has skyrocketed. 17,000 people infected with zika in the united states and its territories. a fourfold increase over the seven weeks that we left for recess. it included 1,595 pregnant women. i would say to the republican majority, you've been warned by the president, by public health experts and others that your failure to respond to the president's request for resources would endanger people

living in the united states and its territories, and especially pregnant women. and yet, the republican leadership has refused the president's efforts to provide the resources necessary to fight this deadly zika virus. the numbers are devastating but not surprising. it was last february, seven months ago, the president asked congress for $1.9 billion in emergency funding so that public health experts would have the resources they needed to fight zika. here we are almost seven months lighter, 200 days later, and congress still, still has refused to provide the resources necessary to protect american families from this virus. this is a disgrace. it is an outrage. our federal health agencies, including the centers for disease control and prevention, have been doing everything they

can to move money around within their agencies to try to make due in this fight against zika. they're out of options. last week dr. frieden, director of the c. d.c. said and i quote, the cupboard is bare. basically we're out of money and we need congress to act to allow us to respond effectively. mr. president, dr. frieden came to see me before the recess. he sent my office -- he said he was incredulous. you mean you're going to leave without responding to the president's call for emergency funding to fight zika? i said unfortunately that's the case and that's what happened. for seven weeks we have said to the public health leaders across america that the republican led congress will not respond to the president's call for emergency funds. it didn't have to be this way.

in may, may the senate approved a bipartisan compromise funding bill supported by 89 senators, including many who have come to the floor on the republican side. it was negotiated by senators blunt, murray, and others. it provided $1.1 billion in emergency funding to fight zika, not what the president asked of $1.8 billion but $1.1 billion. instead of voting on the bipartisan measure after it passed the senate with 89 vote, the house republican leadership put forth an inadequate proposal to fight zika in the range of $622 million, about a third of what the president asked for. then when that bill was a non-starter, the house republicans decided to double down. so they drafted the special house republican zika funding bill. what an outrage. this bill included a litany of

poison pill riders that the house republicans knew didn't have a chance in the united states senate. they threw in a provision. listen to this. at a time when women fearful of becoming pregnant and i effected by the zika virus, were seeking family planning advice and counseling, the house republicans threw in a provision on the zika funding bill to block funding for planned parenthood. they knew with no vaccine available to protect these women, women's health clinics like planned parenthood who are on the front lines of giving women who faced a pregnancy the opportunity to delay that pregnancy so they wouldn't be infected and give birth 0 it a child with serious problems. if they stopped there -- did they stop there? no, the house republicans had more. they threw in provisions to undermine the environmental protection agency on key provisions of the clean water

act. then they added provisions to cut the affordable care act funds to reduce the opportunity in puerto rico -- which is ground zero in our territories -- to fight the zika virus. essentially, the republicans are putting red meat for the right wing of their party ahead of protecting the people living in america, our territories, and especially pregnant women from this public health threat. no surprise this hyper partisan bill coming out of the house went nowhere. now senator mcconnell comes to the floor and blames the democrats, blames the democrats after the republicans put in the provision to block funding for family planning at planned parenthood let me be clear. democrats were committed from the start to fund this effort that the president asked for of $1.9 billion so that we had the

resources to fight this public health emergency. the republicans decided to play politics with it. i've been in congress for a while -- in the house and? -- and in the senate. we've had a lot of disasters, natural disasters and others. time and again we put party aside to respond to the real needs of the american people. that's all changed. with the arrival of the tea party, with this new spiteful spirit that we see in the congress, even a public health crisis like zika has become a political football in this republican-controlled congress. when it imam clear the republicans -- when it became clear the republicans were not going to approve the funding level the president asked for, we agreed to a compromise of $1.1 billion. this bipartisan bill had passed the senate overwhelmingly. in the house, all it had to do is approve that bill so that we could have provided the funding to fight zika. they refused.

i worry that my republican colleagues are underestimating the threat that this virus poses. local transmission of zika has now occurred in florida, with more than 35 floridians contracting the virus without having traveled overseas. and for the first time ever, the first time in the history of our country, the center for disease control is warning americans that there are certain parts of the continental united states that are not safe to travel in. they're advising prelg women to a-- they're advising pregnant women to avied neighborhoods in -- to avoid neighborhoods in miami, florida. mr. president, that's never happened before. when the president warned us in february of the danger of this crisis, did any of the republicans who opposed him think that there would be parts of america that we would be advising americans not to visit because of the danger of this public health crisis? certainly if they did, they would have paid closer attention

to the president's request. during the past six months we've discovered new and worse information about zika. here's what we know: zika can be spread through sexual transmission. we also know women with zika in their first trimester face a 13% chance that their baby will be born with microcephaly. and even if pregnant women don't show any signs of infection, the baby can be born with serious physical and neurological disorders. researchers are also examining the links to other negative health outcomes. eye infections that can lead to blindness, autoimmune disorders that can cause paralysis. and what about the impact of maternal stress on a baby? i can't imagine the anxiety that pregnant women must feel right now, especially in florida. the looming crisis in texas and louisiana and certainly in

puerto rico. if you call yourself a pro-life congressman or senator, wouldn't you want to do everything in your power to protect these babies from this elevated risk? in july i met with maternal fetal medicine specialist and community health leaders in chicago who shared with me their fear about what parents were going to go through. illinois has now had 47 cases of zika, but with chicago being a major transportation hub, hundreds of more pregnant women have sought care and advice from their providers and have down-and-gone tests to make sure their babies are safe. i'm tired of the partisan games being played with the health of pregnant women and babies. to date, that's exactly what's happened with this partisan response to this zika crisis. it's time for this to stop. i'm heartened that some house republicans -- only a few -- have had the courage to step up

and say what is obvious. florida republican representative ted yoho recently said -- and i quote -- "take everything out except zika funding and don't put any riders in it, "quhtion he was asked how we should respond to this zika crisis. he imaiskly said to -- he basically said that speaker ryan and the house republicans have to reverse course and take the riders out of the zika funding. it's time for the republicans to stop playing these political games, come back and approve the measure that passed with 89 votes in the senate. mr. president, i ask my next statement be placed in a separate part in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i've come to this floor for many years now to alert the american people to a looming crisis. it is a crisis involving for-profit colleges and universities.

many people were not even aware that there was a difference between public and private universities in the for-profit sector, but there is a big difference. i've said repeatedly and sadly, it's still the case. there are three numbers that tell the story about for-profit colleges and universities. 10 -- 10% of students graduating from high school go to these for-profit schools, schools like the university of phoenix and devry and rasmussen and kaplan -- 10% of the students. the 20 -- 20% of all the federal aid to education goes to these for-profit schools. why so much? because they charge so much in tuition. but the big number is 40. 40% of all student loan defaults are students at for-profit colleges and universities. 10% of the students, 40% of the

defaults. why? for several reasons. first, these for-profit colleges and universities are recruiting young people who are not ready for college. they don't care. sign them up. sign them up so these for-profit schools can walk away with their pell grants, can lure them into student loans that send thousands of dollars for each student back into these for-profit schools. many of the kids finally wake up to the relate that i they're not ready for -- reality that they're not ready for college or that the debt they're accumulate something too high and they make a terrible choice but an inevitable one -- they drop out. so they sit there with a debt and nothing to show for it but wasted time. or they stick with the program. for-profit schools take them to -- quote -- "graduation" and then they find out the reality: that the diploma from for-profit colleges and universitie univern many cases is worthless, despite all the debt and time wasted.

mr. president, yesterday one of the worst actors in the for-profit sector -- i.t.t. tech -- announced it was closing after years of exploiting students and fleecing taxpayers. in the post-mortem, many are focused on the department of education's decision a couple of weeks ago to prohibit i.t.t. tech from enrolling any new students using federal student loans in addition to other restrictions. but the roots of the i.t.t. tech demise stretch back much further than that. this is a company that literally rotted from the inside. the story of i.t.t. tech, like that of corinthian, another failed for-profit college, is really the story of the for-profit college industry. for-profit education companies consume by greed, fed by students who are understandably trying to make a better life for them servings and enabled for

too long by poor federal oversight and congressional inaction. like corinthian before it and many for-profit colleges still today, i.t.t. tech charged its students too much in tuition, provided them too little in the form of meaningful education, and left them with crushing debt. in my hometown of springfield, illinois, we have a mall called white observation mall -- white oaks mall. every time i would drive out there and particular a huge i.t.t. tech sign on the side of that mall, i would thighed to myself, "i know what's going to happen here. this school is going to lure in hundreds of unsuspecting students from this area, saddle them with debt, and give them worthless diplomas and probably i.t.t. tech one day would go out of business." it happened. in my hometown, an i.t.t. tech

student seeking an associate's degree in information technology, computer and electronics engineering technology, computerring drafting and design, pair legal studies could sign up with i.t.t. tech and expect the two-year program to cost them $47,000. $47,000 for two years at i.t.t. tech in springfield, illinois, for an associate's degree. if they went a few miles away to lincoln land community college, they could get an associate's degree in fields like information technology, computers and electronics for $3,000. $47,000 at i.t.t. tech, $3,000 at lincoln land community college a few miles away. and here'sin here's stog think - something to think about: at lincoln land, only one in 50

students end up being unable to pay back their federal student loans. one in 50. i.t.t. tech -- one in five. you were ten times more likely to default on your student loan if you went to i.t.t. tech instead of lincoln land community college for the same degree. why? the difference in tuition. $47,000 in debt at i.t.t., $3,000 in debt at lincoln land. according to one recent brookings study, i.t.t. tech students cumulatively -- cumulatively -- these students owe more than $4.6 billion in federal student loans, and now i.t.t. tech is going out of business. how much is being paid back on that accumulated debt to i.t.t. tech, this for-profit college? according to the same brookings study, -1% has been repaid in

2014. how can it be a negative number i?because the interest is accumulating faster than the payments being made by students nationwide. these students are being fleeced. fleeced by a fly-by-night for-profit college that should have been closed long ago. individual students often have no changes of paying back their -- chance of paying back their debt. they've taken on huge debt for a worthless diploma from i.t.t. tech. in 2009, i.t.t. tech's five-year cohort default rate on student loans was 51%, more than half their students defaulted. marcus which will list from illinois understands it. he wasrecruited by i.t.t. folk two or three times a day until he latinod. he graduated in 2003 and spent amongsts looking for a job.

the student gebt he incurred "it is too much to even keep track of. i'll never be able to pay it back." he says he wouldn't wish i.t.t. tech on my worst enemy. mr. president, i.t.t. tech and many of these for-profit colleges are approved by our federal government to issue pell grants and student loans. is it any wonder that students like marcus think they're legitimate schools, and they turn out to be nothing but fleecing operations by these people who are raking in the millions of dollars. like corinthian before it, and many more for-profit colleges still to come, i.t.t. tech is engaged in unfair, conceptive, abusive -- deceptive, abusive practices, high-pressure tactics, flashy advertisements. quled announced -- yesterday when it announced it was going to close, it was under

investigation by 18 state's attorney generals. it being sued by massachusetts and new mexico at this moment. students were placed in loans without their knowledge, falsely stated the number of credits a student needed to take, in order to push them deeper in derkts failed to issue refunds of tuition and fees in compliance with federal law, and many other deceptive practices. the cob consumer financial protect bureau is suing for predatory lending. this was a for profit college with the blessing of the department of education. and there are many more, sadly, just like it. mr. president, despite what happens to the students and their families, the people who worked at i.t.t. tech are not going to suffer in this bankruptcy. kevin modany and daniel fitzpatrick were two i.t.t. executives.

modany received $-- in 2014moday was paid more than $3 million in total compensation. i think that's more than any college president in america. and this man was paid that amount of money by i.t.t. tech because students came in and signed up for their worthless courses. these are the same two individuals the s.c.c. say violated numerous laws in their fraudulent scheme at i.t.t. tech. the accreditation for i.t.t. tech, the for profit industry takes care of that. they accredit their own schools. it's time for us at the department of education to stop playing ball with that. "the wall street journal" called the collapse of i.t.t. tech an execution carried out by the obama administration. the for profit words in for profit colleges and universities

are a siren song for "the wall street journal." they don't even have the good sense to recognize crony capitalism when it comes to for profit colleges and universities. these colleges and universities of the most heavily federally subsidized businesses in america today. mr. president, i'm going to close by saying there's more work to be done. this is not the last shoe to drop. corinthian left so many thousands of students with worthless diplomas and, sadly, worthless student debt. they didn't earn anything for it. same thing has happened at i.t.t. tech. who are the losers? the students, their families, and the taxpayers. when these students can't pay back their loans, the taxpayers of america lose. this i.t.t. tech is a billion dollar baby when it comes to penalties for america's taxpayers. when will this senate and this congress wake up to the reality

of the disgrace of the for profit college and university industry? i ask consent that the remainder of my statement be placed in the record plaintiff without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. a senator: mr. president, i rise today to highlight the importance of the water resources and development act of 2016 and the urgent need to bring it to the senate floor and to act and pass it through the senate. mr. vitter: unfortunately there are many events, floods, disasters around the country in recent times that highlight the need for this and the most recent even more unfortunately from my point of view is in south louisiana, the devastating thousand-year flooding in greater baton rouge and parts of arcadeana. it builds on the necessary common sense reforms we made in

2014. it reinforces why congress should be passing these water resource bills every two years. and this is one of the reasons why wrda has come out of both the relevant senate and house committees with overwhelming bipartisan support. you know, mr. president, we can't continue to rebuild neighborhoods and cities time and again after disasters. we have to become more proactive in protecting life and property, more diligent in our oversight of the corps of engineers to ensure that pro jeghts are delivered on time as well as more focused on creating real paying jobs that help grow our economy with the important work contained in these bills. some of the highlights of wrda 2016, particularly that impact louisiana are as follows: first of all, let's go to the disaster area with this devastating flood.

as chair of the senate subcommittee on infrastructure and in light of that recent flooding, i added to this bill language that would expedite construction of the comby river diversion, and additional flood protection measures along the tributaries east -- in east baton rouge and adjoining areas. the river project was first authorized by congress in 1992. it's one i've been pushing relentlessly for several years. this pro -- had this project been completed it absolutely would have dramatically reduced the flooding we recently saw in greater baton rouge. constructing the remaining faces of the river diversion project must be an absolute top priority which means getting it ready to go, encouraging state and local officials to acquire the necessary footprint and mitigation lands. in addition in the bill and wrda

2016 bill, we authorize the west shore lake pontchartrain hurricane protection project and the southwest louisiana hurricane protection project. it will provide necessary protection for residents outside of the new orleans hurricane protection system along i-10 and throughout communities in southwest louisiana. we authorize th authorized the o restrict an aging lock to ensure safe, reliable transportation along the gulf intercoastal waterway, a vital shipping lane. in the bill we have additional reforms to the harbor maintenance trust fund. this extends programs for ports that move much of our nation's energy commodities that modernize cost-shares to maintain our nation's competitive advantage in the global economy and provide for additionel operation and maintenance needs for small agricultural ports along the

mississippi river. it would give authority for ports to get limited reimbursement for maintenance they perform using their own equipment for federal navigation channels. this will help clear the bureaucratic logjam for routine maintenance and operation of our waterways in a very cost effective way. we provide increases in beneficial use of dredge material. that's critically important for the restoration of our coast, including the placement of dredge material in a location other than right next to the existing project. we provide for local flood protection authorities to increase the level of protection after a disaster and rehabilitate existing levees to provide authorized levels of protection and meet the national flood insurance program requirements. we provide allowing locals to get credit for money they spend for operations and maintenance

of multipurpose protection structures and work already completed on coastal restoration projects. and finally in wrda 2016 we also have vital studies to look at improvements to the mississippi river, flood protection ecosystem restoration, and other measures. mr. president, it is vital that we better protect our communities all across america, including in louisiana from disastrous flood waters. again, we must be proactive, aggressive, hold everyone accountable, certainly including the corps of engineers as well as state and local partners to ensure that these flood protection projects get constructed on time. congress and the bureaucracies cannot continue to drag their feet on authorization and construction and oversight of these vital projects. so it's my hope that all of us

take this into consideration, all of us move forward with this wrda 2016 measure, bring it to the senate floor, act on it expeditiously, get on with the vital work of maintaining our ports and waterways and building important flood protection for communities all across louisiana and america. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: mr. president, christmas eve 2009 the floor of this senate, i and the other 99 members of the senate voted on what's known as the affordable care act and became later known as obamacare. it's been seven years since that debate and a lot has happened. when it passed on the floor of the senate and house, i voted against it because i would fear it would limit access, cost more and limit choice. it was sold as doing the opposite. it was sold as costing less, expanding choice, and expanding

access. but factors stubborn things. it's now time for us to look at obamacare and affordable care act, realize what it's done to us and realize time is running out for us to correct the imperfection of that legislation. on choice remember the president said if you like your policy, you can keep it. because of what we're doing there will be more access for those who don't have a policy. those who hd policies and liked it didn't get to keep it. a lot of the coverage went away or became limited. cost will be less expensive because everybody was going to be covered but in fact everybody was not covered and cost has gone up. in fact at our charity hospitals, our incity hospitals, trauma one centers around america, the dish payments, the disproportionate share of cost was limbed because obamacare was going to have everybody covered and there would be no uninsured people going to hospitals but in fact that did not take place. then access was going to increase. it would increase because there would be more coverage, more insurance, more things like that. what's in fact been the case is

the following, choice is limited or nonexistent. cost is more expensive tan ever. access -- than ever. access is gone. my state of georgia, mr. president, i want to read you a few facts. after aetna, united health care and cigna announced they would leave the market place, blue cross filed its third premium increasincrease. earlier human that announced increases of a whopping 67.5%. this year all 1 59d counties in georgia had at least two provide options -- provider options. 96 counties in georgia will have one option and one alone. the numbers do not lie. obamacare is forcing insurance carriers to leave the market eliminating comp advertise and choice all the while placing the burden of higher cost on the backs of working taxpayers in this country. worst of all the inevitability of the affordable care act as a single pair system which is on the horizon is the thing i

feared the most in the debate of christmas 2009. it's going to be on our doop step if we don't -- doorstep if we don't act now, repeal the portions that are wrong. keep that which is right and bring about choice, access and quality to our residents. that's what we promised efen years -- seven years ago. it's time for the united states senate and house and this administration and the next administration to realize our number one real was to bring about a promise that has more access, more choice and lower cost. we cannot rely on going to a single-pair system. it will bankrupt the country, destroy health care and eliminate the choice we all loved as americans. with that i challenge the senate to get down to business, correct the inqekties and -- inequities and do the right thing for the people of america and the people of georgia that i represent. giving them insurance that is accessible, forwardable and accountable to the american people. i yield back and note the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: mr. cotton: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: i ask unanimous

consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cotton: mr. president, i would like to recognize marvin williams as this week's arkansan of the week for his work as the theucan coordinator. it stands for unlocking college academics now, a program aimed at helping students improve their grade point average and continue their education. students who participate in ucan are permitted to stay in school rather than withdrawing for the semester. marvin works with students to help identify their academic weaknesses and find ways to accommodate them. under his leadership, the program has helped 347 students attain their college degrees. without ucan, it is possible many of these students would have taken their semester suspension understand not

returned to -- and not returned to complete their degrees. the impact he has on students' lives: he meets with students on a daily basis to encourage them to continue their education so they can improve their future. he experiences the difficulties of life as students bring him their circumstances and he walks with them when they have no one else to turn to. along with that, when they need correction, he does it can empathy and leads them back to the path they need to be on. end quote. but his compassion does not end with his work in the classroom. marvin was also instrumental in establishing the bare essentials food pantry, the uca on-campus food bank. twos born oust a meeting he had with a student two years ago who had very little to eat. he provided the student with a list of nearby pantries, but she lacked the transportation needed to visit the locations.

marvin responded by taking the student to a cafeteria and paying for a meal. then he recruit add few other uca employees to help him and they successfully opened a food bank on uca's campus. i'd like to quote again marvin's colleague. "i don't think i can accurately describe the work that marvin has done. i'm sure in the past he's received recognition, awards, and the like. however, i believe that this week, this month, maybe even this year, he is the type of arkansan that we should aspire to be in our communities." i'm pleased to recognize marvin williams as this week's arkansan of the week and to join all arkansans in thanking him for his positive impact on those around him. mr. president, i yield the floor, and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: are we into quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. thune: i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, as president obama's presidency draws to a close, talk tends to turn to his legacy. what will president obama leave behind? internationally of course he'll leave behind a growing terrorist threat and an emboldened iran on its way to becoming a nuclear power. domestically, the president will leave behind a weak economy as the recent economic growth numbers for the second quarter made clear. it grew at a little more than 1%. if you look at the historical average, since world war ii, average growth has been 3%,

3.5%. in fact, president obama will be the only president in history, at least since they started keeping these sorts of numbers, that will not have had one year in his presidency where the growth rate exceeded 3%. under his presidency we've averaged 1.5%, a sluggish, anemic economy that continues to keep wages at lower levels for american workers. highest number of people that left the labor force and lowest labor participation rate literally in 40 years. that's the economic legacy of the president. of course the president will leave behind his signature law: comboax. -- obamacare. many democrats would like to think of obamacare as the priz signature domestic achievement. you can scan any newspaper and you can see it's well on its way to being a disaster. this is just a small sampling of recent obamacare headlines. this is from "the new york

times." this headline read "think your obamacare plan will be like employer coverage? think again." from the chicago tribune "illinois obamacare rates could soar as states submit insurance premium increases to feds." from "the washington post," "health care exchange signups fall far short of forecast." from the lancaster, pennsylvania, newspaper, lancaster residents will have rising premiums, fewer choices from 2017 obamacare health plans. from the "wall street journal," insurers move to limit options in health care exchange plans. from the tennessean -- this was quoting the tennessee insurance commissioner -- tennessee insurance commission, obamacare exchange very near collapse. that's a headline from the tennessean. mr. president, i could go on. in fact, i could go on for a long time. those are just a few of the headlines from the past three

weeks. i could fill literally an entire speech with the negative obamacare headlines from just this summer. just to reiterate, these are newspaper headlines. these are not conservative talking points. obamacare is failing so badly that even those who might like to deny it can't. let's get into specifics. what exactly are consumers on the exchanges facing for this coming year? for starters, mr. president, they're facing huge premium increases. 36%, 43%, 19%, 22.9%, 89%, those are some of the average rate hikes that americans are facing around the country. let's break that down for a minute. let's say your health plan for 2016 cost $10,000. let's say you're facing a 43% rate increase, which is the

average rate increase facing humana customers in the state of mississippi. a 43% increase means you'll have to pay an additional $4,300 for your health insurance next year. $4,300. that is a massive increase for so many individuals and families. and that's just the rate hike for one year. now many people facing these kinds of increases already face a substantial rate hike for 2016. now they are expected to pay even more in 2017. who knows, who knows what they'll face in 2018. mr. president, these kinds of rate hikes are completely unsustainable. can you imagine, just imagine if an individual's mortgage payments increased at a similar rate. within a couple of years most people wouldn't be able to

afford to pay for their homes. and while health insurance may seem like a significantly smaller part of the budget than a mortgage payment, the truth is for many families it's not. i heard from at least one south dakota family whose health insurance payments exceeded its mortgage payments, in tennessee individuals are facing average rate hikes ranging from 44.3% to 62% for 2017. 62%. how many families can absorb a 62% increase in their health care costs? and for just one year. one year increase. residents in my state of south dakota are also facing huge rate hikes. a 40-year-old nonsmoker in south dakota faces a whopping 36% rate hike for a silver plan in 2017.

36% in my state of south dakota. i've got to tell you that's simply not affordable for most south dakotans. too often the answer seems to be not much. for starters many customers who are already paying massive premiums face thousands of dollars in deductibles on top of that before their coverage even kicks in. then there are the increasingly narrow networks of doctors and hospitals on the exchanges. as "the wall street journal" reported recently -- and i quote -- "under intense pressure to curb costs that have led to losses on the affordable care act exchanges, insurers are accelerating their move toward plans that offer limited choices of doctors and hospitals." end quote in the "wall street journal." the days of the president's if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor promise are long gone. nowadays you not only lost your doctor, you may have very few options to replace him.

of course all of this is assuming that you still have your health care plan. countless americans this year are once again discovering the hollowness of the president's if you like your plan you can keep it promise, because the other side of the story is insurers are dropping out of the exchanges in droves. in august, insurance giant aetna announced it is pulling out of 11 of the 15 states where it offers plans on the exchanges. meanwhile, humana is exiting several exchanges while megainsurer united health care is pulling out of a whopping 31 states. what does this mean for consumers? for many people it means that they've lost their health plan and their insurance company. and that they may have very few options for replacing it. the president promised that choosing a health insurance plan would be like buying a tv on amazon. welshings for many people --

welshings for many people nowadays going on healthcare.gov is like choosing a tv on amazon if amazon only offered one or two tv's. according to a report released in august, one-third of the country -- one-third of the country may have just one insurer to pick from on the exchanges for next year. if you don't like that insurance company, apparently it's your tough luck. one county in arizona may actually have no insurers from which to choose. not a l single one. mr. president, it's abundantly clear that obamacare is failing american families, and even democrats are starting to indicate that they realize the current situation can't continue. of course democrats' answers rarely involve going back to the drawing board to consider a better solution. instead democrats generally offer proposals that involve throwing good money after bad. democrats claim that more

government is the solution. throw more taxpayer money at the problem. or let the government run all of health care. all health care plans should be government run, that's what we're starting to hear. of course, mr. president, maybe government-run health care for all was really the plan all along. but would you -- would you trust the federal government to run your health care plan after seeing how it's dock with obamacare? -- how it's doing with obamacare? then of course there is the administration solution, what the "new york times" calls a -- quote -- "major push to enroll new participants in public marketplaces." previous enrollment pushes have been of limited effectiveness. enrollment in the exchanges stands at 12 million, just over half of what was projected to be at this point in the law's implementation. but leaving that aside, the administration is unlikely to

have a lot of success with the new enrollment push because it's abundantly clear that it's pushing a broken program. how does the administration think it's going to make high premiums, high deductibles and limited choices look attractive to americans? if i were the administration, i wouldn't hold out too much hope for an advertising campaign coming to the rescue. mr. president, if we wanted to coin a phrase to describe the obama presidency, it might be the presidency of diminished expectations. this, after all, is a presidency in which americans started to doubt the cornerstone of the american dream, something that we all grew up with, that their children will have a better life than they do. it is the presidency in which we were asked to start looking at weak economic growth. as i mentioned, a little more than 1% in the last quarter and 1% the quarter before that. weak economic growth as the new normal.

this is good enough. and obviously it's the president which we were asked to look at high premiums and few choices as the new standard for health care. mr. president, i don't believe or think for a minute that we need to resign ourselves to the diminished expectations of the obama presidency. we don't have to be stuck in the obama economy for the long term and obamacare doesn't have to be our health care future. obamacare's goals of affordable quality care were noble goals, but this law has utterly failed as a way of getting us there. we need, mr. president, we need to start over. we need to lift the american families. we need to replace this law with health care reform that will actually drive down costs and increase access to care. and i have to say that republicans have a lot of ideas to bring to the table. and we're ready to start working on a new solution, and i hope

democrats and the next president will join us. the american people, mr. president, have been stuck with obamacare for long enough. mr. president, before i close, i'd like to just take a moment to talk about one other health care issue and that's federal funding to combat the zika virus. democrats blocked $1.1 billion in zika funding for the third time this week despite the fact that every single democrat here in the united states senate supported the exact same level of funding this spring. that's right, mr. president. every single senate democrat supported this exact level of funding this spring. republicans were all ready to pass a final version of the bill and get this funding into the hands of the people fighting the virus and then senate democrats changed their minds. and they've offered a lot of different excuses. the zika bill attacks women's health care, they claim, despite the fact that the bill

actually increases women's access to care. it threatens clean water protections, they say, despite the fact that the bill lifts just a handful of redundant regulations for a brief period of 180 days so that mosquitoes can be sprayed for to kill the mosquitoes that are carrying the virus. they also claim to dislike the way that the bill is paid for. despite the fact that the majority of the money used to fund the bill has been sitting around unused. mr. president, either democrats are so beholden to special interest groups that they can't make decisions for themselves or they can't take yes for an answer. the zika funding bill provides expanded funding for community health centers, public health departments and hospitals. the bill funds research into a zika vaccine. it funds research into zika treatments. and it streamlines mosquito control efforts since the best way to protect people is to make

sure that they don't get bitten in the first place. the head of the centers for disease control and prevention, the lead government agency for fighting diseases, has said that $1.1 billion, the exact amount that we're talking about here, will take care of immediate zika needs. so the question is, what are the democrats waiting for? mr. president, the number of zika cases in the united states is rapidly increasing. more than 2,700 people within the continental united states are infected and many more in the territories. democrats have talked and talked about the importance of addressing this crisis, yet they just rejected their third opportunity to act. how big does this problem have to get before democrats decide to stop playing politics with zika funding? mr. president, i hope that they will act soon and work with us and answer the calls and demands

we're getting from the american people to provide a solution to this problem. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: 123450e quorum call:

mr. cassidy: mr. president? i rise today -- the presiding officer: the sna is in a quorum call. mr. cassidy: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. officer without objection. mr. cassidy: i rise to discuss the 1,000-year flood that hit my state a few weeks ago. we call it the great flood of 2016. and 13 people lost their lives. $8.7 billion in damage occurred in just a few days. and just an example of the enormity, here are the power outages that followed the flooding. this is baseline before the flood. the lights went out, and all this reflects homes substantially flooded. now, there's no substitute for witnessing the aftermath of the

disaster yourself, but i'll try and paint a picture for the damage of this terrible event and the situation that my constituents are currently trying to rebuild from. again, an unprecedent the weather event. the national weather service deemed it a once-in-a-thousand-year event. no way to prepare. wasn't as if there was a storm system off the coast of africa that was proceeding across the atlantic ocean. less than a quarter of the population had flood insurance, and not because they were supposed to and didn't. most weren't supposed to because they weren't supposed to flood, and they were not required to have flood insurance. again, the flooding occurred in areas more than 50 feet above sea level where folks were told they were not in a flood zone or at low risk. one example. now, thursday afternoon residents were warned of a possible flarn flood but --

flash flood but even the national hurricane center had no expectation of how damaging it would be. these parishioners never having been hit bay flood such as this felt well. the first parishes to be hit by flood handgun no time to evaq wait or prepare -- evacuate or prepare. as much as two feet of rain fell in the first two days. now, this record rainfall statistically had a .1% chance of occurring; thus described as a thousand-year weather event. in parts of livingston parish -- again, this is baseline. grass, trees, roads. this is that same street, all that brown is water. this parts of livingston parish, within 15 hours, 31 inches of

rain fell. by the end of the third day, baton rouge, the capital city, had 19.4 inches of rain. watson, louisiana, saw over 31 inches of rain. now, we received more than three times the rain that louisiana saw from hurricane katrina, and the record-breaking rainfall led to record-breaking river crest. for example, the national weather service recorded the amite river's height as 46.2 feet, five feet higher than the previous record. the comite river -- and again, this is all pretty apparent. this is baseline where you have dry land with some lakes in between. and now that's water. this would be the river, and the

river bleeds out into the surrounding land. as water poured out of these -- i'm cork the comite river was at 34 feet, four feet higher hasn't the previous record. as water poured out of these river systems, currents were so strong that stream gauges were broken. now, when the rain ended, 13 were dead. william mayfield, linda bishop shall brett brusard, william borney, kenneth slow come, -- so couple, and others who have not been identified. many were swept out in the current of the water. most caught completely offguard by the speed in which the flooding occurred. these parishes are more than 50

feet imof sea level. so flooding is not seen on this scale when you're 50 feet above sea level. they were not prepared. the majority of the 20 parishes declared federal as doesster areas were considered -- disaster areas were considered low risk for flooding. in louisiana, only about 12% of homeowners living in low-risk areas have flood insurance. in our, fema has already documented over 50,000 homes significantly damaged. the number expected to increase to more than 110,000 homes. less than 20,000 of those families and individuals had flood insurance. this is debris piled up in front of homes. after three days of heavy rain, 20 parishes, one third of the state, were dlird federal disaster areas -- were declared federal disaster areas. 35% of homes and businesses were

damaged. livingston parishes had 90% of their homes significantly damaged or declared a total loss. now, you walk the streets and entire lives are lined up by the curb. imagine almost 100,000 people having to start from scratch. imagine right now owning only the clothes on your back and a waterlogged home, which may cost more to repair than you can hope to repay. it is fair to say that this region is in crisis. a significant portion of our state's population has lost everything. in many cities, thousands had to be rescued by boat or airlifted. taking nothing with them, forced to leave everything behind. now, good news is, our community

is strong. neighbors are helping neighbors slowly put pieces back together, but there are challenges repairing infrastructure, sending kids to school, and disposing of large amounts of debris. asphried that we're -- aside from that, we're still in hurricane season. we don't know what might come next, but another storm hitting louisiana before recovery is completely devastating. now, right now my coves working in tandem with the expwier louisiana congressional delegation, our gone, on securing expedited authorization and funding to build the comite river diversion and other mitigation projects to keep this from happening again. these are critical for rebuilding and preventing this level of damage from occurring with future storms. remembering that our state has experienced severe flooding and 36 parishes in less than six months, our delegation is

requesting a 90% to 10% cost-share between fema and the state of louisiana. we're also asking for supplemental appropriation of disaster recovery community development block grant funds to help with the long-term recovery. mr. president, louisianans will work tirelessly to rebuild. we are so lucky that we have had volunteers from out of the state come to help. hopefully today by increasing the awareness of the disaster, more people are encouraged to volunteer, donate, in order to help fellow americans recover. mr. president, i yield back. mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: