quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i would ask consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. casey: mr. president, i would ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i want to start today with some

numbers. some of these numbers are unfortunately all too familiar with americans concerned about the horror of gun violence. three numbers -- 49, 280, and the third number is 99. 49 unfortunately we know maybe more than the other two numbers, that's the number of people killed in orlando just a couple of months ago because of the worst act of gun violence that we know of. so many americans watched that horror and would have guessed that the united states senate would have acted with a sense of purpose and urgency and even outrage to begin to take steps to reduce gun violence. unfortunately, that didn't happen a couple of months ago. so 49 killed in orlando. we can recite the other

communities in the country over the last not just number of years but even the last several years, and 49 is the orlando number. but the other two numbers i'm not sure we hear enough about. the weekly death toll or the weekly toll of violence in cities and communities across the country. 280 is the number just in the last week who were shot across the country, 99 killed, and that is just -- that is just one week. when you consider for purposes of my remarks to set aside for a moment the numbers and consider the human trauma, the human tragedy, the toll of that, it's almost incomprehensible. all of the families that have been destroyed by gun violence, for many of us it's a -- it's a news event that we watch on

television and read about, we're horrified. we pray for the victims. we wish for action to be taken to at least begin to just begin to reduce gun violence, but then we move on. most of us move on if we're not directly affected, but those families don't move on. their lives are either destroyed forever or adversely impacted in some way forever. mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and husbands and wives and friends, it's impossible to in any way describe the impact, the adverse impact that this problem is having. now, there are some who would say well, there is not much we can do about it other than enforce the law. that's their point of view. i don't happen to agree with that. i think we need to take the same approach to this issue as we have taken to any issue that the american people have faced over

many, many generations. most of the time we come together with concerted action and begin to tackle a problem. it might take a year, it might take five years, it might take 25 years, but as americans, we in most cases come together and begin to address the problem. only in washington does that not happen anywhere near often enough. there are a couple of commonsense steps we could take right now, meaning next week or the week after or in the very near term, commonsense steps that have wide support across the country in both parties. one would be to finally say why not vote in accordance with not just a national consensus but actually a consensus here in the united states senate on background checks? why would we allow these gaping holes in our system to remain

wide open so that almost anyone can get a gun no matter how dangerous, no matter how much a threat they are to society and get a gun because of these gaping holes in our background check system. no one disputes that there are these holes. no one disputes that they lead to unnecessary death and violence, but we haven't been able to get enough people in the senate, enough members to come together and support background checks. so we should try to do that again. i don't know why we don't have more votes. let's keep voting until we get enough momentum. second, this idea of terrorists that we have made a judgment about, that we either know they are terrorists or we suspect they are terrorists based upon all kinds of evidence, and we say that category, that category of people will not be able to get on an airplane. guess what. when we did that after 9/11,

that was our policy or part of our larger policy against terrorism. we came together and said those people can't get on airplanes. and guess what? we haven't had planes fly into buildings in the country since 9/11, because we came together, we made a decision, we acted on it, and guess what, we stopped at least that part, at least that part of the practices that terrorists engage in. but when it comes to this issue of reducing, even beginning to reduce gun violence, we haven't had the same consequence sense. so we have a circumstance now where suspected terrorists deemed too dangerous to fly in a plane but not to own a weapon of war. so virtually under the policy that's in place now, because the senate hasn't acted, because we

haven't had an act of congress, there are folks who were either suspected terrorists or terrorists who can't get on an airplane but can buy any gun they want or get any -- obtain any gun they want, and there's no legal prohibition. that makes no sense, no sense to anyone who is serious about this issue of preventing violence and reducing gun violence. how about individuals who are convicted of violent hate crimes that involves the use of force being allowed to get a gun? why would we wait until that individual commits a felony with the use of force that in many cases involves the use of force with a firearm? why would we wait for that violent person to go down that pathway, someone who is convicted of a hate crime that involves domestic abuse or some

other act of violence, the use of force. so i think a number of these are commonsense steps we can take that would have zero impact on the right to bear arms. we're not talking about law-abiding citizens here. we're talking about people that pose a threat, a demonstrated threat to people in their community and beyond. but so far that hasn't happened, but i would hope, i would hope that we would schedule some votes. how can that be harmful? to keep voting on such an important issue until we move forward. so that's something we could work on before we leave here. there is no rule that says we've got to leave at the end of next week. we could work the week after that and the week after that and begin to make progress on a whole range of issues, including gun violence. of course, i hope that would include getting -- finally getting to a conclusion on zika

funding, this threat to pregnant women and their children. we should finally get that done. and maybe we can get that done with the spending bill next week. that would be great progress. but we leave on the table this -- unless we act, this horror of gun violence where there has been virtually no progress, no progress for years. not just months but for years. mr. president, i would ask that the remainder of my remarks be placed in a separate part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, finally, i would also like to talk about an issue that is -- to say it's unfinished business is an understatement. the fact that we're standing here in the fall of 2016 and the congress of the united states hasn't fulfilled its promise to coal miners is really an insult

not only to coal miners who spent a lot of years in the mines in a lot of states like mine and other states, but it's also an insult to the country because their government, our government made a promise to them more than a generation ago. some people may remember the book "the rental badge of courage" written by steven crane, a great novelist who didn't make it to the age of 30. he died in his late 20's. steven crane is being known for being a great novelist and writing "the red badge of courage" but one of the most compelling accounts he ever wrote or anyone has ever written about the dangers and the horrors of a particular line of work was steven crane's essay just before the turn of the last century about a coal mine near my hometown of scranton. the name of the article, i think

it was "collier's magazine" was in the depths of a coal mine. i won't of course read all of it and recite major portions of it but suffice it to say steven crane the great novelist went into the coal mine and reported what i saw there, not as a work of fiction but as a work of the harsh reality, the nonfiction of what those miners were facing. he described in one part of the essay the mine he was in when he descends all the way down -- descended all the way down and you only have to go down a short distance before it's pitch black. you can't even see your hand in front of your face. he described the mine as a place of an insecurityible darkness -- inscrutible, a soundless place of tangible loneliness and he went on from there describing what he saw, describing young

children working in the mines children of the ages of 10, 11, and 12 into their teens working in the mines, describing the process of how the coal got out of the mines, mules pulling these carts full of coal. he described would my fraternal grandfather saw when he was a young boy at the age of 11 who entired a mine not too far away from this particular mine just a few years after stephen crane was writing. stephen crane concluded the essay by talking about all the -- not just the horrors of the mine but how miners could die in that mine. he described it at one point in summation as the hundred perils or the hundred dangers that those coal miners faced. now, why do i raise that today?

i realize that coal mining in the present day or even ten or 15 or 20 years ago, maybe even 30 years ago was not nearly as dangerous as it was in the 1890's or the early part of the 1900's, but it is still very dangerous work today and has been for all these years. we've seen too many places where miners have been trapped and rescued or trapped and never rescued and killed, in places like pennsylvania, west virginia, kentucky and other places over more than a generation. in fact, many generations. so those miners who work there for in many cases not just ten years or 20 years and some of them also served our country, served in world war ii or korea or vietnam or beyond. they were promised by their government that they would have a pension. so a number of us in a

bipartisan fashion came together to support the miners protection act which would make sure that at a minimum the what is now 12,951 miners in pennsylvania would get that pension that they were promised and would also, a smaller number but a bigger number into the thousands would -- in pennsylvania would also get the health care that they have a right to expect. so this was a promise by the federal government. it wasn't a try to or we hope to do it or we'll make every effort to do it. it was a hard and fast irrefutable promise, and it's time that the federal government delivered on that promise to those miners and their families. they went into the darkness and the danger after coal mine -- of a coal mine in the 1950's, or

1896 -- 1960's or beyond. some younger than that. some still do it and some still engage in that work. but they should have a right to expect that just as they kept their promise to their families that they would go to work every day and work hard and bring home a paycheck, just like they made a promise to their employer that they would go into that mine every day and do impossibly difficult work year after year and sometimes decade after decade, and they fulfilled that promise to their employer, to their families. some of them made a promise to their country that not only would they work hard but they would serve their country in war, in combat. the question is will we keep our promise to them. their promise was much tougher than our promise. all we got to do here to fulfill a promise is vote the right way, vote in the u.s. senate to make sure that miners get their pensions and their health care. vote in the house in the same way. that's not hard to do to walk

into the well of the u.s. senate or to stand somewhere in this chamber and put your hand up. that's pretty easy. pretty easy to fulfill that promise that we made to them. this isn't a lot of money for these miners. in addition to social security, sometimes it's about $530 a month, okay, for all that work that they did. so not hard to fulfill that promise that our country and our government made to them. and these are people that they're not in the newspaper every day. they're not on television. they may not have a lot of power. they may not be connected to people that are powerful or people that are wealthy. they're just hard-working people that did their job and deserve to have that promise fulfilled. mr. president, i believe this is a matter of basic justice, basic justice, whether or not we're

going to fulfill that promise. st. augustin said a long time ago, hundreds of years ago, without justice what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers. if you apply that to today's terminology, a king dom in some -- kingdom in some sense is like our government, a governing body for our nation. without justice what is a government but a great band of robbers if we owe people that basic justice, that promise. so let's fulfill our promise as democrats, republican, and independents in the u.s. senate. let's not allow inaction or other circumstances political or otherwise to prevent us from doing the right thing. let's not rob these miners and their families of what they deserve, what they earned. we're not giving them anything. we're just voting the right way so that they have a promise

fulfilled. mr. president, i would hope that before everyone goes home to do whatever folks will do, travel their states or campaign, whatever they're going to do, i would hope at a minimum that we would take action on a number of things we talked about today but in particular that we make sure that families don't have to worry about the horror of the threat of zika, something we can prevent the spread of if we take action, that families would not be threatened by that in florida or puerto rico or anywhere because it will be beyond that if we don't get to the solution, the action. and of course i hope we could go home and say that we at least said to miners and their families we have fulfilled the promise that our government made to you generations ago. that's the least that this body

and the other body should do before we leave washington. mr. president, i would note 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 pennsylvania. mr. casey: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: mr. president, i didn't want it leave today without joining the chorus of commendation if tim mitchell. i think technically tomorrow is his 25th anniversary if i have that right, but i heard some of the commentary this morning, but

i didn't get to the microphone earlier to say anything and i should have. i'll be brief but i just wanted to first of all thank him for his remarkable service to the senate these 25 years. i know he's got more work to do, but it is an important anniversary to highlight. some people mentioned his great baseball knowledge where i'm often deficient despite having two great teams in pennsylvania, the pirates and the phillys but team knows just about as much as anyone but in addition to his knowledge of baseball, in addition to his great work in the senate which often as you know, mr. president, goes unrecognized, unheralded as they say, tim is someone who also brings to this job great character, integrity, and a kind of decency that sometimes we all don't exercise every day of the week. sometimes he's getting seven

questions from nine different people and he handles every one. sometimes you ask him the impossible question which he tries to answer but he probably shouldn't which is when will we finish this week which is always an open question with an uncertain answer. i've at least kept my faith with him by saying, tim, i won't quote you but tell me when you think we might wrap up this week. he's a great example of public service here in the senate and a great example of what we all hope to be when we work in a government institution or in a chamber like the united states senate. so grateful to tim for his commitment to public service, his ongoing commitment and also so grateful for his service. so we wish him 25 more years on top of the 25 years that preceded this. i would yield the floor. the presiding officer: the

senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i thank my colleague from pennsylvania. several of us came to the floor earlier today to pay tribute to tim mitchell and his service to the senate which is certainly deserved on this occasion of the 25th anniversary of his beginning work here. mr. president, this has been a big week in chicago and the midwest. in fact, across the country. as some 35,000 students who attended i.t.t. tech have come it realize that that school is closing and that many of them have to assess now what their lives will be from this point forward. in my hometown of springfield, illinois, there was a large sign on the local shopping mall, i.t.t. tech and i used to drive by thinking i know how this story is going to end and it won't be good. some 750 students signed up at this for-profit college in the state of illinois and as i mentioned thousands of others outside the state, and many of

them were fleeced literally in this situation, they offered a two-year acorvet's degree at the i.t.t. tech campus at the white observation mall in springfield. it was, of course, several courses. one was in communications, another in computers. mr. president, the tuition charged by i.t.t. tech for a two-year associate's degree was $47,000. if the same students got in their cars and drove 15 minutes away, they would have been at lincoln land community college, same course offered, not for $47,000 for a two-year degree, but less than $7,000. these students didn't know better. they thought they were in good hands. they signed up for these loans and now the school has disappeared. it disappeared after about a dozen attorney generals around the united states started suing i.t.t. tech for its practices,

recruiting students that were not ready for college, misleading them about the courses that were being offered, overcharging them on their loans. they're currently being investigated as well by the consumer financial protection bureau and the securities and exchange commission. this is not the first major for-profit college to go down. corinthian was an early casualty. i'm story say that i think others will follow. it bears repeating that when we take a look at this industry, the for-profit college industry, we are looking at the most heavily subsidized private for-profit companies in the united states of america. for many of these companies, their revenue sources, over 90% of their revenue sources come directly from the federal treasury. -- in the form of pell grants and direct-government loans. they take the money from the government through the students. the students end up with the debt to pay off, and many times

if they can stick with the kowrks a worthless did i -- with the course, a worthless diploma or certificate. why are we letting this happen? why are whreeting american families work -- why are we let being american families work hard to send their kids to college only to be exploited by schools that are thinly veiled machines to take money away from students and saddle them with debt? sadly, the for-profit college and university industry in america has friends in lie places -- in high places. when the time comes, they hire some of the most effective lobbyists in washington on both political sides to push for their agenda and to keep them in business. and it is understandable. they take millions of dollars out of these operations. they end up with salaries for c.e.o.'s that are higher for their so-called university presidents than any university president in america. and we let it happen.

the congress lets it happen. the government lets it happen. it's time for a new day and some new thinking. the 2016-2017 school year has begun. millions of students across the country are walking onto campuses an excited about their chances. many will have to take out loans and will end up owing the government thousands of dollars. we know that student debt now is larger than credit card debt. it is over $1 trillion. it means that students and their families across america are deeply in debt for higher education. if you yo are getting a good agy out of it something that changes your life for the berkts the argument canner -- for the better, the argument can be made but sadly in many cases students don't receive the education they were promised. so whether these students owe money to government or to private lenders, it's going to have a big impact on their lives when they start to pay back that debt. a lot of students 19, 20 year

old really don't understand the magnitude of the debt they are incurring. we know that two-thirds of students who take out private education loans really don't understand the terms of those loans, the interest rates on those loans, and how they compare with government loans. they don't understand that in many cases private student loans are significantly more expensive and riskier. federal student loans have fixed affordable interest rates. they have a variety of consumer protections built into them, for barons in times of economic -- for bearance in times of economic difficulty. they orve manageable repayment options such as income-based repayment plans which calculate your student loan impave based r income. private student loans, on the other hand, don't bring these protections and offer interest rates that are some of the highest in the land. up to 18%. these private loans also don't

include repayment options that federal loans do. i've heard from many private education loan borrowers that their lender is unwilling to work with them when it comes to alternative repayment plans. they are harassed by credit agencies -- collection agencies night and day when they owe these private student loans. private lender in many cases are more focused on their own bottom line than the student's welfare. this past summer the consumer financial protection bureau took actions against wells fargo bank, one of the largest private student lenders, for illegal student loan services practices. wells fargo charged borrowers illegal fees, failed to provide borrowers with accurate loan information, and failed to correct inaccurate credit reports. upon being caught, wells fargo was fined $3.6 million and is required to refund borrowers who were illegally charged. while i commend the consumer

financial protection bureau on their work to hold private student lenders accountable, there are steps we in congress should take to make sure that students have a fighting chance. today senators franken, rierksd and i will introduce the "know before you owe" agency act of 2016. this requires school certification before a student can particular out -- take tout a private loan. and there are certain steps a school has to take before certifying a law. the borrower's school has to confirm the student's enrollment status, cost of attendance and estimated financial assistance before certifying. also amount of unused federal student aid for which they're still eligible. think about that. some of these schools are luring students into more expensive, terrible private loans when the students are still eligible for lower interest rates, better

terms through the federal loans. i've heard too many stories of for-profit colleges steering students into these private institutional loans. this bill will help to stop that. the bill will also ensure that students are given information about the differences and terms and repayment options. for student whose still decide to get a private student loan, the bill requires private helpedders to sendal the student borrowers quarterly updates on their balance, accrued trrks and capitalized interest. it also requires private lenders to annually report the number of students taking out private loans, the amount of the loans and the interest rates -- all of these to be reported to the consumer financial protection bureau. currently, there is little information publicly available about private student loans. increasing the amount of available information will help policy-makers and enforcement agencies more effectively protect students and their families. here are the organizations

supporting our bill: the institute for college access and success, the national association for college admission counseling, national consumer law center, consumer action, national association of student financial aid administrators, national association of consumer advocates, consumers union, the american association of university women, the american federation of teachers, loan certification for private education loans could keep many students from taking on unnecessary debt or unknowingly giving up the benefits and protections of federal student loans. it's an important part of making college more affordable. i want to thank senators franken and jack reed for standing with me on this effort. and i sincerely hope that this congress, which is now coming to a close before the election, will take up this question of student loans when we return after the election. i know we only have a few weeks. but if you ask working families across america what concerns them greatly, it's the amount of

debt that they are kids are incurring to go to college. for some of these families, mom and dad have never been to college. sending off their son and daughter to a university is a dream come true. it can turn into a nightmare, if they end up at for-profit colleges and universities. mr. president, i put in the record the last time i spoke -- and i'll put it in again -- the basic numbers to know about the for-profit college and university industry. 10% of high school graduates go to these schools, schools like the university of feignics, devry, kaplan, rasmussen -- you know the names. 10% of students end up in those schools. but when it comes to student loan defaults, 40% of the student loan defaults are students from those for-profit colleges and universities. they are dramatically overcharged for tuition, they are put into courses that are worthless, and they end up with maybe certificates and diplomas which can't even land them a

job. another statistic which i think is really shame fled and a remind to -- shameful and a reminder to members of the senate, our responsibility: 72% of for-profit college graduates on average make less money than high school dropouts. 72%. after all that time, all that debt, all those promises, and they make less money than if they dropped out of high school. how can we continue to subsidize this industry after what we know about their performance? we need to hold them to higher standards. and, in the meantime, let's find a way to protect student and working families who are trying to realize the american dream and make this a better life for them and their families. i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. a senator: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. sasse: to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sasse: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to address the u.s. commission on civil rights recently released new report titled "peaceful coexistence: reconciling nondiscrimination

principles with civil liberties." the commission on civil rights has a glorious and profound history in our nation. founded in 1957, the commission initially had the grand cause of ending the horror and the tragedy of jim-crow laws in our nation. sadly, however, the commission's focus has recently strayed and its new report poses profound threats to the historic american understanding of our first amendment. in the commission's just released report, the majority reveals the disturbingly low view of our first freedoms. it actually puts the term "religious liberty" in scare quotes and says religious liberty must now be subservient to other values. here's a snapshot of the majority's position from this new report in their own words -- quote -- "progress towards social justice depends upon the enactment of and vigorous enforcement of status based nondiscrimination laws. limited claims for religious liberty are allowed only when

religious liberty comes into direct conflict with nondiscrimination precepts. the central finding which the commission makes in this regard is religious exemptions to the protections of civil rights based upon classifications such as race, color, national origin, sex, disability status, sexual orientation and gender identity when they are permissible significantly infringe upon these civil rights." close quote. additionally, the commission's chairman, martin castro, noted that -- quote -- "the phrases religious liberty and religious freedom will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, christian supremacy or any other form of intolerance." close quote. but are the phrases religious liberty and religious freedom simply hypocritical code words?

are they shields for phobias, intolerances and power struggles? of course they're not. religious liberty is far more beautiful, far more profound and far more human than that. our national identity is actually based on this very premise. the american founding was unbelievably bold. our founders were making the somewhat arrogant claim almost that almost everyone in the history of the world had actually been wrong about the nature of government and about the nature of human rights. our country's founders believed that god created people with dignity and that we have our rights via nature. government is our shared project to secure those rights. government does not come first. government is not the author or the source of our rights. and this conviction matters for today's conversations. in fact, this conviction is our constitution. no king, no congress, no senate, no commission gives our

people their rights, for government is not the author or source of rights. government is a tool to secure our rights. we have rights because we're people created with dignity and government is that shared project to secure those rights that we have because we're people created with dignity. and so we, the people, are the ones who actually give the government limited authorities. it is not the government that is condescending to grant us some rights. gale harriet, who is a member of the commission, offered a compelling statement and a healthy rebuttal to the majority's very low view of religious freedom. thankfully, ms. harriet indicated her runaway to the dismissal of religious freedom and she considered asking him to withdraw it but then she decided against it. here is her reason why. she decided -- quote -- it might be better for christians and people of faith generally and for advocates of limited government to know and understand where they stand with

him, where they stand with this chairman. ms. harriet knows, and i will quote her here at length, quote -- "the conflicts that can arise between religious conscience and the secular law are many and varied. some of the nation's best legal minds have written on how the federal and state governments should resolve these conflicts, but no one has ever come up with a systematic framework for doing so, at least none on which all americans agree, and perhaps no one ever will. instead, we have been left to resolve these issues that arise on a more or less case-by-case basis." well, she does not then aim to create the framework in her remarks, she continues by sayine more complex the government becomes, the more conflicts between religious conscience and the duty to comply with the law we can expect. back when the federal government did not heavily subsidize both public and private higher education, back when it didn't heavily regulate employment relationships, when it didn't have the leading role in the financing and delivery of health care, we didn't need to worry nearly so much as we do today

about the ways in which conflicts with religious conscience and the law arise. nobody thought about whether a bunch of nuns, whether the sisters of charity, should be given a religious exemption from the obamacare contraceptive mandate because there was no obamacare contraceptive mandate. the roman catholic church didn't need the so-called ministerial exemption to title 7 in order to limit its ordinations to men who were roman catholic because there was no title 7. what she is talking about here is about the ways that expanding government tends to crowd out civil society and mediating institutions. she's talking about the ways that power drives out persuasion. she is talking about the ways that law crowds out neighborliness. she continues -- "the second comment that i will make is thid religious accommodations approach may sometimes be a good idea, it is not always the best strategy for people of faith. targeted religious

accommodations make it possible forever-expanding government bureaucracies to divide and to conquer. they remove the faith-based objections to their expansive ambitions, thus allowing them to ignore objections that are not based on faith, and the bureaucratic juggernaut rolls on. people of faith should not allow themselves to become just another special interest group that needs to be appeased before the next big government expansion is allowed to proceed. they, talking about people of faith here, have an interest in ensuring the health of the many institutions of our civil society that act as counterweight to the state, including not just the church itself but also the family, the free press, small businesses and others. they have an interest in ordered liberty and all of its manifestations. a nation in which religious liberty is the only protected freedom is a nation that soon will be without religious liberty as well." close quote. are people of faith simply

another spipt group that should be appeased? -- another special interest group that should be appeased? i suggest along with ms. harriet and frankly more importantly along with the founders of this nation that they are not. people of faith and people of no faith at all, people of conscience are simply exercising their humanity, and they do not need the government's permission to do so. the commission's report is titled "peaceful co-existence." who wants to disagree with a title like that? but this profession of peaceful co-existence must never quietly euthanize religious liberty just because washington lawyers and bureaucrats find it convenient and orderly to do so. it must never be used to chip away at our most fundamental freedoms. for the first amendment is a cluster of freedoms. freedom of religion, press, assembly and speech. they all must go together. it must never undermine the essence of what it means to be human. it must never erode the american creed which should be uniting

us. we can and we should disagree peacefully, peaceably. we should argue and debate and seek to persuade. we should jealously together be seeking to defend every right of conscience and self-expression. in closing, i ask my colleagues from both parties, for this should not be a partisan issue. the first amendment is not the domain of any political party. i ask my colleagues from both political parties to consider the dangerous implications of this new report. to my progressive friends, i invite you to become liberals again in your understanding of religious liberty and its merits. and to my conservative friends, let us cheerfully celebrate all americans' freedoms. let us work to kindly dismantle the pernicious myth that somehow your freedoms are merely a cover for fear or hate or some other phobia. these freedoms are too important to relinquish. they are the essence of what we share together as americans.

thank you, mr. president. i yield back. and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk shall call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i rise to speak about the threat from north korea. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. a senator: mr. president, i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. gardner: thank you. i rise to speak about the threat from northee. jong un has conducted the fourth test. this is the regime's second test

this year. this is the largest weapon they have ever tested with an estimated explosive yield of 10 kill tons of t.n.t. the rapid advancement of north korea's ballistic missile program is a grave threat to global peace and security and a direct threat to the u.s. homeland in our immediate future. this past week i have since the detonation of this fifth nuclear test, i had the opportunity to visit with general robinson, our combatant commander of northcom and ambassador un of north korea and the am bass dr of japan, to visit with ambassador freed of the state department about all that is happening in north korea and our response to the provocative actions, the dangerous actions of this regime as they continue to try and attempt to obtain nuclear

status. all of them are very worried about what is happening. my conversations is clear that we can expect and anticipate even more tests coming up, whether that's the launch of rockets against international sanctions, u.s. sanctions, international community, united nations, security resolutions or whether that is indeed further attempts to test or actual tests of nuclear weapons. they all recognize this will continue. they recognize the dangerous position that our allies are in and our homeland is in and this morning testimony from the u.s. state department, tom countr countryman, assistant secretary, talking about the fact these activities continue in north korea with the assistance of outside actors. north korea receives material for its nuclear program from china, illegal operations in china, operations out of russia. and so in response to this test and the dangerous actions of

north korea and the conversations that i have held across all levels of government this past week, i'm asking the administration to urgently take the following actions. to take, number one, immediate steps to expand u.s. sanctions against north korea and those entities that assist the regime. most importantly, china-based entities. we know there are entities within china that are assisting and -- assisting the north korean regime and violating the u.s. sanctions and violating united nations security council resolutions. the administration must take immediate steps to expand the sanctions against them and anyone who is violating this regime, the regime of sanctions. number two, we must negotiate a new united nations security council resolution that closes loopholes that have allowed china to skip full faith enforcement. i'll talk a little bit more about that in a little bit, but the fact is that china is

finding exemptions and existing resolutions to skip full faith enforcement. why is that important? because we know that about 90% of north korea's economy, their hard currency comes from these types of operations and business with china. number three, we must expedite the deployment of the terminal high altitude defense, area defense, thad system in south korea. that's the thad system we must expedite to make sure short korea has the ability to protect itself from these actions, these aggressive actions taken by the north korean regime. fourth, take all feasible steps to have a try lateral alliance between the united states, japan and south korea to more effectively counter the north korean threat, a strong friday lateral a-- trilateral alliance between japan, united states and korea could make sure they're enforcing the regulations, full faith execution of the sanctions and make sure we are pushing

peaceful denukization of the north korean regime. it's unfortunate this aggression in north korea isn't new. it's from north korea the aggression predates the current administration. it goes back multiple administrations. but time and time since i came to the senate, i stood before this great body and i've argued that this administration's policy of so-called strategic patience which was crafted under then secretary of state hillary clinton was failing to stop the forgotten maniac in pong yang. north korea may currently vs owe have as many as 20 warheads. the administration has admitted that the policy of strategic patience has failed. it's evident in the fact they have a hundred nuclear warheads coming online in the next several years. but we've gone from strategic patience, a strategy of

strategic patience to no strategy at all when it comes to dealing with the north korean regime. the regime's ballistic missile capabilities are rapidly advancing. director of national intelligence james clapper has stated in his testimony to congress that north korea has also expanded the size and sophistication of its ballistic missile force from close-range ballistic missiles to intercontinental ballistic missiles and continues to conduct launches. the director also stated that pyongyang is committed to developing a long range nuclear arm missile that is capable of posing direct threat to the united states. and again the assistant secretary tom countryman testified before the senate foreign relation, committee that the activities involved for the construction of this nuclear warhead in north korea has been indij niced meaning it's coming from the industry within north korea. they're not relying on pakistan or others to provide it for them, but they have the

engineering know-how, they have the capabilities to build it on their own within the country without turning outside for help. he also said some material is coming from china and russia and that's exactly what we must stop. we should never forget that this regime, it has been one of the foremost abusers of human rights. the north korean regime maintains a vast network of political prison camps whereas many as 200,000 men, women, and children are confined to atrocious living conditions, where they are tortured, maimed, and killed. this isn't just report language. i have spoken to defectors from north korea who talk of these political concentration camps where this torture is occurring. on february 7, 2014, the united nations human rights commission of inquiry released a groundbreaking report detailing north korea's horrendous record on human rights.

the commission found that north korea's actions constituted and i quote, a crime against humanity. we also know that pyongyang is quickly developing its cyber capabilities as another dangerous tool of intimidation, an asim metric tool demonstrated by its attack on sony pictures, the hack incident that occurred in november 2014 and the repeated attack on the south korean financial and communications systems. according to a recent report by the center for strategic and international studies, north korea is emerging as a significant actor in cyber space with both its military and clandestine organizations gaining the ability to conduct cyber operations. they are trying and striving to achieve an asymmetric capability so they can attack south korea, our allies like japan and indeed the united states. so given this record of aggression from north korea, the fact that we went from a failed policy, a strategy of strategic patience to no strategy, the

congress came together this year it pass the north korean sanction and policy enhancement act, legislation i coauthored here in the senate with my colleague senator bob menendez, this legislation which president obama signed into law on february 18, 2016, was a momentous achievement and for the first time ever in our congress -- our congress imposed mandatory sanctions on north korea. unfortunately the administration's implementation of this legislation has been lacking and certainly disappointing. while they have taken some positive steps such as designating north korea as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern and also designating top north korean officials, including kim jong-un as human rights violations these only scratch the service of the authorities provided the president under the new law. we know the source of the majority of north korea's export earnings and it's the people's republic of china. nearly 90% of north korea's trade is with china yet two date, no chinese entities who

were responsible for this 90% have been designated for sanctions violations under the new legislation. so while we are trying to keep this regime from continuing to grow a nuclear profile, the entities that are giving them the money and the resources to do is outside of the country haven't faced the sanctions that this body authorized earlier this year. as "the wall street journal" wrote in an editorial on august 18, 2016, the promise of secondary sanctions is that they can force foreign banks, trading companies, and ports to choose between doing business with north korea and doing business in dollars which usually isn't an easy call but this will only work if the u.s. exercises its power and black lists offending institutions, as congress required in february's north korea sanctions policy enhancement act. the obama administration hasn't done so even once. as "the wall street journal"

further noted, the administration has not acted on information from the united nations panel of exports reported in march 2016 that the bank of china allegedly helped a north korea linked client get $40 million in deceptive wire transfers through u.s. banks. moreover there's ample evidence of increased north korea effort to evade sanctions with help from chinese-based entities. according to the "new york times," report on september 9, 2016, to evade sanctions the north state-run trading companies opened offices in china, hired more capable chinese middlemen and paid higher fees to employ more sophisticated brokers. this isn't a regime that is facing the full wrath of sanctions of the united states. this is a regime that has figured out to use its neighboring countries to cheat, to evade sanctions, and we need those neighbors nations who i know also agree in the denuk denukization of north korea to step up, stand up and agreed to

stop the provocations of north korea by assuring we can shut down the money flow, assuring that we can shut down the supplies, the materials they're using in this nuclear production to make sure they stop providing trade opportunities for hard currency that's going to north korea that's feeding a nuclear program, not feeding the people of north korea. this behavior can't cab tolerated and the administration now has the tools punish these actions. it's unacceptable that it has not done so already despite the will of this body. passage of our legislation 96-0. every republican and democrat supported our efforts to impose sanctions on this regime. mr. president, these latest developments in north korea show that we are now reaping the rewards for our weak policies. the simple fact is that this administration's strategic patience has been a strategic failure both with north korea and with china and has resulted in no strategy. as secretary ash carter stated

following the recent nuclear test, china shares important responsibility for this development and has an important responsibility to reverse t it is important that it use its location, its history and its influence to further the denuclearization of the korean peninsula and not the direction that things have been going. we must now send a strong message to beijing that our patience has run out and exert any and all effort with beijing to use its critical leverage to stop the mad man in pyongyang. we must not tolerate this behavior. the four things that pointed out at the beginning of this topic are important to secure. tomorrow i'll be sending a letter to the president. over a dozen members of this body have signed and greed participate in this letter, asking a series of questions about our strategy towards north korea, about the compliance of china and whether or not they are living up to the full faith

of united nations security council resolution 2270, are they skirting the resolution, that we're encourage the closure of the livelihood exemption and the security council resolution. it talks b about air courier to help secure luxury goods that are banned by the sanctions. and i hope that other colleagues will stand with me as we make sure that we're doing everything we can to stop the actions of a regime that is bent on the destruction of its neighbor, south korea, our great ally, bent on the destruction of our allies around the region and certainly intent on finding the capability, the technology to deliver one of those warheads to the u.s. homeland. mr. president, this is an important issue for this generation. it's important that this generation act and solve it before the next generation bears the consequences. mr. president, thank you. i yield the floor.

thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, today i join many of my colleagues who have come over to the floor to implore the leadership and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to work with us to address critical matters facing our nation, from failing to provide the necessary funding to combat the zika virus and our nation's opioid epidemic or failing to confirm an official%, we must act on all of these measures. we must do it promptly. we are entrusted by the american people to find solutions for difficult, hard-to-fix problems,

not to ignore them at almost every turn. i've heard from people of all persuasions, reaching out urging congress to take action. so i come here today to remind my colleagues across the aisle and my colleagues within my caucus that we all must do our job. that message has come through loud and clear from the american public, and we have to put those words into action. for more than eight months we have seen, for example, the harm l effects of the zika virus. we've seen its heartbreaking impact on newborns, women, and families, and deepened our understanding of the suffering that this virus causes. pregnancies have been lost. we've seen children born with permanent birth defects that could have been avoided, and recently the centers for disease control and prevention has said that the disease can enter into people's eyes, causing serious vision impairments.

it has been over six months since the president requested $1.9 billion in emergency funding to fight the zika virus. it has been four months sings the senate passed a compromise measure to provide $1.1 billion for a comprehensive response to zika and to speed up development of a sack convenient by a strong bipartisan vote of 6-29. -- 68-29. instead of the other body passing this makers the majority in both bodies agreed upon a bill that uses this public health crisis as an opportunity to attack the environmental protection agency, make cuts to the affordable care act, and other provisions. this approach seeks to draining funds from critical health needs which have not abated as a way to pay for the zika emergency. and indeed it is an emergency that requires an emergency response p.

in light of this failure, the administration shifted all the funds it could to the zika efforts. as the head for the centers for disease control has noted, these funds are now running out. it's urgent that we pass a measure like the one we already did that gives the public health community the resources it needs to prevent further infections, treats those that have biologic infected, and develop vaccines to limit future outbreaks. unfortunately, congress has taken a similar approach of delay to the opioid epidemic, severely underfunding efforts to combat this crisis. like many americans, i assume the devastating impact that the opioid crisis has on our nation. since 23010 we have lost more than 1,000 rhode islanders to accidental overdoses including 230 overdose deaths in 2014, an case of 73% since 2009.

nationally, drug overdoses have exceeded car crashes as the number-one cause of injury-related death. two americans die of drug overdoses every hour. action is urgently called for, and i commend my colleague from rhode island, senator whitehouse, who spearheaded passage in this body of the bipartisan comprehensive addiction and recovery act, or cara. however, car cara only provides authority for a responges planning to address this complex challenge. it does not adequately fund this effort. for this law to work, we need real dollars to deliver lifesaving prevention and treatment services. it is critical that we provide robust resources to confront this epidemic and ensure that people have access to the treatments they need. and that, unfortunately, has not happened. we cannot fight the opioid crisis with words. we need dollars as well as words. and those across the aisle have

also fallen far short on their responsibility by refusing to hold so much as a hearing on president obama's nomination of chief judge merrick garland to the supreme court. this body has a constitutional obligation to advise and consent on the president's nominees. when we fail in our obligation, we undermine the civility of our system of justice and endanger the separation of powers. since the stunning announcement really by the majority leadership that no hearing would be held on a replacement, the supreme court has deadlocked on five major questions of law. these are liecials that directly impact millions of americans in terms of labor force protections, business interests, and civil rights. and these issues are more important than political gamesmanship, and they need resolution now. if this obstructionism continues, american families and businesses will face growing legal uncertainty, as disputed

federal law is applied difnlly across states. this damage to our legal system is unprecedented and could take years to undo. i urge my colleagues to do their job and allow a vote on chief judge garland's nomination. the majority has also thwarted efforts to address the continuing epidemic of gun violence in our country. this year nearly as many americans will lose hear lives to guns as will be killed in automobile accidents. sadly, the number of gun deaths continuation to grow, fueled by easy access to lethal firearms. this body could take action to limit the devastation to families in our communities brought about by military-grade firearms that are too easily assessed. it is my hope that through an honest, open dialogue, we can bridge the divide and pass legislation like closing the terror gap in order to keep our families and our communities safe from threat of gun violence.

another area i want to emphasize is college affordable care act, where inaction has exacerbated a crisis where sending a child to college too often pots families hopefully into the red. we all understand that education is the engine that pulls this country ahead, fulfills individual aspirations and makes america what it is. the united states invented modern public education and led the world in access to higher education for generations. it's a great irony that we are falling behind. rising college costs and student loan debt are putting america at risk. and too many institutions lack accountability. putting profit before providing a quality education for students. we need to revamp our system for financing college and we need to help families currently struggling under the weight of student loan debt. many of my colleagues -- and i have joininged them -- have put commonsense proposals to allow families to refinance student loans at today's low rates.

to ensure that all americans have access to tuition-free community colleges, to strengthen the pell grant, and reduce the reliance on student loans, and to ensure that states and institutions live up to their shared responsibility in providing high-quality and affordable higher education. these solutions are badly needed and the majority needs to work with us to do our job and not leave students and families behind. it is a great honor to serve the people of rhode island. i know all of my colleagues in the senate feel the same way about their respective states. congress has always faced an array of complex and varied challenges. we must come together and find some serious solutions to improve our country, and i say to my colleagues, it is long past time to get to work, to do our job, do your job, to work on these pressing problems. they cannot wait any longer. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor and note

the absence of quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: