quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed do the en bloc consideration of the executive calendar 621, 790,

774, 768, 769, 770, 771, 772, 784, 785, 786, 787, 821, 773, 775, 776.. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the senate shall consider the nominations en bloc. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the senate vote on the nominations en bloc with no intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, 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 nominations en bloc. all in favor say aye. those opposed no.

the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nominations are agreed to en bloc. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the democratic leader, the senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the following nomination, executive calendar 607. i ask consent there be ten hours of debate equally divided in the usual form and following the use or yielding back of time, the senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, that no further motions be in order, and that any statements relating to the nomination be printed in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of executive calendar 791 through 820 and all nominations on the

secretary's desk, that 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: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk shall call the roll. quorum call:

mr. sullivan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, are we in a quorum call?

the presiding officer: we are. mr. sullivan: i'd ask unanimous consent that we vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: mr. president, it's thursday, and as you know, a lot of times i like to come down on the floor and a lot of times my colleague from louisiana is actually in the chair so he gets to see a lot about the great state of alas came. i like to come -- alaska. i like to come down to the floor and talk about someone in my state who has done an amazing job for the community, the state, or even the country. we call this person our alaskan of the week. i know the pages, it's the favorite time of the senate because they get to learn all about what's going on in alaska. a lot of people watching or watching on tv have found a lot of interest in this because we -- like every state here, i certainly think i come from the best state in the country. it's beautiful right now.

i really want to invite everybody in the gallery, watching on tv to come up to alaska and visit. it will be the trip of a lifetime, i promise. but what makes my state so truly great is the people, not just the majestic mountains and the beauty and the wildlife but the people. strong, -- strong, kind, caring people who ban together, let's face it, with a state with some extreme environment, and oftentimes ban together in creative ways. so, mr. president, today i would like to introduce to you our alaskans of the week, holly christian seven -- both of these incredible women have spent countless hours helping

thousands of children in alaska, and really across america. children who need help and care and love because they have been helping children who are suffering from cancer. so this is a really incredible story, and it's one of these stories that i think most people love to hear about because it starts with just an idea, a little movement, a spark that turns into something big, unexpectedly, it's a pebble in a pond creating ripples that turn into waves. so this incredible story, mr. president, starts when holly, an oncology nurse with three young children of her own, received news that lily, who was the child of one of her former classmates was diagnosed with cancer. so lily is a young girl and so she's going through treatment,

chemo. now, holly knew that lily -- this would be a difficult time for any kid working through the difficulties of cancer, of course, a lot of times with chemo that means losing your hair, it's especially difficult for a young dwirl. so holly had -- girl. so holly had an idea. why not crochet a wig for lily with soft yarn that made her looked like a princess. she she did it. the wig had long strands of yellow yarn, decorated with blue and red flowers modeled after rue punsle. and she give gave it to lily and it brightened this little girl's day during this dark time.

she was able to twirl around in a dress with her long braids. she was able, mr. president, in many ways to be a kid again and get out of the darkness and difficulty and pain of cancer treatments. well, then something really remarkable happened. lily and her parents were so happy with the wig that holly got some friends together and they began to make a few more wigs and then a few more, a dozen or so for more children in alaska who were suffering from cancer all modeled on disney cancers. that's where brie came in. she heard about holly amendment front on facebook and she began to volunteer. son they began making and distributing tens and then hundreds of wigs out of holly's garage in palmer, alaska.

eventually they started a nonprofit organization called the magic yarn project. it is this one little idea for this one beautiful little girl the magic yarn project was born. soon dozens of alaskans began to volunteer their time and began to hold -- and the magic began to spread throughout alaska and then it started to spread throughout the country and even around the world thousands of people began making princess hair and super hero hair out of yarn for children living through the darkness and suffering through the difficulty of cancer. mr. president, to date this dynamic duo, holly and brie,

have facilitated the distribution of over 7,000 wigs in 38 countries across the globe for children who are losing their hair through the cancer and chemotherapy treatment. think about that, one idea, one wig, now we're at 7,000. holly and brie have amassed an army of over 4,000 volunteers across the country to crochet wigs. this takes time and care and talent, old, young from every walk of life have reached out to them to help brighten a child's life. a football player from the seattle seahawks came from the first out of state workshop they

held in seattle. it was really, really -- everyone's getting involved here. there are even women who are incarcerated in alaska making whimsical wigs for these kids. so it's impacting everybody. out of this one-car garage in palmer, alaska, which is a small town with a big heart, literally the production and love and care making of these wigs have overtaken not just alaska, not just the country, but the world. because of the project's growing popularity and their desire to reach as many volunteers as possible, the two have opened up -- have opened up chapters in seven states and even in mexico. it's been daunting and a lot of work but they have discovered so

much about themselves and their community. first they were struck with how generous alaskans are, and it was only possible because alaskans all across the state rose to the occasion to help these young kids. and bree said the magic yarn project pushed her in ways she never thought possible. it made her a better mom and person. holly said one of the best things about the project is watching her own children get involved and help with deep compassion for children who are saturning -- suffering whether in alaska or somewhere else in the world. there have been times when holly said that a little voice inside her said, these are just wigs, it isn't that important. but when they get the pictures back of these young girls all over the country wearing their

beautiful wigs, they realize it is a big deal. it's a huge deal. the parents of these kids have told holly and bree how grateful they are to see their child who often is living in a life of pain and needles and surgeries and hospitals smile again because of what they've done. it gives them a glimpse of what it was like before, and hopefully of what it will be like when they get better holly said. to holly and bree we can't thank you enough for your extraordinary work, your great compassion that's touched literally thousands and thousands of lives across america and the world, and congratulations for being our alaskans of the week. mr. president, i'd like my following remarks to appear in a

different part of the congressional record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr.sullivan: mr.sullivan: mr. president, i want to congratulate my colleagues who debated last week and voted on the new secretary of state make pompeo who i believe is either in route or will be soon to the nato foreign ministers summit. as many of us said on the floor, mike pompeo is extremely well wl qualified to be the secretary of state. he is a congressman who focused on foreign affairs, the current director of the c.i.a., an army officer, graduated number one in his class from west point, harvard law review editor when he went to harvard law school, and i particularly want to commend my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who did the right thing and voted for mr. pompeo. mr. president, as i come down to

the floor a couple of times to talk about this issue we've had a long tradition in the united states, particularly as it relates to the secretary of state, that this body typically comes together and someone is qualified, it is the president's pick. the tradition has been to vote for that person. so if you look at the votes over the last 50 years, the secretaries of state, whether republican or democrat, usually in the unanimous vote, 100 senators, 96 senators, 99 senators, and what i'm hopeful is that we can get back to that issue with regard to foreign policy and national security choices for the president regardless of who the president is, and so i want to commend my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but particularly my

democratic colleagues who i know faced a lot of pressure to vote on this, for those who knew it was important to have a bipartisan vote, i want to thank them and i think mike pompeo is going to do a good job. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, i'd like to join my colleague from alaska in commenting the united states senate for confirming mike pompeo for skate. -- secretary of state. i think he is the right person at the right time and we need somebody there. there is too much going on not to have someone there and there's an important meeting of the foreign ministers that he needed to attend. whether it's north korea where he is involved or iran and the continuing concerns we have with iran or what is happening with syria and on the eastern border of ukraine, there's lots of hotspots around the world and we need to have somebody who understands the importance of addressing those issues and addressing some of the bigger and longer-term challenges we have with countries like russia and china to have a more

constructive relationship so it's good to have somebody in that job. when john kerry came up for a confirmation here in the senate, not everybody agreed with him on the policies. when hillary clinton came up for a vote, not everybody agreed with her on the policies, but they agreed they were qualified, as mike pompeo is, and they agreed that a president should have the ability to have his or her person in that job, particularly as secretary of state. so the vote was 94 senators in favor. i'm glad that the senate chose to confirm him, but i do wish we had more of a bipartisan support for it because i think it's important to show around the world that we do indeed have momentum behind this nominee and his ability to lead our country in the area of soft power diplomacy around the world. i think he'll do a good job and earn the trust of those who

voted for him today and also be able to change the views, perhaps of some of my colleagues, who voted no today. so congratulations to mike pompeo and i'm happy for a country r -- for our country that he's in place. mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk about an issue that has gripped my state and every state represented in this chamber, and that's the opioid epidemic. this is prescription drugses and heroin -- drugs and heroin and fentanyl and carfentanil. it is something that we talked with on the floor more in the past couple of years than we have at any time really in the history of this body and we passed good legislation, but, boy, there's so much more to do. sadly, this crisis continues to unfold and at least in my state and i believe in most states in this country it has gotten worse, not better. we have taken important actions

and we need to take more. just last week a couple in youngstown, ohio, were arrested for hmedz and -- homicide after their 16 month-old daughter died. she was submitted to cart fentanyl and is the biggest concern we have in ohio right now. in fact, in ohio we had an increase in overdoses last year and 60% of those overdoses were from fentanyl. this synthetic form of opioids that was hardly present five years ago. as we made progress on prescription drugs, heroin came in. as we made progress on heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil came in. that's the latest poison and there's a need for us to push

back and push back hard. opioid deaths are now the number one cause of death in my home state of ohio. it's the number one cause of accidental death in the united states of america. you think about that. how many people who are being affected by this, and it's across the board. it knows no zip code. it's not just in the urban areas, not just the rural areas. it's in the suburban areas. it's everywhere. it's something we can make a difference on. i've seen some programs that are actually working well to try to turn the tide and push back. one i will mention is funded in part from legislation we passed in this chamber just a year and a half ago. it's in columbus, ohio, the mary addiction stabilization center. it's an attempt by franklin county which is largely columbus, ohio, to come together and say we've got to do something here to get more people who have overdosed into treatment. because one of the many challenges we face in this crisis is the gaps. and one huge gap is the fact

that people who overdose have had their lives saved through this miracle drug called narcan which reverses the effects of an overdose, but then after coming out of their overdose, getting conscious again, they simply go back into the community and back to the environment that created this potential overdose situation in the first place. so once again, a week later perhaps, maybe days later, in some cases hours later, the person may overdose again. the answer is not just applying narcan as important as it is because we do need to save lives. the important thing is to then get that person into a program where they can begin to deal with their addiction, where they can get the support longer term through a recovery program to stay away from the old environment and the old gang that got them involved in this issue perhaps in the first

place. addiction is a disease. treatment is required just as it would be for other diseases. so i'm excited about what's happening at mary haven addiction recovery because at this center, they are bringing people in who have overdosed and then in the same facility, there are about 50 beds for treatment. so instead of having the vast majority of people who overdose and come into an emergency room go home or go back to the old environment, 80% of the people at mary haven are going into treatment. that's a huge change. that's a sea change. it will have an enormous impact on dealing with the 200,000 or so people in my state of ohio who are currently addicted. it will help them get into a decent program, get through the detox, get into recovery, and have the opportunity to get their lives back together. that program is funded again in large part from federal funding that came from this legislation

we passed here about a year and a half ago, about a million dollars, maybe $1.2 million, was matched by some private funding, state and local funding. again, we have this new project that i think can be emulated around the state because it seems to be working really well. the cures act which we passed here has provided to ohio just recently $26 million in new funding. and we need it badly. and we need to put it to use in ways that work. again, this is an example of something that's actually well thought out, is going to help close the gap and make a dave. in 2016, we were told that we had the deadliest year on record in terms of overdoses. unfortunately it looks like 2017, when we have the final numbers, it's going to be worse. certainly will be in ohio. the franklin county, corridor, the columbus, ohio area, the coroner recently came out with their numbers for 2017. they had an overdose death rate that was higher than 2016.

we lost 520 of our fellow citizens to overdoses in franklin county in 2017. that was a 47% increase from 2016. so not just a little increase, a huge increase. and by the way, a staggering two-thirds of those, 66% of those deaths were from this synthetic heroin we talked about, the synthetic opioids, fentanyl and carfentanil. that's why i said earlier that's really the big issue now in so many communities around the country. just last month franklin county experienced 18 overdoses in just one week. one county, 18 overdoses in one week. this is just last month. that's an average of over two deaths per day. and think about that when you're thinking about just one county out of 88 and the impact this is having. we need to do more at the federal level to combat this epidemic. i'd like to talk about a couple

of new pieces of legislation that would build on the success we've had in this body of drafting new legislation that helps to direct this money in ways that is going to make a difference toward evidence-based programs, not just throwing money at the problem but being sure the money is well spent. one of the pieces of legislation is critical to this issue of the fentanyl and carfentanil coming into our communities. unbelievably, this poison that we talked about today, two-thirds of the deaths in this county in ohio last year were because of this fentanyl. this 16-month-old baby we talked about was killed through a carfentanil and other synthetic. unbelievably, this stuff is coming in through our u.s. mail system primarily. so it's coming not over the border primarily or not in some other way, like heroin might or even prescription drugs, but it's literally coming through the mail. primarily from china. so you have evil chemists in

china mixing up this poisonous brew that becomes fentanyl and then it gets shipped through the mail system into our communiti communities, sometimes to a p.o. box, sometimes to someone's home, sometimes to a business, and unfortunately, we do not have the ability within the u.s. postal service to push back. to me this is an obvious example where this body ought to come together and say you know what? let's provide law enforcement the tools they need to be able to stop some of this poison from coming in. if you were to send this same fentanyl by fedex or u.p.s. or d.h.l. or private carrier, they would have to.law enforcement in advance -- to law enforcement in advance data of the package, what's in it, where it's going. with that data law enforcement can then target packages, suspect packages, and pull them off the line and pull some of

this poison out of our communities. i've been to these distribution centers where the private carriers do exactly that. they have customs and border protection officials there. they have rooms there that have the proper venting to be able to open these packages. as you know, this fentanyl, carfentanil is so dangerous. our first responders are putting their lives at risk every day just by dealing with it. but what they're able to do is to stop this poison from coming in which helps at a minimum to raise the cost because right now one of the reasons it's expanding is because it's deadly. it's something that is causing many more overdoses and deaths than ever before, but it's also relatively inexpensive. so our legislation is very simple. it's called the stop act. it's cosponsored by amy klobuchar, democrat from minnesota, and the notion is to say to our u.s. postal service, shoe have for provide that same

information because law enforcement tells us unless they have that information, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. 900 million packages a year, hard to imagine how they're going to be able to stop those packages without having at least that tool of knowing what's in those packages, where it's coming from, where it's going so they can use their analytic, the big data to be able to identify those packages and to be able to stop them. last month a man from cleveland, ohio, was charged after undercover law enforcement agents found he was selling fentanyl that he just bought online from china. according to the prosecutor, and i quote, the defendant ordered thousands of deadly doses of fentanyl from china, brought it to a residential neighborhood in euclid, ohio, and mailed the dangerous drugs over ohio and the country using our mail system. the permanent subcommittee here in the united states senate which is a group that i chair did a year-long investigation of this issue. we completed this several months

ago and unfortunately what it showed was exactly what you would suspect, which is the traffickers when asked how should we ship these drugs that we're buying from you online because we had an undercover person working for us, he was a member of the home whrd security -- homeland security department, someone who deals with these issues every day. he actually contacted websites around the country. unfortunately, the websites all said the same thing. yeah, we'll sell you this deadly drug, but you've got to ship it through the u.s. mail system. we'll guarantee delivery if you do that. we were able to find five different websites that were openly selling fentanyl. they all told us where to send it by using some of the information that we had based on the payment systems they were using, we were able to identify the people who had been shipped drugs through these sites. we found incidentally that just in a short period of time, seven

people had died of overdoses from getting drugs from these particular websites. we also were able to refer to law enforcement, some other people who apparently were dealing these drugs by taking large quantities. but even this person in euclid, ohio, we talked about, thousands of deadly doses of fentanyl were found. that could be in a package about this size. three flakes of this stuff can kill you. so at a minimum, we've got to be sure that our u.s. postal service is giving law enforcement these tools to be able to help stop this deadly poison. the postal service has begun over the last year or so to make some progress in this area, but still they tell us that only 36% of the packages transported into this country have any kind of advanced electronic data. as we dug into this deeper and have -- having researched and gone to some of these sites where the u.s. postal service is

providing information, we also found out that it's not 36% because 20% of the packages that they are requiring this information on where law enforcement said i need to pull that package out, 20% of those packages went into the community anyway because of lack of communication with law enforcement. finally, we're finding out that it may be 36% of the packages, but much of the information is not helpful. so we need to have new rules in place that say to countries, if you want to do business with the united states and send your packages here, you've got to play ball with us and.this digital information upfront so our law enforcement can deal with what is clearly a crisis in this country. it's a glaring loophole in the screening process. it undermines the safety and security of our country, not just for drugs but for other issues as well. it's time we fix it. after 9/11 and the terrible tragedy of that day, this congress decided to require

private carriers to require all of that information, the advanced electronic data, because of the risk of terrorism, frankly. we said at the time the post office needs to do a study on this to give them time to get ready. that was over 15 years ago. and they still haven't done it. they need to provide law enforcement with the tools they need by requiring advanced electronic data on all packages entering the united states. 32 of my senate colleagues, byes way, 19 republicans, 12 democrats, and 1 independent has signed on as cosponsors of the legislation. it already has one-third support of the senate. it's been supported by president trump's opioid commission because it's a common sens solution to a growing problem around the country. there's house companion legislation to do this. stopping this influx of fentanyl is going to happen only if we stop how it's coming, which is through our postal service from countries overseas, primarily

china. we also need a more comprehensive approach, of course, to the drug issue. it's not enough just to stop the supply if you have a strong demand. dealing with the demand includes prevention efforts that are included in legislation that we passed in this body about a year and a half ago and still need to be implemented. we have new legislation to help increase that comprehensive approach. the last bill was called the comprehensive addiction recovery act, again signed into the law the end of 2016. now we have a new bill called cara 2.0. it provides more resources for evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery programs. it will help people get into longer-term treatment where they can truly overcome their addiction. it has helped overcome the stigma by treating addiction as a disease just by passing that first bill. now it's time for us to ensure we're looking at what works and building on it. i've introduced this legislation with my colleagues, senator sheldon whitehouse and six

others, senator shelley capito, amy klobuchar, dan sullivan, maggie hassan, bill cassidy who is sitting in the chair today and maria cantwell, four republicans and four democrats. we kept this bipartisan. other members have joined in as well. it picks up where the cara legislation left off to provide a better framework as to how we can spend the extra resources that this congress has wisely determined to put against this fight. in the spending bill that was just passed, there was additional $6 billion over two years put against this issue. let's be sure the money is well spent. let's be sure we have a road map to build on the successes we've had and ensure that that money is going to things that actually can make a difference. we talked about one earlier, this addiction stabilization center. we also know that one way we can spend our money better is to have a better prescription drug monitoring program nationally. so every state now has some sort

of prescription drug monitoring program but often they don't talk to each other. this is something that is required. in my state of ohio, west virginia, kentucky, and indiana, michigan, all states where there is also an opioid crisis. pennsylvania, we need to be sure they're talking together so when someone goes to get a prescription, the information is logged. and if the person goes out of the state to order a prescription across the border, maybe just right across that border, that information is provided just as it would be as if is in that state. that's in the legislation as well. we also target addiction as a source. about 80% of the people who die of overdoses today probably started on prescription drugs. that's the latest data we have. some of that was prescription drugs that were provided to that individual as a result of an accident or an injury. they became physically addicted because they were prescribed an opioid for pain relief. the stories are heartbreaking.

the parents who come to me and say -- and this has happened twice -- my son or my daughter went to get a wisdom tooth extracted and the dentist gave my son or my daughter opioids. in one case it was 60 pills. percocets or oxycontin. and sure enough, that young person had a physical addiction develop because of that. and then when the pills were harder to get or more expensive, they turned to something less expensive and more accessible which is heroin or phenyl or carfentanil and overdosed and died. these are 17-year-old children prescribed this medication. there are other cases as well. i met adults who are well into their 30's or 40's leading successful lives, well established in their community, well connected in their families, loving families, they had an accident or injury. maybe it was a car accident, and

were given pain medication. opioids. and became physically addicted. and this addiction is a tough one to climb out of. and so many people then, again, turn to another substance which is more available or accessible, maybe less expensive. and then the offender and then the -- then the offender and death and people say how could this have happened. it happened because of a prescription drug, something overprescribed. others might buy a prescription drug on the street. this saturday is drug take-back day in america. i hope everybody who's listening here will think about whether they can go into their own medicine cabinet or maybe their parents or grandparents and take out some of these opioids and have those disposed of properly at a police station or someplace else. i know krogers is doing this in ohio and other states. find out where your drug take-back location is. take these drugs in, get rid of

them. i've heard too many cases unbelievably of people stealing these drugs and using them and then again developing that addiction or selling them and someone else develops the addiction. again, the thought is that probably eight out of ten people dying of overdoses started with prescription drugs. our legislation does deal with that. it deals with overprescribing because it must be dealt with. it requires doctors and pharmacists to use drug monitoring programs to ensure we're not overprescribing and it sets a three-day limit on prescriptions for acute pain. we accept chronic pain. we have exceptions for cancer. but for acute pain, the surgeries we talked about, we're using the science, the good science from the center for disease control, c.d.c. and others that says two things. one, after the third day of using these opioids and that fourth day, fifth day, sixth day is when the opportunity for an addiction grows dramatically and the chances of you falling into that addiction increases significantly.

second, in terms of pain and dealing with pain, we've also learned that for acute pain for most kinds of procedures there are other kinds of pain medication available. i've talked to the dentist a lot on this. there is a dentist from ohio who is a good man, joe crowley, president of the american dental association. he's working with the dentists to try to ensure we have new policies in place to discourage the use of opioids altogether for things like a wisdom tooth being removed. but to the extent it's used after the first and second and third day, it's much, much less necessary, much less useful and other pain medication can take its place. as a result, we have in our legislation something that's a dramatic difference from the unfortunate overprescribing that continues to go on in our country in too many instances. that's a three-day limit. after three days, if you continue to have the kind of pain that can only be dealt with with opioids, if you're one of

the few individuals where that's true, you go back to the doctor, get another prescription. but you have to go through a process to do that. the alternative is we're going to continue to see more and more people become addicted through prescription drugs as a gateway. and then again getting into this terrible cycle of overdoses and eventually overdose and dying in too many cases. so cara 2.0 has these policy changes as well as the additional funding for prevention programs, treatment programs, recovery programs. it also helps our first responders by saying if you can't afford the cost of narcan, we'll help you out but also to give you training in narcan, and also to deal with this gap between the immediate overdose reversal using narcan and then going into detox. between detox and treatment, treatment and longer term recovery to try to ensure that you have continuity, this is something that just makes so much sense. it can save so many lives.

these legislative efforts we're talking about here are important, so for those who are watching and maybe some staff members watching from some of the offices, please check it out. check out the stop act if you're not already a cosponsor. check out cara 2.0 if you're not already a cosponsor. be sure we're doing everything we possibly can here to make a difference and begin to reverse this tide, begin to save lives again rather than having this discouraging increase in addiction. it's not all about overdoses and deaths, as tragic as it is. it's about the millions of americans whose lives are getting off track, who may not overdose and may not end up needing narcan but who are pulling away from their family, who are not working, who are not engaged in their community, who are giving up on their friends and their loved ones. a lot of people in this chamber are concerned about the fact that so many americans are out of work today and not showing up even on the unemployment rolls

because they've left work altogether. they aren't even looking for work. the economists say our labor force participation rate for men is historically low, probably the lowest it's ever been in the history of this country. when you combine men and women you have to go back to the 1970's to see as many people who are out of work altogether. i agree that's a big problem. i would urge my colleagues to look at the impact of opioids on that problem. there are two studies, one by the department of labor, one by the brookings institution which indicate in the strongest possible terms that opioids are driving much of this dysfunction in our workforce today. so to employers out there who are saying the economy is growing, the tax cuts are working, regulatory relief is working but i can't find workers, 44% of those who are out of the workforce, according to a department of labor study from the bureau of labor statistics, 44% took a

prescription pain medication the day before. the brookings study shows that 47% of men between 25 and 55, able-bodied men, are taking pain medication on a daily basis. these are frightening numbers. by the way, i can't imagine that's overreported. i imagine it's underreported because of the stigma attached to this issue of opioid addiction because of the potential legal liability people could be in for admitting it. and even so, almost half of those surveyed say they're not working. they're not even looking for work but they're taking pain medication on a daily basis. so this affects all of us. go to your firehouse in your community and ask them, are they doing more overdose runs or more fire runs? i'll bet you they'll say the former. they're doing more drug overdose runs than they are fire runs. we're all paying tporblgz. talk to -- for that. talk to your sheriff or local

police chief and ask the them what the number one driver is in your community. i'll bet th*e they'll say it drugs. people shop lifting or fraud to be able to pay for the habit, $300 a day or more. people are not working. there's a temptation to commit those crimes, and there's a craving for this drug that puts people in positions they never would have imagined they would find themselves in. think of the families who are broken up. think of the kids who have lost their parents to this epidemic. in ohio, we have more kids in foster care under the care of the state than ever in our history. go to your neonatal units in your hospital and ask them about this. they'll say it's the number-one issue affecting them because so many kids are being born to a mother who is addicted, and these kids have to be taken through withdrawal themselves. little babies, you can hold them practically in the palm of your hand. i've gone to these neonatal units in ohio and seen these

babies, and it is heartbreaking. because just like adults, they have to go through this tough withdrawal process. no baby should have to do that. so this issue is one where congress has taken steps in the last year and a half, and i congratulate this body and the house for moving forward with some positive steps. but there is so much more to be done. and these two bills are a start. these two bills will help. they will help to save lives. they will help to get people back on track and help to ensure that people can live out their god-given purpose rather than get distracted through this epidemic. rather than getting off track with regard to family and work and dignity and self-respect. these two bills will help, giving law enforcement in our communities the tools they need and helping our communities to be able to have a comprehensive approach here to turn back this

assault of addiction in our country. i hope we can move quickly in the senate to pass this legislation so the president can sign into law and we can begin to make a bigger difference. mr. president, i yield back my time and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i rise today to discuss the recent rise of anti-semitism and racism in our communities. as members of congress, we have an enormous responsibility to take strong action and stand up against entitlements before it takes root in the next generation. it is incumbent upon all people to ensure that adequate tools are in place to counter the resurgence of fear and hatemonkering, whether directed at old targets or new that led to the holocaust and other

atrocities. america must maintain its leadership abroad, especially when it comes to the issue of human rights and religious freedom. the core foundations upon which our nation was built. we must uphold these standards here at home and defend and promote them globally. in my role as the representative of anti-semitism, racism, tolerance and the agency for cooperation in europe, i visited paris and copenhagen and met with local leaders in the aftermath of the violent anti-semitic attacks of 2015, including the charlie hebdu massacre. the brutal murder of holocaust survivor norel on march 24 is a grim reminder of the urgency of our task. in poland, there have been no attacks recently, but there is a growing climate of fear. government officials have equivocateed regarding poland's

responsibility to the world war ii massacre and the post-war attacks which occurred in 1986. accomplish president signed into law an antidefamation bill that makes it illegal to contribute responsibility for and complicity to the holocaust or the polish nation or state. this will chill free speech and hinder teaching about the holocaust and the crimes committed in occupied poland during world war ii. in hungry victor orban has stoked a campaign of hatred in his bid for prime minister. in his campaign, and perhaps revealing concerns for his margin of victory, his party has sharpened its call that is white and christian. here at home we have witnessed

extremists and neo-nazis openly carrying hateful symbols from the 1930's. neo-nazis and white supremacists took to the streets in charlottesville, inciting violence that cost heather hailer her life. another group of neo-nazis marched in georgia and burned a swastika afterwards. brews caluzi, told the newspaper that there was no particular reason that city was chosen for the rally. it's always preferable that it's in a white town. how can we address these challenges and build a more tolerant community. earlier this year in remembrance of the holocaust remembrance day, there was a conference on the responsibility of states in

the fight against anti-semitism in the osce area. at that event, conveyed on the 80th anniversary of italy's racial laws which discriminated against jews and people of african descent. they collected and reported hate crime data to supporting education at a time when few holocaust survivors were witnesses from world war ii remain. they have a program designed to assist governments bolster jewish communities and how to recognize prejudice and build coalitions between jewish and other communities. yet, at this critical junction we have been cutting funding and other resources meant to bolster america's diplomatic efforts abroad. i have thought to include

$1 million to combat anti-semitism in the appropriations bill recently passed by congress. i also wrote letters urging president trump and his administration to select a new special envoy to monitor and combat anti-semitism. this has been critical in working with organizations abroad. we must all understand that a threat against one religion or race is a threat against all races, all ethnicities. hatred unleashed rarely forms its own boundary. in germany they came first for the communists and i didn't speak up because i wasn't a communist, and then they came for jews and i didn't speak up because i wasn't a jew, and then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up.

a protestant pastor said that. political leaders need to denounce those who -- as hate crimes continue to rise in our own nation and the number of refugees around the world fleeing political violence and persecution reaches record highs, we must reaffirm our sense of duty and commit to fundamental human rights for all people. addressing anti-semitism takes a concerted and sustained effort from a coalition of governments, faith and community leaders and global advocates to denounce these atrocities and promote peace and tolerance around the world. now more than ever we need to join together and speak up to protect human rights around the globe because it's in all of our interest to do so. we must also use the tools available to us from hate crime laws to capacity-building

measures for civil societies and governments such as those offered by the osce. i will continue to stand alongside civil societies that remain -- and remain an advocate for human rights and i urge my colleagues to do likewise. mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: