with that as a rallying cry i think we could possibly do that. if a structure has traditionally been bipartisan and i thank you carry that off. >> i think opioid is another one of the greatest public health crisis in my state and my history that i can ever heard of. your state is one of the toughest and this cuts across parties and this isn't really a partisan issue. rural states need to be affected more by it but that is an area. >> you can watch for this discussion online at c-span .org. the senate gaveling in working on the nomination to the circuit court, a confirmation about coming up shortly. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: is there anyone in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 56, the nays are 42. the nomination of david ryan stras is confirmed.

under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. mr. boozman: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: thank you, mr. president. tonight in the state of the union address, president trump will discuss the importance of infrastructure investment. this is an important conversation for the administration to lead because our nation's infrastructure is in need of an overhaul. having the support of the administration provides us tremendous opportunity to revamp the way we prioritize and fund our nation's infrastructure. as a member of the senate environment and public works committee, i understand the importance of infrastructure investment. since i came to congress, i have been a constant advocate for increased investment, particularly for our nation's water resources. last congress i supported the

passage of the water infrastructure improvement for the nation act as well as the comprehensive highway bill, the fixing america's surface transportation act. passing these pieces of legislation was a major step forward but only a step in the process. there's still more to be done, and i'm looking forward to the opportunity to make critical infrastructure investments this congress. like many americans, i'm encouraged by the president's commitment to improving our nation's crumbling infrastructure. looking at the example set by president device eisenhower -- dwight eisenhower and the establishment of the interstate highway system, it is clear that the infrastructure investment boosts our economy, creates immediate jobs, and produces decades of economic prosperity. -- and opportunity. unfortunately, since president

eisenhower signed the federal highway act of 1956 we have relied on the fix as fail apostcloture to our nation's infrastructure. not only is this causing more expensive, increasingly causing delays to commerce, but it is also posing a risk to public safety. by ensuring that our roads, bridges, and water systems meet an american standard for excellence, we can save many lives. in water infrastructure spending alone, the united states faces an over $500 billion shortfall which includes drinking water, waste water, storm water, and water supply projects. this funding shortage is reflected in the american society of civil engineers' overall grade for america's infrastructure, which is a d +. this is not a rural issue or a big-city issue. it's not a red state problem

other a blue state problem -- for a blue state problem. this is a national emergency. one where we can find bipartisan support. we can and must work together to provide all americans safe and reliable drinking water and effective waste water and storm water treatment. access to safe and clean water is critical to the livelihood of every american. very soon senator booker and i will be introducing commonsense legislation that will revolutionize the way we invest in needed water infrastructure. the security required funding for water infrastructure now or srf win act, takes the best of the s.r.f.'s and combined it with the best of the water infrastructure finance and innovation act, better known as wifia. the s.r.f. act creates a significant pot of money within

the wifia program that is available over to s.r.f.'s. further, the bill allows state s.r.f.'s to bundle their priority drinking water and waste water projects together and make a single loan request. this dramatically increases the availability of s.r.f. funding to communities across the nation while substantially reducing the time and related cost for completing projects. because all 50 state s.r.f.'s have a triple-a bond rating, they have a very low risk of default. less than one half of one percent. this combined with the leveraging power of wifia has given the s.r.f. win act the leveraging capacity of an incredible 100-1. this is according to the technical assistance provided by the e.p.a.'s office of water.

simply put, the s.r.f. win act is a critical component to future water infrastructure financing. with a $1 billion investment, the united states government will create over $50 billion in project money. this is not a handout. this is a loan from the federal government to the states that will be paid back over 35 years. the s.r.f. win act gives communities the tools they need to help themselves. instead of waiting decades for funding, communities will be available to invest in their crumbling water infrastructure now. with 35 years to pay back their loan, ratepayers will avoid harm and not see massive rate spikes. what the s.r.f. win act does is simple. it combines the efficiency and trust associated with the s.r.f. with the leveraging power of wifia. this legislation makes the

process easier and more affordable for states and communities to access federal water infrastructure funding. i encourage my colleagues who support the s.r.f., wifia, and more funding for water infrastructure projects in rural communities and big cities alike to cosponsor the s.r.f. win act. this has been a monumental effort of bipartisan work. senator booker and i have been working for months to meet with everyone in the water industry to ensure our bill helps people all over our country in communities both big and small. this bill is the result of months of negotiations, taking the best ideas available to ensure this commonsense, bipartisan legislation will work effectively and efficiently, providing billions in project dollars to communities who have traditionally not had access to these types of funds. i would like to specifically thank the e.p.a. office of

water, counsel of infrastructure financing authorities, american water with association, water environment federation, and the association of metropolitan water agencies for providing us technical assistance to ensure we preserve the wifia and s.r.f. programs. the fact of the matter is, communities need every funding tool possible at their disposal. and this bill is another great tool that will work with the wifia and s.r.f. program. the s.r.f. win act has strong support from rural and municipal water and waste water organizations. this landmark legislation also has the support of our nation's leading construction, engineering, labor, and manufacturing organizations, including the national rural water association, the council of infrastructure financing authorities, the american society of civil engineers, the

associated general contractors of america, the american council of engineering companies, the national association of clean water agencies, ducks unlimited, the american public works association, the rural community assistance partnership, the water systems council, the international union of operating engineers, the vinyl institute, the hydraulic institute, the california association of sanitation agencies. congress needs to do a better job providing basic public services such as safe roads, bridges, and an up-to-date water infrastructure system. this is the time to act and make water infrastructure investment a priority. with innovative financing and private-sector investment, not only will we be providing americans with basic water

infrastructure but we will also be creating jobs, keeping commodity and utility prices low and remaining competitive on the global stage. we can no longer kick the can down the road and ignore our infrastructure problems. it is time for the united states to be realistic about its water problems and start investing in water infrastructure today. i ask my colleagues to join senator booker and myself in supporting significant new investment in our nation's water infrastructure and to cosponsor the s.r.f. win act today. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, today i want to talk about the opioid epidemic -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: today i want to talk about the opioid epidemic that has gripped our country and my state of ohio and talk a little bit about a report we issued last week with regard to synthetic opioids coming in through the united states mail system. this tragedy has hit ohio hard. we are not alone, though. opioids affect every american regardless of age, area code, class, or color. every state represented here in this body has experienced this. broken families, communities devastated, higher crime rates,

friends lost, and of course lives taken through opioid overdoses. the centers for disease control recently reported that more than 63,000 -- 63,600 americans died in 2016 from drug overdoses. that's the last year for which they have statistics but we all believe it was worse in 2017. but with 63,600 americans dying of overdoses, that means on average more than 174 americans died every single day. that's up from approximately 143 americans who died on average every day from drug overdoses a year earlier in 2015 and 105 americans who died every day in 2010. the problem is getting worse, not better. drug overdoses in fact are now the number one cause of death, not just accidental death but the number one cause of death in america for americans under the age of 50. the reason for this increase in

overdose deaths is the spread of heroin, prescription drugs, and now the synthetic opioids, fentanyl and carfentanil. opioids were involved in more than 42,000, about two-thirds of all the overdose deaths in 2016 and opioid overdose deaths were five times higher in 2016 than they were just a few years ago. this is a national epidemic, and it's unfolded in three different waves. the first wave was the prescription drug epidemic, pain pills. 15, 20 years that started to increase dramatically. next heroin deaths spiked. heroin being turned to as a less expensive and a more accessible way for people who were addicted from pain pills to continue to receive from, in this case, heroin mostly coming from mexico, the high. now synthetic forms of heroin are overtaking the illegal

opioid market. and the results have been even more deadly. fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin has become the new scourge of the epidemic. fentanyl is so deadly that two milligrams of it, as little as a few flakes of it can be lethal. it's cheap, easily accessible, and can be added to make any number of illegal drugs more potent. cocaine, heroin, pills. in ohio fentanyl in its variations like carfentanil were responsible for nearly 60% of our state's more than 4,000 overdose deaths in 2016, the most recent year we have statistics for. that's 60%. it's a huge increase from just the previous year 2015 when fentanyl was responsible for about 37% of the deaths. so we've had more deaths from overdoses and a lot more deaths linked to fentanyl.

sadly again, this situation is getting worse, not better. just last week in ottawa county, ohio outside of tol, we had five -- of toledo, we had five overdoses in one single day. we had three people die of overdoses in one week. the suspect the cause of course fentanyl. earlier this month in akron, a 57-year-old man, a board member of the akron public school system was found unconscience in his car from a drug overdose. first responders were thankfully able to revive the man with narcam. again, fentanyl caused the overdose. a 12-year-old columbus boy encountered fentanyl while he was over at his cousins for a sleepover. he was rushed to the hospital but died days later from a lack of oxygen to his brain. as a result of fentanyl. these synthetic drugs have

invaded communities across ohio and across the country. unbelievably this deadly poison is primarily shipped into america from china through our united states postal service. the permanent subcommittee on investigations which i chair along with ranking member senator tom carper recently held a hearing on this issue. it came on the heels of our year-long bipartisan investigation that resulted in a 100-page investigative report that examined how these drug traffickers in china exploit vulnerabilities in our international mail system to ship these deadly synthetic drugs into our communities. i encourage people to look at that report on the p.s.i., permanent subcommittee investigations' website. the result, of the report were shocking. we found that it was incredibly easy to buy fentanyl online. by simply searching fentanyl for sale on google, our staff identified hundreds of website, many affiliated with chinese labs all openly advertising this deadly drug.

online sellers were quickly to respond, unafraid to be caught and ready to make a deal. they offered discounts for bulk purchases and tried to upsell us to carfentanil. fentanyl's more deadly cousin. this is an e-mail from chinese traffickers offering, quote, a hot sale. a hot sale for one fentanyl analogue before it is discontinued. their preferred shipping method is the united states postal service because as they told us, the chances of the drugs being seized were so insignificant that delivery was essentially guaranteed. this chart shows a carfentanil advertisement and the online traffickers suggested usps as their preferred shipping method. usps as their preferred shipping method. why? because usps is the way in which

the delivery is virtually guaranteed. d.h.l., u.p.s., fedex, t.n.t. are quicker but not safe, will be detained frequently. instead we suggest usps only. wow. it's inexcusable that these drugs are as easy to ship as a postcard and that the traffickers preferred shipping method for these deadly poisons is a federal agency, the united states postal service. our post office has become a conduit for these deadly drugs. by the way, this is incredibly dangerous for the postal employees, the letter carriers, those who have to handle these packages. i should note that our team never purchased any of these drugs online but we did use the online seller's payment information to determine if others were buying. and, of course, we found out that they were. we narrowed our search to just six websites, six websites and

from those six sites we identified more than 500 payments to those six online sellers by more than 300 americans in 43 states just in the last couple of years. this map shows where the fentanyl went. as you can see, just from those six websites and those couple hundred, few hundred people, it went all over the country. the largest concentration of buyers were in my home state of ohio where you see the red. also pennsylvania and florida. but as i mentioned again, it went to all 43 states. we were able to track hundreds of packages related to the online purchases. by analyzing more than two million lines of shipment data obtained in our investigation, we located three individuals in the united states who seemed to be distributing these drugs. we also identified two other individuals who purchased items to make pills, including pill presses, chemical bonding agents

and empty pill casings. a report also reinforced the risk associated with these deadly synthetic drugs. we identified seven individuals who died from fentanyl-related overdoses shortly after receiving packages from these online sellers. one of those seven individuals who died was a 49-year-old ohioan from the cleveland area. he sent about 2500 bucks to an online seller and received 15 packages through the postal service over a ten-month period. his autopsy confirmed that he died from, quote, acute fentanyl intoxication, end quote just a couple of weeks after receiving a package from this online seller. we're already working with law enforcement authorities to make sure these drug dealers can be brought to justice. we recently released all of our documents to the department of homeland security for them to do their own investigation. china has responded to our

report. the foreign ministry spokesman said last week that china stands, quote, ready to work with the united states to enhance our coordination in this field, end quote. i welcome china's cooperation and coordination to this fight. but we need more than words. we need action. we need china to ban more of these deadly drugs and do it quicker. we need china to shut down these fentanyl laboratories and arrest those responsible for shipping drugs into our country. i had the opportunity last year to travel to china as part of a congressional delegation and i was able to speak directly to some of the chinese authorities including the premier, premier liu and talk to him about these deadly drugs coming into our communities and how we needed more help to be able to shut down these labs to arrest these individuals. i also made the point that there is evidence that some of this opioid material that's being synthetically produced in china is leaking into their communities and that they have a

problem too. we need to work together to shut this down. but one way we can assist law enforcement in this war on synthetic opioids is help them with the tools they need to identify drugs coming in, whether they're from china or whether they're shipped somewhere else or whether they're from another country that begins to produce these drugs. we have to do a better job finding these packages and stopping them. because of the roughly 500 million packages that come in by mail every year, interdicting these small packages is very difficult. it can be like finding a needle in a haystack. so law enforcement has asked us to help them to be able to get the information they need to be able to target suspect packages. that is why what's called advanced electronic data is so very important. this is information that comes in advance, such as what's in the package, where it's from,

where it's going. that information for packages entering the united states greatly assists our law enforcement. customs and border protection is responsible for this mail coming into our country and they want to identify these suspicious packages and be able to trace them back to both the u.s. distributor and user, but also, of course, to their overseas traffickers. when they have that information, they're able to stop packages, but also then initiate investigations and prosecutions and arrests. as part of our investigation, we found that last year the postal service only received this advanced electronic data on about 36% of the more than 498 million packages coming into our country. that means the united states received more than 318 million packages with no data, meaning there was little to no screening at all. we also found that the quality of the data that was provided

was often inadequate and unhelpful to law enforcement. and even when the postal service conducted a pilot program to screen for these drugs through the use of this data, they only presented 80% of these packages targeted by customs and border protection for inspection. in other words, about 20% of these suspect packages came into our communities without the inspection, despite being suspect packages. with these glaring holes in the screening process, it's no wonder these drug dealers choose the postal service as their preferred drug delivery system. it's a massive loophole that's undermining the safety and security of our country. after september 11 and attacks on that day, 2001 collecting advanced electronic data was a national security priority. in 2002 congress wrote legislation that required

private carriers to collect this advanced electronic data and authorized and encouraged the postal service to do it, but left the implementation up to the postal service. that was 16 years ago. because of the 2002 law, private carriers like ups, fedex, dhl and others require usable data on every package entering the united states. while the postal service gets its data for less than 40% of the hundreds of millions of packages it receives every year. and again, the postal service data is sometimes not usable, and 20% of those packages targeted because of the data are never presented for law enforcement to be inspected. folks, this is just wrong. we can and we must do better. we talked earlier about the number of people dying from fentanyl overdoses, it's the new

scourge. we've got to do better. this is why i've introduceed the stop act. this bipartisan bill would require the postal service to get that data on all the packages entering the united states. the cosponsor is amy klobuchar of minnesota and we now have 29 senate cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. and the bipartisan house companion bill is cosponsored by, i believe, a majority now of the house of representatives. why? because this is just a commonsense solution that people understand has to be done. i urge all my senate colleagues to join us in doing what we can do to stop some of this poison from coming into america and to at least raise the price on the street of this synthetic heroin that is cheap and accessible. by holding the postal service, a federal agency to the same standard we have for the private mail carriers, we can give law enforcement the necessary tools

they're asking for to identify and stop these deadly poisons from reaching our communities. i understand this is just one part of the solution to deal with the opioid epidemic. trust me, i get that. i've been working on this for over 20 years and focused mostly on the prevention side and treatment and the recovery. and that's so important. we need to continue to do that because our states are gripped by these opioids and all of it is needed. there is clearly a need for a legislation -- legislative solution. the stop act is a clear opportunity and responsibility for congress to help turn the tide of addiction. i urge all my colleagues to join us in supporting the stop act and by doing so, saving lives. thank you, mr. president. i yield back. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum.

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

mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. cornyn: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i'd ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, as we all know, tonight the president will address the nation from the chamber of the house of representatives. this is called the state of the union and its tradition dates back to george washington's time when he gave his first annual message in 1790. tonight's is an important speech that gives the president a chance not only to look forward but to look back on the first

year of his term in office. that first year was marked by a steady stream of impressive accomplishments working together with congress. these successes are easily missed when the decibel level here in washington remains so high. the good news all too often gets drowned out by the noise. the truth, though, is that the president's policy decisions have been spot on, particularly when it comes to our nation's economy. first and foremost, last year he signed comprehensive tax reform into law. this was something we haven't been able to do since 1986. our reforms lowered rates across the board for every tax bracket, doubled the child tax credit, and incentivized u.s. businesses to create jobs here at home rather than overseas. and finally, it repealed the obamacare individual mandate,

making the affordable care act voluntary and not mandatory. all across the country we've seen the chain reaction as at least 263 businesses large and small have used the tax savings to increase workers' wages, expand their operations, and create jobs. according to one poll, small business' optimism is now at an 11-year high. the economy, thank goodness, continues to improve. a key economic indicator rose more than expected last month, but the momentum has been building over the last 12. the dow jones industrial average reached record highs. everyone with a 401(k) or a savings account, pension, or somebody who dabbles in the stock market has seen their value of their holdings go up by

about 25% in this last year. federal workers who invest in their thrift savings plan through these index funds have seen their retirement funds grow to huge, a huge amount. 25%, consistent with the stock market. president trump's economic policies have been joined by his administration's strong insistence on suspending or eliminating job-stifling regulations. don't get me wrong, regulations are necessary for public health, safety, and welfare, but they can go too far and stifle innovation and economic growth. and unfortunately, that's what has happened. he signed an executive order when he first came to office and has cut at least 17 rules and regulations for every new one that was created. i think his original goal was to cut two for every new one, but

actually he's done better than that. he's cut 16 for every new one that was created. and this has saved roughly $8.1 billion in compliance costs. we need to keep in mind here in washington that when we pass a law or when we pass a regulation, somebody has to hire somebody often to comply with that law, whether there's a change in the tax code and you have to hire an accountant to help you figure out how to comply with the law, or if you're a manufacturing facility, you want to make sure that osha and other federal agencies don't come in and fine you, so you hire people to help you comply with regulations and laws. those aren't necessarily people who help you become more productive. these are people that help you keep up with the rules here in washington. the savings of rolling back some of the unnecessary regulations has been pretty dramatic. we here in congress did our part

using the congressional review act to eliminate heavy-handed eliminations. president trump's policies have stimulated the economy in other ways too. they expanded energy infrastructure projects like the keystone pipeline and with the help of congress to open part of the national wildfire refuge for oil and gas exploration. this was set aside specifically for energy production years ago. but because of the logjam in congress, that natural resource was out of bounds because of congressional inaction. well, no more. i have flown over the wildfire refuge, and believe me, it is not someplace you would go on vacation. it is a pretty rough area. but because people think of it as a wildlife refuge, they think

it is a threat to the wildlife. just the opposite is true. we know the caribou population has sprung up in areas where they have oil pipelines because they use it as a nesting ground. it goes to show how little the bureaucrats here in washington who believe nothing they shouldn't regulate or overregulate can be wrong. meanwhile the president has been hard at work enforcing our immigration laws, something he was elected to do. he has added immigration judges and removed 46% more criminal gang members than in fiscal year 2016. when it comes to immigration here in the senate, we've been working together to find pa bipartisan solution for the -- find a bipartisan solution for the recipients of the deferred action for childhood arrivals, the so-called daca program. people will remember this is something president obama did

unilaterally, circumventing congress, and then the courts told him he couldn't do it, placing the future of 690,000 daca recipients in danger. president trump gave us a deadline and kicked it back to congress so that congress can come up with a solution. the president, hopefully, has laid out his priorities and now we have to come up with a consensus on how to move forward. we know that these young adults deserve future certainty, but also we don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past and we finally need to secure our borders and fix the flaws in our immigration laws that are exported by the human traffickers and coyotes. there has to be cemetery. we can -- symmetry. we can show the compassion that america has always shown and we

need to have the laws that our borders will be enforced. the president shares this dual aim. on sunday my friend and fellow texas sent a letter to president trump. now, you wouldn't ordinarily think that this man, lullac, and president trump would see eye to eye. he congratulated the president for setting a reasonable framework for border security. lullac said that as long as we stay within the president's parameters, the administration can support the eventual proposal because they are eager to make sure that these young people, some 690,000, have a positive future and the president has gone over and above that and said not only the people who signed up for deferred action for childhood arrivals, but those who were eligible and who did not sign up, can still participate in

this pathway that the president has prescribed forward for them as long as we do our job when it comes to border security, dealing with the diversity lottery visa, and dealing with chain migration. i think lullac's endorsement of these foreparameters is very -- four parameters is very encouraging. lullac has more than 425,000 members and it is heralded as one of the oldest civil rights organizations in america itself. and it believes that now is the time to move forward. that's something hopefully all of us will agree with. lulac believes that the president's framework will keep this on the proper track. he believes that president trump is bringing certainty to daca recipients and securing our

borders that previous presidents have been unable to do. let me say that again. what this means is that president trump is now on the brink of delivering to the american people certainty for the daca recipients, enforcement of our immigration laws, and securing our borders, something that previous presidents have been not able to accomplish. democrats remain at a standstill on the very issue they advocated for years though. and to my democratic clearings, i -- colleagues, i say the following, we're waiting to see your alternative that could become law. that is, the president has made a proposal and so you owe it to the american people, you certainly owe it to the daca recipients, what some people call the dreamers, you owe it to them to come up with an alternative. we can't negotiate with ourselves. we need a negotiating partner who will work with us in good faith who will work to a

solution and get a presidential signature. we're running out of time and we need to get this done. mr. president, one unsung story of president trump's first year has been the reshaping of the federal judiciary. he nominated 73 federal judges, including neil gorsuch, above all, who was confirmed to the united states supreme court last spring. we have helped him see that 12 appellate court judges have now assumed the robe and taken to the bench. this, of course, is the intermediate appellate court that, for all practical purposes, is the court of last resort since the supreme court of the united states only hears about 80 cases a year. they decide cases where the appellate courts disagree or where there is a dissent by one of the judges. it -- i'm particularly proud of

two of those appellate court judges, done willet and jim ho who served as my chief judiciary counsel who was a law clerk to clarence thomas and served as solicitor general of texas. i'm proud they serve on the fifth circuit court of appeals. last, but not least, the president has worked to increase defense spending and shown deft leadership in handling a broad array of threats. i think that is in part due to the incredible team he has surrounded himself, rex tillerson and james madison, secretary of defense. they are a strong and impressive team and they serve the president and nation well by giving the president the kind of advice he needs to keep our country safe and to maintain

america's leadership in world affairs. we know, for example, that under our military leader's strategy a, awth -- as authorized and enabled by the president himself, that isis, the terrorist organization, has lost most of its territory and many of its followers. this administration has also strengthened u.s. policy in iran which is the number one state sponsor of international terrorism. he's held syria accountable for crossing red lines when it violated international norms by using chemical weapons, something that the previous administration declined to do, and this administration has stood up to an increasingly belligerent north korea and used diplomacy to encourage china to use its clout as a bordering nation to north korea to

persuade the president of north korea from his goals. it's no surprise then that based on polling data that americans are substantially more satisfied with the nation's military strength, security from terrorism and the state of the economy than they were at the end of the previous administration. our president is only one year into his term, but he has already changed this country's political landscape. i share his goal of continuing to build a safer, stronger, and prouder america. the question then becomes how working together can we do that? during tonight's state of the union, there are a few specific topics i look forward to hearing about, shared priorities for the upcoming year. for example, rebuilding our nation's depleted infrastructure. i recently introduced a bill with my colleague -- our colleague, the senior senator from virginia, that would expand an infrastructure financing authority already in use by many

states and local governments. i come from a big state where we have a growing population and we need to continue to build our infrastructure there to keep commerce flowing and to keep our roads safe and to protect our environment. this legislation that i've introduced with my colleague from virginia would raise the statutory cap on something known as private activity bonds which assist at various types of transportation construction. and in the near future, i expect to introduce other infrastructure initiatives and look forward to working with my colleagues as well as this administration to see them signed into law. i'm also keen to hear the president's thoughts on issues related to public safety and law enforcement. i, myself, am a strong proponent of the second amendment, but i believe that treangdz like that -- tragedies like that which occurred at sutherland

springs that occurred by dangerous felons purchasing firearms, and it can be devastating to the families affected. that's why i have the bill the fix nics act, it is to make sure if you purchase a firearm, if you're a convicted felon or committed for mental illness or guilty of domestic violence you cannot legally buy a firearm in america. if the background system was not uploaded properly, as in this case the air force declined or i should say failed to provide the necessary information of the criminal background check system, somebody can lie and purchase firearms they can't otherwise legally purchase and that's why it is so important that we fix the national instant criminal background system. that is something that has broad

bipartisan support and i hope to see passed into law soon. i see my colleague from rhode island here who i have been working with on prison reform, another issue i hope the president touches on this evening. i believe he will. i believe that one of the most effective ways for us to legislate is to let the states be the laboratories of democracy and in this case many of our states have been laboratories of democracy when it comes to reforming our criminal justice system and specifically our prison system. i know for a long time people had this idea we're going to lock folks up and throw away the key, but the reality is people who go to prison usual get out of prison and the question is are they going to be better prepared when they get out and hopefully avoid reincarceration and hopefully become productive members of society or are they going to beware housed and -- be

warehoused and end up back in prison again? we've had enormous success in texas and other states about incentivizing low and medium risked offenders to have them deal with their drug or alcohol problem or to learn a skill they can earn a living with when they get out of prison or get a g.e.d., they have been very successful in decreasing the crime rate and, along the way, saving the taxpayer money because they don't have to build another prison to warehouse the people. we can extend an olive branch and a helping hand to those who will take advantage of it to turn their lives around and become productive members of society. i'm looking forward to the president talking about that. i know that the president will be talking about that and other

important issues like immigration, he'll be talking from the heart tonight, and we should listen to his words carefully. whether we voted for this president or not, he is the duly elected president of the united states and we, i believe, are obligated, those of us in congress, to work with him to make things better for the people we represent. once he concludes his remarks tonight, then the ball is in our court to follow up on his calls to action, and i hope we will. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask that i be allowed to speak for several minutes and then turn the floor to the distinguished senator from connecticut, senator blumenthal, and that thereafter we may be permitted to engage in a brief colloquy. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, senator blumenthal and i have

come to the floor with a shared concern that the raiding parties are circling the mueller investigation and preparing for an attack on that investigation. we see this with collateral attacks on individual members of law enforcement. we see this with efforts to discredit the f.b.i. and the department of justice in general. we have seen it even with presidential tweets seeking to discredit folks who might be witnesses before a grand jury, which would with the right state of mind actually amount to obstruction of justice itself. the first thing i want to say is that the senate is entitled to a full and truthful explanation of why deputy director mccabe of

the f.b.i. left. we do not know the reason behind his sudden, abrupt departure, but we do know that sally yates was fired. we do know that jim comey was fired. we do know that bob mueller was only not fired because white house counsel threw himself in front of that decision by president trump and said, if you do that, i'm out. so firings at the top of our department of justice are becoming an unpleasantly increasing thing and they tend to relate to matters where investigations touch on the white house -- salary yates and the flynn -- sally yates and the flynn objection, jim comey and the obstruction of justice/conclusion investigation, and of course bob mueller leading that investigation. so i think we're entitled to answers, and i call for a full

and truthful explanation. the second thing that's going on is the more general attack on the f.b.i., the latest episode of which is this so-called nunes memo, which has been described by the democratic house members who have seen that memo and seen the underlying documents, out of which it was selectively cherry-picked, as profoundly misleading that ileading -- mist it had the political purpose of spreading a false narrative. this is like the information operations that the kremlin used to run against the free world, if they have a political purpose of spreading a false narrative. and they said also it has the purpose of undermining legitimate investigations. guess which legitimate investigations they mean. this business of selectively

cherry-picking things out of classified information to spread a false narrative has a very unpleasant echo for me, because this was what the bush administration was up to when it was trying to defend the torture program. they selectively declassified, for instance, that abu zabeda had been the subject of what they called their enhanced interrogation techniques program and that he had produced important, actionable intelligence. but they did not declassify all the actionable intelligence that he gave them had been provided before they started on the torture texas and that once the -- texas and that once -- texas understand that once the pros from dover came down, he claimed -- he clammed up. that was the last actionable intelligence we got out of him. so deliberately misleading by

selectively declassifying is an established technique and it's one that is both shady and dangerous. the process by which this so-called nunes report or memo came out smells. it is the first ever innovation of an obscure house rule allowing for the selective declassification of material. it happened on a purely partisan vote. trump's own appointees to the department of justice called efforts to release the memo, and i quote them, extraordinarily wreckless. and yet on a purely partisan vote using this previously never used rule, they're putting this selectively cherry-picked, false narrative out into the public debate. why are they steaming ahead with a report that the ranking member over there, adam schiff, says,

quote, contains significant errors of fact, mis-characterizations and omits critical context and detail? and at the same time they're pulling one more procedural stunt, which is to stall for at least a week a democratic report that would rebut and expose the misleading character of the republicans' document -- the republican's document. the only purpose this is is to take the false narrative and give it a head start of a week so that the poison gets out into our information system. and, sure enough, they are pounding away at getting that information out. fox news is already whipping it up talking about how it is going to be an had a bombshell and explosive. the house freedom caucus has got trump revved up, urging him to support its release against the advice of his own law enforcement and national security officials. over at breitbart and fox news

and throughout the right-wing echo chamber, #releasethemomentmow became the rallying cry. it was the rallying cry of our friends the russians. #releasethememo remains the most used hashtag associated with russian influence operations. even the president's son don jr. got involved in the game tweeting out that democrats and deep state government officials -- i guess by that he means the trump appointees who said releasing this report would be extraordinarily reckless -- are behind some mischief and, therefore -- all caps -- #releasethememo. when you see bizarre and peculiar and unprecedented procedures, when you see that it's entirely partisan and against the advice of our

national security officials, it is hard to draw a good conclusion about what the heck is going on. with that, i yield to my distinguished colleague from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. we are here at an historic moment. the president of the united states will come before us for his first state of the union tonight, at a time when there is a credible case of obstruction of justice against him and an overwhelming case to show that the campaign that elected him was aided and abetted by the russians. but the immediate threat is even more dire. yesterday was a new low for the house intelligence committee. the house republicans, in an act

of partisan gutter politics, voted to release a four-page misleading and deceptive characterization of warrants submitted to the foreign intelligence surveillance court. this partisan gutter politics brings us to a dark day of character assassination, much like the mccarthy days, when members of this chamber were counted in history as to whether they stood up and spoke out against this kind of smear campaign. not only i is there character s.a.s. nation at work here -- character assassination at work here, but also equally dangerous to our democracy the potential compromising of sources and

methods vital to our national intelligence and our national security, and that is the reason that president trump's own appointee at the department of justice, steven boyd, stated that the release of this memo would be, quote, extraordinarily reckless, end quote. those words come from a former staffer for a republican congresswoman and then-senator jeff sessions, hardly a democratic partisan. extraordinarily reckless. why? because this memo -- four pages long, summarizing a warrant that typically is tens or hundreds of pages -- will reveal sources and methods that are vital to the

continued operation of our investigation community. -- our intelligence community. my colleague, senator whitehouse, has very powerfully and eloquently stated why this development is so threatening and so deeply troubling. but my republican colleagues are apparently averse to listening to this kind of reasonable and sensible need for caution. they are about to ask the president to defy his own department of justice and disclose this memo. now, let's be very clear. i am one of the leading advocates in this body for transparency and disclosure. in fact, i believe strongly that all of the transcripts of interviews before the judiciary committee on the obstruction of justice investigation should be

disclosed, and all of those witnesses should be called before us in open hearings under tenth tell their stories -- under oath to tell their stories so the american public can understand what happened. and i am in favor of challenges to warrants in the fisa court, the foreign intelligence surveillance court, that may be defective or fallible. in fact, i was the leading advocate and drafter of a provision in the law now that provides for challenges to those warrants. it does so within the bounds of confidentiality that are necessary to protect our secrets and our national security. and what the house intelligence committee and potentially the president of the united states are about to do is essentially defy the law and end run it so

as to avoid the need for secrecy and confidentiality when it comes to intelligence-gathering vital to our national security. there is a procedure for challenging warrants when they are fallible. the house republicans are refusing to follow it, and they are also refusing to provide any rebuttal to the distortions and mis-characterizations in that four-page memo. here is the reality. the united states was interested in carter page, who was viewed by the f.b.i. as a russian agent well before the 2016 presidential campaign. in fact, their interest dates back to 2013, well before the stalkoes yea, well before the

election -- dossier, well before the election when russian operatives sought to recruit him as a spy. i'm going to repeat it. the f.b.i. thought carter page, who became a trump campaign official, was an agent of the russian government. that's a stark public truth. that in and of itself would have been enough to obtain a fisa warrant to surveil him. remember, he doesn't have to be convicted. he doesn't have to be proven a spy beyond a reasonable doubt. it is the probable cause standard and sufficient suspicion that he's a russian spy that provides the opportunity legally and indeed the obligation to do surveillance. and we know also that european and other intelligence agencies,

including from the u.k., netherlands, germany, france, poland, estonia, and australia, all discovered interactions between trump's inner circle and russian intelligence beginning in 2015. in fact, the australian government told the f.b.i. that george papadopoulos bragged to an australian diplomat that russia had political dirt, end quote, on hillary clinton while he was working. for the trump campaign. and we know also that the dutch government informed the f.b.i. of russian interference in the 2016 presidential election through hacking and we know that carter page openly traveled to moscow to give a pro-russian speech, and we know he met with russian officials just as the kremlin was working to under

mine the 2016 election. the purpose of releasing this memo is to create, very simply, a false narrative, a distraction, a red herring. call it whatever you wish. it's purpose is to discredit and degrade the federal bureau of investigation and the department of justice, law enforcement agencies that deserve the american people's support no matter who they are investigating as long as they are doing it objectively and dispassionately as they are doing here. republicans conveniently ignore the facts, not only the facts that i have just recounted, the facts that are declassified, but

also facts that they know well, the facts that may be continued to be classified. a four-page memo cannot, simply cannot, accurately summarize what is typically a foist warrant application without cherry picking facts to suit the republican author's message. i want to para phrase one of our former colleagues here, my friend and mentor, senator patrick moynihan, everybody is entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. the american people should not be selectively presented with facts and deceived by a memo that amounts to character assassination, a memo that endangers our national security,

compromises the sources and methods of our intelligence community and has only the purpose of degrading and discrediting the f.b.i. and our department of justice as they engage in a valid, necessary investigation through the special counsel of russian collusion in the last campaign, with the campaign itself, electing donald trump and potential obstruction of justice afterwards. the hypocrisy and silence of many of my republican colleagues in both houses is deeply disappointing. now is the time for people of conscience ton stand up and -- to stand up and speak out in favor of the rule of law and know that the fate and future of

our democracy depends on it. there will be a -- in these halls, but what matters now is defending our democracy. i am grateful to my distinguished colleague for calling attention to the continued russian meddling in our democracy, hashtag release the memo which was tweeted 200,000 % and became the leading hashtag on twitter was spread by accounts associated with the russian government or agents. house republicans are playing right into the hands of the russians. the president of the united states defying the law declined to impose sanctions even after the overwhelming number of our

colleagues here, 98-2, voted in favor of those sanctions. why is it that donald trump is so much enthralled of vladimir putin and russia? perhaps it is because the last campaign, but they are continuing with their interference in meddling and they will do it again in 2018, the c.i.a. director mike pompeo said today that they will do it again, and indeed they will, unless they are made to pay a price. the absence of sanctions speaks louder than my words. mr. president, it's time for us to stand up and speak out and i thank my colleague from the state of rhode island for being here today to join me. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, not only to follow the words of my distinguished colleague from connecticut, not only are house

republicans, to use his phrase, playing into the hands of the russians, they are actually playing by the playbook of the russians. if you understand the russian information warfare that the doctrine, the way in which russians and before them soviets, for years tried to poison the factual environment around them and then you put that up against this scheme where you start with the selective release of classified material that the public can't get behind because the rest is classified, the false narrative that the ranking member has pointed out that creates, the partisan and peculiar process for getting there, the ignoring of warnings from their own national security officials about how bad this is, the convenient whipping up of all of this in far right media at the same time, the implication of that by russian bots and other

sources and the fact that this is all pointed, not coincidentally, at the agency and officials who are engained in investigating -- engaged in investigating the trump white house and the trump campaign, it's so appallingly obvious that what the game is that is being played here and it is stunning to me to follow on what senator blumenthal said that we heard nothing -- at least i heard nothing, perhaps the senator from connecticut can illuminate further, but i heard nothing from our director of national intelligence, i've heard nothing from our c.i.a. director, director pompeo, for how long has it been since the very foundation of the foist court in the -- fisa court in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. it has been an essential defense of our intelligence community

that they don't want release of the fisa court records. and now we have a partisan release that touches back to fisa applications that the department of justice has said is reckless, and where are they? what is -- it's kind of astonishing that the custodians of those secrets appear to have absolutely no concern about this partisan and peculiar selective release of classified information. and i'll echo another point that senator blumenthal made. this just happens to be happening at a time when the sanctions that we voted on by massive bipartisan majorities. i could stack the votes together in the house and senate it was something like 515-5, it was an

enormous bipartisan vote to sanction the russians for what they have been doing, and that just went live. the president could impose those sanctions now and yet he's not. s not. what's the explanation -- he's not. he's not. what is the explanation. the only thing that this president seems to be incapable of being tough on are the russians. it is a very unpleasant set of coincidences. here we are with the republican leadership in the house and the republican leadership in the senate and virtually every law enforcement and national security official who has come before us saying, hey, yeah, they did attack our last election in 2016 and they will attack our next election in 2018. we're warned that a foreign intelligence -- a hostile foreign power is going to attack our 2018 election. where is the legislation to

defend against that? where is the markup of the legislation? where is the effort to do what needs to be done to defend our democracy? here we're just a few months out from the election now. we're nine months out. i've got the math right? nine months between here and there. nothing. why is it that whenever the russians come up, it seems that the republican party has to go into complete -- just roll right over. i offer those thoughts to the distinguished senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: and i want to very quickly and simply emphasize a couple of those very important points and maybe the overriding one is the need for action. the presiding officer has demonstrated repeatedly his convictions and conscience and i

want to say how much i have admired much of what he has done during his senate career and my hope is that others in this body will step forward and say enough is enough. the fisa court, foreign intelligence surveillance court, is a carefully crafted bipartisan institution meant to protect our country against foreign threats that would destroy our democracy. the very kind of threats that russia has mounted repeatedly against us. its function is balanced by a concern about civil rights and civil liberty which is why it is a court that must approve warrants for surveillance and searches and its secrecy goes to

the core of what it does so that the agents and operatives and informant who are the sources of intelligence are protected of the house intelligence committee is about to trash that carefully crafted structure. they are about to release a memo that says, in effect, that court, that carefully crafted balance as a result of bipartisan work over many years involving many in this chamber, means nothing. we'll use it for the most gross partisan purposes. partisan gutter publics and character assassination, a reminder of the darkest days of the mccartedy era -- mccarthy

era where similarly there was a contempt for basic fairness which persisted until senator mccarthy was asked, have you no sense of decency here at that moment now? but it is a moment that is dark for all of us in this democracy. it is a moment that should elicit our strongest impulses for decency and democracy. we know that the special counsel is proceeding with his investigation. we know that there is a need to protect that special counsel against firing and political interference. we know there's a need for legislation that is bipartisan

and the need is now. this use of most gross partisan politics and tactics is proof positive there is a need for this legislation. and my hope against hope is that the president will, in fact, impose sanctions, that there will be a bipartisan outcry against this defiance of a 517-5 vote in this -- and in this body a 98-2 vote that there should be sanctions when there is this defiance of our interest by the russian government, and rather than simply listing oligarchs

from a forbes magazine account that there be real action and accountability, certainly the president has avoided the finding of significant transactions that is his duty under the law. we need people of conscience and convictions now to step forward at this historic moment in speeches going forward i hope that, again, the senator from rhode island, my friend and a leader in this body can come to the floor and talk further about this issue, but for now my hope is that the president will heed the advice he's received from his department of justice, but it's not really his, it is the nation's department of justice. his appointee who has said that

release of in memo would be extraordinarily reckless. it would be reckless, reprehensible, and irresponsible in the defiance of th the president's duty to uphold the constitution and the rule of law. thank you, p mr. president, and i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further procedures under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that at 5:00 p.m. on monday, february 5, the senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the following nomination, executive calendar 570, i ask consent that there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form. the senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate. that if confidence shall the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, the president be

immediately notified of the senate's, a no further motions be in order and any statements relating to the nomination be printed in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the following nomination, executive calendar 297. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of health and human services, matthew bassett of tennessee to be an assistant secretary. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that the senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate, if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, the president be immediately notified of the senate's, a that no further motions be in order, and that any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the question is on the nomination. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no.

the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 649 through 660, and all nominations placed on the secretary's desk and the nominations be confirmed, 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, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the chair lay before the senate the message to accompany s. 534. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the following message from the house. the clerk: s. 534 entitled an act to prevent the sexual abuse of minors and amateur athletes by requiring the prompt reportings of sexual abuse to

law enforcement authorities and for other purse to be pass with an amendment of. mr. mcconnell: i move to concur in the house amendment and no of no further debate on the motion. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, the question is on the motion to concur. all in favor say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection so ordered. mr. mcconnell, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 4708 which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 4708 an act to enact the homeland security act of 2002 and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate

will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not the question occurs on the message. all in favor say aye. those opposed no. the ayes appear to have it, do have it. the bill is passed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 389 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 389 commemorating the commissioning of the u.s.s. omaha. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the plan be agreed to -- preamble be agreed to and the motions to consider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to immediate consideration of s. res. 390 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 390 raising awareness and encouraging the prevention of stalking by designating january 2018 as national stalking awareness month. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate recess until 8:25 tonight and upon reconvening proceed as a body to the hall of the house of representatives for the joint session of congress provided under the provisions of h. con. res. 101, that upon dissolution of the joint session, the senate adjourn to then convene for a pro forma session only with no

business being conducted on friday, february 2, at 11:00 a.m. and that following the pro forma session, the senate adjourn til monday, february 5 at 3:00 p.m. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. finally, following leader remarks the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate the previous order, the senate >> today the senate confirmed david strauss to be a judge on

the eighth circuit court. and tonight about 8:30 p.m. eastern members will gather in the chamber and walk over to the house for the president state of the union address. tomorrow republican senators will join house republicans for a policy retreat for the rest of the week in west virginia. ahead of the state of union speech white house press secretary sarah sanders listed against the president invited to attend. >> but i do want to make an announcement about one of the most important traditions, the guests to be sitting in the first ladies box. i will never a few of those individuals in a little bit about them. first corey adams, a skilled welder and style manufacture solutions and dayton ohio. last you corey and his wife are able to become first-time homeowners and he will invest the extra money from the trunk tax cut into their two daughters education savings. elizabeth alvarado, robert, evelyn rodriguez and freddie, these two couples are the

parents of two beautiful young girls who were brutally murdered by ms-13 gang members. corporal matthew bradford, in 2007 corporal bradford stepped on an ied while deployed in iraq. he was blinded by the blast and lost both his legs. after multiple surgeries and therapy became the first line double and achieve to reenlist in the marines. john, founded a cajun navy in 2016, a nonprofit rescue recovery organization that responded in 2016 to flooding in south louisiana and in 2017 hurricane harvey in texas. he interesting that helped thousands of people across the south. david, a fire technician who save 62 children and staff members from a raging wildfire that circled their camp in southern california. officer ryan, served as a police officer in albuquerque, new

mexico. in a secure is on the he has been shot twice and expense herbal near-death encounters. he and his wife adopted a a bay from parents who suffered opioid addiction raking down walls between drug addicts and police officers to help save lives. ashley leopard. she rescued dozens of americans during last years devastating hurricane season. agent seeking martinez is a special agent for ice homeland security investigations unit. his investigations have led to more than 100 arrests of ms-13 gang members who prosecuted for crimes including homicide, assault and narcotics and weapons trafficking. staff sergeant justin peck. last year staff sergeant that was part of a team clearing ieds from territory privacy controlled by isis. when one of his compatriots was struck by a blast he rushed to the site saving the life while

risking his own. preston sharp, mr. sharp is organized the placement of more than 40,000 american flags and red carnations on soldiers craze is part of his goal to honor veterans in all 50 states and to challenge others to join the flag and flour challenge. steve stop and cindy kept winter. the siblings started stop manufacturing solutions were years ago. thanks to the trump bump and the economy able to grow to new heights in 2017 thanks to the trunk tax cuts they were able to get all of their employees larger christmas bonuses. some of these individuals stories are rock, some are patriotic, others are tragic. but all of them represent the unbreakable american spirit and will inspire our nation to continue growing stronger, prouder and more prosperous. >> the president of united states. [applause] >> tonight president donald

trump gives his first date of the new address to congress and the nation. join us on c-span for a preview of the evening starting at 8 p.m. eastern. then the state of the union speech live at 9 p.m. following the speech the democratic response from congressman joe kennedy. will also hear your reaction and, to members of congress. president trump's state of the union address the nightlife on c-span. listen live on the free c-span radio app and available live or on-demand on your desktop, photo tablet at c-span.org. on the senate floor today senate majority leader mcconnell previewed the state of the union address. his remarks are followed by senate minority leader schumer who also previewed the state of the union address and call for bipartisanship from the president. >> mr. president, this evening h president trump would deliver his first date of being a