vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, on this nomination the yeas are 60, the nays are 38 and the confirmation -- and cloture is agreed to.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. a senator: mr. president, since 2001, the federal government has exploded in constant dollars. it has grown from $2.4 trillion in 2000 to last year almost $4 there will in costs. mr. perdue: in september of this year, our national debt surpassed $20 trillion for the first time and no one in washington blinked an eye. this is expected to increase over the next ten years, according to the budget we're operating under right now, by another $11 trillion. if that's not enough, over the next 30 years alone, it's projected that over $100 trillion of future unfunded liabilities of medicare, medicaid, and interest on the debt are coming at us like a

freight train. these are unfunded liabilities, mr. president. today with $20 trillion in debt, we're only paying about $270 billion every year in interest only. i say that because just in the last year we have seen four increases in the federal fund rate, which generally doubles, it increases our interest by 100 basis points. that 100 basis points will grow our interest on the debt by more than $200 trillion on top of the $270. if that's not bad enough -- that today is almost -- 25% of our discretionary budget, mr. president, already, just at the 270. if it doubles, it will be almost half of our discretionary budget. if interest rates just go back to their 30-year norm of between 4% and 5%, we could pay as much

as $1 trillion. that is equal almost to today's discretionary budget. we can't tax our way out of the problem, we can't cut our way out or grow our way out it's going to take a multifaceted approach and there are five interwoven imperatives that are woven to solve this problem. the way to fix is it -- it is in our grasp. we need to fix washington's broken budget process, and we need to weed out the spending and we need to pull out a lot of the regulation that's are unnecessary and by unleashing our energy potential. number four, we need to save social security and medicare and, lastly, we finally have to get after the real drivers of

spiraling health care costs. today, as we're working to change our archaic tax system to become competitive with the rest of the world and get our economy growing again, i want to talk about two things today. one is this wasteful spending and then, two, is economic growth. these are two of the five imperatives that i just outlined. according to the general accountability office to date -- and also in every single year -- this federal government wastes hundreds of billions of dollars. it is estimated today that by this bipartisan organization, mr. president, that we are overspending about $700 billion a year they've identified. let's put that in perspective. as i said, we spent $3.5 trillion running the government, that's billion $3 trillion for mandatory spending, so almost $4 trillion. and of that over $700 billion has been identified as wasteful

spending. i'll describe those in a second. but to put it in perspective, mr. president, that's 20%, almost, of everything we spend as a federal government. it's greater -- it's a larger number than what we spend on the national security of our country. let me say that again. the number identified by the government accountability office of wasteful spending is larger than what we spend on our military. there are three facets, as they outlined. one, redundant agencies. these are agencies targeted to do exactly the same thing that one administration or another has come in and added. it's about $135 billion every year. since 2003, -- just since 2003, we spent $1.2 trillion in improper payments. that is $144 billion every year. these are overpayments, improper payments. this is not fraud. this is not anything like that. it's basically an administrative

error that the federal government made a mistake and improper payments, social security disability, snapover payments, unemployment, and others. this is outrageous. the third item. it is estimated that we have a net tax gap of $446 billion. this is a 17% error rate in the i.r.s. tax code. what that means is is people are underpaying or not paying what is calculated according to the government accountability office. the federal government last year took in -- almost $3.5 trillion of tax and yet we had $400 billion. that is a 17% error rate, mr. president. i don't know what else to say. those three things add up to about $700 billion of wasted spending. we've got to get to the bottom of this. let me also put in perspective another way. that $700 billion is $7 trillion

over the next ten years. this tax package that we're talking about, the initial cost is about $3.5 trillion, as identified by both sides, before you get to the economic growth that more than pays for it. four tenths of 1% of growth pays for this tax package that we're working on, but this $ 10 trillion of overspending, nobody in this body, not democrat, republican, or independent, -- these are common mistakes made by an over -- by an -- an joar sized bureaucracy, mr. president. this is not a partisan talking point. both sides bear responsibility in this debacle. these are numbers from the nonpartisan government accountability office. i'm ander plected that i have to bring this to the attention of

my colleagues. washington has known for decades and nothing has been done. a former member, tom coburn, has worked hard on this .this there are others picking up the mantle. as we talk about the tax package changes, the tax changes that will get this economy growing again, i wanted us to reflect on the opportunity we have right here that can pay for what we need to do to give the middle class a tax break and get our economy growing again. there are things identified, recommendations that can get at most of these $700 billion of wasted spending. for example, in the department of defense if it managed commissaries more effectively, there is a $2 billion a year opportunity there over the next five years. if the department of defense weapon acquisition program were more effective there is estimated that tens of billions of dollars over the next ten years could be saved in terms of purchasing the same level of equipment and machinery. if it just -- if the d.o.d.,

department of defense just simply completed an audit, we believe it would identify further opportunities for wise spending of our taxpayers' money. but since coming to the united states senate, i was shocked to understand that the largest line-item on our budget has never been audited, mr. president. it's high time that we complete that audit. by the way, there's a law that was passed in this body in 1991 requiring the department of defense to submit an audit. and here we are in 2017, we still don't have that audit. mr. president, in my opinion, as hard as it is for the american people to earn their salaries and to pay their tax, it's unconscionable that i'm standing here before the united states senate tonight reminding us all that there is $700 billion a year that we spend in error, just bureaucratic error. because of that and because of this financial intransigence, we have built up a debt that's

created a crisis in our country. because of these years of intransigence, we're losing the ability to fund our government the way it should be funded. we're losing the right to do the right thing when it comes to funding things like emergencies, disaster relief efforts. just a couple weeks ago we passed a $15 billion relief package for two hurricanes. last week we passed a $36 billion supplemental, as if nothing had happened, mr. president. every dime of that is borrowed money. we can wait no longer to solve this debt crisis. it's going to take tough decisions to solve the debt crisis, and we're going to have to be making these very, very quickly. but eliminating redundant spending, improper payment and eliminating this tax gap are at the top of the list. along with reducing our spending by almost 20% each year, we need to grow the economy to solve this debt crisis. the single-most important thing that we can do to grow the economy this year is to -- next year is to change this tax code.

let me remind this body that so far this year, under this president's guidance, we've eliminated over 860 rules. these are rules made by the federal government that were choking the very life out of our free enterprise system. and the result of that, this year alone, in the third quarter we have now achieved 3% growth again. this is not the holy grail. who knows what this economy should be growing at right now, if we just get washington out of the way. part of the way to do that is to correct this archaic tax policy. changing the tax code will mean more jobs and higher wages for american workers. for example, if we eliminate the repatriation tax on our corporations, we're, again, the last country in the world to have a double tax on u.s. profits made overseas. it's estimated by independent, bipartisan or nonpartisan groups that this would mean $4,000 to $9,000 of annual income for the average worker in the united states. mr. president, i don't know what else to tell you except we're not competitive today. we have got to become more competitive. what we're talking about here

should not be partisan issues. america needs to be competitive. we all know that. but the idea of bigger government will create more jobs has been proven not to work. look at the last eight years, the lowest economic growth in the history of the united states. as we debate how to fix this archaic tax system and become competitive with the rest of the world, i'm reminding us tonight that we also need fo get serious about cutting this wasteful spending. this is not spending that's benefiting anybody, mr. president. it's not providing for national security. it's not taking care of people who need help. these are just simply overpayments, missed payments, and creating problems that have, should not be -- should not have been created. changing the tax code, as i've said, is an historic opportunity to generate growth and make us more competitive. eliminating this spending, which amounts to 20% of what we spend as a federal government, is absolutely mandatory. people back home should be demanding that, mr. president.

there's a lot of heavy lifting to dig out of this debt crisis, but these two things that i'm reminding us of tonight should be at the top of the list. we simply cannot fail the american people to get this done. mr. president, i'm committed to that. i urge my colleagues to take seriously this opportunity we have of changing our tax code. it's historic. at the same time we've got to get serious about eliminating our redundant and outrageous, unnecessary spending. mr. president, with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the judiciary, joan louise larsen of michigan to be united states circuit judge for the sixth circuit. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. and i agree with my colleague from georgia that we need to simplify our tax code.

we need real tax reform. we've seen a lot of junk built up in the tax code over many years, put there by special interests who seek special deals for themselves, deals that are not enjoyed by the american public. we should do tax reform. what we should not do is increase our national debt and our national deficits. and we all noi that -- know thae budget plan that passed this senate and just recently passed the house has written right into it an increase in the national debt of $1.5 trillion over the next ten years. in other words, it's engineered right into that bill. so i hope our colleagues who really do care about reducing our national debt will make sure that as we discuss this tax proposal, that we not increase

our national debt. we should of course eliminate unnecessary and wasteful expenditures, but we should not have a tax proposal that increases our debt by $1.5 trillion and possibly more. and as it appears now, that would primarily be done to provide big tax breaks to very wealthy people and big corporations at the expense of everybody and everything else in the country. but we'll have a fuller debate starting early tomorrow when the house ways and means committee unveils its proposal. mr. president, we've also had a pretty vigorous discussion in this body and around the country about the dreamers. these are young people who were brought to the united states as kids. they have grown up knowing only america as their home. they pledged allegiance to our

flag. and it's really important that in the coming months we ensure that they have a secure home in place in the country. and it's imperative that we address that issue soon because, of course, president trump has started the clock ticking on their deportation early next year. but i come to the floor today to talk about another group of people who have not gotten much news coverage, mr. president, but really demand the attention of the country. and that is the future of about 300,000 immigrants who came to the united states legally. they came here escaping horrific conditions in their home country, conditions brought about by war, by earthquakes, by other natural disasters.

and they came to the united states under a program called temporary protective status, t.p.s. it's a humanitarian program that says if you're fleeing a country because of one of these horrific conditions, during that short period of time, you can legally come to the united states. so, for example, liberia was granted t.p.s. status because of the ebola crisis. and some liberians came to the united states to seek refuge and were granted legal status here under that humanitarian program. haiti was granted t.p.s. status after the 2010 earthquake which killed over 300,000 haitians. el salvador was also granted t.p.s. status because of an earthquake, a devastating earthquake that took place in el

salvador. and so, these are individuals who came to the country legally under this program to grant protection to people who are fleeing devastating situations. and many of these t.p.s. individuals have been in the united states for over 20 years now. they are small business men and women. they're homeowners. they're contributing to our communities and to our economy. mr. president, the reason i'm raising this issue today is that five days from now -- next weekf homeland security will announce whether or not they will continue to allow these individuals to stay in this country, individuals who came here with this protective status, individuals who came

here legally, individuals who i said in many cases have been here 20 years or more. and in five days the department of homeland security will decide whether individuals who came here from el salvador and honduras and have made their home here, whether they can stay or whether they will be subject to deportation early next year. and their decision for haitians who came here under the protective status program, the decision by d.h.s. is due on november 23. so i think we can all see that while this matter has not hit the headlines yet, it will soon be grabbing more attention around the country. and so i come to the floor today, mr. president, to call upon president trump, to call upon acting secretary duke to

make the right call, to make the humane call and allow these individuals to stay in the united states. as i said, they're hardworking people who have been playing by the rules. let me just share a story of norma herrerra and miguel espanol who if fled honduras back in 1998 seeking a better life. they were fleeing after hurricane mitch. the united states decided that that hurricane was so severe and had such catastrophic humanitarian consequences that we should create that little window of time when people could come here legally. and they applied, and they were granted that protective status, and they've worked very hard to build and create the american dream in riverdale, maryland. they have a 14-year-old son, miguel jr., a freshman at done

bosco christo ray high school in tacoma park. unfortunately, their son now lives in fear that if the trump administration doesn't extend that protective status next month that his parents could be deported to honduras early next year. in other words, if t.p.s. is not extended for honduras and others from those other countries are in the same position. for example, jose ramos owns his own freight company and has his own job. he's actually a job creator, employs other people in our community. and the question is whether he will be allowed to stay. i want to emphasize, mr. president, that in order to continue under the t.p.s. status, these individuals have to be vetted every 6 to 18

months to make sure that they are here working, that they're law-abiding. and the statistics overwhelmingly show that these are exactly the kind of people that we want to have in the united states helping in our communities and helping build jobs. for example, 94% of the men and 82% of the women are working, and they have provided as well community services. in fact, many of these individuals are helping provide hurricane relief down in texas. so i come to the floor today simply to urge our colleagues to call upon the president and the trump administration to make the

right decision with respect to these individuals who, number one, came to the united states legally under a humanitarian program. number two, go through a periodic vetting process to ensure that they're playing by all the rules. and, number three, in many cases have been here as long as 20 years, have built small businesses, are living in our communities, have children who are american citizens. so i call upon all of us to ask the administration to make the right decision next week so that these people who have contributed to our communities and to our country are allowed to stay and not be subject to deportation early next year. let's do the right thing for our country. let's make sure that we continue

to allow these individuals who played by the rules, who came here legally can stay and contribute to our country. i yield back my time. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rubio: tomorrow the house will announce its plan for tax reform as a starting point. i doubt everyone will agree with everything that's in it and it will be a good starting point for this debate, but it's actually about a broader topic about tax reform because it hasn't been enough about our national discourse over the last 20 years. you know, if you think about the

history of this country, one of the things that truly distinguisheses us is not that we have rich people. every country in the world has rich people. we have an extraordinary amount of success and earn success. every society in the world has rich people. sadly, we're not the only country that has poor people and those who are struggling and that is something that challenges our principles as a nation founded on the idea of equal opportunity and to life and to pursue happiness. the one thing that distinguishes america is that by and large the overwhelming number of americans do not consider themselves rich or poor. they consider themselves hardworking people. these are basically people that work hard every single day to provide not just a better life for themselves to be able to retire with dignity, leave their children better off than themselves, they take pride in that.

the values that they value are not how much money they make or how many things they own. it is not even the title of their job. they value the dignity that comes from the work they do and more importantly they value what it allows them to do. it is not complicated things. it is the -- it is the ability to own a home. you see people who spend countless hours who constantly keep up that home. they take great pride in it. they take great pride in their family. they take great pride in the synagogues and churches and groups they belong to. this is the fundamental core of our country. that doesn't mean that others who don't fit that profile are not important as well. this is distinguished because most countries don't have that. most societies in human history, are you either rich or poor. there is a handful of people where the wealth is concentrated. that sort of eye nammic separated us from the other nationings on earth and it still

does. it is something that i talk about not because i read about it but because i lived it. my parents were that. neither had much of an advanced education. my mom and did came to this country, didn't -- barely spoke english when they arrived and had to struggle to learn it and they did they ended up being a bartender and a maid. people who spoke to me before know that story. it's story i tell because i want you to understand what motivates me. even though my dad worked in the service sector and my mother did as well, they owned a home and retired with dignity. all four kids went to college. that was possible through a combination of things, jobs that paid enough and the ability to have programs like social security and medicare that allowed them to retire with dignity. programs they paid into all

those years they were working. the reason i raise it is people who fit that profile have been hurt more than anyone else over the last 15 years. it is not necessarily anyone's fault. the jobs that my parents once did don't pay nearly enough to pay what they did back then. a bartender today, if my parents were doing that now, i'm not sure what house they would buy in miami-dade county, not because our neighborhood is some fancy place but because everything costs so much compared to how much those jobs pay. so everything costs more, the jobs aren't paying enough and that's just the nature of changes in our economy. many people lost their jobs all together. the industry they were once in vanished. it went to another country or machines took your place or they just don't need as many people as they use it had to because they are able to do more with less employees. then they got hit with the

recession, maybe it wiped out the retirement savings, cut in half the value of their home and they haven't to this day fully recovered many you add to all of that the idea that in america politics today we spend an extraordinary amount of time debating how we can help everybody else except for them. i don't think we do that on purpose or people don't care about people like that. i don't know why it happened. i'm just telling you will it has and the result is somewhat a little bit of resentment, but certainly a sense of isolation and the notion and belief they've been left behind, and they are upset about it and they have a right to be. it's not just about money and it's not just about economics, it's about the values of hard work, dignity, responsibility and doing what you need to do to be a good citizen of this country and to contribute to its future but also do what you need to raise your family and instill

in them the values that you think are important. i think it would be a terrible mistake to enter tax reform, perhaps one of the most meaningful debates we've had since i have been here and perhaps in the past two decades in terms of our economy, without talking about what tax reform means to the millions of americans i just described. the one thing it should mean is that those jobs that left, some of them should be able to come back because, frankly, our own policies have forced some of those jobs to go somewhere else. when other countries are making it easier to open up factories and create job over there instead of over here, you're going to lose some of those jobs. i'm not saying all of them, but a lot of them were. if we have tax policies that do not allow us to create jobs here, we have to reverse that and tax reform should be about that. it also has to be about working americans, not americans that