highest it's been at 18 years and at the same time nancy pelosi most recently said what she wants to do is illuminate the tax cuts. she thanks the government has a better idea of how to spend the money than individual people at home. we will continue to fight for growing economy, strong economy, healthy economy with larger paychecks and more prosperity here at home in america. >> we leave this now as the u.s. senate is about to gavel back into session after their weekly party lunches. ow be ten hours oe equally divided in the usual form. the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. i have come to the floor to oppose the nomination of general mitchell zais. i'm opposing this nomination because those who work at the top of the accident of education

-- the department of education should be committed to its top priority, which is helping educate our next generation of students. they should not be focused on demonizing teachers or public schools in the federal government's role in public education, and they should not be promoting their extreme ideological agendas at the expense of our students. we do need a department of education with a positive vision for our neighborhood public schools that believes that everyone has the right to a high quality public education no matter where they live or how they learn or how much money their parents make. that is what millions of parents and teachers and students stood up for during secretary devos' confirmation hearing. and despite the public rejection of her extreme ideology and her unprecedented, tie-breaking confirmation vote by vice president pence, it's clear secretary devos has led the

department of education in the opposite direction. she has continued to push her privatization agenda, trying to siphon taxpayer funds away from our public schools. she has ignored key parts of our nation's k-12 laws, refusing to hold states accountable for the success of our most vulnerable students. she has made it easier for predatory for-profit companies to take advantage of students, rolling back protections for students and dismantling the unit that investigates claims of fraud and abuse. and time and time again, she has failed to protect students' civil rights. she tried to shrink the office of civil rights. she rolled back protections for transgender students, and she rescinded guidance for schools on how to investigate claims of campus sexual assault. so, mr. president, with secretary devos' ideological agenda steering this ship, it's clear to me that the department of education needs a strong and independent deputy secretary of

education to once again start putting students first. unfortunately, general zais made it clear he would be proud to be secretary devos' right hand man and shares her position on the number of concerning issues. he agrees with secretary devos' extreme privatization agenda to siphon taxpayer funds from our public schools. he largely opposes the federal role in education and like secretary devos seems to lack even the understanding of key issues important to public schools. and as state superintendent of education, general zais allowed his partisan ideology to hurt south carolina students and refused federal funding that could have saved teachers' jobs and it was the only state to do that. and he objected to plans to expand access to universal pre-k. he called 5-year-olds too young to learn. that is a particularly shocking comment to those of us who

understand the importance of their first five years for children's development. so, mr. president, i come to the floor today on behalf of millions of parents and students and teachers who so loudly objected to secretary devos' agenda during her confirmation and ask my colleagues to vote against this nomination and not allow another devos-like nominee into the department of education. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from maine is recognized. mr. king: mr. president, every morning across america, millions of people get up, get dressed, and go to work. they all have similar experiences. they are getting ready for a new day. they are getting ready for a new set of challenges. they are getting ready to serve their company and the place where they work to the best of their ability, but there is one group of americans who get up every morning to go to work and it's a slightly different experience. because when those people report for work, they are knowingly and willingly putting their lives on the line. i'm referring to our police

officers and law enforcement personnel across the country. i think it's an important distinction. all of us go to work, we all think about it, but to stop and think for a moment that when someone puts on that blue uniform or green uniform or whatever it is to serve the public, they are taking a risk with their life. they are literally laying their lives on the line for the rest of us. and 58 years ago -- 56 years ago today, president john f. kennedy designated may 15 as law enforcement memorial day, peace officers memorial day, and the week in which may 15 falls is designed and set aside by our country ever since to recognize peace officers. i love that term. peace officers. they are here to protect us.

the constitution in the preamble lays out the basic outlines for our government, and one of them is to ensure domestic tranquility. what a lovely phrase. to ensure domestic tranquility, and that means in many cases law enforcement. so i rise today to recognize law enforcement officials across the country but also particularly in my state of maine. as governor, i spent 24 hours a day with the state police, and i learned in that job the quality of people that we have serving us, the quality of the people often who could make more money and have more promotions in another line of work but have chosen to serve the public and put their lives on the line. now, in washington, there is a memorial to our law enforcement

personnel, to our peace officers, and on that memorial are engraved the names of those who have lost their lives in the service of their fellow citizens. i'm proud to say that two of those names that will be added this year are from the state of maine. one was chris gardner. only 47 years old. he had worked with the university of maine police and then he worked with the maine drug enforcement agency. he died november 15, 2016, from complications from a training exercise. he was involved in the maine law enforcement torch run. many law enforcement people across the country are involved with the torch run which raises money and visibility for special olympics. he is survived by his parents, his brothers, sisters, stepmother, and many aunts and uncles.

he is also survived by loved ones. chris gardner served his public, served his people, served his state and community, and he lost his life in that service. another loss last year that will be going onto the monument this year is nay than desjardin. nathan was a member of the fryburg police department. he was only 20 years old. he had just begun his career in loarm as a peace officer. -- in law enforcement as a peace officer. he died in his first day of water training, responding to an incident of a capsizeed canoe. the boat he was on hit an object in the river. he was thrown out. and desjardin and another emergency responder were thrown from the boat. he sustained a head injury and died on june 6, 2017.

again, he is survived by his parents, brothers, grandmother, and a large extended family. both nathan and christopher will have their names added to the memorial this week. they got up, they went to work, they served their public, they served their citizens and their community, and they put their lives on the line and in this case made the ultimate sacrifice. a name that won't be added to the memorial this year because the additions are from the prior calendar year, but we had an unbelievably tragic event in maine barely three weeks ago. eugene p. cole, shot and killed in the line of duty april 25, 2018. born in a little town called

skowheganman. he was raised in that area, graduated from high school, went into the army, came back to maine, worked in a repair shop, and then in the year 2000, he decided to pursue what was really his calling as a law enforcement officer. in 2006, at the age of 50, he went to the maine criminal justice academy. he became a rural patrol deputy for the summerset soint sheriff's office. i used to live just across the street from the summerset county sheriff's office. i remember the sheriff when i was there almost 50 years ago, francis henderson. and francis henderson epitomized law enforcement in maine and in summerset county. his followers as sheriff have done the same. gene cole was in that mold.

he was admired in his community. he was well known had his community. he was respected. he embodied the values of law enforcement, and he was an inspiration to the officers who served with him. he is survived by his wife of 41 years, cheryl, four children, several grandchildren, tom and cheryl, his siblings, his mother, and a large extended family. his funeral was in bangor, maine, just a week and a half ago. 3,600 people were there. law enforcement officers from across the northeast and indeed from across the country were there to pay their respects to one of their fallen comrades. eugene cole, a hero. he wouldn't call himself that. he would be embarrassed to be called that. from my understanding, he was a modest and unassuming man, but

he was a hero because every morning he got up to go to work, he would put on his uniform, and he put his life on the line for the people of summerset county and the people of that area and the people of the state of maine. so, mr. president, i rise today to pay tribute to gene cole, to chris gardner, to nathan desjardin, and to all the peace officers, the law enforcement officers, those across our country in our communities who every day are willing to put their lives on the line for us. peace officer memorial day and week is a fitting tribute to those brave people across the

country who serve us every day and every night around the clock to ensure domestic tranquility in the wonderful phrase of our founders. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. and 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 missouri. blunt bunt are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. i would move we suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: mr. president, across the country this week and very evident here in the nation's capital, people are honoring men and women who serve in law enforcement. if you're visiting the capitol this week, you'll see more law enforcement officers in more different uniforms than you would have expected to see unless you're here for law

enforcement week. you know, when you and i came to the senate, mr. president, senator coons, a democrat from delaware, came at the same time. we started the bipartisan senate law enforcement caucus, and on law enforcement week, it's a privilege for me to speak as we honor those in law enforcement and speak on behalf of senator coons and i both at a time when we think it's particularly important to recognize what law enforcement officers do, and in my case i want to talk a little bit about the law enforcement officers who lost their lives this year in the line of duty. too many law enforcement officers around the country lost their lives, were injured, some as i'm going to discuss fatally in the line of duty. we had three law enforcement officers in missouri who were killed in the line of duty in the past year.

clinton, missouri, had two of those officers. officer garry lee michael jr. from the clinton police force as well as at a different part of the year, christopher ryan morton of that police force. miller county deputy sheriff casey shoe p mate also lost his life. in fact, casey shoemate, deputy shoemate was killed last month while responding to a structured fire. he was in a fatal car accident. he'd served in the miller county sheriff's department for one year. he is survived by his two children, by his fiance, by his parents, and by his siblings. in march, clinton, missouri, police officer christopher ryan morton was shot and killed when he and two other officers responded to an unknown situation as a result of a 911 call.

as officer morton and his colleagues were arriving at the scene, the subject opened fire, the officers returned fire, they entered the home in an attempt to take the man into custody. that man continued firing and wounded all three of the officers. officer morton's colleagues survived their injuries, but officer morton's wounds turned out to be fatal. he'd served the clinton, missouri, police department for three years, and prior to joining law enforcement, he'd served in the missouri army national guard, where he had deployed to kosovo, he had deployed to afghanistan, but it was at home in clinton, back in missouri, where he lost his life serving others. he's survived by his parents and by his siblings. then in august of last year, another officer, gary michael, was shot and killed during a

traffic stop. officer michael had stopped a vehicle for a suspected registration violation when the officer exited the vehicle and immediately opened fire on him. even though he was wounded, as it turned out would be mortally wounded, officer michael was able to return fire and wound the subject, who later was apprehended. he'd been with that police department for only a year. he was an army veteran, and he left behind his wife, his three children, and a grandchild. in april the clinton police department placed a tribute to their two fallen officers in the station. the plaque quoted john 15:13 and it said, greater love has no one than this that he'd lay down his life for his friends. you know, officers every day leave their home likely to face

more difficult situations than most of us face. and the families that they leave in the morning are the families that have grown up like the officer i just mentioned who had families of their own, always have in the back of their mind what's happening with the person they love when that person is out there defending us. when these officers put on their uniforms, when they say goodbye to the people they love, when they walk out the door, they put their lives on the line to try to keep others safe. we are forever indebted to them. we're indebted to their families. and this debt really becomes a responsibility that the sacrifices they make, the trauma, frankly, that some families face every day when we see more and more police officers ambushed, when we see officers more targets than they

used to be, is a debt that we owe them and their families. every year in conjunction with the national police week, the names of fallen officers like the three i've just mentioned are added to the wall of the national law enforcement officers memorial. there are more than 21,000 names on that wall dating back to the first known law enforcement death in 1791. this week senator coons and i will be introducing the national law enforcement museum commemorative coin act. that bill authorizes the treasury department to mintz coins to -- to mint coins to commemorate the national law enforcement museum located in washington, d.c. the museum is scheduled to open later this year and is dedicated to highlighting and honoring the work of law enforcement past and present. after the government is reimbursed for the cost of producing the coin in this coin

act, the proceeds from that coin will support the national law enforcement officers memorial foundation's educational and outreach programs. i certainly hope, mr. president, that our colleagues will join senator coons and i, as 15 of them already have, as we circulate that request to have a coin not only minted but used in that way. the men and women of state and local law enforcement put themselves in harm's way every day to protect our communities. the federal government shares the responsibility of ensuring they have the training, the equipment, and support they need to do their jobs. we benefit every day from the people who are the law enforcement officers in and around this building. one of the things they do is obviously keep people safe who work here, but the other thing they do is make our building, the united states capitol, the

most open and accessible capitol in my mind in the world. people come here every day and walk through this building where history has been made and where the work of democracy still goes on. and it wouldn't be realistically possible for them to do that if it wasn't for the police officers that serve and not only protect the capitol but also the places around the capitol where people who want to see democracy in action come to see that happen. the stress and fatigue, by the way, that law enforcement officers face in the line of duty can take a heavy toll, can lead to behavioral health issues like anxiety and depression, post-traumatic stress, when you begin more and more to get that sense that everywhere is the front line if you're working in law enforcement now. i was proud that the senate passed by unanimous consent last year the law enforcement mental

health and wellness act during police week just a year ago. this bill, which i cosponsored, will help law enforcement agencies better understand and address the behavioral health needs of their officers. and, by the way, on that topic we have too often in the last decades expected police officers to be the front lines of behavioral health delivery generally. this is is not a job that's best done by police officers and emergency rooms. but too much of it is still being done that way. police departments all over the country have turned crisis intervention teams to where they have officers prepared in some cases every officer in some departments is prepared to be that crisis intervention officer, to not only be a law enforcement officer but to be the on-sight person that recognizes this is a mental

health problem and begins to deal with that issue differently than they might if it was another kind of problem. recently i cosponsored the probation officers protection act, which would allow federal probation officers to protect themselves and enhance their ability to do their job by giving them the authority to arrest third-party persons who are intervening in their job as they try to secure a person on probation that's violated their probation. that officer currently doesn't have the ability to do what you would want the officer to be able to do if somebody else tries to prevent them from doing that job. we recently had jim goring from the eastern district of missouri in our office for a couple of weeks to advise us on this and other issues to be our policy advisor on federal probation issues.

i know he and the people he worked with would like to see that bill passed this year. there are a few things we can do and are doing to honor the men and women in law enforcement to help them better meet the real challenges of their job. they're our first responders. they run to danger when others are able to run away. all of this, all of us in this chamber have an obligation to honor their service not just today, not just during police week, but every day and every week. and so this is a week set aside for that as we see officers here, as we see officers at home. it's a good week to say thank you, but whether it's here or where we live, reaching out and saying thank you to those who serve us. is the right thing to do. and with that, i would note again the absence of a quorum,

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

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. hoeven: i ask that it be

vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hoeven: today on peace officer day, i would like to pay memorial to a member of the force who was killed in the line of duty in 2017. deputy hourly was 21 years old. his loved ones said he was happiest when he was doing for others, which is why he chose law enforcement for his career. in his life and surface, deputy allery exemplified courage and a willingness to do whatever had to be done no matter the circumstances. deputy allery's name was inscribed on the memorial last week, a lasting tribute to his bravery and dedication to serving his community. his name joins 51 other north dakota law enforcement officers

who paid the ultimate price. we honor his legacy and other police officers who died in the line of duty. here in the senate we are paying tribute to our men and women in blue. i'm proud to join my colleagues in sponsoring a resolution to pay tribute to deputy allery and the 128 other law enforcements offers -- officers killed in the line of deputy. their dedication to duty and the rule of law is an example to so many policemen and women. in recognition of such efforts, our resolution also honors the service of all law enforcement officers by designating this week, may 13 through may 19 as national police week. we want to thank our men and women in blue, those who leave their homes and loved ones each day to protect our communities

and heed the call to serve. while we pay special tribute to their service during police week, we are always grateful for their sacrifices on our behalf. we honor them and thank them for heeding the call to serve . with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i request that proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: thank you, mr. president. i'm honored to join with my

colleagues in honoring the men and women of law enforcement during national police week. this year it was our colleague mr. blunt, the senator from missouri, and the leader of our senator law enforcement caucus who's arranged an opportunity for us to speak here on the floor. i thank him for that. i also wish to commend my colleagues, senators grassley and feinstein, for putting together the national police week resolution. as of yesterday afternoon, there were 75 cosponsors to this resolution which is more than we have had previously. in 2017, the law enforcement community lost 199 of its bravest in the line of duty incidents. the national law enforcement officers memorial fund reports that 53 officers have given their lives in 2018. 28 of those killed by firearms. this is a 56% increase in the

same period in 2017. very grateful that in alaska we have not lost an officer in 2018. we're praying that continues, that we don't see that moving forward. but we know, like every other state out there, that we're living on borrowed time. law enforcement families live on borrowed time. the job is inherently dangerous and we pray and wish and hope that loved ones return home at the end of his or her shift. but really we know there are no guarantees. and there never will be. the last alaska officer to give his life to protect ours was sergeant alan brant. he was with the fairbanks police department. his end of watch was october 28 of 2016. officer alan was shot multiple

times just a couple of weeks before his death everyone thought he would survive his injuries. i had an opportunity to speak with him while he was in the hospital with his wife and his best friend. he was released from the hospital. eight days later after the shooting, alan felt strong enough to actually appear before the fairbanks city council in person to thank the community for just the outpouring of love and support, the unconditional love that they had offered to him and to his family in the wake of his tragedy. and he was very thankful to the community, but he also went on to admonish the community. he said, quote, we need your support, not just when bad things happen. the officers do a hard job, and

most of the time it's thankless. and those were truly his famous last words. he went to anchorage for a second surgery a few days later, and he died on the operating table. but officer alan is clearly not forgotten in the fairbanks community. he lived a hero's life, and his words before the fairbanks city council will long be remembered. we need your support, not just when bad things happen. and that has to be our reminder to all of us all the time, to be there for those who are serving us, to be there to support them. the fairbanks daily news miner in an editorial published this

morning, quote, with police receiving much nydia attention on the national level, sometimes people forget the vast majority of police officers are good men and women who put their lives on the line. take time to remember the fallen officers who have given their lives up for their communities, and be sure to thank the police officers you do see for the hard job they do, even if nothing bad has happened lately. knows -- those were words in the newspaper this morning. this week thousands of members of the law enforcement family have come into washington, d.c., for public ceremonies on the mall and here at the capitol. there have been private moments visiting lost colleagues at the memorial site. the surviving relatives of the fallen are grieving and recovering at events that are sponsored by the concerns of

police survivors. this is a great organization, a vital organization whose existence is barely known outside of the law enforcement community. but i have had several -- several opportunities over the years to work with this extraordinary organization, as they are there for the families who have lost their heroes. there are ample opportunities this week to thank members of our law enforcement families for their sacrifices in public and certainly ample opportunities every day of the year to thank our officers in private. starting with our own u.s. capitol police who greet us at the door every morning, they remain on post when we leave at the end of very long days. they are here for us day in and day out. so, mr. president, i would just end with an observation that i think -- i think the editorial

this morning i in the fairbanks paper offers up some good words here. as the memories end, i hope that we will not wait until next may to thank the men and women of law enforcement for their selfless and at times thankless service to our communities. with that, mr. president, i thank you and i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that proceedings under the call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today in support of legislation that i've introduced with several of my colleagues, senators mccaskill, barrasso, stabenow, and cassidy that would remove a barrier that prevents patients from getting the most affordable prescription drug prices at the pharmacy counter. mr. president, americans have the right to know which payment method -- whether it's using your insurance or paying with cash out of pocket -- would

provide the most savings when they are purchasing prescription drugs. the two bills that we've introduced would establish some clarity in this incredibly opaque drug pricing system. nearly 60% of americans, including roughly 90% of seniors, take at least one prescription drug. in 2016, americans spent more than $330 billion, including a staggering $45 billion out of pocket, on retail prescription drugs. the federal government picked up another $139 billion through medicare, medicaid, and other programs. prescription drugs amount to nearly 18% of all health care

expenditures and are the second fastest-growing expenditure within health care. moreover, two-thirds of personal bankruptcies in our country have been attributed to the cost of medical care, including prescription drugs. to make informed decisions, at the very least we should have the right to know how much our prescription drugs cost. at a series of hearings held by the senate help committee, i have questioned repeatedly one particularly egregious practice that conceals prices from patients at the pharmacy counter. this practice is the result of what are known as pharmacy gag

clauses. these are contract terms that prohibit pharmacists from proactively telling consumers if their prescription would actually cost less if they paid for it themselves rather than using their insurance plan. in other words, if the consumer is using insurance, pharmacists can actually be prohibited from disclosing whether or not the consumer is paying the lowest possible price. in fact, mr. president, the pharmacist is prohibited from sharing this vital information unless the consumer explicitly asks, and most consumers would never get that it would be cheaper for them to pay out of pocket than to use their

insurance plan to purchase the medicine that they need. mr. president, insurance is intended to save consumers money in this situation, but that is not always the case. gag clauses in contracts that prohibit pharmacists from telling patients how to obtain best prices obscure what the true cost of the drug could be and the fact it could be -- and the fact that it could be lower than the patient is paying. several recent investigations, including by the "new york times" and nbc news, have highlighted this unacceptable practice. for example, a consumer paid a co-pay of $43 for a cholesterol drug. however, had that same consumer

paid cash rather than using his insurance, the cost would have been only $19. another investigation told the story of a patient who used insurance to pay $129 for a drug when the cost would have been just $18 had he paid out of pocket. from maine to california, the stories are endless, and this practice is not an outlier issue. according to a survey by the national community pharmacists association, more than 50% of community pharmacists reported that gag clause restrictions prevented them from telling patients about other less expensive options such as paying in cash at least 10 times in the past month.

mr. president, recently i was at the pharmacy counter at a grocery store in maine, and the couple in front of me decided not to accept the prescription that they needed because the co-pay of $111 was more than they could afford. and i could not help but wonder if they hadn't used their insurance, would they have been able to purchase that drug at a lower price? it's so counterintuitive that very few customers are going to think to ask the pharmacist that question. i first learned about these gag clauses from pharmacists in maine who were so frustrated that they were prohibited from providing their patients with

information on the most cost-effective way for them to purchase the medication that they had been prescribed. pharmacists are barred from speaking up, and those who do face penalties for doing so. pharmacists are on the front lines in helping patients manage multiple medications, and they would like to also help ensure that their patients are getting the best, most affordable price. the first bill that we've introduced, the patient right to know drug prices act, which is senate bill 2554, and which i have cosponsored with the four senators that i mentioned -- senators mccaskill, barrasso, stabenow, and cassidy -- would prohibit pharmacy gag clauses in

health care plans that are sold on the exchange and group plans as well. the second bill, the know the lowest price act, which is senate bill 2553, which i'm the lead cosponsor on with senator stabenow, would ban these clauses in medicare part d and medicare advantage plans. specifically, both bills would prohibit health insurance plans and any pharmacy benefit mcs with whom they -- managers with whom they contract from restricting the ability of a pharmacist to provide a plan enrollee with information about any price difference that makes this between the price of the drug under the insurance plan and the price of the drug purchased out of pocket.

our bills would also prohibit penalties from being imposed on any pharmacist who shares such vital and valuable information. now, some states have already taken action to combat this problem. for example, the state of maine enacted a law last year that prohibits charging an insurance enrollee a copayment or other charge that is higher than the cost of the drug to the pharmacy provider. the maine law also protects pharmacists who disclose information related to out-of-pocket costs from being penalized by insurance companies or p.p.m.'s under gag clauses. these are commonsense solutions. in announcing his drug pricing plan last week, the president, i'm pleased to say, stated his intent to ban any gag clauses

that would apply to pharmacists. while the administration can take some steps administratively to curb this practice, the enactment of our two bills would ensure that this protection for pharmacists and for patients is required under law. as consumers continue to face skyrocketing prescription drug prices, we ought to do all that we can to ensure that americans are getting the best prices possible. as congress looks at innovative ways to bring down prices and to increase transparency throughout the health care system, our bills tackle an overlooked issue that directly affects consumers in pharmacies across our

country. our legislation, it's already received strong endorsements from more nan a dozen -- from more than a dozen organization, including patients for affordable drugs, the american pharmacist association, the pharmaceutical care management association, and other groups ranging from the arthritis foundation to the aids institute. mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that these letters be entered into the record at the conclusion of my statement. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: mr. president, it is only logical that pharmacists want to be able to provide their customers with information that will help them afford the medications that they have been prescribed. it is absolutely unacceptable

for pharmacists in this country to be banned under gag clauses from providing that invaluable information to patients, particularly those who may be struggling with the cost of prescription drugs. i urge my colleagues to support banning pharmacy gag clauses and the passage of both senate bill 2554 and senate bill 2553. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. donnelly: thank you. i want to commend my friend and colleague from maine who has been an extraordinary leader on these issues. she's the chair on our aging committee. we recently had a hearing on how

we can do better on pricing for insulin diabetes products. she is tireless. and we're very, very grateful for your hard work. mr. president, over the next hour you'll hear from a group of senators speaking in support of the hundreds of thousands of workers and retirees across the country at risk of losing their pensions. we're here once again calling on congress to enact pension legislation before it's too late. i thank senator baldwin for helping me organize this block of floor speeches, and i want to thank senators heitkamp and manchin and klobuchar and casey and peters for their participation today and for their years of hard work in search of a solution. i also want to recognize my friend and colleague senator brown for his tireless leadership on this issue. if we don't act soon in my home state of indiana, nearly 22,000

teamsters and 2,700 mine workers could face significant pension cuts. and they're not alone. there's nearly 150 multiemployer pension plans listed by the united states department of labor as in critical or endangered status. the failure of those plans would likely lead to the collapse of the federal pension insurance program, the pgpc, pension benefit guarantee corporation. i along with a number of my colleagues have been calling on the senate to take action. i helped introduce the butch-lewis act which puts pension plans on solid footing through a new financing option and also helped introduce the miners pension protection act which would ensure the solvency of the united mine workers of

america pension plan. i met with hoosier pension beneficiaries countless times to hear their stories, including hundreds of teamsters at local 135 in indianapolis and dozens of mine workers in oakland city. additionally, i've hosted bipartisan meetings and spoken with the current and previous administrations to push for action now. though i wish legislation had already been enacted, congress did create a joint select committee earlier this year to hopefully craft a legislative solution by the end of the year. that's why i'm here, to continue shining a light on this important issue and to push for a solution. this issue has significant real real-life implications for the thousands of hoosiers who are affected by it. don't take my word for it.

listen to the heartfelt words of my constituents. rex and christine in fort wayne, indiana, wrote, we both worked really hard. for a combined number of 48 years. and now to be faced with the possibility of elimination or reduction of our pensions through no fault of our own would severely impact our peace of mind and quality of life. a promise is a promise, and we as retirees need these promises to be honored. randy who's a retiree and teamster since 1972 in fort wayne, indiana, wrote, my entire working career i was promised what i would earn from my pension. now i'm 65 years old and i have health issues. i need your help to pass the butch-lewis act of 2017.

that way we can all live the rest of our years with dignity and respect without becoming a burden to anyone. steven, steven is a marine veteran from columbia city, indiana. he served from 1971 through 19 1974. he wrote, without my pension, social security is my only income. we're not asking for a handout, only what most of us worked 30 years for. we earned our pension and as a member of central states pension fund, the government was already watching over our funds. what happened? not many of us have anything else to live on. i am 66 years old and cannot replace a lost pension. elizabeth from fort wayne wrote, my husband and i are both drawing a pension from central

states. together we worked 45 years without employer contribution to the pension fund. during this time we sacrificed a lot, a lot in hourly wages so our company could contribute to our pension. since retiring my husband suffered a heart attack and had two knee surgeries. it would be very difficult for him to find work that would replace the lost income if we no longer have our pensions. russ who is from yoder, indiana,on, without my pension it becomes much more difficult to buy groceries, to pay for our medicine. my wife and i are both 81 years old. i paid into the pension fund for 41 years. i ask you to protect your constituents by urging the leadership to include the butch lewis act in the agenda.

david who's also from fort wayne wrote, we planned on having this pension for 30 years. all those years i worked hard. i paid my dues. i thought i'd be able to secure my family's ability to relax and enjoy retirement and not have to worry about every penny that was spent. this is not cheap and it cuts into our social security. our pension helps absorb these added costs for our household money and it's not extra money. nelson who's from andrew, indiana, wrote, i started driving a truck in 1957. since that time, i've driven well over 3.2 million accident-free miles. now my wife and i, we rely on my pension for basic living expenses and to cover medical expenses. if my pension is cut, we won't be able to make ends meet.

we urgently need your help to protect us. rex and christine, randy, steven, elizabeth, russell, david, and nelson, they all earned their pensions. and they're just a small representation of the thousands of working families and everyone has their own story who are depending on us to do our job and act. they don't want a handout. that's not the american way. it's not the hoosier way. they did their part. now it's time for us to help make good on what they were promised. they don't care about politics. they don't want anything to do with partisanship. they just want us to fix this.

that's part of why we were sent here, to solve problems, and it's time to solve this problem now. let's reach a solution that allows american workers to retire with the financial security they expected and the financial security they earned. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: mr. president, i rise today on behalf of the more than 25,000 workers in wisconsin and retirees who have paid into the central states pension fund. if washington does not act, workers and retirees face massive cuts to the pensions they've earned over decades of

work. if washington does not act, small businesses will be on the hook for a pension liability that they cannot afford. i have been proud to work side by side with wisconsin workers and retirees and with senator brown to introduce the butch lewis act. and i've been proud to work with senator donnelly and others to organize this afternoon's opportunity to share the stories of the hardworking people and retirees that we represent. the bill, the butch lewis act, will put failing multiemployer pension plans, including central states, back on solid ground. and it does so without cutting a single cent from the pension retirees have earned.

i have also introduced legislation to help shore up the government's insurance plan for these pensions. earlier this year i shared stories of wisconsin retirees who stand to lose more than 50% of their pensions if washington does not act. since then, nothing has been done, and so i am here once again to remind my colleagues that this is about a promise that must be kept. this is about a promise made to gary from marshfield, wisconsin. gary told me, and i quote, we recently got custody of our great-grandson and raising an eight-year-old is expensive. more expensive than when our young -- our kids were young.

if my pension gets cut, it would definitely affect our family. i relate to gary's comments because i was raised by my grandparents. i can't imagine raising a grea great-grandchild, and so thank you for doing that, but also, yes, it does cost money, and you need to have the stability of keeping the promises that you were given when you enrolled in central states' pension. this is about a promise made to diane and her husband from lux manyburg -- luxembourg, wisconsin. diane wrote me, if my husband loses his pension, we could lose our house. my husband has been through polio, cancer, knee replacement,

and he needs another. he worked hard all his life lifting thousands of pounds every day in a grocery warehouse. we paid into a pension expecting to have a comfortable life in retirement. and now it's at the risk -- it's at risk of being lost. this is about a promise we made to michael from depier, wisconsin. a vietnam veteran for over 30 years, michael was a driver at a local construction business. his wife is a retired nurse. both worked long hours and are now at the age where finding a new job is just not an option. michael told me, with increasing costs of living and prescription drug prices, losing my pension would leave us in a state of

devastation. and this is about a promise made to randall. randall is from swanaco, wisconsin. he's retired truck driver. randall told me about long hours on the road and leaving his wife at home to care for their children. in 2015, he received a letter from central states pension fund informing him that his pension could be cut in half. i can't imagine receiving that sort of devastating news. randall is 68 years old. he is in poor health. and he would find it impossible to find another job today. he said, my wife and i both worked hard our entire lives. our hard work should have meant a secure retirement, and we are

worried sick about the possibility of losing my pensi pension. it's difficult to sleep at nig night. if washington does not act, we will be breaking a promise made to 1.5 million workers and retirees nationwide. small businesses will make hard decisions to lay off workers or close their doors. washington needs to act, and we need to do it now. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. donnelly: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. donnelly: i want to thank my colleague from wisconsin for that's heartfelt and inspiring remarks. and it illustrates the problem, the problem that i was talking about my friend randy from for

fort wayne who said my entire career i was promised what i would earn from my pension. these are people who every day got up in the dark, worked all day, and went home in the dark so they could take care of their families, so they could meet their obligations. all the businesses that many of these teamster drivers deliver to, they counted on those drivers to be there every day on time in order to keep their business going, and they always kept their word. the coal miners from my state were promised by harry truman that this pension was a sacred obligation that would be kept. and they counted on president truman's word and the word of everybody else after that, kept the lights on in our country, helped make sure we were able to win wars, stood up every single day to fight for the red, white,

and blue, and all they ever asked is for us to keep our word. that's what we need to do, and i am honored to have with us here today my colleague from north dakota, who fights every single day for the people of her state, and we're so blessed to have her with us right now. ms. heitkamp: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. ms. heitkamp: thank you, mr. president. this is such an important issue, and those of us who have spent time with any of the workers, those of us who have spent time with the small business owners who are deeply concerned about the viability of their business under a last-man-standing kind of rule, completely understand the level of grave concern that these americans are experiencing as a result of the problem with

multiemployer pension funds like central states. and it's clear to me that if we fail to act, workers and retirees could and probably will see their retirement security disappear. small businesses across the country could and probably will face bankruptcy, and taxpayers would still be left on the hook. today we're here to tell the stories and give the voice to the workers, small businesses, and retirees who are most at risk for losing their pensions after years of hard work and playing by the rules. so today i rise to give a voice to thousands of north dakota workers and retirees who are at rick for losing their -- at risk for losing their retirement. the only way to prevent these workers and retirees from losing their pensions is for congress to act. these men and women did everything right, and they lived

not just in north dakota but in almost every state. they played by the rules, they worked for years if not decades, often in labor-intensive jobs like coal miners or truckers, u.p.s. package delivery and grocery supply stories and they -- stores and they acted responsibly when they negotiated forked and they started putting money away in their pensions, taking wage reductions to guarantee that their family would have a future. i also want to point out that the -- about half of the people when i asked them how many of the pensioneers who come to my meet, i asked those who served our country by putting on a uniform to stand up and usually it is about a third to half a room. so let's not forget. these are veterans who returned home, they started working in their communities, they took off that uniform, continued to build

our communities, and now they're struggling. they're struggling to understand how a government and how a society could be leaving them in this level of uncertainty regarding their economic future. and so i want to tell a couple stories of some of the people that i've met, but i want you to know that i just recently as saturday had a meeting with over 140 workers in fargo. they came from all over and their stories were heartbreaking. they couldn't understand how if they did everything right in the united states of america they would have their financial viability at risk. i had one man stand up, 80 years old who told me that he went back to work when he knew that there was going to be a problem and worked in the oilfields. he said, i'm worn out. there's nothing more i can do. so i want to talk about donna

matson and her husband mike who worked as a u.p.s. driver for 30 years in fargo. in 20 is 13 he was diagnosed were a progressive subneural palsy, a disease is that requires regular and expensive speech, physical, and occupational therapies. that pension that he put money into was supposed to be there to support his family after mike's decades of labor. now when he need needs it most d when his wife needs it the most, that pension could be ripped away. tina kevin cramer was a member of the teamsters workings as a secretary for 25 years for which syrian add pension. her husband was a member of the steelworkers and worked for bobcat for about 30 years as a forklift driver and he earn add pension. several years ago both of them retired. soon after, tina's husband slid passed away.

tina lost her husband's pension and now relies solely on her pension. tina has just a little bit of savings and she's already had to dip into that each month to pay her bills for groceries and property tax. should the central states fund go bankrupt, it is only going to get worse. mark rothenschiller from business mark gave up many long hours. he gave up going to his kids' plays, sports games because he often worked late. because of the intensive labor of his work, he's had five back surgeries and another rotator cuff surgery, which forced him to retire early. if congress doesn't act to fix central states pension fund, he doesn't know if he'll be able to pay his health care bills. mark lunderby never thought he'd

be in the position after 36 years of driving a semi-, putting in 14-hour days with extensive stretches away from home, he may no longer have his retirement savings. but that's the reality. he followed the rules, paid into his pension throughout his entire career, and he tells me that if we don't move legislation to protect his pension soon, he'll have to sell his house. i would invite any of our colleagues in this body to call a meeting, call a meeting of the people who have been affected, because i serve on the select committee on pensions, and our first meeting we had a lot of discussion about how difficult this -- solving this problem will be. and there was a lot of talk about the math and how we could make the math work. and how we could bring this fund back into solvency. and i said, that's right, we

need to fix the economics of the pension fund. but we cannot ignore our moral imperative. and that moral imperative is to do the right thing, to make sure that as we're standing there we realize that for very, very many -- in fact, hundreds of thousands of citizens of our state -- this is life or death. this is the difference between having dignity in retirement or being completely dependent on someone else to help them through. and this is at the time that they did nothing wrong other than plan for a pension that would work for them. other than bargain for a pension that would work for them. we cannot ignore the moral imperative. yes, we need to fix this and we need to fix it soon because time is wasting, and the longer we wait, the more difficult it's going to be. and so i would invite all of our colleagues who aren't familiar

with this issue to call a meeting or to come to one of our meetings and look these veterans in the face, look these hardworking people in the face, look at the active folks who don't know if their benefits are already going to be given and available to them, look them in the face and say, it's simply a math problem. your problem is a math problem. no, their problem is an american problem. it's a congressional problem. it's an administration problem. and it needs to be fixed, and we need to make a commitment to making sure that the people who have worked hard all their life, the people we talk about every day on this floor, are kept whole and moving -- in securing their pensions. it is an american imperative. thank you, mr. president. mr. donnelly: mr. president? i want to thank my friend and

colleague from north dakota, who works nonstop for the people of her state. we often talk about making sure that the things we do here in the senate, that they reward hard work, that they stand up for hard work, that they're focused on making sure that those, as i mentioned before, go to work in the dark, work all day, all evening, and come home in the dark, that there's a fair deal for them, that we keep our word in regard to pensions related to them. people who have worked 30, 40 years. my colleague from michigan, senator peters, has always been at the forefront of making sure that we keep our word, that we do what's right, and that we stand up for the working men and women of michigan and our country. i'd like to yield my time to the

senator from michigan. mr. peters: thank you, senator donnelly, and thank you for bringing this issue to the floor. i also want to say thank you for your leadership on this issue. you have fought for indiana families day in and day out here on the senate floor, and they are facing a crisis now, as the people of michigan are facing a crisis now. as you talked about a fair deal, i can say with a great deal of certainty, the people of michigan just like the people of indiana believe that a deal is a deal. this is a saying we've all heard. but it is also something on which we should all agree throughout the country. the american commitment to honoring contracts is part of why our economy is the greatest in the world. businesses know that. if their partner in a duly executed deal backs out, they have access to the full power of our courts and our legal system to make them whole. this is basic fairness.

a deal is a deal. mr. president, workers deserve the same fairness. workers who have banded together to negotiate for pensions during their retirement in exchange for lower upfront pay deserve the pensions that they have earned. generations of americans have built their lives around the idea if you work hard and you play by the rules, you will have a fair shot at success. the certainty that hard work will be rewarded empowers americans to achieve economic security, provide for loved ones, and retire with dignity. but for many americans who have spent decades working hard, their retirement is now at risk. tens of thousands of michiganders will be denied their hard-earned raoeurplt if congress does -- retirement if congress does not act to protect the benefits they have earned. more than 47,000 in michigan

will face massive cuts to their pensions if the central states pension fund is allowed to fail. and central states is not the only multiemployer pension plan on a rapid path to insolvency. as many as 200 financial plans are troubled and risk being closed. and with the retirement of 1.5 million americans hanging in the balance as a result. when michiganders contacted me about this issue, they are frustrated and angry, but more than anything else, they're afraid. they're afraid that they will lose their homes. they are afraid they'll be unable to afford the health care that they need. and they are afraid that they could one day become a burden on their adult children. i appreciate it isn't very easy sharing some very personal fears, but i'd like to share some of the stories that i've heard from michigan retirees and

folks who are hoping to retire soon. carl from anamee would have to sell his house and find a new job that he and his aching joints could hopefully handle at age 72. after 30 years of hard physical labor. jan and his wife thelma from deerfield would lose the home that jan built over 50 years with his own two hands. and although thelma still works and pays into a pension plan, she will not receive the benefits earned over the last decade. ever since the troubled plan froze the funds for active workers. for people like thelma, the uncertainty of pension cuts are quickly becoming a harsh reality. william from eerie is enduring 80 -- eight zero -- 80% cut to his pension. he describes it as the worst thing that could have possibly

ever happened to him and his wife in their golden years. william is a navy veteran who drove 120 miles to and from work every day to keep his pension and the promise of a comfortable retirement. the extreme cuts he is facing have forced him to go back to work. he had to overcome multiple barriers to senior employment in order to land a minimum-wage job. the job pays for basic necessities like electricity, food and heat, but he still cannot afford health insurance for his wife who is still more than a year away from qualifying for medicare. mr. president, these americans made a deal with chair -- their employers, decades of hard work in exchange for a decent retirement. a deal is a deal. we have the fdic to make sure that americans don't lose their life savings if a bank goes under. we have federally backed crop

insurance to help protect farmers who face unpredictable growing seasons. we even have a federally backed mortgage insurance to protect banks if homeowners can't pay their mortgage. well, workers like carl, thelma, and william, they're not asking for a handout. they are asking for the pension benefits that they earned and they bargained for and that they worked their entire lives to secure. a deal is a deal. we must make this right. i urge my colleagues to stand up for american workers and support the butch lewis act. we must address pension insolvency without sacrificing workers' hard-earned benefits. i thank you for bringing this issue to the floor. i'm with you, and we need to bring our colleagues with us as well. mr. donnelly: mr. president, i want to thank my colleague from michigan who has so many

teamster members who travel back and forth across our respective borders every day, who ride some of the most difficult and dangerous roads in the world, who on a constant basis are helping families that may be in trouble on the road, who are helping others that they see along the way. they are not only professional drivers and other teamster members, they are people who keep a sharp eye out for others, to help them if they're in trouble, to make sure that every family that's out there on the road, that they keep an eye on them, that their fellow drivers, they keep an eye on them, that they make america go. so many auto parts from your state of michigan come down to my state of indiana.

so many parts come from my state to your state of michigan to create jobs, to make america go. and we want to tell all of those workers, this is your capitol. this is your government. we're the hired help. we work for you. it is our obligation to fix this, because promises were made. president harry truman promised our mine workers that their pensions would be protected, that their health care would be protected. and those mine workers went down underground, went and powered our economy, powered our war efforts in world war ii, in korea, in vietnam, to try to make sure that when our men and

women were overseas, that they were there to ensure that they would, that our men and women would have what they needed. promises were made. it's our obligation to keep them. for the central states pension and for other pension programs, as i mentioned before, people who go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, who drive our economy, who have made our country the envy of the world, who don't come up with excuses but head off to work, who go to work in the dark, maybe drive all day, come home in the dark, to make sure that all the other workers in our nation have all the goods they need to put cars

together, to build planes, to drive our nation forward, to continue to increase our productivity. that's what these men and women have done for 30, 40 years. and they contribute to their pension plan. and all they're asking is a fair deal. and so it's our job, it's up to us to make sure that we keep that sacred bond. and that's what we will fight to do. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. donnelly: i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. donnelly: thank you, madam president. we are -- thank you, mr. president. we are blessed to have with us my friend and colleague from west virginia, senator manchin. no one fights harder for the working folks than senator manchin. no one fought harder to make sure that we were able to protect the health care benefits of our retired mine workers. we worked together on that nonstop to make sure that that promise was kept. senator manchin has continued to work nonstop to protect the pensions of these mine workers of so many others, like the central states. senator manchin has been kind enough to join us this afternoon, and we look forward to your remarks. mr. manchin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: mr. president,

thank you, first of all, to my colleague from indiana, there's nobody that's been a greater ally to me and a greater friend than senator donnelly and some of the fights we had just basically making sure there's a fairness between business and workers and that workers are treated fair. and we fought for that. you have miners in indiana, which i'm -- which you brought me into your state and i had a chance to spend some time with them. i appreciate that very much. we're going to continue to make sure that we get the job done. this should be a conversation we're not having now. it was all rolled in one bill, the health care and pensions, we had it paid for, work out, we thought we had an agreement, it was partisan, came out of the sandt finance in a partisan way. -- out of the senate finance in a bipartisan way. we got half of the job done, half of it more to do. two weeks ago marked the one-year anniversary for the

permanent fix for the miners health care. it was to keep those in my state from losing their health care. now the joint select committee, which i'm proud to be a member of, we're termed to find a permanent solution for the miners pension. over 70 years ago, harry truman promised that the government would guarantee our brave coal miners benefits in return for their services. letlet me tell you up until that point in time, my grandparents on both sides of my family, my mom and my dad were coal miners and both start grocery stores. up until that period of time there were no guarantees, no benefits. when they said you owed your store to -- soul to the company store, that was figuratively direct -- correct. my grandfather said that he loaded coal until he since --

since he was 7. he always owed them for than he paid them. harry truman finally realized what the coal industry and coal miners have ton for america. there is not another group of people that have done more through blood, sweat, tears, and hard labor. they mined the coal that made the steel that helped to build the industrial revolution and help to lift the middle class to what it is and what it has been. so over 70 years ago, president truman recognized that importance and he made sure that would be not gone unnoticed. he passed a bill, it was john l. lewis, and at time that senator krug, passed a piece of legislation, not from taxpayers' money, that said every time from this day forward, by the mine workers of america, that a percentage of that price of that

commodity of that coal would go towards their benefit so they would have something. let me tell you what we have today. the average miner's pension is $995. we're not talking thousands of dollars. most of this goes to widows whose husbands passed a away. the agreement was a sacred promise between the workers and the country and it captured the best of america and who we are, but the multiemployer pension system in the united states is in crisis, as many as 114 pension plans, including mine workers of america, 1974 pension fund is expected to become insolvent. we're the first ones on the block. this critical plan which covers 87,000 retired miners, 27,000 in my state and 20,000 full vested full workers expect to become

insolvent by 2022 or sooner. if congress allows this, the results will be devastating for retirees. current employees and the companies, including those in west virginia. and these financial losses will be felt throughout the communities. umwa live and spend money in. we must work to prevent this catastrophe and shore up miners pension plans. again, i said, they have earned and paid into. let me tell you how most became insolvent. it didn't happen until the 1980 as far as bankruptcy laws in america. bankruptcy laws in our country puts the financial institution before the human being for the benefits they earned. in has to be a correction and something done right there because these miners and workers all over the country that leave that money in paying for their benefits and then at the end of their work laif it's gone

because of some conglomeration or takeover or through a bankruptcy, and this can't be tolerated any longer. we could not have passed the permanent fix for miern health care without the support of colleagues on both sides of the aisle and president trump. president trump is all for it, trying to help the miners. he knows what they've done for the country and i appreciate him speaking up in support for west virginia coal miners and coal miners across the country. we had no better advocates than the retired miners. they p come up here day by day putting a real face, a real family and real challenges that they had. they did this for a year or more. for years they walked the halls of congress, met with all representatives and staff, wrote letters, urging us to keep the promise made to them. i stand by them leading the fight to make sure retired coal miners' pensions won't be taken

away too. we won't let this happen. throughout the process i talked with thousands of west virginians if they lost their pensions. we received letters are from coal miners and their families with the fear that comes without knowing they will be able to pay their mortgage or put food on the table. i'm going to -- if i may, my good friend -- my good friend, the senator from indiana, if you will indulge me a little longer. ricky from west virginia said he is worried if his pension is taken away he will not be able to take care of his family. losing or having my pension reduced will cause great hardship. a coal miner's pension is not much to start with. i'm not asking for a handout, only what i worked for. bennie will have to choose between buying food or paying utility bills. he said i draw a pension of $250

each month, but if i lose that, i will have to decide between food or utility bills. i'm an older disabled coal miner with a small social security check. judy is worried if she lost her late-husband's pension, her and her grandson wouldn't be able to make it. these are basically second parents because the parents haven't been able to be dysfunctional. she wrote i'm not a rich person, but if i lose my late husband's pension, i will lose everything i have. my husband worked 30-plus years at the mines with a promise to be taken care of. yes, i get social security, but that will not cover my regular bills, not to mention home and car insurance. after securing pension benefits, we proved that we could work together. it was done in a bipartisan way. it is a philosophy i followed throughout my life in public

service. as the governor of the great state of west virginia and now as a u.s. senator representing the great state of west virginia. the coal miners are among the hardest working people in america, and they keep this country the strongest in the world. i say when people ask where i'm from, let me tell you where i'm from. i'm from a state that has the most patriotic people in the nation. they fought in every war tbh conflict, -- war in conflict and lost most lives. they have done the heavy lifting of getting the coal, building ships and the good lord was to kind to us that my state is a great state called west virginia. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president. mr. donnelly: mr. president, we are so fortunate to have such a fighter for the people of west virginia in senator manchin. we are grateful for your hard

work. we have another amazing fighter for the people of the state of minnesota, senator klobuchar. and are senator klobuchar has fought nonstop on this issue as well. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: thanks to my friends from west virginia and indiana, and thank you, senator donnelly, for your leadership in bringing us together today. minnesota, like indiana, has so many people that are in the central state's pension plan, and like senator donnelly, i believe that promises made should be promises kept. over ten million americans participate in a multiemployer pension plan for a safe and secure retirement. the central state's pension plan established in 1955 to help truckers save for retirement. and as senator donnelly knows, coming from indiana, a state

with a lot of proud truckers. today the central state's pension plan includes from the car haul, tank haul, construction, clerical, food processing, dairy and trucking industries. i heard from people all over my state. fred from hibbing worked for 33 years as a bread man and serves as a caregiver for his wife. daniel from st. michael worked over 41 years as a mechanic. if he were to face a reduction in his pension, he would likely be forced to sell the house he has lived in since 1973. sue from elk river wrote about her husband jim who retired in 1998 and passed away in 2013. jim left a pension that was supposed to take care of her for the rest of her life. sue wrote that jim losing his

life was devastating enough but now being a woman in her 70 she can barely make ends meet. these are a few much of examples. unless congress acts, hundreds of thousands of participants in the central state pension plan face the reality that their hard-earned pensions could be refused. many of these are from the midwest, that's why it's called the central states mention plan. we need to find a workable solution for multiworker pension plangs. i noal senator brown is leading a group that is working on that, the joint committee working together to find a solution that they can present to the american people. we all know that delay only makes the solution more costly. the time is here. it's arrived. we can't put it off anymore. we must move forward now to get this done. thank you, senator donnelly, for your leadership. a senator: mr. president.

the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. donnelly: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from minnesota had she has been a nonstop advocate for working families across her state and across our country. and another nonstop advocate has been my friend and colleague from pennsylvania, senator casey, who works tirelessly, not only on behalf of the keystone state but on behalf of working families all across america. senator casey. mr. casey: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i rise, first of all, to thank senator donnelly for his leadership and my colleagues. i'm speaking today on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people in pennsylvania who currently or will rely upon a pension. multiemployer pension programs protect about ten million workers and retirees across about 1,400 pension plans across

the country. in pennsylvania that number is 230 multiemployer pension plan with 109,000 rites. -- recipients. many are at risk. in 2017, the pension benefit guaranty corporation paid $462 million to pennsylvanians whose pension plans have failed. that's about $5,000 800 on average. democrats in the senate have been fighting to preserve these earned benefits for our retirees for years, including the nation's coal miners. the fight for coal miners is just half won. we were successful in making sure that their promised health care benefits were there for them, but we still have work to do with regard to pensions.

it's inexcusable that americans who have earned these benefits have to worry, as some do, and have been worrying for many years. we know what the tax bill did among many things for very wealthy interests. the tax bill that was rammed through the senate back in december of last year gave $13 billion in tax windfalls to our nation's six largest banks, $13 billion for this year alone and they are all unpaid for. so the debt goes up, six big banks get $13 billion, and yet this body, the senate, can't deliver on the promise of pensions to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands even across the country. let me give you three quick examples in the limited time we have. debbie from western pennsylvania wrote about the pensions miner

act. she said, we depend on my dad's pension to survive on a limited income, so said debbie frommest western -- from western pennsylvania. dennis from southwestern pennsylvania, he drove a truck, working long hours away from my family, he said, to provide a good living. he said, and i quote, i would appreciate if you would do whatever you can to preserve that pension for my wife and for me. unquote. jrks security from north -- security from northeastern pennsylvania. he is a bakey pensionieer. he said, help save my pension fund. i paid into that for 26 years and depend on it greatly. i work three jobs and my wife works two jobs. we've paid for one child through college and one just entered.

none of these families should have to worry about these earned benefits. this measure of retirement security. so we have a long way to go, but i'm grateful that we're willing to work together on both sides of the aisle and i'm especially grateful that democrats have been united in finally keeping that promise to those who have earned these benefits, those who have earned these pensions. mr. president, i would yield the floor.. mr. donnelly: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. donnelly: i want to thank the senator from pennsylvania and minnesota, who are still here with us right now whose focus has been on honoring hard work, on making sure that we keep our work, so that that truck driver who's paid in every day, who's riding down the pennsylvania turnpike or the schedule -- schu lexpress way or

i-35 in minnesota, that the promise made to them after 35 years of hard work of driving, of trying to keep people safe, of making the deliver kwraoef -- delivery of food, to make sure our country can continue to move forward, those are the folks we're talking about, and if either of my colleagues would like to say anything else in regards to the amazing hard work of the miners in pennsylvania, or the teamsters in minnesota, those are the folks, the central states fund, so many other pension funds as well, that we fight for them every single day to try to get this done because as the senator from pennsylvania said, this is a job half done right now. we were able to make sure that we protected the health care benefits that were promised. i had a miner and his wife who i

spent time with in oakland city, indiana, down in gibson county, where we have so many coal mines, and when i saw him, he said this is one of the greatest days for me when we were able to keep the health care benefits. and he said, it's not for me, it's because of my wife who's ill -- and they're both in their 80's -- can now get her medicine again this week. that's what his concern was. it wasn't about himself. it was about his wife and making sure that with the pain she was struggling with, the health care problems that she had, that he was able to make sure she would be okay. and that's our job, is to back up the word that was given to him because he spent his life working nonstop to keep our country moving forward.

and all he asked is that we keep our word in return. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. the future for american workers is looking bright. the economy boosting measures liking lifting pw-rdsome regulations is giving americans the economy we need to get access to the future of prosperity. our goal with tax reform was pretty simple. make life better for american workers, and that involved a couple of things. for starters, it involved putting more money in americans'

pockets right away by cutting their taxes. and that's what we did. we cut tax rates across the board, nearly doubled the standard deduction and doubled the child tax credit. and americans are already seeing this relief in their paychecks. but we knew that tax cuts, as helpful as they are, weren't enough. we needed to make sure that americans had access to good jobs, good wages, and good opportunities, the kinds of jobs and opportunities that would set them up for security and prosperity for the long term. and since jobs and opportunities are created by businesses, that meant reforming our tax code to improve the playing field for businesses so they could improve the playing field for their workers. and that's what we did. i'm pleased to report that it's already working. in less than five months into the new tax law, businesses after business have announced good news for workers. pay increases, bonuses, better

benefits like increased retirements benefits, like new and better education benefits, enhanced parental leave benefits. so far we have more than 530 examples of businesses making things better for their workers and customers from giant corporations like apple to small businesses like don ramone restaurant in west palm beach florida. last month the unemployment reached its lowest level since 2000. the last time unemployment was this low the ipod hadn't been introduced yet. economic growth is on a solid track. the economy's growth rate in 2018 is nearly double what it was during the same period last year. small businesses are thriving. the president of the national federation of independent businesses reports that, and i quote, small and independent business owners are notably confident about the economy. they are reporting that sales

are strong, profits are good, and employee compensation is increasing. and being are setting into motion plans to expand. end quote. that again from the president of the national federation of independent business. and that is borne out by nfib's survey data that shows the net percentage of small businesses raising worker compensation over the last three months has increased to 33%, the highest level since 2000. that's good news for american workers. mr. president, americans had a tough time during the last administration. our economy stagnated and american families struggled. but our economy and our country are coming back, and they're copping -- coming back stronger than ever. the tax cuts and jobs act are creating an economy that allows families to access the jobs, the wages, and the opportunities that they need for security today and for prosperity tomorrow. mr. president, the future is

indeed looking bright. mr. president, i also want to take a moment to discuss the partisan net few -- net neutrality resolution we'll be taking up this week. there are senators from both parts for passing it and democrats know it. instead of moving forward with bipartisan discussions on a net neutrality bill, certain democrats decided that they wanted to play politics. so instead of bipartisan legislation this week, we're taking up a partisan resolution that will do nothing, nothing to provide a permanent solution on the issue of net neutrality. mr. president, for most of its existence, the internet thrived under a light regulatory touch from washington, d.c. washington avoided weighing down the internet with burdensome regulations, and the internet flourished as a result, becoming a vehicle for an endless stream of innovation and economic

growth. but during the obama administration, democrats became convinced we needed to heavily increase the federal government's role, and so the obama f.c.c. reclassified the internet under a regulatory regime that was developed more than 80 years ago to govern monopoly telephone services. that decision posed a number of problems for the future of the internet. for starters, heavy-handed government regulations tend to stifle the kind of growth and innovation that have always flourished around the internet. there was also serious reason to be concerned that this new regulatory regime would discourage companies from investing in upgrades to their networks and infrastructure to expand access to broadband. mr. president, that's a big concern for my state of south dakota, where too many individuals still lack reliable internet access. and in fact, the f.c.c. has since found that the decision to

regulate the internet under the 1934 -- that's right, mr. president -- 1934 telephone regulatory regime has slowed investment, which has restricted the improvement of internet services for rural americans like those that i represent in south dakota. in response to these problems, the f.c.c. recently decided to restore the light touch regulatory regime that the internet thrived under and which had been in place -- prior to 2015, for twaog decades, light touch regime under the administrations of both political parties. that in turn created the opportunity for us to adopt net neutrality legislation to permanently address concerns about blocking, throttling and paid prioritization and to deal with these concerns under a regulatory regime suitable for the 21st century internet. and so that's why the f.c.c. went back to the light touch

regulatory regime rather than the heavy-handed 1934 law that would treat the internet like a ma bell public utility. but instead of taking this opportunity to work with republicans to develop bipartisan legislation, democrats have decided to play politics. mr. president, the internet, like any industry, needs stability to grow and thrive. internet innovators need to know what the rules of the game are now, and they need to know what the rules of the game are going to be in the future. we can't have a situation where internet regulations vary from administration to administration, or worse yet, from year to year. imagine a basketball game where the rules changed every quarter or after every time-out. it's pretty safe to say that players would quickly get fed up and start quitting the game, and

that's exactly what will happen if we don't have been stable rules for the internet. too many americans are not going to be interested in taking risks or investing in innovation if they can't predict what the rules will look like a year down the road. mr. president, internet regulation is a serious issue that will affect our nation for decades to come. this is too important of an issue for partisanship, and yet here we are with just more political theater with a partisan resolution that everybody acknowledges isn't going anywhere. and so in the wake of the f.c.c.'s decision, which gives congress the perfect opportunity to step in, to provide clear guidance, clear rules of the road regarding how the internet is going to be regulated, we have democrats here in the senate who are in the midst of a political stunt instead of sitting down and having a

serious conversation about net neutrality legislation. it is time, mr. president, to put together a bipartisan bill and establish long-term stability on internet regulation so that the internet can continue to grow and thrive long into the future and not be subject to the whims of one administration or the next administration and rules and regulation that's are going to go back and forthwith the winds of whatever -- forth with the winds of whatever political party or worse yet spending all the time in court and spending millions of dollars in litigation that could be spent on infrastructure that could deliver better services to people all across the country, including those in rural areas like south dakota. mr. president, we've been getting some great judicial nominees here in the senate, including several this week. i am also looking forward to confirming another important nomination in the near future and that is gina haspel's

nomination to be director of the c.i.a. acting director haspel is one of the most qualified candidates for the c.i.a. that we've ever had. she spent 33 years in the agency. she served overseas and here at home and during both the cold war and global war on terrorism many she served in the trenches and she's held important leadership positions in the agency. and, mr. president, she's won several awards for her work, including the intelligence medal of merit, the george h.w. bush award and donovan award. her nomination has been endorsed by leon panetta and john brennan who served as c.i.a. director under president obama. mr. president, our nation and world are facing a range of conventional and unconventional threat from the possibility of nuclear-armed iran to an increasing aggressive russia and

china to the ever-present threat of terrorism. we need a leader like gina haspel at the head of the c.i.a., someone who knows intelligence inside and out and who can provide the president with the information he needs to make decisions affecting our nation's security. i look forward to confirming ms. haspel as c.i.a. director in the near future. i hope my colleagues here in the senate both sides of the aisle will join in that endeavor and make sure that this position is filled with the right person to head that agency. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: mr. president, i want to begin -- and i want read an excerpt of an article that ran

on october 8, 2012. it was in "the new york times" and the article opened with the following, this is a quote, a house committee issued a blacklisterring bipartisan -- blisserring report that had stolen intellectual property from american companies and could potentially spy on americans. the house intelligence committee said after a year-long investigation, it had come to the conclusion that the chinese businesses huawei and zte were a national threat because of their attempts to extract sensitive information and because of their loyalties to the chinese government. the story continued said by allowing these companies to do business in the united states would give the chinese government the ability to easily intercept communications and allow to start online attacks on critical infrastructure like dams and power grids. end quote. this was from a report, a

bipartisan report, in the year 2012 in the month of october by the united states house of representatives committee on intelligence, insince then, -- and since then, over and over again, we've heard the threats -- heard the intelligence community in this country clearly define this threat, and virtually every one of the open committee hearings i or one of my colleagues had an opportunity to ask every member of the national intelligence community, national of intelligence, director of the f.b.i., director of counterintelligence, and every time one of us, me or someone else asked, would you use a z.t.e. phone, we're still waiting for one of them to say yes. every single one of them says no. which is why i was pleased a couple of weeks ago when the

commerce departments brought sanctions against z.t.e. it was because on top of the spying and everything else, z.t.e. helped china, iran, and north korea evade international sanctions, and so the penalty was that american companies could no longer sell component pieces to z.t.e., which has led them to being on the brink of being out of business. no one should feel sorry for z.t.e. this is a company heavily subsidized by the chinese government, protects them in china, subsidizes them in china, but exports them abroad with the hopes that they can help them steal secrets and monitor and be an arm in the tool of intelligence for them. and so no one should feel sorry for them. and so i was surprised to see a couple of days ago as the president tweeted and there have been some articles about perhaps maybe this sanctions might be going away in exchange for a deal on agriculture. i want to tell you if that's

what happens, the president has gotten terrible advice and it would be a terrible thing for him to do. it would be -- i think it would be deeply problematic for the national security of the united states and ultimately for his hopes of rebalancing america's relationship with china geo politically, economically, commercially, and certainly on security. the most important thing to and understand is that china is carrying out a plan. they put it out there. it's not a conspiracy. it's called made in china, 2025. made in china 2025 is a plan to dominate the ten most important technologies of the 21st century. you may ask, why is that big deal. countries would want to do that. they have every right to aspire to that. i agree. if they want to dominate these ten fields, they have every right to invest in it, they have every right to invest in research and innovation, they have every right to do all of that. the problem is that's not how to

intend to dominate these fields. the way they intend to dominate the ten top technologies of the 21st century is to steal the intellectual property, basically the ideas, the protected, secret ideas that our companies are innovating that american companies are innovating to steal that and use it for themselves. furthermore, they insist that all of their companies be allowed to sell whatever they want this the united states without any restriction, on the other hand, our companies are restricted, some of them prohibited from selling to china's 1.2 billion market, soon to be the largest economy in the world. so, in essence, they intend to dominate these ten fields by cheating their way into a position of dominance, and that alone is not just an economic issue, this is a national security issue. if you dominate the field of artificial intelligence, if you dominate the material of telecommunications, if you

dominate the field of aerospace technology, you will dominate the field of national defense and national security and you will pose a threat to other countries that do not. and we're giving it to them. we are literally allowing them to steal it from us. and they play our system against us. american companies go to china to do business and here's what they tell them. you can only do business here if you partner up with a chinese company. you have to give them all the secrets to how you do business. by the way, time and again, as soon as the chinese company can do what the american company can do, the american company gets kicked out and suddenly you have a competitor all over the world that you helped build by giving it to them for free. sadly, a lot of american companies play the game because all they care about is being able to sell to china in the short term and have profits without any thought of the long term or national security of the united states. i imagine many of these are the same voices trekking down to the

white house to do the deal with z.t.e. this is not just a trade issue. it is much more than just that. much more than just that and it needs to be taken with the seriousness that it deserves. it's not just about telecommunication. if you have a z.t.e. phone and they are widespread in the united states and these things are hitting up against our towers, they will use that to spy on american companies and to steal the intellectual property of the united states. it is exactly what they've done. spying on americans, stolen intellectual property from american companies. this trade dispute with china is about a lot more than trade. it's about geo political balance. it's about fairness, and this is our last chance to get it right. it is almost too late. it is almost too late, and i'm telling you when historians, if we get this wrong, if we back down, when hisser qans write

about -- historians write about this period of time in history, they will say americans gave it over to the chinese, because they were more interested in short-term gain and willing to turn over the future. we will live in ale world where china dominates the top fields, including many that are critical to our interest and our nation. i would argue that z.t.e. should not be allowed to sell anything in the united states. i would argue to you that if a technology company from another country is being used by that country not just to spy on government secrets, but to steal the intellectual property of our business, they should be out of business in the united states. and some people would say, well, china is very powerful, they are going to come back and use other means to funnish us. -- punish us. we have extraordinary leverage over their technology industry. one of the things z.t.e. can do is buy from a government-owned

company. they can buy components from them. but then we can cut them off as well. in fact, every major telecom in china, huawei, norway, every -- they all depend on components from the united states. hopefully what i would hope to arrive at is a balanced trade situation, a balanced gee wrote political -- geo political situation between the united states and china. right now it is out of balance. when you allow imbalances to persist in international nationings, it -- nations, it leads to conflict, wars, and showdowns. that's what imbalances lead to. imbalances leads the country that is dominant to take advantage of the countries that are not unless you agree to surrender to them. this issue of china and z.t.e. is a terrible mistake.

if america cuts a deal with z.t.e. that says pay a couple of$00 in -- hundred dollars in fines, and that's it, these sanctions against them are punishment for evading and breaking sanctions. if you basically wave that off in exchange for a deal for agriculture, they are not -- they've basically done nothing wrong. these farmers are victims of retribution. what we should say is if you don't lift the tariff on our farmers, we will do the same thing to z.t.e., huawei and others, that's what we should be saying, instead of being tricked into this apparent deal that someone's cooking up over there and giving the president terrible advice, which by the way, i know that's not where his instincts are. someone is getting to him, i don't know if it's treasury or where it is but this is the wrong time to cut a deal and

this would be a terrible deal. this is not just about technology. if you don't believe that china uses its leverage, the leverage of economics to reach into your life here in america. people will be asking, what does that have to do with me? what does that have to do with us? yes, it's a bad thing and we're worried about china in the long run, but what does it have to do with me here at home? let me tell you. china has no problem using its long arm and economic leverage to interfere in the lives of americans, and i'll tell you how. about two weeks ago two american airlines, united and american airlines got a the letter in the mail from the chinese government telling them that we noticed that your website says taiwan, it doesn't say taiwan-china. unless you change your website, we will punish you and we may take away your routes. they haven't made a decision yet. we reached out to both companies. let me give you a clue. if they are anything like other

american companies that have been threatened, they are going to cave, especially united that has all of these routes. this is an american company headquartered in the united states who will have to change their website because china threatened them. you think that's not bd. i'll -- bad. tile tell you something crazy. the gap came out with a map of china but not taiwan, china threatened them. within hours the gap puts out a tweet. we're so sorry. we apologize. we didn't mean to offend you. over a t-shirt for god's sake. this is the leverage that they v. you know, there are hollywood movies that are written in a way to avoid certain topics because otherwise they won't be allowed to play the movie in china. you know there are actors that are not allowed to be in certain movies, can't get a hollywood blockbuster movie because you can't distribute it. like richard gere. can't have richard gere movies in china because he's pro-tibet.

marriott, great american company, hotels, everybody stayed at one. marriott had an employee. a guy lived in america, not even an executive, just a guy, good guy, hardworking guy. he accidentally went online and accidentally, wasn't even on purpose, accidentally liked a tweet about tibet. and china went crazy. and they threatened marriott. marriott didn't just apologize. they fired him. this is an american. didn't live in china. he lives in the united states of america. lost his job for accidentally liking a tweet that china didn't like. this happens over and over again and it isn't noticed. this is how they use economic leverage. this is how they get panama to tell taiwan we no longer recognize you diplomatically. we now recognize china. this is how they dot the dominican republic to do the same thing last week or a up come ever weeks ago. they won't stop. paraguay might be next, i hear.

this has to stop. we don't want to contain china. we welcome a prosperous china. we want a global partner. imagine the u.s. and china working together against nuclear proliferation, against radical terrorism, against all the threats of the words. but this is not leading to a partnership. this is leading to a world in which china dominates every key industry, remakes every institution, and america becomes a junior partner the way vladimir putin and russia already are to china. that we cannot accept. but that is where we are headed. because if administrations both republicans and democrat took this threat too lightly, they thought that when china got rich, they would start playing by the rules, guess what? they not only not play by the rules, they assume all the benefits of the rules but live by none of the responsibilities. this is our last chance. this administration has been given the historic opportunity at the last chance of getting the balance in this relationship

right. and one misstep could blow the whole thing apart. and doom generations of americans to living in a world not one with a powerful china, one with a dominant china and a declining america. and that may sound like hyperbole but if they win this battle on z.t.e., the world will notice and the message it will send is when push comes to shove, this administration is no different than the others when they come under pressure, you can get to the right people with the right friends in corporate america and they will back down. and once that happens, every country in the world will govern themselves accordingly. they will not join us in confronting china's aggression and china's unfairness because in the back of their mind, they will be saying to themselves when push comes to shove, america is going to back down the way they did at z.t.e. the issue itself is problematic. he can't sell phones in america that are used to spy on our on companies but on a broader scale it sends a message that

demoralizes this effort and i think has dramatic consequences. i hope that the white house and i encourage the president to think very seriously and very carefully. he's in a very strong position right now. i urge him to think very carefully about the next step and to listen to the people and his administration that are talking to him about the z.t.e. issue for what it is, a national security threat and much bigger than just one company in the telecom industry. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: mr. president, i first ask unanimous consent that alex gorgalt of my staff be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's proceedings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to highlight some of the great successes of our drug courts

around the nation. may is national drug court month, and i'm coming to the floor today to highlight the work of these innovative courts, and i think that's an understatement, which play a unique role in our justice system. participants in the drug court system receive treatment and support services to help these individuals recover and they're held accountable, the hides are held accountable -- the individuals are held accountable through regular drug testing and judicial supervision. these courts are uniquely equipped for nonviolent substance abuse offenders, and they provide eligible individuals with intensive treatment, individualized consequences, and other medical services in order to help them overcome their substance use disorder, something we've heard a lot about in every state. participants are randomly tested

for drug use and mandated to appear frequently in court so that the drug court judge can review their progress. the judge also holds drug court participants accountable for their obligations to the court and, of course, to society at large. all these features make drug courts particularly important as we deal with the opioid crisis that has affected so many individuals, families and communities in pennsylvania and across the country. no neighborhood, no region of the state is safe in this horror that we've been living through now for several years. given the scope and severity of the opioid epidemic, we need to invest in effective solutions. and i use that word purposefully, invest. and with their proven track record of success, drug courts should be a keystone of our efforts to deal with the opioid

crisis. drug court systems not only save money, but they also reduce both drug use and crime itself. recidivism rates among drug court participants are significantly lower than for those -- for defendants undergoing traditional sentencing procedures. just about 50 to 70% -- 50% to 70% of drug court participants complete at least a year of treatment, and 75% of graduates remain arrest free for the next two years. let me say that again. 75% of drug court graduates remain arrest free for the next two years. additionally, studies have found that the use of drug courts save taxpayer money by lowering overall criminal justice costs. there are a lot of success stories from drug court graduates, and i want to

highlight one today from pennsylvania, the drug treatment court. this constituent of mine struggled with opiate and alcohol drug disorder and spent time in prison before going through the drug court system. according to the probation officer, this pennsylvanian is now, quote, gainfully employed, has regained a positive relationship with family, is working towards maintaining sobriety, and is now working toward the long-term goal of buying a home, unquote. that's just one story about one individual who said, and i quote, i used to think about how much i wanted to use and what i wanted -- and what i wanted to use. now i think about going to work and coming home to my fiance and children. unquote. that's one success story but a very powerful story. as a probation officer said,

that's just one of many incredible stories of progress and redemption found in drug courts. unquote. as we observe national drug court month, i encourage my colleagues to continue supporting the innovative and effective work of these drug court programs, and i want to thank the judges, officers, and other professionals who help make these success stories a reality every week. mr. president, i also rise to talk about one other issue. it's an issue that we're hearing about today because of what happened here in the capitol with a ceremony. in addition to national -- this being national drug court month, it's also national police week which we've observed as a nation since 1962. police week is an opportunity to pay respect to the men and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty as well as their families. it's also an opportunity to express gratitude and

appreciation for the work our police officers do to keep our communities safe every day. we owe a great debt of gratitude to those who have served and the families who have sacrificed alongside them. today i want to recognize those who lost their lives in the line of duty in my home state of pennsylvania. two officers who were killed in 2017. first, brian david shaw of the new kensington police department. that's in westmoreland county in the southwestern corner of our state. second, michael paul stewart iii of the pennsylvania state police. these fallen heroes gave what president lincoln called, quote, the last full measure of devotion to their country. we have a solemn obligation to pay tribute to these fallen law enforcement officers and to have their families' backs. paying tribute is not enough,

though. we must honor those in law enforcement and the families of the fallen in word and in deed. one of our top priorities should be fighting for policies and programs that make law enforcement officers safe. that includes working to secure funding for the cops hiring program, burn justice assistance grants known as byrne jag and the bulletproof vest partnership program, just to name a if you. some around here wanted to cut these programs or limit the increase. fortunately, in the latest spending agreement, there were increases in all three. i want to thank colleagues on both sides of the aisle for ensuring that these programs are well funded in the bill that we passed in march. in addition to fighting for law enforcement dollars, we also have a basic obligation to ensure that our law enforcement officers are appropriately compensated and that their families receive the care and financial security they need and

deserve. and of course, especially for families who have lost a loved one in the line of duty. that's why i'm thankful that the omnibus legislation in march included a bill that i've worked on with my colleague from pennsylvania senator toomey, the children of fallen heroes scholarship act, which will help children of fallen law enforcement officers and first responders afford college by making them eligible for the maximum pell grant available, now roughly a little more than $6,000, almost $6,100. each of us, each of us every day has a part to play in working to make sure law enforcement officers are safer and also playing a role in supporting the families of the fallen. i hope we can recommit ourselves to this goal during police week as we honor those who've lost their lives in the line of duty, recognize their sacrifices and their families' sacrifices, and

express our gratitude to the men and women in uniform who keep us safe every day. mr. president, i would yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: before i speak, i ask unanimous consent that bob menchin and bob rodriguez two law clerks with my judiciary staff be granted floor privileges for today, may 15, 2018. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: there is no more noble sacrifice than laying down your life in the service of

others. every year more than a million law enforcement officers work to keep our country safe and to serve the needs of our communities. our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line as they fight crime. and each year law enforcement officers die in the line of duty. many of these deaths occur while these officers are investigating crimes and enforcing our laws. some are even the result of targeted violence against police officers. others' deaths involve tragic accidents, like sheriff deputy julie bridges and sergeant joseph ossman, two police officers who were killed in a traffic accident while working to help their communities

weather the onslaught of hurricane irma. on friday i spoke at the iowa peace officers memorial ceremony in des moines where we honored six law enforcement officers from iowa who lost their lives in the line of duty. it was my honor to pay tribute to these brave iowa heroes along with their families. losing members of our enforcement leave a hole in families and communities that no one else can fill, but we can honor them and remember them and work to support the efforts of other law enforcement officers who carry on their mission. officers who, despite the risks and the rigors of their work, work tirelessly to protect and

serve their communities. yesterday, in the memory of those who have fallen in the line of duty over the past year, i was proud to introduce a resolution designating this week national police week. this resolution is cosponsored by 76 of my senate colleagues. i am also working to clear the project safe neighborhood grant program authorization act through my judiciary committee so that the bill can be sent to the floor for consideration of the full senate. this bill authorizes a nationwide partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutors dedicated to the reduction of violent crime. this partnership will use evidence-based and data-driven

approaches to policing. it emphasizes initiatives designed to build trust and collaboration with community leaders and organizations addressing violent crime. a companion bill is working its way through the house of representatives. i look forward to voting to support it. in addition, i have been a long-standing supporter of the public safety officers benefit program which provides death and education benefits to survivors of fallen law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders, and it also includes disability benefits to officers catastrophically injured in the line of duty. i introduced a bill to strengthen the public safety

officers benefit program, and that bill was signed into law last year. we worked hard on oversight efforts of this program to make sure that beneficiaries' claims don't linger forever but are paid out timely. today, as i stand here on the senate floor, my thoughts turn to my own home state of iowa where on march 7, -- march 1, 2017, sheriff deputy mark bur bridge went to work for his employer potawamie county. he and fellow deputy pat morgan were assigned to transfer a man to prison who had just been sentenced to 45 years for voluntary manslaughter. on the way from the court to the prison, the prisoner assaulted

deputy burbridge with a homemade knife, grabbed one of the deputy's guns, and shot both deputies. deputy morgan was seriously wounded in the attack. deputy burbridge was critically injured and died an hour later. the prisoner fled the scene, making it as far as nebraska. other brave law enforcement officials tracked him down, brought him to justice. deputy burbridge was a family man who loved to work on cars, on motorcycles. also to fish and to tell jokes. he is survived by his wife jessica, daughter carlie, son caleb and stepdaughter kelsey brant. we mourn his loss and remember

his legacy of sacrifice and service this week. our law enforcement officers in iowa deal with many of the same problems facing law enforcement officers throughout the united states. they work every day to stop violent crime, and they are on the front line of the fight against illegal drugs and the opiate addiction crisis every state faces. to help law enforcement officers in iowa and in the rest of the country, we need to optimize our justice system so it puts resources where they are needed most. law enforcement should target the worst offenders like violent criminals, major drug traffickers, and criminal masterminds. and we should do more to help those who have done their time reenter society in productive ways so that they don't back

slide back into the life of crime. a bill i introduced this congress, the sentencing reform and corrections act, just does that, and i appreciate senator durbin's standing with me on the introduction of that so it's a vastly bipartisan bill. to improve fairness in sentencing while permitting law enforcement to devote resources to tackling their top priorities. it also increases incentives for criminals to cooperate with police and to put into place tougher criminal penalties for fentanyl distribution, for crimes of terrorism and crimes of domestic violence. in addition, the grassley-durbin bill provides for recidivism reduction programs to prepare

inmates to leave prison and live a productive, law-abiding life. on that point, i give particular credit to senator cornyn and senator whitehouse for their work on that part of the bill. similar sentencing and prison reform initiatives at the state level have closed prisons, reduced crime, and increased public safety. on a final note, i'd like to take a moment to thank the capitol police who serve right here in the halls of congress, the president and the vice president, cabinet secretaries and thousands of visitors from around the country visit the senate every year. we senators come and go several times a day with our staff. it's easy to take our feelings of safety and security for granted in this capitol complex, but we are able to carry out our duties because of the continued

hard work of these capitol hill police officers. so thank you to the capitol police for your dedication and your service. our law enforcement officers deserve our respect, surely our support, and our admiration for putting their lives on the line. we honor all law enforcement officers this week, especially those who died in the line of duty in the past year. we thank their families for their sacrifice, and we will remember the values of public service, of diligence, and the bravery that they stood for. i yield -- i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that at noon tomorrow, the senate resume legislative session and senator schumer or his designee be recognized to offer a motion to proceed to h.j. s.j. res. 52. further, that following disposition of s.j. res. 52, the senate resume consideration of

the zais nomination. that any remaining time be yielded back and the senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate, and that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be made and laid on the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session for a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i understand there is a bill at the desk. i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the title. the clerk will report and read the title of the bill for the first time. the clerk: s. 2850, a bill to amend the white mountain apache tribe water rights can't tiff occasion act of 2010 -- occoquan tiff i occasion act to verify the amounts in the wmat settlement fund. mr. mcconnell: i now ask for a

second reading and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i object to my own request. the presiding offic the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill will receive its next reading on the next legislative session. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the foreign relations committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. res. 443. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 443, recognizing the 197th anniversary of the independence of greece in celebrating democracy in greece and the united states. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the committee is disarmed and the senate will proceed to. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions 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. 509. submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report.

the clerk: senate resolution 509, providing for members on the part of the senate of the joint committee on printing and the joint committee of congress on the library. the presiding officer: there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to to, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. res. 510 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 510, expressing support for the designation of the month of may 2018 as national bladder cancer awarps month. the -- awareness month. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: you know, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate

completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 wednesday, may 16. further, that 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, and morning business be closed. finally, i ask that following leader remarks, the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the zais nomination. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: so if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands until 9:30 a.m., senate stands until 9:30 a.m.,

he had a plan. he knew how to respond and who do returned to. plans are worthless he used to say that planning is everything. so you were thinking what is over the hill? we should be thinking about it. he is very systematic in the way he governed. he met the press every week and met congressional leaders every week and chaired the national security council every week. he had his tom on government. he trusted the process.

he believed the federal government could work well. yesterday the u.s. supreme court ordered a new trial for louisiana death-row inmate prints justice ruled 6-3 in favor of the inmates saying his sixth amendment rights were violated after his attorney admitted his guilt during a trial as part of a defense strategy even though the inmate objected to it.

your argument next in case 1682 mckay verses louisiana. >> mr. chief justice and may it please the court. when a defendant maintains his innocence and insisted on testis burden of proof, the constitution prohibits a trial court from permitting the defendants own lawyer over the defendant's objection to tell the jury that he is guilty. the sixth amendment guarantee's a personal defense that belongs to the accused and whether to admit or contest guilt is the paramedic example of that personal defense not only because it's singularly affect in the life and liberty of the accused but also because making that decision requires weighing subject of aspirations and dahlia