procedural vote to advance the bill. the vote has been rescheduled twice as numbers for behind-the-scenes to come to an agreement to move forward. we could hear more about this from majority leader mcconnell regarding remarks. and now live to the senate floor. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, every good and perfect gift comes from you alone, for with you there is no

variation or shadow of turning. help us to remember that the function of prayer is not to influence you, almighty god, but to change us. we, therefore, do not pray for an easy life but for the strength to endure a difficult one. give our senators the wisdom to trust you in the small things, realizing that faithfulness with the least prepares them for fidelity with the much.

may they trust you to do what is best for america in good times and in bad. may we place our hope in you and never forget how you have sustained us in the past. we pray in your sacred name. amen. the president pro tempore: pleae join me in reciting the pledge f 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: senators have been continuing their work across the aisle -- senators have been continuing their work across the aisle to reach an agreement on a continuing resolution that will help keep americans safer from zika, provide critical funding for veterans, and keep the government open. i've been encouraged by the progress that we've made so far and hope to see it continue as we work toward a final bill which will extend through december 9 at last year's enacted level. we all know how important the measure is, so let's keep

working and get this done. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: the republican-led senate recently returned from the longest summer recess in more than half a century. it's depicted here in my -- in the chart over my shoulder. the black lines are when we are not working. where there's not black lines is when we worked, keeping in mind that many of our workdays are not like the workdays that people out there whom we

represent work. some were days of three or four hours at the most. but the republican senate just sumly doesn't work. the fewest working days since 1956. o how our country has grown since then. but that's -- that's it. a picture is worth a thousand words. i'm going to say a few more things. we're here today, but the republican-led senate is on track to work fewer days in 2016 than any year since 1956. i was in high school. the republicans owe the taxpayers who fund their paychecks an apology, and they

really do, for showing up fewer days to work this year than in all those many decades. you'd think the republicans would be embarrassed. instead of apologizing for their absenteeism, republicans are demanding even more time off. today i read in the newspaper -- the news accounts all over the country -- that republicans are whining about being asked to show up to do their jobs. they're asking for more weeks of recess. they're saying that democrats are holding up what we're doing here in congress. how about that? we're so far down the road here that not much can be done because we're in what we call postcloture procedure on most everything we do around here. we're going to vote in just a

few hours, and there will be another time that we can't do anything because we're postcloture. but that's the calendar the republican leader set. we didn't. that's the calendar we should stick to, i guess, is what we're being told. but let's black off a few more days. let's black off a few more days. scary, but that's what they want. if we take more time off, the senate will not just work fewer days than any year since 1956; we may have to go back even further in history to find a senate that worked as few days as this one -- a long time back. so i have an answer for republicans: cry us all a river. stop complaining about not

having enough time off. people out there who are watching this, who have different kinds of jobs -- some are retired, but they work; they know what it's like to work, and they never give themselves extra weeks of vacation whenever they felt like it, so neither should senate republicans. mr. president, working people in our great country are tired of being ripped off by really rich people, some who are billionaires, some who claim they're billionaires. during the financial crisis, wall street took main street to the clearers. oh, did it hurt the state of nevada? all of nevada, reno, las vegas, clobbered rural nevada.

american families lost their savings, their livelihoods, their businesses because of the greed of a few. the last thing the american people want or need is a president who will run another financial scam on each of them. if elected, donald trump would be the scammer in chief. trump is a fraud. that's a word that i chose. he was born with an inheritance but lost his daddy's wealth. mr. president, that's why donald trump won't release his tax returns. that's certainly one of the reasons, of course. he is not worth nearly as much as he claims to be. that's a secret he doesn't want anyone to know. he wants everyone to think he's this big, rich, rich man. we know that trump lies about his money. i'm not making that up. he once admitted his net worth

on a whim. this is what he said during one of his many, many depositions, which is a -- it's a court proceeding where you gather evidence. and he's appeared before many for his deposition. but this is what he said on one occasion on his many sworn statements. here's what he said. of course, i'll stress this is one of the multitude of lawsuits to which he has been party -- and i quote -- this is donald trump talking: "my net worth fruct waits, and it goes up and down with markets. with attitudes and with feelings, even with my own feelings." close quote. simply put, trump is faking his net worth because he doesn't want us to know that he's not a good businessman. he's not as rich as he would

have us believe. donald trump's business record speaks for itself. he's ruined company after company, hotel after hotel. over the last couple of decades, we know of at least six of his companies that have gone into bankruptcy. trump's other business ventures, such as trump steaks -- yeah, there was really one, trump steaks, those things you read. trump magazine, those things you read, trump university, those places you're supposed to be kealted -- they were all -- you're supposed to be educated -- they were all flops. he doesn't crock the list of -- he doesn't crack the list of real estate developers in new york city. banks don't wish to lend him

money anymore. in lieu of real business success, donald trump resorts to scams like trump university. that is -- he's done some doozies, but that's one of the best, the best scams. now, trump university -- he ripped off everyone from students in real estate to retirees looking to invest their savings. trump university is under investigation by the new york attorney general's office. he's the defendant in other class action lawsuits. why? because he cheated people, cheated them. litigation is nothing new to donald trump. over the last decade and a half, trump and his companies have been sued in federal court 72 times. that doesn't take into consideration the many times he's been sued in state courts.

72 federal cases. h.many more times in state cour. but trump being the flimflammer he is just moves on to another scheme. he even cheats charities. here's a charity -- he has a charity -- it's a broad gef in additio---- he has a charity dishts a broad definition of a charity. he started his charity because he's invited to fancy parties and can be seen with these people who give their own money. he seeks acceptance among the wealthy. since 2008, trump has not donate add single penny to his own -- donated a single penny to his own charity, trump organization. does he have money to donate? he says he does, but he doesn't. americans are far more generous, even though they're modestly of

means. but they contribute generously to charities every day, but not the donald. nope. instead, he goes to other individuals and charities and asks hem to donate -- and asks them to donate to his foundation. the trump foundation is as much of a charity as is donald trump's personal a.t.m. machine. trump uses the money he gets from other charities to buy himself gifts. four years ago trump paid $12,000 of charity resources to buy a football helmet signinged by tim tebow. tim tebo wnchts i'm sure, is a -- tim tebow, i'm sure, is a fine man. his professional career was kind of -- wasn't so good, but everything i know about the man,

he's good person. now he's playing -- he's 29 years old and with his great physical attributes is trying baseball. he hasn't played baseball since he was in high school, but high school he hit almost . .500 his last year in high school. i hope he does well. but here's the deal with the helmet. if trump wants to buy tim tebow his helmet or ernie bank's glove -- whatever he wants to buy -- that's his right. but shouldn't he use his own money? but not donald trump. no, he didn't use his money to buy tim debow's -- tebow's helmet. he didn't use his checkbook. he used the trump foundation charity money, money that was supposed to be given to somebody that needed help.

$12,000, a big shot, bidding on a helmet. but it's not his money. it's charity's money. the internal revenue service calls this sort of thing self dealing. self dealing is when a person spends charity money on themselves. it's against the law. it's illegal. but trump doesn't care about what the law is. if he doesn't -- if he doesn't have the money himself which he obviously doesn't, then he uses other people's money. other people's money is put in his charity and he spends it on himself. so this is who the republicans want to be our president? this is who the republicans even -- leader mcconnell, speaker ryan want this man to prepare a

budget for our country? trump can't be trusted with his own charity. are we supposed to believe he can manage the nation's treasury, provide money for our armed services or homeland security? this is a man who uses charities to bilk even police officers, even police officers. in 2009 donald trump asked the charles evans foundation for a donation to his charity, to the trump foundation. trump told them he needed the money to donate to the palm beach florida police foundation. they gave trump $150,000. they gave it to his charity. donald trump took that money and gave it to the palm beach police foundation. he didn't match it with a dime of his own. trump took the charles evans foundation money and donated it

as for his own. but here's where the story get,s even more absurd. even worse, what kind of a man is this person running for president? this is a slight indication. when the palm beach police tow foundation -- foundation wanted to use his south florida resort to honor him for the gift he gave -- remember the gift was from somebody else but he claimed credit for it -- trump charged them for the event, for the room, for the food. it's estimated that paul beach police foundation paid the trump hotel operation $200,000 to honor himself. donald trump ran a hustle on many different charities that netted his resort money. he didn't spend a penny of his own money along the way. trump never worries about being caught because he financially

rewards the people who investigate the racket that he's perpetuated. for example, in 2013 the attorney general of florida announced that she was joining the new york investigation into trump university. that went away. the investigation went away quickly. four days after announcing the probe, donald trump sent her $25,000 to her campaign. the attorney general announced almost immediately it would not be investigating trump university. it wouldn't join with the state of new york. guess what money trump used to persuade the attorney general to change her mind? was it his money? oh, no. money from his charity? you got it. of course that's illegal but he did it anyway, got credit from the attorney general of florida. how can senator mcconnell and spear ryan continue to endorse

this man? how can republicans continue to close their eyes to the fact that this swindler is running for president and he's ripping off the american people and our government? this republican congress has spent millions of your tax dollars on political hit jobs masquerading as investigations. untold amounts of money on benghazi, on e-mails and they found nothing, of course, zero, and they've acknowledged that. so i got another job for them. why don't they investigate donald trump? they can do it quickly. they're all set to do this. they don't mind spending taxpayer dollars, all this investigation of the clinton operation has always been taxpayer dollars. they should take a cue from the attorney general of new york.

donald trump desperately wants people to think he's a brilliant, rich businessman. in reality he is a silver spoon doting fahd who would not make in the real world without his father's money. that's why his entire business career has been one scam after another, whether it's atlantic city where he cheated everybody, got rich at the expense of others. if there's one reason atlantic city has gone downhill and it has, donald trump. he's always looking for a mark, some victim for one his schemes because he's incapable of making money honestly. now, our country's -- country is trump's next target. he wants this to be his biggest payoff ever. mr. president, i think it would be time to announce what we're doing today. 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 h.r. 5325 which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of h.r. 5325, an act making appropriations for the legislative branch for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2017 and for other purposes. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, i can still recall the first briefing i had as a member of congress on something called h.i.v. and aids. i didn't know much about it. i heard the words but i didn't understand it until this briefing brought to mind and brought to light the serious threat this was to the health of thousands of people in the united states and around the world. it was a frightening moment. the information we received led us to believe quite honestly this was the public health cry sills of our time -- crisis of our time. i do say this, that there was a

response that i was surprised by. despite all the controversy around all the values and issues, president ronald reagan and his surgeon general stepped forward and showed real leadership. now, some argued that president reagan waited too long. i'm going to put that argument aside. the day came when the surgeon general sent a letter to every american family really telling them the threat of this public health crisis. it was the right thing to do. we dealt with it in an honest, forthright way. we appropriated massive amounts of money for treatment, for research, and we've come a long way in saving the lives of many who were threatened by this deadly disease. it's rare when a president of the united states steps up and says to the american people we have a public health crisis. and i think because it's so rare, we should take it very, very seriously.

president obama made that plea to congress in february of this year about a new public health crisis involving the zika infection. zika of course is borne by mosquitoes. there was evidence in countries around the world that when these mosquitoes bit someone, infected them, it could have a negative health consequence, particularly on pregnant women and the babies they were carrying. and so president obama came to congress in february of this year and in a rare moment announced that we had an emergency, a public health crisis that needed to be addressed. he asked for $1.9 billion to eradicate the mosquitoes and also to develop a vaccine to protect innocent americans. i took that seriously. unfortunately the republican leadership in congress did not. it wasn't until may, some three months later that the senate passed a response to the president's request for this

public health emergency called zika. we passed a bill which had about $1.1 billion in it, not what the president asked but a substantial investment toward his goal of protecting america and developing a vaccine. and we passed it with an overwhelming bipartisan roll call, some 89 senators, both political parties voted for it in may of this year. that of course was four months ago. what happened after the senate with a strong bipartisan vote responded to the president's request for emergency funding for a public health crisis involving zika? what happened to the bill after it passed the senate? it went to the house of representatives. that, unfortunately, is where it took a bad turn. instead of passing the obvious bipartisan bill in response to the president, the house republicans insisted on delaying it further and adding provisions that were politically

controversial and really were unnecessary to our goal of protecting america from this crisis. they added a provision that said that if you were a woman seeking family planning so that your pregnancy was not compromised by the zika virus, you could not use planned parenthood agencies for those family planning consultations. why would they pick planned parenthood? because the republican party is at war with planned parenthood. even their family planning functions they're willing to stop. two million american women went to planned parenthood last year. they counted it for professional services they could trust and afford. republicans want to close it down. they voted repeatedly to do that. so they chose the zika emergency public health crisis bill to do that again. they took $500 million slated for the veterans administration to expedite the consideration of claims by our veterans and

eliminated that money in the v.a., put it toward the zika virus. third, they decided to suspend the authority of the environment a.m. protection agency when -- environmental protection agency when it came to monitoring and overseeing the chemicals that will be sprayed to kill these mosquitoes. and finally and the ultimate political act, they put in a provision which eliminated the prohibition against displaying a confederate flag at a u.s. military cemetery. that is what happens when legislation that starts off very simple, very pointed, very direct runs amok and becomes a political freighter carrying all of these issues. that's what happened. of course the republicans in the house knew what would follow. the bill would run into resistance and the senate be bogged down. so instead of taking the simple funding bill the senate passed overwhelmingly on a bipartisan vote, the republicans complicated the situation dramatically and brought the

whole conversation to a stop. so here we are today. the president's request in february. we're now in september. congress is yet to send the president the resources he asked for. at what cost? well, we know the cost. at this point we estimate by the end of the year in puerto rico, 25% of the people in that -- on that island will be infected with the zika virus, including presently about is,000 women -- 1,000 women in puerto rico. we know they're in danger, that the babies they give birth to will have serious life threatening birth defects because of that infection, an infection that might have been slowed down or even avoided had this conversation under republican control responded to president obama's request for an emergency public health funding of this zika epidemic. as of last week, there were

20,870 reported cases of zika in the united states and its territories. it included 1887 pregnant women, in illinois 70 of these women. we estimate about 700 or 800 women in america in the continental united states who have been infected by this virus, another thousand as i mentioned in puerto rico. i don't know if we had responded in a responsible bipartisan way quickly when the president made his request if some of these families and women and their babies could have been spared. we will never know, but we do know this for sure. the republican-led congress ignored the president's request, refused to send the money he asked for, and we are paying a heavy price as a nation, not as heavy a price as these women who sadly have a tragedy on their hands but maybe, -- that maybe,

just maybe could have been avoided if congress had responded in a timely fashion. seven months without congressional action for an emergency public health crisis called zika is shameful. let's not wait another day before we leave here to go back to campaign, before each party brags about what they have achieved, let's do our job here when this comes in this zika crisis. latlet's make sure that the continuing resolution also turns on the lights at the center forr disease control so we can develop a vaccine to protect innocent families across the united states and perhaps around the world. that is something which we desperately need to do. mr. president, i ask that the following statement being placed in a separate part in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, the for-profit college and university industry is the most

heavily federally subsidized profit-making private business in america. bar none. most of these for-profit colleges and universities, like the university of phoenix, kaplan, and others, have decided that they want to tap into our federal treasury for anywhere up to 90 o -- 90% or 95% of all the revenue comes through their universities and schools. there's no other business in america so dependent on a federal disci as for-profit -- federal disc subsidy as for-prot colleges and universities. the federal government send money in the form of grants and loans. the money is then transferred to the school and the student has a debt that they have to cope when it comes to the money borrowed from the federal government. what happens in those stirks where the -- what happens in

those circumstances where the school goes out of business? we just saw it two weeks wag a group called i.t.t. tech. here's what happens. students have debt incurred at these for-profit schools like i.t.t. tech, and they are approached by the department of education, which offers them two options. the first option, if you are a student at the school, 120 days before it went out of business, you have a choice: you can keep your credit hours that you earned at i.t.t. tech and the debt incurred in earning them or walk away from both. also, if you happen to have been defrauded by these schools, you have something called defensive repayment. if they misled bu about the cous you were going t -- take, how mh they would cost, what kind of job you would have after graduation, then you, too, can raise that as a defense and walk

away from credit hours and debt. that is an option being made to some i.t.t. student. there is another aspect to this we should not overlook. these schools do not just exploit students who are fresh out of high school or coming from some other place, they unfortunately defraud veterans. veterans using g.i. bill benefits at i.t.t. tech have been unfairly affected by this company's practices and now it's closure and bankruptcy. i.t.t. tech has for years been a major recipient of g.i. bill benefits. ko ring to the 2014 -- according to the 2014 report by senator tom harkin's help committee, i.t.t. tech was the third-largest recipient in 2012, 2013 receiving $161 million in g.i. bill funds. when it closed earlier this month, an estimated 7,000 veterans were enrolled at the school that is now -- that has now gone out of business. not only have these veterans

used up part or awful their limits g.i. -- all of their bill education limits, some used it to pay for rent. veterans can only receive this housing stipend if they are enrolled in a school that qualifies for g.i. bill benefits. so the closure of i.t.t. tech has put these veterans and their families at risk of being unable to afford their current housing, disrupting their lives. i support a bipartisan bill introduced by my colleagues, senator blumenthal and tillis, a bipartisan bill to reinstate g.i. bill education benefits in certain cases and give the secretary of the v.a. the authority to temporary extend troughhousingbenefits. this bill called the veterans education and relevel act was included in a larger package which i hope the are senate will still take up this year. but the closure of i.t.t. tech

makes the need to pass this bill urgent. i urge my colleagues to join me in passing this legislation. and i urge them to stop and reflect on the fact that these for-profit schools are exploiting students and families, members of the military and their families, and veterans across the united states. why in good conscience are we allowing this to continue? it is time for us to put some standards of conduct on this for-profit university industry that has taken so much money from our federal treasury, $25 billion to $30 billion a year. these heavily subsidized crony capitalist organizations are a disgrace. 10% of the students out of high school go to for-profit colleges and universities. 40% of all the student loan defaults are the students at these for-profit colleges and universities. their tuitions are outrageously high.

their diplomas are outrageously worthless, and many students and innocent people pay a heavy price. i will close with a story about one of them that i represent. laura cotton is one of those students who has misled by i.t.t. tech. she's a single mom in oak lawn, illinois, working part-time. she saw the come-on advertising of i.t.t. tech, had a lot of conversations with their recruiters about their great programs and the jobs she would get with an i.t.t. tech degree. she says they never bothered to are talk to her about what it was going to cost and how she was going to pay for it. she ended up enrolling in online criminal justice program. according to laura, most of the courses had nothing to do with the program of study. i.t.t. tech would just send her paperwork to sign, more loans, federal and private. she ended up dropping out of i.t.t. tech when she finally added up all the money that they had enticed her to borrow.

laura had a a debt of $98,000 to i.t.t. tech and nothing -- no degree -- nothing 0 sthoa for it. laura wrote, "my american dream of homeownership, purchasing a new car, giving my kids an education has suffered because my exred is now shot -- my credit is now shot." i wish laura's story was unique. i wish more members of the senate and congress would sit down and talk to people just like her who have been victims of these for-profit colleges and universities. when are we going to accept our responsibility to clean up this shameful industry? mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senar from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i came to talk on a sirch topic. i saw a story in the paper not too much weeks asmght headline "inside bill clinton's nearly $18 million job as hono honorary

chancellor of a for-profit college." just heard the senator talk about somebody signing something. this article refers to this for-profit college signed bill clinton to a lucrative deal as a consultant and honorary chancellor paying him $17.6 million over five years. it's very disturbing, mr. president, because it says the guest list for a private state department dinner on higher education policy was taking shape when secretary of state hillary clinton offered a suggestion. it says, in addition to recommending invitations for the leaders from a community college and for church-funded institutions, clinton want add representative from a for-profit college company called laureate international universities, which she explained in her e-mail to her chief of staff -- was released just last year --

that the fastest-growing network college in the world -- there was another reason why clinton favored setting aside a seat -- the company was started by a businessman named doug becker who bill likes a lot. nine months later, laureate signed bill clinton to a lucrative deal as a consultant and honorary chancellor, paying him $17.6 million over five years. so when i hear another colleague from the senate come to the floor and talk about for-profit college and make reference to the fact that something needs to be done about it, it seems obvious to me that hillary clinton, bill clinton, they had something to do with it as well. and a $17.6 million contract, consultant fee, honorary chancellor bill clinton.

well, mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk on a separate matter. we're just for months away from the inauguration of the next president. so president obama is spending lots of time going around trying to polish his legacy, and he's doing it today in -- at the united nations. well, the facts that we see and americans see across the country is very different than what president obama is trying to paint as his legacy. the president's legacy of failure, we see it in the president's health care law. many people feel deceived by the president when they find themselves paying much more for health care. many people have been hurt by the law. republicans are trying to provide relief for the damage the president has done. the president's legacy of failure continues in foreign policy. america's power, prestige and respect around the world has declined, and in many places

evaporated, under president obama. today i want to talk about the devastating legacy that the president has left in terms of failure regarding his economic policies. according to a recent gallup poll, people say that the economy is the biggest problem facing this country today. the number-two concern in the poll was a tie between unemployment and dissatisfaction with government. after seven and a half years of a very poor recovery from the recession, it's easy to see why americans are so concerned about their own jobs, their own economy, their own future. it's also easy to see why the lack of faith with regard to the obama administration in terms of their ability to even know how to grow a strong and healthy economy. er yoyou know, president obama k office during a recession. the recession ended in 2009, just a few months after the president was in office. so that was more than seven

years ago. america has an economy that has been crawling on its hands and knees ever since. normally after a recession an economy bounces back, does it vigorously with great strength. never happened this time. under president obama, the country has been struggling with the weakest recovery in the last 60 years. millions and millions of americans have been left behind and they feel it. going back to 1950, the average annual growth for our economy has been 3.25% per year. so over 3% growth a year on average since the year 1950. in good times and bad, an average of 3% a year. president obama's average of the past seven years has been less than half of that. for the past three economic quarters, it's been growing 1.1% annual rate, 0.9%, 0.8%. it is clear that president obama is well below average when it

comes to his economic policies. that is not a legacy of which to be proud. this nonexistent obama recovery means that too many americans have gone too long without being able to find a job fnl. the-- there are still close to 6 million americans who are unemployed or underemployed, seeking to find full-time work. many of these are part-time workers who are trying to go and find full-time work. many others have given up looking for work entirely. they have a tried. they can't find anything, and they've quit actually looking. so they're not even counted in the unemployment numbers. this is not a legacy for which ning should be proud -- for which anyone should be proud, and i ask the president, is he proud of this legacy? last month the congressional budget office came out with some new numbers about washington's debt. now, the american people know that the president has added considerably to the debt of this country. he came into office, he

immediately started running deficits of $1 a year. -- deficits of $1 trillion a year. the president's so-called stimulus package. nobody had seen deficits like that before. each deficit gets added to the debt. the debt accumulates, with deficit spending each year. but that wasn't enough for this president. oh, no, then he pushed through the health care law, burdened taxpayers with trillions of dollars of additional debt. washington's deficit is going to be 35% higher this year than it was last year and that just keeps adding to our national debt, according to this report. is president obama proud of this legacy? is he proud that he's impacting our children, grandchildren, sticking them with a t.p.a. tax bill they will -- with a tax bill they will never be able to repay? there is another report that came out of the census bureau last week. the average family income actually did go up from 2014 to

2015 by 5%. now, that leaves us at an average family income that is still below the numbers from before the real estate session. -- recession. 5% may sound good for that year, but until you realize that health insurance premiums under the obama health care law are going up 20% to 30% all across the country. and "the wall street journal," mr. president, came out last week with a piece that said america gets a raise finally. a raise for american families is good news. it should happen every year. but why didn't it happen sooner? well, because of the policies of the obama administration, policies like higher taxes, more regulations. the average family income is less, still less, $900 less than it was in 2007.

there's still 43 million americans living in poverty. if president obama is proud of his legacy, let him stand up and say it. but is he really proud of a legacy of making america wait so long for so little? here's how "the wall street journal" put it in its editorial: "last year's encouraging progress doesn't obscure the reality that neither the economy nor workers are reaching their full potential. the next president can build on this late uptick by changing his direction in policy." that's what we need to do, change direction in policy. that's the key. these failed economic policies over the last seven and a half years don't just belong to president obama. they belong to democrats in congress who have been pushing and continue to push along this line of more government, more spending, more regulations, less individual choice. is it the same ideas that have

robbed americans of opportunities every single time the democrats have tried it. so president obama and the democrats in congress may think that the pace of this recovery has been good enough. republicans in the senate know that this is an economy which is nowhere near as good as it should be or could be. we are focused on policies that promote real job growth, so americans can get off the sidelines and back on to a career path. republicans are focused on policies that free our economy, free the economy to grow like it should, not just hobble along with a lackluster pace of the last seven years. we're focused on policies that will rein in washington, out-of-control debt and regulations. that's the way that our children and grandchildren can afford to live the lives that they would like, not just paying for democrats' mistakes. mr. president, we're focused on policies that allow americans to get paid what they deserve, not just one raise every seven or

eight years. republicans are ready to move beyond the president's legacy of failure and to help the american economy really get moving again. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. cornyn: mr. president, we continue to learn more and more about the terrorist attacks that occurred last weekend here on american soil. in just a short time span on saturday, a number of innocent people became the targets of

attacks in manhattan, new jersey, and minnesota. in manhattan, as we know, a bomb went off in the chelsea neighborhood, injuring almost 30 people. thanks to a very alert citizen, a second device found just a few blocks away was dismantled and did not cause any additional damages. if that hadn't happened, obviously many more casualties would have been likely. in neighboring new jersey, a bomb exploded near the site of a charity race to benefit marines and their families. more bombs were found in a backpack near a train station in elizabeth, new jersey. and as we have seen in the news, in minnesota also on saturday it was reported that a man began attacking innocent passersby in a mall with a knife. he stabbed nine people. the day after the attack, the is islamic state, isis, took

credit. a news outlet associated with the terrorist army called the jihadists are, quote, soldier of the islamic state. close quote. thank goodness no lives were lost in that attack. in every case law enforcement authorities and first responders acted swiftly in order to minimize the damage. but the point is, mr. president, we are living in dangerous and tumultuous times. just last week we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the attacks on our country on september 11. i shouldn't use the word celebrated. we actually memorialized those terrorist attacks that took the lives of about 3,000 americans. and this week now we find ourselves trying to make some sense of the violence carried out last weekend. the only rational thing for us

to do here at home is to remain vigilant. as the department of defense likes to say, if you see something, say something. situational awareness is always important for public safety, but we can do a lot more than just equipping the american people with a slogan that allows them to maintain situational awareness. here in congress, we need to make sure that we provide all the tools necessary to our military, to our law enforcement and first responders to protect the men and women that we represent, the american people. and that means we need to consider legislation that supports the victims of terrorism and their families as well. and while i'm not suggesting this is going to be a deterrent to terrorist acts, just maybe it will provide some measure of justice to the families who have lost terrorist -- loved ones as

a result of terrorist attacks on american soil. yesterday i talked about one small piece of that effort, the justice against sponsors of terrorism act. this is one way we can do that. help these family members find some measure of closure and justice. what it would do simply is to extend existing law that's been on the books since the late 1970's that would allow these families to hold foreign governments who have helped finance and facilitate terrorist attacks on american soil, to help hold them accountable in our courts of law. in just a few minutes i'll have the chance to meet with several of the families from 9/11, of the victims of 9/11, and these men and women, i have to tell you, have been a remarkable example of resilience and courage for all of us. they want and they deserve a path to justice, and i hope the

president stops holding up congress from voting to override the veto he promised on this legislation. better yet, i would hope the president would reconsider his stated intention to veto the justice against sponsors of terrorism act. it makes no mention of any particular country. it doesn't decide the merits of the lawsuit that will be brought. all it does is gives these families access to a court of law where they can make their case if they can. but the president said he's going to veto it. my question is, what is he waiting for? it's been on his desk since, about a week ago. why is he making these families wait even longer for justice? if he's going to veto, he should veto it. he should do it, to stop making everybody wait on his time line. i hope when the president does

veto this legislation, if he's determined to do that, that we will quickly vote to override it. i'm confident we will given the fact that this legislation passed by unanimous consent in the senate and was supported by all members of the house of representatives. another way we can help guard against homegrown extremism in our country is by better equipping our law enforcement personnel to track down and ultimately detain potential terrorists, to stop the acts of terror before they occur, not just after they occur, conducting an investigation and holding the person responsible accountable. wouldn't it be great and better if we could actually stop these attacks before they occur? one way we could do that is by fixing the current gap in our laws from what's called electronic communication transactions records. that's a mouthful. basically what that would do is allow the f.b.i. to use national

security letters which they can already do in a terrorism investigation to access not just financial, not just phone records, but also computer meta a not content on computer investigations in order to make the case in order to stop terrorist attacks in the first place. as i've said before, and i'll say again, we expect our law enforcement personnel to prevent these attacks by connecting the dots. but before you can connect the dots, you have to collect the dots, and that's what this important tool would help do. in today's internet age, our law enforcement personnel need these tools to fight terrorists, plain and simple. our friend, the senior senator from arizona, senator mccain, has been a great

leader on this issue, and i hope the chamber, this chamber acts on this and other similar legislation before another attack occurs, not after. but fundamentally at the root of the problem with the islamic state operating in the middle east, in syria, in iraq and a number of other countries, the fundamental problem is our president, the commander in chief of our military, doesn't have a strategy to combat and defeat this threat. when we let them establish a de facto state in the heart of the middle east by precipitously withdrawing our military personnel from iraq leaving a vacuum, what we should have learned from the horrible lesson of 9/11 and al qaeda what happens when we create power vacuums in the middle east. ultimately this will provide a place for the terrorists to

train and organize and ultimately find a way to attack us here at home. and when they can't nizically come here -- when they can't physically come here what they do is they radicalize people on the internet, encouraging them to kill americans here in place. president obama has called the islamic state the j.v. team. well, how in the world can the j.v. team resist the most powerful military in the world, the united states military? well, that's because the president has tied our military's arm behind its back. and basically fighting a war of containment, not a war where victory and defeat of our opponents is the objective. it really looks like the president is trying to run out the clock for the remainder of his term without doing the hard work and the necessary work to implement a strategy to actually

defeat this threat. because the president didn't take isis and its affiliates seriously, we now see them export its dangerous ideology to our shores. we saw that again just recent lay -- last saturday in minnesota. we saw that in orlando, the shooter who killed 49 people, injuring more than 50 more, declared allegiance to the leader of the islamic state. so this unfortunately joins the list of other isis-inspired attacks throughout the country, as i said, from orlando to san bernardino and now to minnesota. we simply cannot sit back and just let them do their deadly deeds. we have to have a strategy. we have to have, implement that strategy both abroad and here at home. unfortunately the president is exercising extreme reluctance in terms of addressing the threat.

his wait-and-see approach we know has not worked, and we continue to see the dangerous consequences here at home. mr. president, there is another consequence to the president's failure to deal with this threat in the middle east. this has to do with what has been called by amnesty international the worst refugee crisis in 70 years. so what happens overseas doesn't necessarily stay overseas. america is the most generous country in the world when it comes to accepting refugees, when it comes to naturalizing people as american citizens who were born elsewhere. but the president has stated an intention to settle about 10,000

syrian refugees here in the united states just this year. he's conducting a conference on tuesday -- today -- where he'll lead a summit on the need to take in additional syrian refugees, and he's now stated that his administration's goal is to raise the 10,000 limit to syrian refugees to 110,000 syrian refugees by next october. not to be outdone, secretary clinton has said she wants to have at least 65,000 additional syrian refugees. now, we all believe in being humanitarian and compassionate in dealing with the needs of refugees, but i would bet that every single one -- or the overwhelming majority of these refugees -- would rather live in the country of their birth than be displaced to a new and

strange country as refugees. we know that the danger of improperly vetting refugees is a real threat to our safety and security here at home. but apparently the president is not paying any attention to that, calling now for an additional 100,000 syrian refugees by next october. sadly, about 5 million people have been displaced by the war in syria. we know that after the president said that bashar al-assad would be held accountable after he cross add red line using chemical weapons against his own people, basically nothing happened. that emboldened russia, our adversary, to get a tow hold in syria. it allowed them to ally with the country of iran and terrorist groups like hezbollah to

actually try to maintain bashar al-assad in office, something that this president and his administration said shall not stand. but in syria alone, nearly 5 million refugees have left that country. we know that they have gone to bordering countries like turkey. i visited some of these refugee camps. they have real estate been to -- they've been to jordan. they are relocating in places like northern iraq, where the financial burden is shaking the very foundations of regional government there. and we know that many of these refugees have made their way into europe, causing instability there, potential danger when refugees are not particularly well-voted to determine whether or not they bring with them a dangerous ideology which will be perhaps deadly to people living

in those areas, places like germany, france, just to mention a couple. so this president seems to be absolutely blind to the consequences of his failure to have any effective strategy to deal with the state, whether it is here at home or abroad, or consequences to deal with this effect, like the refugees crisis we've seen in europe and elsewhere. the answer to dealing with this evil is not just to accept more refugees. the answer is to have an effective strategy to provide a no-fly and no-drive zones where syrians can actually continue to live in syria without fear of being murdered by either bashar al-assad and his allies, iran and russia, or al qaeda

affiliates or the islamic state. that would be a better answer, and i bet they would agree. most of these refugees would rather live in the country of their birth rather than be displaced either in the middle east or in europe or even in the united states. so, unfortunately, under the leadership of this president, what we've seen is one consequence after another. i hope the president will finally come up with a strategy to dismantle and defeat isis. but i'm not holding my breath, and obviously his days as president of the united states are numbered. but there are things we could do here in the united states congress to draft solid legislation that will at least protect the american people here in our homeland. by providing additional tools for our law enforcement personnel to collect the dots so they can connect the dots.

it is not enough just to prosecute the guilty once people are murdered or injured by a terrorist attack. we need to make sure that our law enforcement personnel, the f.b.i. and others, have the tools they need to stop these attacks before they occur, if it is humanly possible. -- if it is humanly possible to do so. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. president, i reclaim the floor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: i would ask unanimous consent following my remarks for a news article from today's "washington examiner" entitled "days after attacks, obama pitches more refugees" be made part of the record following my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: i will reclaim the floor once again and withhold the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. cotton: mr. president, i would like to recognize today jess orster of little rock for her work as the k-8 director of east end public schools. it is important note that jess received a record four nominations from different people in arkansas to be the arkansan of the week, and early indication of the tremendous impact she has on the little rock community and the state of arkansas. jess is in her second year as the kindergarten through eighth grade director at east end where she is known for her tireless dedication and her positive attitude. for example, last year jess handwrote 1,000 personalized encouraging notes to each student before state testing. the notes took weeks to finish, but jess never abandoned the task. to say her students were thrilled would be an understatement. as one of her colleagues wrote,

"since jess has taken off the director role, i have seen more positivity in the hallways, not only with our teachers but with our students as well." i feel that our school is one big family and community and mrs. forster is our mom." jess' positive attitude and dedication doesn't end with her students. her fellow faculty and staff members also benefit immensely with their relationships with her. each friday she recognizes each east end's teacher's hard work. her positive spirit is contagious to all those who know her. as another colleague said, "at one of our first meetings, she discussed values and the importance they have in our daily lives, whether they be at the workplace or at home. one of the values we all picked was family, a value that jess definitely believes in and shows." under jess' leadership, east end

restated its vision statement to the motto "above and beyond." it is what we do. it better reflects the school's positive community atmosphere. of all the nice things said about jerks i felt this was a -- about jess, i felt this was a fitting conclusion. "jess has had a huge impact on the east end community which reaches across the entirety of central arkansas. she is a dedicated educational leader, wife, and mother. i believe she should be recognized for such an outstanding performance." i cannot think of a more deserving person to be acknowledged as an arkansan of the week. i agree. and i'm proud to recognize jess forster as this week's arkansan of the week for her outstanding week as the k-8 director at east end schools in little rock. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. a senator: i ask nawx the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. thune: the end of a presidential administration is often a time for taking stock. the coming months, pundit, and reporters will spend a lot of time discussing president obama's legacy. perhaps the real measure of the president's legacy, i would argue, mr. president, is how the american people are feeling at the end of his administration. mr. president, americans aren't feeling too good. after eight years of the obama economy and president obama's foreign policy, two-thirds of americans think our nation is on the wrong track. more than half think we're less safe than we were before september 11. and 67% rate our economy as not so good or poor. two-thirds of americans. well, mr. president, it's disappointing but it's not surprising. on the foreign policy front, here's where we stand after eight years of the obama administration. terrorism is spreading.

the middle east is more hostile and dangerous. iran is counting palates of ransom money, and in a better position to develop a nuclear weapon. north korea is defiantly testing nuclear weapons. russia is more aggressive. china is more aggressive. and i could go on and on. on the domestic front, eight years of the obama economy have left american families struggling. while the recession technically ended seven years ago our economy has never really rebounded. recoveries are usually a period of robust growth, 3% to 4% or more is common in a recovery. the obama recovery, however, has averaged a tepid 2.1% growth. in fact, the obama recovery is the worst recovery in 60 years. and things are actually going downhill. during the first half of 2016

the economy grew at rate of less than 1%. mr. president, historically sailors referred to the area around the equator where their ships could become trapped for weeks as the doldrums. well that's pretty much where our economy is now. it's in the doldrums, stuck, unmoving. our economy is barely -- has barely brown at all and the long-term forecast is break. the budget office is estimating that our economy will grow at less than 2% for the next ten years. what do those numbers mean, mr. president? sluggish economic growth means fewer jobs. it means lower incomes. it means fewer opportunities. we can see the effect of the sluggish obama economy in job creation and unemployment numbers. while the unemployment rate has

decreased from its session level highs, part of that has been driven by individuals dropping out of the work force. the challenges of finding a job in the obama economy has led many individuals to simply give up looking for work all together. millions have dropped out of the work force, and we now have a labor force participation rate that is near a 30-year low. if the labor force participation rate were the same today as it was when president obama took office, the current unemployment rate would be 9.1%. let me repeat that, mr. president, because i think it's important when we talk about all these different percentages particularly with regard to unemployment. but if the labor force participation rate were the same today as it was when president obama took office, the current unemployment rate would be 9.1%. that's how many people have completely dropped out of the labor force. that's how many are no longer participating in our economy. on the job creation front, the

obama recovery has again lagged far behind other recoveries. so far this year job creation has averaged just 182,000 jobs per month, far below where it should be in a strong economy. for the obama recovery to match the job creation of other post-1960 recoveries, job creation would have to soar to 1.37 million jobs a month for the rest of the obama presidency or more than seven times the number of jobs that we're currently adding. mr. president, with numbers like these, it's no surprise that two-thirds of the american people rate the obama economy as not so good or poor. americans are tired. for the past eight years good jobs and opportunities have been few and far between, and that's in the all americans have had to contend with. they've also had to contend with the steep cost of health care. the president's health care law was supposed to make health care more affordable. we were told premiums for

families would drop. we were told americans would have the freedom to keep their doctor and choose affordable plans that fit their needs. well, the reality has been pretty much the opposite. to illustrate i'd like to just read a brief article that appeared a few days ago on cnn money. the title of the article is and i quote, "health care costs rise by most in 32 years." here's what the article had to say. health care costs rose sharply in august. prices for medicine, doctor appointments, and health insurance rose the most last month since 1984. the price increases come amid a broader debate about climbing health care costs and high premiums for obamacare coverage. a recent report by kaiser employer health benefits forecast that the average family health care plan will cost $18,142, up 3.4% from 2015.

that's faster than wage growth in america. going on in this article medical care costs together rose 1% just in august from july, according to consumer price index report on price inflation from the u.s. labor department. premiums on the obamacare exchanges that went on to say are expected to rise by double digits this year. so health insurers such as aetna have recently announced they would pull out of the obama exchanges saying patiences have turned out to be sicker and costlier than expected. overall, workers are paying more for deductibles. over half of u.s. workers with single coverage health insurance plans paid deductible of $1,000 or more, up from 31% of workers in 2011. and the health care price increases come as inflation overall continues to be low. consumer prices all together rose 1.is% in august -- 1.1% in august compared to a year ago.

now, all those statistics, mr. president, come from that cnn money piece. so let's just recap what they were describing. prices for medicine, doctors and health insurance are way up. the price of the average family health plan is growing faster than wages. obamacare premiums are soaring. individuals are facing double-digit premium increases. deductibles are up. insurers are pulling out of the health care exchanges, reducing americans' choices. and health care costs are growing faster than inflation. in other words, they are taking up an even greater share of americans' budgets. that's where we are after six-plus years of the affordable -- quote -- affordable care act. mr. president, i have said before that if we wanted to coin a phrase to describe the obama presidency, it might be the presidency of diminished

expectations. it's the presidency in which americans started to doubt the cornerstone of the american dream, that their children will have a better life than they do. it's the presidency in which we were asked to start looking at weak economic growth as somehow being the new normal. and it's the presidency in which we were asked to look at the future of soaring costs and limited choices as the new standard for health care. but, mr. president, we don't need to resign ourselves to these diminished expectations. after all, the weakness of the obama recovery is not a chance or a coincidence. it's the natural consequence of the president's policies. instead of freeing up our economy to grow, the president has weighted it down with tax hikes, spending increases and burdensome regulations. over the past eight years, the obama administration has enacted more than 600 new major

regulations totaling $743 billion or, to put it in perspective, $2,300 per american. while some government regulations are necessary, every administration has to remember that regulations have consequences. the more resources individuals and businesses spend complying with government regulations, the less they have available to focus on the growth and innovation that drive our economy and create new opportunities for american workers. fortunately, the obama administration's chosen to prioritize burdensome government regulations instead of freeing up individuals and businesses. but we don't have to continue that way. we can repeal burdensome regulations. we can stop overspending. we can reform our tax code to lift the burden on job creators and on families. the weak economic growth of the past eight years does not have to be the new normal.

americans don't have to resign themselves to a future of crippling health care bills either. obamacare had good intentions, but it's turned out to be a disaster. if we repeal this failed law, we can start over and pass real health care reform, the kind that will actually drive down costs and provide increased access to care. mr. president, republicans are excited to work with a new president to move beyond the economic failures of the past eight years. we have ideas to grow our economy, promote job growth and increase opportunities for american families. hardworking americans deserve more than the diminished expectations of the obama presidency, and republicans firmly believe that a better future is possible. we're ready to get to work to get there. mr. president, before i close, i want to address the bombing and attempted bombings in new york

and new jersey this weekend as well as a knife attack at a shopping mall in minnesota. my prayers are with the 29 victims in manhattan, the ten victims in st. cloud and two wounded officers in new jersey. my prayers are also with the families of the injured and communities whose sense of security has been rattled. i'm grateful to local, state and federal law enforcement personnel for their efforts to apprehend the suspect and more importantly prevent further injury or even death. i'm also grateful for the off-duty officer who stopped the assailant in st. cloud. in these times of heightened threats, the service of our law enforcement officers is critical. the investigations into all of these attacks are ongoing, but they are being viewed as potential acts of terrorism. isis has claimed responsibility for the attack in minnesota and investigators are seeking definitive connections such as a declaration on social media as we saw in the san bernadino shooting. i'm hopeful that our

intelligence communities can quickly piece together the motives and possible terror links of these attacks. doing so may lead to intelligence that can prevent future attacks and provide insight on how to better counter terror networks and prevent domestic recruitment. this weekend's attacks underscore just how high the stakes really are. the threat of terrorism continues to grow fueled by instability in the middle east and stability that has been fueled by the absence of u.s. leadership. part of the reason we're facing isis today is because the president chose to prematurely withdraw our troops from iraq. this left a gaping hole in iraq's security and isis quickly took advantage. despite the trail of bloodshed that isis has left in its wake, the obama administration continues to down play the threat this organization poses. unfortunately, mr. president, the consequences of downplaying this threat could haunt us for generations to come. senate republicans will continue

to do what we can in congress to restore america's leadership and to strengthen our country's security. we will continue pushing for the resources our military needs and defeat isis abroad. we will continue pursuing policies that strengthen our borders so we know who is coming in and out of our country, and we will continue supporting policies and give our intelligence and security agencies the schools that they need to protect our homeland. mr. president, the committee i chair, the commerce committee, is looking at legislation right now to strengthen security on our nation's highways and railways. in addition to the airport security passage we enacted earlier this year as part of the f.a.a. bill, this bill will help keep families safe as they travel around our country. i am hopeful the senate will take up this legislation in the near future. finally, mr. president, i look forward to working with my colleagues to advance essential defense legislation like the national defense authorization act and defense appropriations, which will help undo the foreign policy failures of the obama administration. for too long, senate democrats

have put politics ahead of funding our military. democrats have filibustered the defense appropriations bill no fewer than six times during this congress alone. i'm hopeful we will soon be able to put politics aside to fund our men and women in uniform. they serve in harm's way every day. the least we can do is give them the resources that they need to carry out their jobs. mr. president, i yield the floor and i would suggest the absence of a quorum, but it looks like we have another speaker. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: thank you for recognizing me, mr. president. i'm rising today to speak about the judicial nominations that are currently pending before the senate and the fact that we have a very serious vacancy crisis in the united states. we have a challenge based upon the unwillingness for the majority to put on the floor a number of judges that are

pending and have been pending for many, many months. this is a serious problem and it's causing a problem in states all around the country. and we have critical challenges in performing our role of helping the judiciary, the independent branch of government, to function. i would be wrong not to mention judge merrick garland's nomination to the supreme court which has now been pending before the senate for seven months. this is the longest period in united states history that a judge has been pending, not only for an up-or-down vote but also pending just to have hearings on the qualifications of this judge. this judge would absolutely bring great qualifications. in fact, nobody has had more federal experience, but yet we refuse to move forward to go through a process that is spelled out in the constitution in the sense that we are supposed to make sure that the

judiciary branch has a full complement of judges. so for several months now, the supreme court has not been functioning as it was intended by the constitution. the supreme court's missing a justice, and because of that vacation, cases have resulted in 4-4 tie votes. as a result of those 4-4 decisions, we lack a national precedent in cases that could guide lower courts, bringing resolutions that are necessary for ordinary americans who go before our justice system seeking justice as was intended in the constitution. it's challenging in providing certainty for businesses. it's challenging in providing the regular course of many americans' life. the supreme court's next term begins in just two weeks. it seems like we'll be out in recess, but they again will be trying to do the business intended of the court. i do not believe that there is any justifiable reason why this distinguished body should not confirm justice garland or frankly even go through the

process of having hearings and ultimately having a vote. the supreme court was intended to have nine justices. we are not doing our job. justice garland would be the first to be -- would not be the first to be confirmed in the month of september, not the first to be confirmed during a presidential election. in fact, a total of 13 supreme court justices have been confirmed in the month of september, including chief justice roberts, william rehnquist, justice ant anyone scalia and sandra day o'connor. this action of ours is putting the supreme court at a disadvantage. the disadvantage is not the supreme court. it's actually ours as the american people. we know across the country, though, that federal judges at other levels of the judiciary are facing a real crisis. they're overworked and they are understaffed because of a judicial vacancy crisis. we now face 90 judicial

vacancies in our courts across the country, and 34 of them have actually been declared judicial emergencies. this is not a subjective declaration. this is an objective declaration. the united states of america right now, there are 34 judicial emergencies. in contrast to previous administrations, by the end of september, 2008, in the last year of the bush administration, democrats had reduced those vacancies not where we are right now, 90 judicial vacancies, but reduced those vacancies all the way down to 34. in addition to judge garland's supreme court nomination, 30 nominations which are currently pending on the senate executive calendar, all except two of whom were voted out of committee by unanimous vote, in a bipartisan manner, us working together. this includes 20 district court nominees that were put forth in this bipartisan spirit. there are nominees pending on the executive calendar from states including tennessee, new jersey, new york, california, rhode island, pennsylvania,

hawaii, utah, massachusetts, maryland, oklahoma, wisconsin, louisiana, indiana, north dakota, south carolina and idaho. these are red states and blue states and purple states. these are our states here in our country. i believe it's time to act on people that are well qualified. i believe it's time for us to act on people that have bipartisan support, names that have come with recommendations by republicans and democrats. two of whom were approved by voice vote -- all of whom, excuse me, except for two were confirmed -- approved by voice vote. two weeks ago, i joined with several of my colleagues who all came to the senate floor to ask for consent for the senate to begin voting on nominees pending on the senate executive calendar. senators have the right to vote yes or no on those nominees, but we believe they should be at least brought to the senate

floor. in rejecting our request, senate republicans made the counteroffer for the senate to vote on a package of nominees. at that time they were skipping over the next two in line. i know there has been some more discussion about that, but the reality is i cannot support skipping one of the longest standing judicial nominees, judge o'neal's in new jersey where there is now a judicial emergency, where the people who are suffering, folks who i don't know what their political backgrounds are, but these are business people, these are citizens who are now facing unbelievably long waits as a result of this judicial emergency. nominations are from red and blue states. this is a time, i believe, where we should act in a way that belies that partisan rancor that is so often associated with this body. by voting on these nominees, the senate would follow the regular

order, something that many of us are calling for regardless of who is in power here on the senate floor. we should be moving on the longest waiting -- the longest pending nominees on the floor. and so i rise today to make a request, to humbly make the request for unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations -- calendar numbers 359, 362, 363, 364, 459, 460 and 461. that the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed. that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order to the nominations, that any related statements be printed in the record and that the president be immediately

notified of the senate's action, and that the senate then resume its legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: reserving the right to object. the senator from new jersey and i had a similar exchange a couple of weeks ago. and as i pointed out then, the senate has treated president obama fairly with respect to his judicial nominations. as of now, the senate has already confirmed 329 of president obama's judicial nominees. that is more judicial nominees confirmed than president bush had during all of his eight years. now i'll be objecting shortly. but we've been entering into agreements to process additional nominees on a bipartisan basis. our democratic colleagues objected to the last proposal i made a couple of weeks ago, but i'm prepared to offer another one. my proposal includes many of the

nominees who are included in the proposal from the junior senator from new jersey. it would include a judicial nominee from tennessee, two nominations from pennsylvania, and a utah nomination. so i will ask consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider individually the following nominations, a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the democratic leader: calendar number 359, 460, 461, and 569. that there be 30 minutes for debate only on each nomination equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of time on the respective nomination the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination with no other business in order. the presiding officer: is there objection to the modification?

mr. booker: mr. president, reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i have not been in the senate that long. when i came to the senate there was months left when the democrats were in the majority. i'm sure we will be in the majority again, but i cannot imagine that i would support what i see going on right it now if democrats were in the majority. when i read the constitution it makes no claim to political parties or tit for tat or we should have one president that gets a certain number of nominees versus another president getting another one. should we add up the republican presidents of the last century and the democratic presidents of the last century and somehow compare the total number of judges? that was not the intention of the constitution. there is a branch of government that's independent of ours that we are strangling right now through our inaction. any objective understanding of

the functioning of the american government should clearly state that one branch should not strangle the operations of another undermining what is clearly in the best interest of the people. this is not a partisan tit for tat. bush had this much, obama has this much. this is about the fact that we have a proliferation of judicial emergencies, that there are businesses, that our very economy actually is being undermined because businesses can't get a fair hearing before the judicial branch. it actually is written clearly, this idea of having a justice system that works in a timely fashion. this seems to be an affront to what the purpose of this body is spelled out in the constitution. i can't go in partisan tit for tat -- that is not in my blood -- on an issue to me that is so fundamentally spelled out

in the constitution. we're measuring how many bush had versus how many that obama had. clearly there are so many more vacancies that happened to come to the course under the obama administration. 90 vacancies versus what we had in the bush administration, which were significantly less. now it would be one thing if these nominations were clearly partisan, but these nominations are coming from red states and blue states. they're coming from republican senators, recommendations to the president, mind you, and democratic senators. and so if we are to indulge in a partisan analysis of this, the offer that was given by the republican leader is for states that are red and purple states. now i represent new jersey. i have the longest or second-longest pending judge on the floor, a qualified judge,

a judge with an incredible history of service and sacrifice to country and community, a judge that happens to be african-american in a state that urgently needs diversity on the bench as well. i heard a lot of talk when i first got here -- and he -- agan i'm new -- about people talking about how important regular order is. why are we skipping judges and not going through the regular order? i have tremendous respect for the majority leader and the pressures that he faces on a daily basis, but this i cannot understand. when i read the constitution, i cannot understand why this body is so strangling the functioning of that other body and why my state is dealing with this judicial emergency unnecessarily so. when i came here, was instructed what to do, and i've

been following regular order to fill the seat in new jersey. so i respectfully object, respectfully object to the majority leader's motion. the request for unanimous consent. the presiding officer: objection has been heard to the modification. is there an objection to the original request? mr. mcconnell: i object. the presiding officer: objection has been heard. mr. booker: then i would just like to continue as i said earlier, julien neals who i was proud to recommend to president obama as well as somebody who's right there, the next two jurists: stanton from tennessee, are well-qualified jurists, the only two african-americans on the long list of the next 15. both of these men have demonstrated skill and earned distinction and they have

incredible careers, legal careers. right now the second-longest nomination pending on the floor is judge julien neals who was nominatessed well over a year -- nominated well over a yearing a, 19 months ago. he has been nominated to fill now what is a judicial emergency, as i stated, which means more specifically, that the caseload is extraordinarily high, that other good public servants in our state are doing their best to keep up, but cannot were. the people of new jersey deserve better from us as a body, and the seat should be filled. it's an act of simple justice, an act of mercy at this point. a hearing was held on his nomination in september of 2015, and his nomination was passed out of committee in november of 2015. since that time, judge neals'

nomination has been sidelined, sidelined by this body. judge neals has incredibly strong qualifications, and more than that, this is a man that i know. i know his family. i've seen up close and personal the sacrifices he's made. it's no surprise that the american bar association standing committee on the federal judiciary has unanimously rated judge neals as well qualified to be aing district court, the -- to be at district court. judge neals has extensive judicial experience, an unwavering commitment to justice, private sector experience. as an attorney, judge neals worked both in the public service as i knew him, but before that had a distinguished private practice. he's most recently been a county counsel in bergen county. and i know the county executive there who raves about him but

understands the higher calling and aspirations he has to be a judicial district court judge. judge neals has an impressive breadth of judicial experience. he graduated from mother -- morehouse college. he served as chief judge of the newark municipal court. that's how i got to know him. judge neals has an unwavering commitment to justice, a balanced view. he is a moderate man. at a time when our nation is working to address so many complicated issues, i believe we need this man on the bench. i believe he would make all of us proud. not republican or democrat, but americans. the judge understands the issues. he understands scholarship.

he has demonstrated his worth. his aptitude, his thoughtfulness, this is the kind of guy i think all of us would want on the bench. there's no credible reason why we're not moving forward besides partisanship. i just can't see it. so i would like to rise again and make this request for unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations. regular order would mean that we would go to these two judges who happen to be qualified african-americans. regular order would bring us to these long-standing men who have been sitting on the sidelines now for well over a year. i ask for us to proceed to executive session to consider these following nominations:

calendar numbers 359 and 362. that the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed, that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motion be in order to the nominations, that any related statements be printed in the record and that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. mcconnell: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. booker: mr. president, i'm grateful for the time. i'm hoping that the in the intervening hours and days that we are here in washington, d.c., that this profound obligation we have of keeping the functioning of three branches of government, that we can give some attention to that and perhaps solve this impasse. thank you. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i would ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: mr. president, i rise today to commemorate the national day of remembrance for

murder victims which occurs in just a few days on september 25. in 2007, the congress passed a resolution designating the national day of remembrance and affirming two central truths. first, that the murder of a loved one is an exceptionally difficult and devastateing experience for that family. and second, that support services are very important in helping victim's friends and families as they cope with the grief and loss. today in washington, we have family members who can attest to that devastation, the devastation of losing a loved one. they are mothers, grandmothers, sisters and others -- other parts of a family, each of whom have lost a loved one to violence. they come together to form in

this case a philadelphia-based violence prevention group called mothers in charge. i cannot imagine the pain that they have suffered, but the sad truth is their ranks grow every day in a country where just about 16,000 people are murdered each year, including over 600 justice -- just in pennsylvania, according to the center for disease control and prevention. around two-thirds of these murders are committed with firearms. these families know all the statistics, but the loved ones they lost aren't statistics. they're people. they're members of a family, and we need to remember that. i came to the floor last week to talk about a particularly violent day just in one day, philadelphia, pennsylvania. in which ten people were shot on

one day and five were killed. and over the weekend, five more were killed and 14 wounded just this past weekend. two of those wounded were police officers who were targeted during a shooting rampage in philadelphia that left another five wounded at that location. the families and friends of the victims, like those who are with us in washington today, will never be the same because they lost someone unique and special, someone who is the subject of their -- of course their love and their attention, someone whose future they invested in, believed in and dreamed about until it was stolen away. the resolution that i referred to earlier designating the national day of remembrance for murder victims which passed the senate in 2007 reminds us of our obligation to recognize the loss

of these -- that these families lived with every single day. the great recording artist bruce springsteen, after september 11, wrote a number of songs that referred to that horrific day and how the country was dealing with it. one song that he wrote was called "you're missing." i, of course, won't go through all the lyrics, but the refrain of course was just those words, you're missing. at one point in the song, he says you're missing when i turn out the lights, you're missing when i close my eyes, and then he says you're missing when i see the sunrise. that's the only way can i can -- way that i can understand what these families have gone through, that that person is missing from their lives at every moment of every day, no matter where they are, whether they're falling asleep or waking up or leading their lives. so we have an obligation to

remember those that they lost and remember those that are in fact missing from the lives of those we think about today. the second part of this resolution credits the support -- credits the support services that help briefing families. facing pain and loss, families often need lots of help, whether that's counseling or crisis intervention or legal assistance or other services. this is also something that the philadelphia-based group mothers in charge knows something about. these families, these mothers took their pain and turned it into a force for good. they advocated for those affected by violence and they provide today counseling and grief support for those victims' families. they also work to proactively prevent violence by intervening with at-risk young people and working with elected officials

and community leaders to create safer neighborhoods. so today as we commemorate this national day of remembrance for murder victims, we also express deep gratitude for the critically important work that mothers in charge and their allied organizations are doing to prevent future tragedies. as we commemorate this national day of remembrance, we also must talk about the type of weapon that took so many lives in the first place and take lives every day. firearms. about two-thirds of those 16,000 annual murders are committed using firearms. tragically, the executive director of mothers in charge, dorothy johnson spite, who is here today in washington, knows something about this. her son, dorothy's son was shot and killed in a dispute over a parking space, a senseless murder of a good and innocent soul. there's no -- there's no weapon as widely available and as obviously lethal as a gun, of

course. and if dorothy's work has taught us anything, it's that when tragic murders occur, they are not an occasion for grief alone. they're also, i think, a call to action. that's why i will continue to advocate for commonsense gun reform from expanding background checks to banning military-style weapons and large capacity magazines to passing legislation to close loopholes that allow suspected terrorists and violent hate criminals to acquire firearms. the measures -- all these measures, i should say, will make us safer. as dorothy has often said, gun violence is a public health crisis with more than 33,000 people killed by the pull of a trigger each year in the united states of america. if we are to do our duty on behalf of our constituents, on behalf of hardworking members of

mothers in charge and the countless others who have lost a loved one to gun violence as we approach the national day of remembrance, we must act to make our communities safer. thank you, mr. president. i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: