program. he was 25. he was 25 when he died when the helicopter he was aboard with another service member crashed at the national training center at fort irwin, texas. each of these men has left behind family and friends and loved ones who miss them every day and miss them more tomorrow and even more the following day. as we pay tribute to these service members, let us also recognize their families. our hearts go out to every one of them. not only -- them, not only on memorial day, but every day, at everything from family dinners to get togethers and holidays someone's missing their husband or their brother or their son.

there's an empty seat that every heart wishes was filled. while nothing can ever filled the void left by the loss of these service members, their legacies live on through their families. these people i told you about represent not only the best of hoosier values but of america's values. they served their country so that we could all be safe, so that we could all be secure, so that we could all have our freedoms protected. we grieve for them. we miss them. and i join every hoosier in praying for their friends and families and fellow service members. on memorial day we'll pause to commemorate the extraordinary sacrifice so many men and women in uniform from across our state and nation have made. every day in conflict zones

across the world, american service members put themselves in harm's way. we thank them for their courage and for their bravery and we remember the patriots who lost their lives and exemplified the very, very best of what our country is and can be. one other note. i remember a few years ago i was driving to stark county, indiana. it was early in the morning on memorial day. and i drove through the town of wakerton, indiana, and it was early in the morning. and in the town cemetery there there were a couple of dads and moms and their children and they were putting flags on every veteran's grave who had served our country and devoted their lives to our nation, and that --

in that scene that i saw was being duplicated in towns all across my state, all across our country because the one thing all of us as americans understand is whether we live in indiana or in philadelphia or in ohio, that there were young men and women from other towns and from other states who lost their lives to protect us. that we're all in it for each other. we're all in it together as american, and on memorial day, please say a prayer and think about all those who gave us a chance to celebrate our freedoms. may god bless indiana, may god bless the united states of america. thank you, mr. president. i yield back and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk

will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i ask to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. last week pope francis released an unprecedented document detailing what's wrong with our financial system. the pope thought was that important to weigh in tells you a lot about where we are as a nation. we have an economy, the pope noted -- we have an economy that defines success by corporate profits and measures time in

quarterly earnings reports. that's not how families think. washington may think that way. but families mark time in school years, in 30-year mortgages, in years left until retirement. that's why the pope called our system a, quote, inadequate framework that describes the common good. the economic statistics may look rosy, but they mask serious problems that hold too many workers back and prevent entire communities from sharing in that growth. the pope warned last week, work itself together with its dignity is increasingly at risk of losing its value. work is increasingly at risk of losing its value. our economy simply doesn't value work the way that it should. over the past 40 years the link between productivity and wage increases has eroded.

profits have gone up, c.e.o. compensation has gone up, worker productivity has gone up, wages have been stagnant, workers simply don't see the benefit -- workers simply don't get the help they should in compensation, workers simply don't share in the wealth they create for stockholders, in the wealth they create for executives, in the wealth they create for c.e.o.'s. wages have ticked up a tiny bit recently but looking in the long run they have been largely flat. think about this. 44% -- if there are 100 people in the gallery. if they're average, maybe they are, maybe they aren't, if there are 100 people in the gallery, 44 of them can't afford an emergency expense of $400. think about that. their car breaks down, they're a $15-an-hour worker, their car breaks down. what do they do? they go to get at payday loan. we know what happens when they

do that. 44% of americans can't afford an emergency expense of $400. one in four renters in this country spend at least half their income on housing. one thing goes wrong in their lives -- their child gets sick, they're unlikely to have sick leave or vacation days, so their child gets circuit. they either send their child to school sick or stay home with their daughter or son and lose a day's pay. what happens? they're likely to be evicted is. they're likely to be foreclosed on if they own this home if this happens. then their lives really spiral down. in light of all that, this congress thought the best thing to do was pass another giveaway to the big banks, because wall street hasn't done enough. this body -- this body can't help itself. they fall all over themselves. the lobbyists going in and out out of senator mcconnell, leader mcconnell's office, the

lobbyists going to the white house looks like a retreat for wall street executives. this body just falls all over itself. we always have to help wall street. 80% of the tax cut bill was passed last year, 80% of that bill over the next seven or eight years will go to the richest 1% of the country, as if they need the help, mr. president. that giveaway to the big banks that the president is going to sign tomorrow, this comes on the heels of a $1.5 trillion -- how much is $1 billion? a billion is 1,000 million. a tax cut for millionaires, more likely billionaires, that control one political party in this body. tax cuts for billionaires and corporations that ship jobs overseas. apparently that's just not enough. so this week the house passed this bill loosening taxpayer protections on big banks that received a combined $239 billion in taxpayer bailouts. think of that. it weakens stress tests for all

large banks. it opens the door to less oversight of foreign megabanks. this bill also eliminates data gathering that guards against mortgage discrimination. we're bringing back redlining, mr. president, because we've not -- there's been no racial discrimination in housing in this country apparently, so let the banks and let the government sometimes that goes along with the banks, let them start getting that red pencil. we do it with computers now. get that red pencil and draw it around those neighborhoods so those families, often people of color -- not always, but those families can't get equal access to home mortgages. the congressional budget office, the independent nonpartisan scorekeeper, confirmed this bill would increase the -- this bill that just passed would increase the likelihood of a big bank failure and a financial crisis would add $670 million to the deficit. what problem exactly is this congress trying to solve? i have still, mr. president -- all my trips home. one of my favorite quotes is from abraham lincoln when he was

in the white house, his staff wanted him to stay there and win the war and free the slaves and preserve the union. he said, no, i got -- he said, no, i got to go out and get my public opinion. i go out and listen to people. i try to get these public opinion baths. never once have i heard, you know, senator, the first thing we've got to do is weaken regulations to help wall street. i think never hear that. the only people that say that are bankers and a bunch of politicians, mr. president, all well-compensated with really good health care paid by taxpayers, a bunch of politicians that shill for the banks, do what the banks want them to do. so the fdic released now data this week, federal deposit insurance corporation. banks increased their profits by 13% over last year. who in -- of those 100 people in the gallery, how many of them got a 13% raise last year? well, banks increased their already-strong profits by

another 13%. it's happened almost every year this decade since congress and these 100 taxpayers in the gallery, since congress bailed out the banks eight years ago. that's not even counting the windfall tax bill, when they take the tax bill into account, the profits went up not 13%, 28%. the banking sector brought back $77 billion worth of stock last year. you know what that means? that's all about raising compensation for the biggest stockholders and c.e.o.'s. you know what, mr. president? the average bank teller in this country makes $26,000 a year. bank profits are up. c.e.o. compensation is up. they're all doing really, really well. they got a big tax cut. the average teller makes $26,000. my high school reunion a couple years ago, i sat across the table from a -- can't say young woman -- a woman my age that i graduated with. she's worked as a teller in a larges well-known bank for 30

years, and she makes $30,000 a year. she's worked there for 30 years. but the bank c.e.o.'s are doing really, really well. millions and millions and millions of dollars of compensation. if these banks -- but if these banks fail again, it is those tellers, it is the middle managers the millions of other american taxpayers who will be called on to bail them out. that's why we did wall street reform, dodd-frank several years ago. we passed a law that created important protections for the financial system, for taxpayers, for homeowners to hold banks and watchdogs accountable to prevent another crisis. but you know what? the day that bill was signed, the chief financial services provider in this city, the day it was signed, he said, i know, it's half-time. you might have passed this law that we didn't like, but we're going to fight like hell to weaken the rules, to implement the law. once we get a republican majority and a majority leader and further down the hall at

speaker of the house, then it's time to come back and weaken these laws. that's what happened with the election of this president and the election of the majority leader and the speaker of the house. it is time to go back to wall street and say, how can we help you, sir? another bank lobbyists when talking about these negotiations said, we don't want a seat at the table. we want the whole table. wall street greed knows no bounds. that's why it is a huge concern that the white house looks like a retreat for wall street executives. special interests are getting the whole table. this president is signing the bill -- bank bill -- bill giveaway into law. that's not enough. here is my last point i want to spend a little time on, mr. president. they're trying to install yet another wall street nominee with a troubling record of dismissing the harm wall street inflicted on main street. jelena mcwilliams from my state -- i would like to support a fellow ohioan.

she hasn't lived in ohio very long. i know she's moved back. she's been nominated to be the chair of of the federal deposit insurance corporation. she's never supported the need for strong rules. and her nomination hearing she acknowledge the rule that the -- what are we going to do, blame the economy gag in the toilet, blame the fact that millions of americans lost jobs, millions of americans had their homes foreclosed on, billions and billions and billions of dollars were lost from seniors' retirement accounts. we're going to blame on them? wall street of course had nothing to do with it. right now the feds considering a proposal to weaken protections and give $120 billion windfall to the largest banks. even former chairs and vice chairs of the fdic appointed by republicans, two people i admire, sheila bair used to be chief of staff for bob dole, appointed by president bush,

kept by president obama, thomas honig, republican regulator, they've opposed this proposal. but ms. mcwilliams, she refused to do so of the on issue after issue -- payday lending, cost-benefit analysis, the volcker rule, she's shown zero, no independence from this white house that looks like a retreat for wall street executives. the fdic was designed to be independent and nonpartisan. we don't need another rubber stamp from wall street's agenda on the fdic board, particularly when we have no commitment to move the nominations for any democratic seats. we need independent thinkers at these agencies who are willing to push back against a big-bank agenda. last week fed vice chair randal quarles gave a speech saying just like we predicted, the federal reserve wants to loosen rules on foreign megabanks. we're not just doing favors for wall street, we're doing favors thor these multi-deca-, or

hundreds of billions of dollars foreign banks. some want banks to get into the business of payday loans. they've always said we have nothing to do with these payday loans. well, they do. there is a 40-year-old law that ensures that banks serve their communities. we could spend hours detailing what mick mulvaney is doing to the consumer protection bureau. i'll go back to the pope's message. he noted while most of the financial industry's financial operator are an mated by good intentions, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the financial industry is a place where selfishness and the aboos of power have an enormous power to harm the community. a little selfishness, a little abuse can have massive consequences, mr. president, when it comes to the financial system. families in ohio can't afford that risk. it's our job to protect those families. those entrusted -- the pope said

those entrusted with political authority find it difficult to fulfill to their original vocation as servants of the common good. we should listen a little more to the people we serve. we should listen a little less to wall street. we should break the addiction to wall street money. we should break our allegiance to wall street interests. it's how we create an economy that values work. create an economy that values work, create an economy that serves the common good, not corporate special interests. i ask my colleagues to vote against the nomination of ms. mcwilliams. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from member member. a senator: i would ask the quorum call vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: i have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mrs. fischer: i ask that the vote in the series be ten minutes in length. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. fischer: thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the first mcwilliams nomination.

is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? seeing none, the yeas are 69. the nays are 24. and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the question occurs on the second mcwilliams nomination. all in favor say aye. opposed, nay. the ayes appear to have. it the ayes do have it, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous -- the senate will be in order. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is

considered made and laid upon the table and the president are are -- will be immediately notified of the senate's action. under the previous order the time until 1:45 p.m. will be divided in the usual form. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on, do here to bring to a close debate of john randolph evans to be ambassador extraordinary of lex omburg, signed by 16 senators. the presiding officer: the mandatory quorum call has been

waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that the nomination of james randolph evans of georgia to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of luxeombuorg shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 49, the nays are 42. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, james randolph evans of georgia to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the united states of america to luxembourg. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the time until 1:45 p.m. will be equally divided in the usual form.

the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to pay tribute to my longtime scheduleer and dear friend vaughan weir. after five and a half years in washington, vaughan is returning home to her sprawling, tight-knit home in omaha. she started with me as an aide in my legislative aide in lincoln. it was an easy decision to ask her to come to washington as an original member of my team. she did a good job. she worked hard, and she was a joy to have around. she started out in the senate where so many do, answering phones and greeting constituents.

that's hard work, but vaughan always did it with a smile on her face. it didn't take long for her to take on more responsibility, first as a deputy scheduler and later as a scheduler for nearly four years. throughout that time, vaughan always did her job with a special blend of diligence and humor. she's earned a reputation in the senate as a top scheduler and the life of any party. it's no exaggeration, mr. president, to say that vaughan has been the beating heart of my office. she has made a mark here by doing her job with love and laughter every single day.

my husband, bruce, and i are very thankful for her service and, most importantly, we're thankful for her friendship. she is one of a kind. and we wish her the very best as she returns home to nebraska. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

quorum call:

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: if we're in a quorum call -- the presiding officer: we are not. mr. durbin: i ask to be recognized to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, it was about five or six weeks ago that i accepted an invitation and an opportunity to visit caracas, venezuela. i'd never been to that country before and spent four days. turns out that not many members of congress go to this country, and very few are given permission if they ask. but for some reason i was given permission and went down there to meet with the leaders of their government and to take stock of what was happening in venezuela. sadly, i have to report that venezuela, the proud nation, is

teetering on collapse. i met with president maduro, members of his government, opposition leaders, civic and humanitarian leaders, medical expert, victims of the regime's political repression, and an american who is currently jailed on political charges in came -- in caracas. what i found there and recounted on the floor a few weeks ago was a heartbreaking set of overlapping crises, humanitarian, economic, and political. and while these three inexcusable crises the government's making continue, the people of this poor nation are increasingly suffering and leaving in desperation. it is one of the most desperate situations i've ever seen in a country not in the midst of a war. in my discussion with president maduro, i urged him to help get his country out of the international isolation they currently face and to put an end

to the human suffering by starting with a clean election. well, last sunday there was an election. it was a farce. i asked him to release political opponents so that they could run for office. i asked him to authorize parties to field candidates. i asked him to create enough time in the election psyche cycle -- cycle so there could be a real campaign. i told him if he didn't and went through with his election campaign, it would not be a credible result. we know that the maduro regime was using food among their starving people to manipulate votes. they had, unfortunately, no credible election monitors before or during the vote. and of course they rushed the election to get the result they were looking for. i recently joined with senator menendez in new jersey. we said quite simply that maduro should have the courage to have an open election, a democratic

process. the great hero of venezuela, as we arrived and noticed at the airport was hugo chavez. hugo chavez won his first election in a democratic manner. and i urged that president maduro now do the same. i also was direct in saying to him that he had to release the american josh holt who's being held in prison in caracas on political charges. why is he being held? because he traveled to venezuela to be with and to marry the woman he loved and to bring her and her two daughters back to his home state of utah. he crossed with the maduro regime and in the process, they arrested him on charges that are outrageous and they're holding him now for almost two years without a meaningful trial or a resolution of the dispute. as the events of the last few

weeks have shown, the obvious path forward for venezuela has been rejected by the maduro regime. instead they went ahead with last sunday's widely discredited election in which his regime jailed or disqualified any meaningful opponent. it was a farce. it will only result in further isolation and suffering of the venezuelaian people. i know president maduro is blaming yankee imperialists his country faces or the opposition. he only look to neighboring nations in central and south america to see they also reject what he has done politically. despite stirring video pleas from prison in which josh holt, the american, is being held, maduro's regime wouldn't even meet with our top diplomat in caracas. tom robinson is in charge of the affair representing the united

states since we're not allowed to have an ambassador in that country. he went to the foreign minister on behalf of josh holt when he heard of the prison rioting and the dangers to this american prisoner being held on political charges. obviously he got under the skin of president maduro who has now expelled him. the trump administration has been unequivocal in claiming the venezuelan election was a sham and also claiming new economic sanctions to put pressure on the leaders in the venezuelan government to change. as i told president maduro and members of his government, both parties in america may have our squabbles and differences but when it comes to venezuela, we stand together. republicans and democrats agree that things need to change dramatically in venezuela if they want to enter the family of civilized nations around the world. and president maduro has responded not by reaching out to the opposition, not by showing any true reform, but in rejecting every overture.

he refuses to release josh holt and his venezuelan wife and daughter to i a lou them to come to the -- to allow them to come to the united states. he keeps hold on a political leader in venezuela under house arrest. i spoke to mr. lopez by phone, met personally with his wife. it is shameful what they are doing to him. by restoring the power of the legitimate national assembly, president ma dawr row would -- maduro would show he's willing to move toward the constitution which guided his country but refuses. he refuses to start a meaningful dialogue with the lima group, other nations in the region that want to work with him toward moving venezuela to a better day. he refuses to work with neighbors and humanitarian groups who truly want to address the suffering in that country. it wasn't until the public health briefing which i had in venezuela and a personal visit to a local hospital that it really hit me and hit me hard how bad things are.

this is a country, one of the few on earth not at war, that is currently facing epidemics of measles, diphtheria, and malaria. when you go to caracas city hospitals, not remote or rural hospitals but city hospitals and ask them what they need, they tell you vaccines, antibiotics, cancer drugs, the basics. they don't have them in that country. and the people, you can just see on the streets of caracas are starving. they're starving. they don't have enough food to eat in that country. the inflation is so out of control that people stand in line an hour a day to get the maximum withdrawal on their credit card in hard currency because that withdrawal is worth the 60 cents that they need for a round trip bus fare to the place of work. at 11:00 at night in the darkness, you'll see people standing by atm machines to withdraw a wad of currency worth

60 cents so they can board the bus the next morning. this expulsion of our charged affair todd robinson was really disgraceful. he was accused of conspiring against the venezuelan government and what did he do? he stood up for the american prisoner josh holt. that's all. todd robinson is one of the nation's highly respected diplomats who carries the rank of ambassador and has served in some of the most challenging countries around the world with distinction. i spoke to him on the phone yesterday. he's disappointed. he knows there's much work to be done in venezuela to protect innocent people and to make sure that the americans have a strong presence to protect them as well. and now he's being expelled. i watched him during the visit to caracas a few weeks ago, tried to establish a dialogue with the maduro regime. it's next to impossible. a dialogue requires someone on the other side who is listening

and responding in good faith. that was not the case. when i spoke to him our charged affair mr. robinson was packing up and helping the embassy staff prepare for his departure. he'll be back in washington area over the weekend. i thanked him for his service in venezuela and his team that continues to soldier on under some of the most difficult circumstances in the world. until the maduro regime stops dismantling their country's democracy and starts to address the true humanitarian crisis which exist in their country, i will continue to support u.s. and regional measures to put pressure on the maduro regime to change. i know of no other way to do this, that won't bring more suffering and death to the innocent people of venezuela. this once great nation will not be great again until its leadership understands that the current approach, denying the democracy, denying the electoral process, refusing to have an open dialogue with democratic

nations around the world is only sinking them further into the abyss. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: as i often have to do to come to the floor to clear a few things up, i'm back once again. i've been seeing reports, reports that are wrong, that individuals within our federal law enforcement agencies who want to talk to congress about problems that they've seen on the job, that they have a fear that if they did that, they could be punished. but the reports say that these individuals then want to be subpoenaed by congressional committees rather than coming forward voluntarily. there's a perception that without a subpoena, they have no

legal protection against retaliation for cooperating with the congress. that is nonsense and that is a misrepresentation that has been formed by the f.b.i. and the department of leadership -- department of justice leadership for many years under both republican and democratic administrations. i've worked hard to strengthen legal protections, especially for f.b.i. employees. f.b.i. employees have a right to cooperate with congressional inquiries just as they have a right to cooperate with the inspector general. anyone who tells these f.b.i. agents anything else is lying. f.b.i. agents and all federal law enforcement are protected if they want to provide information to the congress.

that's true whether it is by subpoena or not. if that is news to all of you law enforcement people, including the f.b.i., i would encourage you to research the law individually. it is found at title 5, u.s. code section 2303. as you will see there in the law, nowhere in that language do its protections require a subpoena nor do they require the approval of an agent's chain of command or congressional affairs staff approval. moreover, federal appropriations law also forbids the use of taxpayers' dollars to pay the salary of any individual who