he has been a close putin ally for decades. he is transparent about how his wealth was deployed as a tool for the kremlin stating, if the state says we need to give it up, we'll give it up. i don't separate myself from the state. i have no other interests. he served as the benefactor for a variety of political activities that advanced kremlin interests. according to "the wall street journal," this financial backing included paying paul manafort who later became trump's campaign manager a $10 million a year -- $10 million, rather, to advance kremlin interest in ukraine, georgia, and montenegro. investigations from nbc news, "the new york times" found that he fronted manafort an estimated $60 million for other business ventures and loans, moving the funds through shell companies in cypress and the cayman islands. a second way these influence

activities can be deployed is through a russian majority-owned banks. these banks do not function like the ones we deal with every day. in fact these banks often don't care about making profits at all. they use it as a weapon of influence. an example is a bank commonly known as d.e.p. the u.s. treasury department described v.e.b. as a payment agent for the russian government. this bank is essentially controlled by putin's inner circle as the prime minister sits on the advisory board. it was deemed a precision-guided diplomatic weapon. as much, -- as such, it has taken on a range of projects

with a common goal, which is to advance the kremlin interest. they attempted to shore up the troubled ukranian steel issue, whose financial interests were hurt by u. and e.u. sanctions. v.e.b. is under sanctions for its role. v.e.b. garnered headlines because it was used to cover a spying ring which efforts to recruit people such as kara paige. according to the department of justice, conversations recorded between these russian spies revealed they had used financial influence. the v.e.b. chairman, a close putin ally, met with jared kushner in 2016 as v.e.b.

remained under sanctions. while the trump administration said it was under kushner's role as an incoming employee. they bail out oligarchs and being used as cover for spies. these activities don't match with those of a, quote, normal bank. another tool of russian financial influence is offshore banking centers or tax havens which refers to financial institutions which is different than where the depositor lives. this is usually done for the legal advantages the location provides including secrecy and little or no taxation. the russians have used to this facilitate and move money out of russia. then it can be relabeled as foreign and then can move back

to russia or to a third destination with the origin and ownership of the funds obscured. the panama papers, a leak of over 11 million files in one of the world's largest offshore law firms show that between 2007 and 2013 nearly $2 billion was funneled through offshore accounts to those in putin's inner circles. it includes the bahamas, the british virgin islands, switzerland and bermuda. peter paarosiv said this often makes cameos when they are exposed in the international press. after the united states and the european union issued sanctions against russian for its aggression in c.e.o. mia.

there was and haven for the oligarchs to keep their money safe from sanctions and served as a launching point for the money to be used for -- to further malign activities. often the kremlin utilize offshore tax havens and shell companies together. shell companies are legal entities that have no physical assets or operations and may be used to hold property rights or financial assets. russia has exploited these shell companies as a tool to obscure true ownership, fund shady deals, launder ill-gotten gains and further the cycle of corruption. one of them, commonly referred to as the laundromat, moved an estimated $20 billion out of russia to eastern europe and then to banks around the world. the russian journalist who

uncovered the scheme found that beneficiaries were russian business executives and were worth the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars. it was law and -- laundered through shell companies. while it is easy to dismiss this as a problem that occurs in other countries rather than our own, kremlin and kremlin-linked actors are exploiting our own laws in the united states to deploy the tools of financial influence. they are taking advantage of laws that do not require disclosure or who really owns the company or who is really funding these entities. they are taking advantage of the secrecy permitted in our system to continue their corrupt practices and intertwine their money into our systems. as the acting deputy secretary testified at a recent banking committee, the persuasive use of front companies, shell companies, nominees and other

means to conceal the ownership of assets is one of the great loopholes in the anti-money laundering machine of the united states. similarly, 2015, the treasury department's national money landering risk assessment estimates that $300 billion is generated annually and cites shell companies as a means to move the funds into our domestic banking system. the global, interconnected nature of our financial system has been manipulated by the krem- -- kremlin-linked actors. in one prime example, deutsche bank was revealed to help russian clients to illegally lander $10 billion between 2011 and 2015 where the money was

turned into dollars. it would begin the moscow bank buying rubles, shortly after, sometimes on the same day, a related party would sell the same russian stock in the same quantity through the deutsche lending office but in dollars. the u.s. state department of financial services found that the parties doing the buying and selling were closely related on both sides, such as through common ownership and no one demonstrated any legitimate economic rationale. the u.s. state department of financial services concluded by trading this with no discernible purpose, it was a scheme for bad actors to achieve improper ends while evading compliance with applicable law. deutsche bank paid fines to new york state and an additional

$200 billion to u.s. regulators for the scheme. this is just the tip of the iceberg. kremlin-linked actors have often used real estate. often the purchase of real estate is done through an intermediary which obscures the true ownership of the property and hides the origin of the funds. these purchases are often all-cash deals which are particularly problematic to trace and it removes a crucial layer of oversight, indeed, the financial crimes enforcement network called out all cash real estate deals in august of 2017 as an area of particular concern due to its lack of anti-money landering protections. one recent example as a means to lander funds is a case of the russian prevason, it is owned by

the son of the former russian transportation minister. he was charged by the justice department in connection of landering the proceeds of a fraud scheme, including buying real estate in manhattan with some of the profits from the scheme. ascribed, these tactics of financial influence, part of the kremlin's arsenal, have a corrupting and destabilizing effect on the democracies. beyond this, the ill-gotten gains continue to serve to concentrate putin's hold on power and fund other warfare operations. profits gained have underwritten a following of malign activities. raising private militias to fight in the ewe ukraine and syria, assisting russian military intelligence with

conducting intelligence operations and other specialized technology and training against the united states in the 2016 election, funding troll operations that manipulate social media platforms in operations that operate against us and our allies. paying for construction costs between crimea and the russian mainland which will help them to solidify crimea. the common link is secrecy. putin and his system thrive on secrecy and on hybrid operations that hide the lines of corruption and between conflict and cooperation. we need to take a serious look at how our government is organized to counter kremlin hybrid operations in their totally. one thing is for certain, we need to reduce secrecy in our banking system which leads us more you'll vulnerable to the

kremlin-linked actors. we are getting a reputation around the world as a place to go if you want to hide money. this is contrary to american values and the traditional role of the united states as the enforcer of international norms. starting in may of this year, many financial institutions will have to collect and verify the identity of the beneficial owners of the companies at the time of an account opening as a result of treasury's customer due diligence rule, and this is a step forward. while it is a start, we need to go further and peers the -- pierce the veil of secrecy. we heard testimony in the banking committee on ways to disclose requirements, including disclosure of all beneficial owners. i applaud those who have already been thinking about this issue. this includes recommendations put out by the center for american progress that call for

concrete reform, including curbing abuses of shell companies, increasing the budget and amending portions of the act in a way that would provide greater transparency and regulation regarding the sale of real estate. there are legislative fixes that i -- that have been proposed in the senate. i appreciate what my colleagues, senators whitehouse, feinstein, and grassley have introduced legislation, the true incorporation transparency for law enforcement act. i recognize senators wyden and rubio. i know similar efforts have been made in the house of representatives. i tend to take a close look at these legislative proposals, but the key, in my opinion, is making sure that we're able to trace these shell companies back to who is specifically benefiting and directing them. that is, any serious effort to determine ownership must only stop when a specific individual

or individuals have been identified. too often we take one step and find another shell company and stop right there. that doesn't lead us anywhere. we have to find the individuals who are benefiting from and directing these activities. the use of these shell companies, as i've said repeatedly throughout my comments, have a real affect on our national security. as a special indictment against the control factory shows close putin ally was funding an organization conducting what is called information warfare against the united states. he was using 14 affiliated shell companies to fund this operation as a way to hide a true source of funds without the full investigatory power and subpoena power of the special counsel's office, we would not have uncovered the true ownership

behind this operation. the kremlin designs it that way and we can't keep letting them getting away with this type of opaque exploitation of our system. part and parcel of exposing beneficial ownership would be to stand up an interagency task force to follow the flow of illicit russian money into the united states. this task force should leverage the intelligence community, the state department, and other relevant government agencies to take a comprehensive approach to uncovering where the money is going and how these ill-gotten gains are being spent. remaining passive, waiting for something to pop up in the media, sitting back and waiting is not going to deter, disrupt, and finally defeat these deliberate russian incursions in an attempt to undermine our basic institutions. i will continue to work with my colleagues, the banking

committee, and the senate select committee on intelligence and others to insure that our national security apparatus has the -- we need to fully resource and to direct a comprehensive approach, as i suggest perhaps through thin cent, to detect, disrupt, and prevent this russian interference. we need to put the appropriate resources against this threat. the heart of our democracy, our election process was attacked by the russians. as we learned yesterday from admiral roberts from cyber command as we speak today and we can expect it to increase in the 2018 election cycle if we remain passive, indeed paralyzed as we are today. we have to recognize that this money that is being generated by

these maligned financial activities is being used not only to enrich putin and his cronies, it's being used to attack the united states very effectively. putin has exploited our own laws that favor financial secrecy and use clandestine tactics to his advantage at a relatively inexpensive cost increasing, for example, resources to fin sein and devoting necessary resources of tracing shell companies back to the people responsible would be a small fraction of what it would cost and what it does cost to use conventional forces to deter russian aggression. deploying a combat team to the baltics is more expensive, i would suspect, than setting up a team of experts here in washington that will go after this funding stream.

and without the money, they can't conduct the operations. mr. president, we often hear the expression follow the money as a way to identify the cause of the problem, and that the true here also. today we know that our democracy and many others are under attack by the government of russia. responding to this reality will require comprehensive strategy to counter russian asymmetric tactics. or as i laid out, an immediate step we can take is a concerted effort to bring greater transparency to our financial system. and if we fail to do so, we will continue to have that very secrecy used against our national security interests and the interests of our allies. now is the time to act. we are being attacked. and to sit back and absorb the punches will lead only to defeat, not to final victory over our adversaries. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor.

the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, executive office of the president, russell vought of virginia to be deputy director of the office of management and budget.

mr. kennedy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: are we in a quorum call, mr. president? the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, it is, it's very hard, as you know, to become an icon in television news.

station owners change. demographics change, and on-air personalities change. the guiness book of world records tracks the longest serving newscaster. the current one is a broadcasting legend named don alhart delivering the news in rochester, new york, for 51 years. i'm happy for mr. alhart, but sally ann roberts could have taken that title from him had she not decided it was time to pass the baton. after 41 years at wwl channel 4 tv in the great city of new

orleans, sally ann roberts is embarking on a new chapter in her life. she is retiring today. if anybody is worthy of icon status, it's sally ann. and she's absolutely humble about it. if you talk to her about her career, she'll probably turn the conversation around to you. if you insist on talking about her career, she'll always give credit to her parents for instilling such a strong work ethic and love for her husband and children. ms. roberts came to wwl tv from laurel, mississippi. she was working as the weekend anchor in that small, wonderful town in mississippi. she didn't even work every weekend. she worked every other weekend.

talent, though, does not stay hidden in america. a wwl tv journalist by the name of angela hill, an icon in her own right, stopped near laurel for the night. she turned on the television, saw sally ann, and immediately told her news director to hire sally ann. angela recognized intelligence and talent when she saw it. and very shortly thereafter ms. sally ann roberts had the city hall beat in new orleans. and the rest, they say, is history. for the part -- past 26 years sy ann has anchored the morning show on wwl tv channel 4 in new orleans. she was and is as much a part of the morning routine in new

orleans as eggs and beneigts. party reason people feel so -- part of the reason people feel comfortable with her is because of her personality. during cooking segments she has been known to take bites of the crispiest bacon. during stories about neglected children, stories that would break anyone's heart, she would often tell us that she was shedding light on the need for foster parents, always trying to be positive. mr. president, you probably know ms. sally ann roberts' little sister. her name happens to be ms. robin roberts. robin is an anchor on "good morning america." a few years ago robin was diagnosed with a very rare blood disorder, a bone marrow transplant saved robin roberts'

life. sally ann roberts provided that lifesaving bone marrow. here's a typical story about sally ann. she went through the bone marrow collection process on a tuesday and a wednesday. by thursday she was dressed to the nines and doing a national interview to emphasize how quick the recovery time is. she wanted to educate america about bone marrow donation. let me say it again, mr. president. sally ann roberts is an icon, and i don't use that word lightly. if she had wanted, she'd probably be anchoring the evening news before a national audience, but she loved and still loves new orleans. and that's where she chose to remain. she's had an extraordinary career as a broadcast

journalist. i know she's excited about what comes next. i suspect she'll spend some time with her grandchildren. i suspect she'll continue writing books and also driving home the importance of bone marrow donation. sally ann, i know won't just put her feet up and sit. audience members like me, mr. president, are just grateful that she devoted such a lengthy chapter of her life to louisiana and to our great city of new orleans. god bless you, sally ann roberts. thank you for giving so much to our community and to our state. mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. barrasso: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you very much. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i have been coming to the floor to talk about the many ways that the tax relief law has helped people all across america. last week, there were even more examples. one thing we saw was the economic report of the president came out last wednesday. this is a report from the top economist at the white house, and according to the report, the tax relief law that we have passed, signed into law, is

going to raise the average wages for working families across this country by over $4,000 over the long run. now, that's a huge raise. this report said that more than four million workers are also getting one-time cash bonuses and other benefits. mr. president, these one-time cash bonuses mean a great deal to american families. it says that so far, over $2 billion in cash bonuses have been given, and today in wyoming, we hear another great report that taco john's, an establishment that when i was in the wyoming legislature i frequently went to to eat lunch, as did so many members of the wyoming legislature, they are providing bonuses for employees. so once again, another case in point, and the reason they say they're doing it is the tax

relief tax cut benefits. that people all across the country are receiving as a result of the tax law that we passed. so if you remember, mr. president, a lot of democrats predicted gloom and doom if we were to pass this piece of legislation. nancy pelosi actually said it was armageddon. she said it was the end of the world. well, with all of these workers getting bigger paychecks and more take-home pay, democrats have now started to panic. nancy pelosi went out and said that all of the benefits people are getting, she said, under the tax law are crumbs. that's what she said, mr. president, the benefits are crumbs. that's what she called it, but that's not what people across the state of wyoming are calling it. mr. president, i got a note the other day from a man who said he heard all the rhetoric from nancy pelosi and the democrats. he said here is what the crumbs, he said, mean to a fellow working man, person working in

casper, wyoming. he said the first thing he noticed was that his take-home pay was higher in his latest paycheck. he figures that the tax cut works out to about a 2% raise for him. he and his wife decided to put that money straight into his retirement savings plan and invest it. now, he figures that over time, as those investments grow, it could add up to an extra $97,000 by the time he's ready to retire. he said a few crumbs over time really make a difference. he went on to say there was a second part of his story about what the republican tax relief means for him and his family, and that's because of the bonus. because of the tax cuts, his employer gave him a bonus of $1,500. he said i plan to enjoy the summer just a little bit more with this surprise income. he said the tax cut he is investing in his retirement and the bonus he is investing he said in creating additional memories with his family today.

he said that means they will take an extra camping trip to yellowstone this summer, enjoy a few more cookouts with the family and friends, savor the memories that this tax reform is providing. that's what it means for people across the country. memories, family activities, vacation, better retirement, all of those things pause of the tax law and the tax relief that was passed by the -- for the american people. they're going to do things that they just like doing, everything from going on vacation to going out for ice cream. tax reform has been very good for people in casper, wyoming. it's good for his family. he writes to tell me about it. it's good for the local businesses that he will be supporting, where he will be spending his money, traveling around the state, going on vacation. camping trips, cookouts, memories. mr. president, they are not crumbs. i don't know why democrats who voted against the tax cuts even came to washington in the first place. i do know that republicans came here with a purpose, a purpose to give families more opportunities to invest in their futures like this man is doing.

mr. president, there was another new survey that came out last week, and they talked about -- they talked with heads of companies all across america, and they talked about the confidence index, the confidence index that we're seeing nationwide. it's because of the tax relief law. the survey found that 89% of these business leaders are confident in the u.s. economy's prospects this year. 89%. it's an all-time high. 2016, the last year of the obama administration, 2017, 2018. that's the kind of confidence. an enormous jump from the 39% that business leaders were feeling in terms of confidence back in 2016. it's even bigger than last year when 80% said they were confident. well, the reason for the jump is simple. when you look at what's changed since 2016, there were a couple very big things. first is the way that republicans have been cutting back on washington's burdensome,

punishing, destructive regulations. it's going to save americans a lot of money and a lot of time. the second thing that happened is that congress and republicans in congress specifically passed the tax relief law. that's why millions of americans are getting a pay raise. that's why americans are more confident about our economy. the business leaders are right, mr. president. they should be confident about the state of america's economy because republicans are just getting started. our economy should have been growing much more quickly ever since the recession ended almost nine years ago, but it didn't during the last administration because the politics and the policies of the democrats in washington held our economy back. now we have got republican policies and the economy is much stronger. america's economy grew by just 1.8% in 2016, tepid growth compared to what we expect and what we're used to. last year, it grew by 2.5%.

we added 2.2 million jobs in 2017. confidence, mr. president, is soaring. democrats don't want to hear about it, they don't want to talk about it. they don't want to hear from their constituents who are getting a raise and getting a bigger paycheck. they consider it crumbs. they almost appear to be rooting some for the economy to stall. some may want the economy to look more like it did when they were in charge. well, the american people are going to look at what the democrats did and realize that what the republicans did made a huge difference in their lives. people are going to look at the fact that democrats, every democrat in the senate voted against the tax cuts. then people are going to look at what republicans have done and what it means for people's take-home pay. that's why republicans are here. it's what we promised to do. that's what we're going to continue to do. mr. president, i ask that the remainder of my comments appear

in the record at an appropriate place. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'd like to speak about energy infrastructure. president trump has shown that he intends to be a champion for upgrading our country's aging highways, bridges, and water infrastructure. as chairman of the senate committee on environment and public works, i will be working with president trump to modernize our infrastructure. this includes working to upgrade america's energy infrastructure, things like electric transmission lines and natural gas pipelines. these facilities need to be repaired and modernized, and we need to build new facilities as well. often these investments can be made without any taxpayer funding. people get the benefit of new jobs, economic growth, and the affordable and reliable energy that these projects supply. it's good for everybody, including the taxpayers. we just need to make sure that

the government doesn't get in the way. mr. president, there was an important reminder recently of the need for energy infrastructure development, and it was that blast of cold weather and heavy snow that hit the northeast part of the country earlier this year. normally, natural gas accounts for about 48% of the power generated in new england. during this big winter storm in january, gas accounted for only 16%. that's because there aren't enough natural gas pipelines in the region to deliver all of the gas that they needed for heating and for power. well, this shouldn't happen in america. we are the number one natural gas producer in the world. so to meet the demand in new england, power plants and utilities have had to take the drastic step of importing liquefied natural gas from russia. can you imagine such a thing?

this is a tanker, and it carried gas from a russian company called yamal l.n.g., liquefied natural gas. the gas came from a facility in siberia and they were taking it right into the boston harbor last month. the location of the boston tea party, and we're bringing in russian l.n.g. now, you might think that local leaders in the region would want to avoid importing gas from our adversaries like russia. you might think they would want our more american pipelines to power our communities. that's not what's happening in the northeast part of this country. oh, no. instead, leaders in that region have been vocal opponents of new pipelines. they have blocked the pipelines. now, people who have been vocal opponents of the new pipelines include some of the democrats who represent that part of the country right here in the united states senate. they refuse to allow responsible

and safe energy development to give people in the northeast the natural gas that the families and the businesses need. these democrats claim that they're protecting the environment. it's simply not true, mr. president. there was a headline in the "boston globe." this was a couple of weeks ago. the headline was our russian pipeline and its ugly toll. "boston globe." our russian pipeline and its ugly toll. the article pointed out that russia actually has much lower standards than the united states when it comes to protecting the environment. democrats are just playing the old game of not in my back yard. we see the same thing so often when it comes to energy infrastructure projects. mr. president, we should be looking for ways to make energy as clean as we can, as fast as we can, without raising costs for american families. when it comes to actually producing the energy, democrats

put up roadblocks to keep it from happening. if we're going to build america's infrastructure, we need to streamline the process and we need to start cutting the red tape. we need to build faster, better, cheaper, smarter. that's true of roads and bridges, and it's also true of our energy infrastructure. mr. president, let me conclude by telling you that this article in the "boston globe" called all leaders in the -- called on leaders in the northeast to stop prioritizing short-term political gains at the expense of energy security and the environment, so i urge my colleagues until the senate -- in the senate to do the same. we should be talking not just about energy security and energy intelligence, but not being dependent on foreign sources of energy or energy from our enemies, but focusing on american energy, u.s. energy, american jobs. we certainly shouldn't put america in a position of being dependent on russia to heat our homes or power our economy. we should all support

responsible energy infrastructure development so american communities can run on american energy. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for colorado. mr. gardner: thank you, mr. president. i thank the gentleman from wyoming for his remarks on american energy and american energy intelligence, particularly the work that we have done in wyoming and colorado. you think about the opportunities that we have to free up markets for colorado, wyoming-produced oil or gas, truly remarkable. and i know the senator and i also share the great work that takes place at f.e. warren air force base. f.e. warren air force base has a significant role to play in the nuclear triad with the facilities in both colorado and wyoming. now, that's obviously something very important to our national security. but one of the other things that i think is important to bring to this conversation that the senator from wyoming talked about is the national security component that energy can play.

the important role that it has, and the fact that we can export our energy, not just to the midwest or to the eastern parts of this country, but that we can take that gas produced in wyoming and colorado, and we can export it to asia, we can export it to europe, countries that n want american -- that want american energy, desire american resources, not energy resources from tyrants and dictators like russia and other places that we may see around the globe. this is an opportunity for us to really show and i commend my colleague for his leadership on energy. mr. president, i come to the floor, though, today to talk primarily about the work that secretary zinke has done at the department of the interior, to thank him for taking a bold approach to modernizing the department of interior. i commend him for taking this approach. 93%, 93% of all federal land -- and the secretary knows this -- is located in the western part of the united states. this map shows the federal lands around our country. if you look at the eastern sea board, you can see a lot of

patches of white. mostly white, in fact, the color of the board here, with a few patches of red. in virginia, west virginia, the george washington national forest, the shenandoah national park. florida, you can see the everglades national park, great smokies. but you can see the predominant shade of the western part of this country is red. red signifying and standing for all the areas that are owned by the federal government. look at the state of nevada. almost the entire state of nevada is owned by the federal government, public lands. look at the state of colorado. owned by public land -- public land held by the federal government. nationwide, the bureau of land management is responsible for managing approximately 700 million acres of federal mineral estate located underground. not just land that is held by the bureau of land management in colorado, nevada. they hold even more when it comes to our mineral holdings.

but the b.l.m. is also responsible for administering 225 million acres of federal surface lands and nearly all of that, as this map points out, is in the 11 western most states in alas -- and alaska in this country. historically, local field offices have been diligent and effective managers of the public land for multiple use as they are charged to do so under the federal land policy and management anxiety. when i meet with county commissioners and others in the west, they all talk about the good relationship they have with their field offices and the good decisions that they're able to reach with those field offices. unfortunately, in recent years, directives and management coming from the b.l.m. headquarters in washington, long ways away from the publicly held lands out west, the 200-plus million acres of federal land held by the b.l.m. thousands of miles away from washington, d.c., these decisions coming out of washington, d.c. have favored deep pocketed, radical special interests over field office

decisions and the opinions of those who live near and who actually use this land. whether it's the reduction of grazing permits, the concept of multiple use, something that was fundamental to the founding of our public land agencies has fallen out of favor with the bureau of land management. when you don't live in the communities that are among and surrounded by these lands, it's easy to make these decisions that close off energy development or close off recreational opportunities or close out cattle ranching because the consequences are felt out west. thousand-plus miles away from the decision makers in the potomac. legislation that i have introduced, the b.l.m. headquarters relocation act would fix this problem. i was pleased to see within its budget request the department of interior is planning a modernization of their organization and infrastructure for the next 100 years. at the top of the list, at the very top of this modernization plan should be relocating the b.

l.m. headquarters out west, move it out of washington and put it exactly in the middle of these lands. grand junction, colorado, western slope of colorado, western slope of colorado, it's a beautiful place, a great city that can accommodate an agency headquarters and has the benefit of a pop lass that is intimately familiar with public land management policy and decision making. makes perfect sense. great airport, interstate access, a county with well over half of its land held by public land agen agencies, a community surrounded by public land, a community surrounded by people who are affected by those public land decisions. doesn't that make more sense to have those decisions coming from the lands they are regulating? than the beltway of washington? this proposal has strong bipartisan support. republicans and democrats who agree. let's put the decision makers in the places where those decisions are felt first and foremost. making this agency more accountable to the people who

have to deal with its management decisions by putting its headquarters among the land it manages would be a huge start and a great recognition that we can modernize this agency, this department, for the next 100 years. i thank you, mr. president. i look forward to working with my colleagues on this critical piece of legislation. i look forward to working with secretary zinke and the department of interior to achieve this goal. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i would like to speak for up to three minutes, as if in morning business, mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you. earlier today, i talked to a server that worked in a restaurant in northeast ohio, in trumbull county northeast of youngstown. she is as concerned as i am about a proposal from the u.s. department of labor that pretty much legalizes wage theft. we know that in this country right now, that servers -- and they can be or tipped workers, they can be the person that pushes the wheelchair in the airport. i spoke to somebody the other day that drove one of those airport carts at the cleveland airport. she makes $5 an hour because she is supposed to rely on tips to

get up to the minimum wage, but she doesn't always get tips. or a server that works in a restaurant, a diner in garfield heights or in chilicothe, ohio, makes sometimes only $2.10 an hour and relies on tips. that's a problem enough that companies for tipped workers can pay such low wages, but that's compounded by this rule that comes out of the white house and the department of labor that really -- it's really tantamount to wage theft. it simply says, this rule says that the employer -- that the tips that you give -- that you put on a table at a denny's or a bob evans, that the management, the employer can take those tips and distribute them however he or she wants to other workers in the restaurant. now, plenty of waitresses, plenty of waiters, plenty of servers pay out, give out some of their tips, distribute them to the bartender or others, but that's their choice. but for the employer to be able to take the tips from a worker,

from a server, take some of those tips and decide whom to give it to in the back office -- or in the kitchen, whom they are not paying enough to anyway, to make up for that or for the employer to just take the money and put it in their pockets. under this rule, coming out of the secretary of labor. this is the secretary of labor. the secretary of labor in a government is supposed to represent workers, is supposed to advocate for labor. this administration's turned that upside down where the secretary of labor is advocating for employers and basically legalizing wage theft. taking that money from tipped workers who work so hard. you know how hard everybody at a diner works? they are not making a lot of money. they rely on those tips. we're going to say the u.s. government, the department of labor, the president of the united states is going to say, oh, it's all right to take some of these tip dollars and put them in my pocket as the employer or give it to the workers in the kitchen whom the

company underpays because they're going to supplement their underpaid wages with tips. mr. president, it's mean-spirited, it is legitimizing wage theft, and we should have no business doing it. we have 23 of us, 24 of us have sent a letter to secretary costa, secretary of labor, condemning his decision. first of all, they did a study, the secretary of labor did a study and found this would take literally billions of dollars from the pockets of workers. they buried that study. at least let that study out. let people comment. $6 billion in tips almost every single year will be lost because of this decision. it's a really bad idea. it's mean spirited and it, frankly, legalizes wage theft and should be defeated. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, all postcloture time has expired and the question occurs on the vote nomination. -- on the vought nomination. is there a sufficient second?

the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: