quorum cl:

the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: are we in a quoru llg o: yes. . blunt: i morph the quorum call be -- i move the quorum call beveai the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: i with aens to talk about the economy today. yesterday the labor department announced thatur economy hit a milestone that we'd never hit before in the time that we've been measuring these two things. at the same time there are now more jobs available in the united states than there are job seekers. when i was in missouri last week, w did a number of events all over the state, and at that time i was confident that in the 12 states in the middle of country there were more people -- there were more jobs t ere were people looking for jobs, and that was news. but even bigger news is the news

that was annouteay that there are 6.7 million job openings and there aren' 6.7 io peoplnt. the unemployment rate is 3.8%. itches t lowest nber that we've seen in 50 yea, and the last time numbers were this low, in fact, was in the vietnam war when many young men were being drafted into the military. that was the last time that we had an unemployment rate this low. now, everybody understands and should understand that the 6. million jobs don't -- the 6.lliy have 6 million people ready exactly for jobs out there. this should encourage us, among other things, to be thinking about what do we need to do to be sure tha people are either prepared for jobs or they have the skills to allow h ickly become prepared for the jobs that are available. two-thirds of americans say it is a good time to find a job.

that's 25%orein the last administration think it is a good time to find work. working with the president, the senate h done what we couldo fuel the economy along with the house, but the house and senate both have rolled back regulatis that didn't meet the tax cuts and jobs act.assed the remember, mr. president, the president of the united states kept telling you don't call this tax reform. who knows what that means or where it might wind up. what we want to do here is cut people's t inc,ase take-home pay, and do things that increase jobs. in the 10 cities i was in last week, i think i saw virtually every reporter in the state -- at least every reporting agency had somebody at those events.

we had roundtabl with employers. we had meetings with people who were able to buy a house that they couldn't buy otherwise. we had pple who really appreciated the extra $500 a year or the extra $200 a month that they were seeing in their family budget that last year would have been sent to washington, d.c. you know, i said many times during that x cut debate that therre ways to increase people's way. one is to take less money out of it, and i said -- and you said, mr. president -- that nine out of ten people who paid tes la yr, if passed that bill, would be paying fewer taxes this year. but the second way to increase people's take-home pay is to give them a better job to start with. and that's what happens in a

growing economy. one of the things that i thought was most surprising is how many empl steoyersed up in how many different ways to say w appreciate in this economy and want to reward our workforce, like we frankly didn't know that we could afford to do and knew that didt have to do, in a more stagnant economy in the past. the companies t bonuses, the cpanies that gave other benefits, the several companies that increased their minimum level of pay, whater was. one major national retailer said they were going to increase their minimum wage to $11 and over the next specific number of months they were going to increase that $11 minimum to a $14 minimum, not because the government told them they had to do that but because they wanted to be sure in a growing economy they kept their employees. according to a recent national federation ofendent ne survey, 76% of small

business owners believe curreniness cmate i headed in the right direction. the national association of manufacturers, 86% of those manufacturers plan to increase investments thanks to tax reform. and 77% say they're planning to increase hiring. he 72% said they planned to increase wages for their employees. that's the kind of thing that happens in a growing economy. i was at bray manufacturing in st. joseph, missouri, last week and the president of that company, stet schatz said he is feeling optimistic about the future. they're trigg to find the 20 works they need to fill 209 jobs they h in my hometown, the president of said she'd been able to noty hand out employee b to buy the new equipment, the new

tax reduction that they have been waiting for some time to buy until they were sure that they had moved from time that you have to take what money you have and repair something to where you really can make the kind of long-term investment that frankly the tax bill encourages you to do and also, if you are a business -- and you're even doing as well as you were last year, you just have more money than you had last year -- you take some of that money off the table by buying the equipment and replacing the equipment that you've been hoping to do for a long time. jamie burger in boothill, the county commissioner, told me everywhere we go, hiring signs ar up. that's true in our state. i think it's true all over the country. at least a million new jobs have beenatedince the tax code changes passed, and itasn't, again -- i'll be reminded by the president, ii don sayt it wasn't again the tax code

changes, it was the tax cuts and jobs act that the congress and the president worked together to create. i met local officials and business owners who were -- who had opportunity zones. this is an idea that's in the tax bill. senator scott and others were really thinking about what can we do to encourage people to pus aren't doing as well as others aren't them? and so take economically stressed census areas and allow a new kind of investment to occur in those census areas where you take your capital gains profits that you very likely made she else and you put themn realstate or in a buses in some other wa you invest them in one of the opportunity zones. we have 161 in en with the mayor of

hannibal and mayor harms and local officials in hannibal, they were certainly talking about what to do the. in kansas city i was with the electric company, kansas city powe and light. they actually have based a new local access point in one of those opportunity zones near the historic 18th and vine area, the jazz area, in kansas city. w rlly were talking about in that particular opportunity to talk about what the tax code changes have done, what the tax cuts bill has done. they're in the process of reducing electric bills for their customers by $100 million because that's how many fewer taxes they'reoing to send -- tax dollars ty'ng to send to washington than they did last year. and by the way, every one of those tax dollars gets passed along to a ratepayer, just like

every one of those tax savings also gets passed along to a ratepayer. the economy is moving again. the tsunami of red tape that we saw in the last few years piling over $100 billion of extra cost onto the govi'ernmen seen s that numberas up to $700 billion when you project that number into the ten o.10-year -- into the 10-year future. $700 billion of extra red tape. the president took office, was able to eliminate one things that hadn't gotten done yet and the congress was able to ovturn 16 rules that had significant compliance cost savings under the congressional review act, which had been used exactly one time in the history of the law until this congress and this psident were able to do it to reverse rules that were

slowing the economy down. the clean power rule that would have doubled utility bills in missouri in a decade or so. the waters of the u.s. rule that would have put the e.p.a. in charge of things that they shouldn't be in charge of. and, by the way, neither of those rules had been allowed to go into effect, not because of the calendar but because of the courts. in both cases, courts had turne- turnedohe past administration and said, you can't do that. and instead of continuing to appeal to "you can't do that" decision by courts, the trump administra tti rse policies and we still have lots of protections. but we don't have protections beyond what the government is legally allowed to do. and, by the way, those protections were just so-called exseit definitely would have sld the economy down, whether they would have definitely added much to either our water or our power policies is a big debate.

keeping regulations where they needed to be, working to confirm well-qualified nominees to both the courts and the administration -- really important. we're going to be here in august this year. i wouldn't want to fall into the trap of suggesting that congress isn't taking a vacation in august. what congress isn't doing in august -- at least the senate is not able to do -- is to be home doing the work we need to do at home. part of the job of a member of the house or a member of the senate is to be talking to people where tyking the people they work for, seeing those problems firsthand, being part of that discussion going on where you live. but we're not doing that this august. the leader -- our leader said we're going to be here. part of it is that the other side has just taken so much time

to make it so difficult for the president to get his team in place. we've never had anything like this happen before in the history of the country or for judges to bermed for u.s. attorneys to be confirmed. senate democrats have forced 100 cloture votes. what's a cloture vote? a cloture vote really is a demand that you have hours of debate, up to 30 hours of debate, before someone is confirmed. yesterday we had a long time set f debate, insisted on -- there was shockingly -- not so shockingly -- noebat d but t vote was almost unanimous, after hours of not being able to do anything but have the floor open for debate, for someone that there was no debate about. that's happened 100 times in this congress and this presidency in the last 15

months. that's happened 100 times. in the previous six administrations in the first two full years of all six of them combined, that happened 24 times. so we'veonrom an average of last six presidencies of four times a presidency to 100 times for presidency, and that is not acceptable. the long-term sutn to that, by the way, is not to be here i gu the long-term solution is to change the rule. that rule ieisbused.it needs to. the committee ihair has voted that rules changf the committee, and when my colleagues get tired of the rules being abused,t' we'll be able to change the rules. at the same time we've confirmed a lot of judges. and, as a matter of fact, 18% --

one out of eight of all federal court of appeals judges have been -- have been nominated by e, and our friends ononfirmed b the other side say, well, gee, how can you be bragging about the president being able to get all these judges confirmed and complaining about how much time it took? they know and i know and people watching the senate know that we managed to get those judges confirmed, but the loss -- and it was a devastating loss -- was the ability to get on with other legislative work. we should be the appropriat b bill at a time. we ought to have an infrastructure bill on the floor. we should today be debating the defense authorization act. we have a lot of work to do, and our friends on the other side of the aisle know that every hour

they force to be taken for something else -- and certainly a lifetime judicial appointment is important, but every hour they force to be ndlessl taken for that is an hour that e senate can't get to anything else. so we're going to put a lot of those hours back on the table in april, and we're going to continue to do that work and hopefully do theork publicly and visibly and in a way where every member is allowed to offer every amendment they want to to debate how we spend people's money, to debate how we defend the country, to debate how we try to do things that encourage us to be more competitive. we have a full agenda ahead of us. we are going to be here for the rest of the year working on that agenda. i look forward to that. hopefully the economic news will continue. even "the new york times," no

particular group that hasun out of words to praise the administration with or the congress wh,aid last weektheyuno talk about how good the job numbers were. out of words to talk about how good the economy is, the economy must be really good. it can be better. it needs to be better. we need to continue to see people, not just with more take-home pay, but now our goal should be more take-home pay because they have better jobs and people have better jobs in a stronger economy. we are headed in that direction andet's be sur w to he there. d,r. president, iice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senato f wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without asso: thank president. mr. president, last week, i traveled all around my home state of wyoming. many senators have done the same in their home states over the last week. i will tell you, the people i talked to had a great sense of

optimism, confidence, and just positiveness of how things were going with their lives. people are feeling very positive about the american economy and about their own lives, and of course about their future. we have just seen new numbers on friday showing that the american economy has created more than one mlion new jobs since we passed the tax relief and jobs act in december. since president trump was elyot more understand that 3 million more americans working. unemployment is now at 3.%. that matches the lowest rate in 50 years. even "the new york times" ran a headline saying, "we ran out of words to describe how good the jobs numbers are." think about that. "the new york times," "we ran out of words to describe how good the jobs numbers are." well, mr. president, every month we've been adding thousands of new jobs in construction,

manufacturing, health care, and mining. we've had strong and steady growth and the american people and american familie ti part of the country. it's not just the people who are getting jobs, it's that the jobs are paying better as well. according to the most recent survey by the national federation of independent business, there were a record number of small companies raising their wages last month -- a record number raising wages. average wages are up by 2.7% over the last year. employers can pay more because business is booming and they need more workers. on tuesday, the bureau of labor statistics said there are now 6.7 million job openings across the country. that's an all-time high. the labor department says that for the first time ever there are actually more job openings than there are unemployed people who are looking for work.

it's an incredible situation, mr. president. peop look around them and all of the hiring that's going on, all of the pay raises. it just makes people confident because they see it at home in their communities. not just something they read in the newspaper. not just something they see on tv. it's what they see at home in their communities, in their own lives, inary own paychecks. consumer confidence is at an 18-year high. people know things are going well. they know they have more money in their pockets and they know that the american economy is the thriving. the federal reserve bank atlant s they'ren pac for the emy to grow over 4% in the second quarter of this year. member, democrats have been saying that there's no way we could even get to now the federal reserve of atlanta is saying over 4%. and they say we're actually heading to close to 5%. it's excellent news, andesites not an accident. that's the thing, mr. president.

it's not an accident. policies that republicans are implementing here in congress and in the white hou it's a partnership. president trump has been in office for 500s a it's been an incredibly productive time. he's been wiping burdensome and unnecessary regulations off of the books. he's been making it easier for people to do their jobs, easier iv their l he's issued an order cutting government red tape and said for every significant new rule an agency wand to write, had get rid two rules, mr. president. every one new rule, get rid of two. the results have been even better than expected. so far in this fiscalr, agencies have cut 38 major regulations of thed theeen talkg about. at the same time they've only written five new regulations that are major regulations. so president trump said he'd cut two or every one new regulation. but what we've really seen is it

has pushed us much closer to eight regulations cut for every one new one. republicans in congress have done thee.'ve been cutting red . we've been loosening washington's stranglehold on the economy, and you can see it in the economy every day. we've been cutting the mandates and the ticont hckro we've cut the taxes that people pay. the tax relief law that we passed in december was the biggest tax cut in 36 years. it gave people an immediate boost in their take-home pay. millions of amerins also got bonuses and raises because of the law. it's been an enormous boost for the ove economy. we have atrong, healthy, and growing economy. an you know, mr. president, it's interesting because every democrat in the senate voted against the tax cut,ve them. in fact, nancy pelosi said if she had it her way, democrats

would get r of the tax relief law and actually raise taxes again. the american people know that would be a disaster. the democrats' ideas for higher taxes and more government regulatis t the democrats are proposing, would do incredible damage turec omy and tontry. democrats tried their ideas when they were i charge. they have failed. we had slow economic growth, stagnant wages, and demts ied to say this was the new normal forri. the american people knew that thatouot be t new normal. it wasn't good enough. the american people will not tolerate it, and they voted to change. so people said they wanted republican ideas and republican policies. now they're seeing the results and they're living with the benefits. pelere so good tt they've run out of words, as the headline says, "we ran out of words to describe how good the

jobs numbers are." it's been 500 and we're just getting started. what we need to do now is to keep looking for ways to create a growing economy, a strong economy, a healthy economy with large paychecks and more prosperity right here at home for american families. now, one place where we can do this is in the area of infrastructure. we can start with water infrastructure. these are the systems that deliver drinking water and treat waste water. they provide water for our crops and cattle and sll buss. they're used to ship american-made good from the heartland to the coasts and all around the world. they store water for times of drought. these systems are vital to our country. they support america's economic growth and american competitiveness. we need to build, maintain, and upgrade them. over the past 50 years we've

gone from being a society that spends much on construction to on spending me on consumption. and, as a result, our bridges and dams and waterways voids suffered. that's why i introduced an act, a biparti bill, something republicans and democrats agree we should do. it's a way t grow the economy, to cut washington's red tape, to keep communities safe. so we're going have ahanc in the coming weeks to pass america's water infrastructure act. then we're going to look for more ways for things that we can do to keep america growing and strong. aat's what republicans in committed to doing. what this president and this congress have accomplished together, mr. president, truly hasee historic. we need keepng. that's what the american people expect from us, and it's

actually what they deserve. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, i would now ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to bring t baskets of hemp products on to the floor of the senate. the presiding officer: without obion. mr. wyden: mr. president, it was not very long ago when i was on the floor of the senate with the

distinguished majority leader, senator mcconnell, and the two of us were making the case for our bipartisan bill to legalize hemp wch we a very much interested in having included in the farm bill. and i will talk a little bit more about our work on that. our original sponsors were senator merkley and senator paul and since then we have added as cosponsors 28 additional a members of the united states senate on as cponsors. so what i'm g to do this afternoon for just a few minutes is t aut why it is so important that our bipartisan legislation now cosponsored by

almost a third of this body get enacd and be included as part of the farm bill. now, mr. president, it is hemp history week again, and that is why i am back on the senate floor to talk about the only schedule one controlled substance that you can sew into a t-shirt and where through t.s.a. and here as we start is the real head scratcher. products made with hemp are perfectly legal but growing industrial hemp is a crime. there can't be many policies on the books that are more antifarmer than that one.

so i discussed this with majority leader mcconnell here rece o floor of the senate, and that is if you can buy it at a supermarket in america, our farmers ought to be allowed to grow it in america. for me this issue goes back to a trip my wife and i took to a grocery store near our home in southeast portland. nancy was pregnant with our youngest daughter at the time, and you're always on the hunt for healthy foods that will fill your cart. so we grabbed up the fruits and vegetables, and there perched on one of the shelves was a large bag of hemp hearts. and the packaging had really big, colorful text, and it said it was heart healthy and protein

rich. but i knew the product couldn't have been grown in the united states because thereas a federal looked at this product and i turned to my wife and i you know, hemp growers in places like canada and china must just be laughing all the way to the bank. they're cashi in while our farmers have their hands tied by the current hemp restrictions. so here with me on the floor is one of our very capable young staffers malcolm from southern oregon. and malcolm is holding a variety of productha are made with hemp. this schedule one substance that

our laws make out to be a perilous danger to the public. so for a fewet's take look at w. he's got a few schedule one snack bars. he's got some schedule one hand soap. he's even wearing a schedule one necktie. the point is they're ally lel pt you'll find on shelves in stores throug the nation, but because the h had to be imported, none of it could be considered fully american made. so i want to, as i have with the majority leader on past occasions make sure that everybody understands a simple

fact about hemp. hemp is not a drug. and treating it like one was wrong from the get-go. smoking hemp would be nothing but a waste tim, breath a lighter fluid. it defies common sense that our laws consider hemp to be dangerous and addictive, like cr meth. having one too many hemp granola bars might give you a stomach ache, but you aren't going to land in the hospital. so hemp is not a drug. what it is a huge opportunity for american farmers. that's why the original sponsors of this legislation, senator mcconnell, senator merkley, senator paul, myself introduced the hemp farming act of 2018. it is the latest version of a

bill that i began putting in front of this body in 2012. our bill would end hemp's days as a controlled substance and it would legiz its growth in er the bill does is it clears the way for farmers in oregon, kentucky, literally from sea to shining sea. it gives the green light to farmers across the land who are clamoring for the growth industrial hemp legalized industrial hemp would bring for their farms and their communities. now, n two months after my colleagues and i introduced the hemp farming act, as i said, a very large delegation of senators of both political parties have signed on as

cosponsors. democratic senators, republican senators. we can have some pretty spirited disagreements around here, but these are senators who know a brainless,ntr policy when you see one. and there is a companion bill in the other body that has strong bipartisan support as wel so we are going to keep at it. our bipartisan coalition, in order to build support for this throughout the days ahead. here in the senate members are hard at work putting together a bipartisan farm bill, and we're very pleased to see the leadership on both the majority side and the minority side. chairman roberts, senator stabenow, working very closely together to put together a bipartisan farm bill which would be a perfect opportunity to move

this forward. i'm constantly saying at home in oregon very supportive of agriculture. let's grow it in america. let's add value to it in america. and let's shipt wherever we can in order to create jobs, jobs that start on the farm. so we've got momentum growing. and that's why hempisry week, this time when i come to the floor and talk about this broad array of products is signed to really get the facts out about growing hemp. now, mr. president, before growing hemp was made illegal, hemp was month the -- was among the predominant american crops for generations. it was grown in the fields of mo vnon. it was threaded into the ropes and sails of the first ships made for the united states navy.

if hemp was easier to run, it might even have its own lyric in "america the beautiful" right alongside the amber waves of grain. i believe that it is long past time for the congress to throw out an antifarmer policy and legalize -- by the way, both leaders of this body, leader mcconnell and leader schumer, are both cosponsors of this bill because they understand that it i ts way.sense to both leaders of this body share the view it is time to legalize the industrial growth of hemp. products made with hemp, and this is just a modest number of

them, products made with hemp constitute a billion dollar market in this country. if there is only one thing i have said today that people will remember in all this, it ought to be if you can buy it in a grocery store inrica, farmers ought to be able to grow it in america. it's just that simple. mr. president, with that i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be eviscerated. the presiding officer: without objection.. lankford: mr. presin the last 24 hours, senator mcconnell has announced the senateilstill be in session in augus no i don't -- i don't know of y that loves being in washington, d.c., in august. quite frankly, it's a hot, humid, miserable place. i would much rather be back in oklahoma with other folks that i serve, getting a chance to spend some time there. the senate is in session 11 months of the year. the only month we are not in session traditionally is august. but we have a problem. the work is not getting done in the senate. and if the options are whether to be in washington, d.c., and get the work done or to be back in my state seeing the folks in my state but knowing that the legislative work is undon then

the decision should be get the work done. senator mcconnell announced yesterday that in august we'll be here. we have two big issues as the reason we should be here in august to be able to get some things done. on is the nominio issue. this is an issue that has quite frankly picked up a lot of speed this year. last year in our nominatio process, recordlo process to try to get nominations through. this year, more nominations have gotten through. but let me just give you e o wha we're up in the past six presidents, there have been a total of 25 cloture votes for nominations, in the first two years of their presiden. 25 total, all six combined. right now, president trump is at 100 cloture votes so far for his nominations. you may say what's the big deal about that? each one of those basically consumes a full day on

senate floor. each one. now, in the past, if it was a controversial nominee, there would be additional time that would be request, that time would be done, but it had been do 2imes over six esidents. now they're doing it 100 times for president trump, it's obvious, it's intentionally slowing the senate down, because when we're dealing with what's called postcloture debate time oninee you can't deal with anything else. you can't deal with legislation. you can't deal with any other topic. so the senate comes to a stop.0t doing that. lost time. we have a lot of nominees that still need to go through, that traditionally went through by voice vote or went through in rapid succession. the white house while has a lot of nominees. they are due to send to us as well. they will continue to send those nominees, but the nominees that are here, that have gone through the committee process, that have been fully vetted, it's time to bring those to a vote so the

president can have his staff. in 2013, republicans and democrats agreed together. things started to slow down a bit in 2012 on some nominees. soepublicans and dem together camero change the rule for how much time would be set aside for nominees. harry reid did a presentation during that time period and supported a proposal, two hours of time for district court judges, eight hours of time for just about everybody else, except for supreme court, circuit court, and cabinet. they would be 30 hours still. republicans joined democrats i nd agreed on that, and for a two-year time period, republicans and democrats agreed alike that that was a reasonable amount of time postcloture debate. two hours, eight hours, or 30 hours,ding that expired at the end of 2014. i brought that back up. i brought it to the rules committee. the rules committee has debated it. the rules committee has now voted it out of the committee.

my simple recommendation is this wasocra prosal fort tim period. i think if it was good for the democrats in 2013 and 2014, it should be good for republicans or democrats from here on out. t two years but to say that's a simple rule, to get the senate back to functioning again. my concern is now with 100 cloture votes that have been don pastd half on comgz, tt next time that there is a democrat president -- and there will be atuture time -- next time there is a democrat president, you can be assured republicans are going to do at least 100 cloture votes to them. and willw d govnmt mh. that doesn't help us long term. we have got to be able to get out of this cycle, and we're in a downward cycle of trying to be able to deal with nominees. weeeto be here in august to work through nominees because we have not had enough timeecause 100 days have been lost just sitting on a cloture vote waiting on that to happen.

the second aspect of want ind people of is this -- we need to be here in august to be able to workgh thiti period appropriations need to be done. 18 of the las20 years, thiscongs bi at has takenhe 12 different appropriation bills, throwing them all together with no enting the tex o it the nighte, and saying everyone just vote on it tomorrow. 18 ofhe las20 years. we have bad muscle memory. 25 years ago, thisd debate one o bills, would bring them up onto the floor and amend them. democrats and republicans would have input into these bills, and then they would ps. and then they would be conferenced with the white house and would go to the white house for signature etu graatg n have no memory of this congress ever doing the appropriations

process the right way. it's never happened in their life we have goto fix this. picture argument has been we only have 50 workdays left before the end of the fiscal year. the only way to be able to get some of those workdays back is to be able to add in august. we have got to get the appropriations process back on track. i would hope most of this body can remember the early morning hours in march o this year when this senate passed a 2,232-page omnibus bill that zero members in this body had read. because there was physically not enough time to even read it. we got le one night a had to pass it the very next night. the next day, merely hourst at after they received the bill. we can't do this. we can do better, but the only

way to do it is t bac inchedule. so do commend the leader for putting time back in the schedule. senator perdue and myself and 14 other senators wrote him a letter and just said we need to consider this t ninations done, to get appropriations done. if we cannot get the work done in the time we have, we have got to make more time and we have got to be able to get this done. i commend the leader for this, but i also challenge this body to say we should not squander the days that we have. none of us are going to enjoy being here in august when there are lots of other things we would like to do in our home states, but l's get the work done because it is important for the future of the country and the cntry expects us to be able to finish well what we're doing. with that, mr. president, i yield back. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cain: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, next month will be the 65th anniversary of the armistice that ended the battles as i am sure my colleagues know,

the korean war was never officially ended. over the last 65 years, we have seen hostility on the korean peninsula. we have seen north korea develop nuclear weapons, raising security concerns, active and cyber attacks, human rights violations, and the list goes on and on and on. in the context of a formal state of war between the north and the south. the united states has made major investments in this region as a result ofur secyrn and our national interests. we helped rebuild japan and sout weevlls that share our values, which is certainly in our interests, and we created a military deterrent against a bereligion -- belligerent north korea. yet the kim jong-un regime in north korea developed during this period of time a nuclear

weapon program, including delivery systems. it violated international commitments. the inttional community led by the united states, i must say, empowered by this congress which give the administration e alio sanctions. with u.s. leadership, sanctions have been imposed against north korea. those sanctions had impact. thisear, saw a breakthrough with some hope of security in the future. with the election of president moon of south korea, the south koreans had a leader who wanted to extend a better relationship with north korea. the use of the winterics helpedonfidence between north korea and south korea. now, president trump is scheduled to meet with kim judge un -- kim jong-un in the singapore summit on june 12. great opportunities. we hope that thi will be an opportunity to end thear

nd south korea, create a framework to denuclearize the korean peninsula and forge a path towards stability and security mr president, starts with an acknowledgment by north korea that it has violated internationalms. s the reason why sanctions were imposed. it has an illegal nuclear missis international norms. it's created a repressive regime against the basic human rights of the north korean people. clearly diplomacy is our best option. that was the purpose for whye imposed sanctions so that we could get to this moment where diplomacy actually could lead to results. we couldn't have gotten there if we didn't have a strong sanction regime imposed against north korea. as i said earlier, congress gave the admisoo t

do the u.s. led working with our e wpaneo isolate north korea if they continued down this path. we now have an opportunity for diplomacy. diplomacy is best option. mr. president, if we have to use military, the risk factors are so great on what could happen, it begs the point that really the only successful option is for diplomacy to work. and here's where we have hope because there's a common obive between the principal parties in trying to use diplomacy to end this crisis. noearth knd china very much want to preserve the kim jong-un regime. china does n want to see a democratic country on its border. it to presee the communist regime of north korea. obviously kim jong-un is intrd in preserving his -- interested

in preserving his regime. the united states and china have a common agenda. both countries want to see the korean peninsula absent from nuclear weapons. and when secretary of state pompeo testifying before the senate foreign relations committee indicated that the u.s. position is not for regime change. i think that gave kim jong-un the ability to go forward and say look, if the regime can be preserved, that we get security assurances, then we can do that without nuclear weapons. that gives us the opportunity for diplomacy to succeed. so where are we in regards to the summit that is seduled in less than one week? well, i was pleased that the subcommittee of east aan pacific from the senate foreign relations committee held a hearing ts week in regards to the status of the summit and what we can expect and how we should be prepared.

i appreciate senator gardner and senator markey, the chair and ranking member of the subcommittee for holding that hearing. joe young, the former top american diplomat and one offed leasing experts in north korea one of our witnesses. victor chaw the security advisor for north korea was the other witness. so we had two of the top experts in this country on understanding north korea, understanding kim jong-un, understanding where we are in regards to what we can expect in the summit that takes place on june 12. both agreed that we need to have a realistic strategy going into these negotiations. i asked the specific question to the witnesses that would kim jong-un be willing to give up his nuclear weapons going into these negotiations. and both agreed that that was unlikely. it's unlikely that in the initial meetings he will agree to give up his nuclear program. so what should we expect?

what should the conditions be? we had a robust discussion about that in senate forei relations cmittee and it was pretty well agreed that it starts with a declaration by north koreaf its curren p. we need to understand what they're d we need to know the venues of their nuclear programs. we need to know exactly where we are starting from. we need to make sure that the m in i being carried tt t. so we need international inspectors to make sur that in fact north korea is not advancing the program or its missile program. and then we need a plan to dismantle its nuclear weapons program and all aspects of it. we need to have a road map for geing there. that's the realistic ext can ev on 12. it's key for the united states to make it clear that we cannot make concessions until we've at

least reached that understanding that we have a commitment to dismantle the program. we have a freeze ince. we have inspectors in place. we have to be patient, but we have to also be resolved that we are not going to make unilateral concessions. mr. president, i must tell you this past week, several of ourle administlining this led by senator schumer and senator menendez along with senators durbin, feinstein, l leahy. let me spell out what we should be expecting. ultimately include the dismantling and removal of chemical and biological weapons from nororea complete, and verifiable denuclearization of northorea.rh korea must continue its ballistic missile test suspension.

north korea must commit to robust compliant inspections including verification regimes. and the agreement with north korea must be permanent in nature. i think these are conditions would hope we could all agreeon in addit the letter goes on to say something that's critically important. addressing other critical matters, including north korea's human rights practices need to be included in these discussions. dr. chaw said it besthe he said a comprehensive political settlement with north korea must include their agreement to end the regs systematic violation of human rights. mr. president, i understand our objective is to make sure we have a denuclearize korean peninsula. i agree with that. but for the long-term stability in that region, we need a north korean government that respects the ryes ofts citizens rights ofts citizens. and those discussions must take place starting on june 12.

so here's my concern and the reason i'm taking this time today. we've got to be prepared for the summit. president trump needs toe prepared. but president trump needs to be prepared working wh congress. that's where we know we're the strongest. i have seen no signs wtsoever of any congressional briefings or consultations between the trump administration prior to the june 12 summit. we need to be on the same page going into these discussions. and yet we've had absolutely no consultation. dr. chaw said consulting with congress given its role in funding and ratifying an agreement. we need to be inv let me just underscore this. secretary pompeo testified before the senate foreign relations committee. i asked him a question as to what role congress should play in this. and secretary pompeo volunteered to say that he anticipates t th will b a treaty submitted

to the united states senate for ratification. if they're successful. well, mr. president, if we're going to be called upon to ratify a treaty or if we're going to be called upon to change the sanction regime against north korea, we need to be part of the process. now, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. we ran into a similar issue in 2015 in regards to president obama's negotiations for an iran nuclear agreement. at that time i was the ranking meer of the senate foreign relations committee and i worked with our distinguished chairman senator corker and other members of our committee, including senator kainend senator menendez and others. and we came up with the iran nuclear agreement review act. now, we know how difficult i is to get consensus in the united states congress on any particular issue. we passed that review act by 19-0 vote in the senate foreign

relations committee. passed overwhelmingly in the congress itself. and it establishes a proper role for congress in reviewing such an agreement. it doesn't restrict the president in his negotiations. it strengthens the president in his negotiations by giving him the power of the american government, including the congressional part of our government. it strengthens the oversight of compliance. it did that with iran and would doheame thing in regards to north korea. so just like with iran, there is no trust when it comes to north. so theinal agreement must be verifiable, transparent and make it clear that any violation will result in the strongest possible sanctions. our congressional role can complement both the ongoing and forthcoming negotiations with north korea. such legislation will help congress' oversight andreprentas to the american people.

so, mr. president, as we go to this historic meeting that will take place next week, i know that every senator, every senator, indeed every american wants the president be successful in this endeavor to nuclearize the korean peninsula and bring sit and stability to the reg the best chance for that to happen is for congres t exercise its responsibility to be inos to support the efforts and understand the efforts so that we can act with a united vn america. let us act accordingly. with that, mr. president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk willoll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. hatch: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: are we in a quorum cae esiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. hatch: could i ask that the quorum call being dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: mr. president, i rise to voice my enthusiastic support for the majority leader's annouem yesterday that we would be staying in wash a already we've seen media reports that our colleagues on the other

side of the aisle are upset about having to work through the august recess, as leader mcconnell said hisctions would not have been necessary but for the historic obstruction by our democratic colleagues who have used every available tool to delay confirmations of executive and judicial nominations. to put the scale of their obsto forced 101 procedural cre votes on president trump's nominees in the first 18 months. by comparison, the previous six presidents combined saw a total of only 24 cloture votes in their first two years. in other words, democrats have somehow managed to fit 40 years' worth of obstruction into just 18 months. even more infuriating, after democrats pretend to object to nominees by calling for cloture, of confirmation, acknowledgingr

that the nominees are qualified and worthy of the senate's support. fo exahef fernando rodriguez jr., a highly qualified nominee to the u.s. district court for the southern district of texas. fernando has spent the last few years serving in intenalustice mission combating sex trafficking and human rights abuses. he also has 10 years of experience practicing law, not to mention invaluable expience as an educator with teach for america. yesterday democrats force add cloture vote on fernando rodriguez to slow down his confirmation but still voted to confirm him unanimously. this is absurd. it seems my friends on the other side of the aisle want to have their obstruction cake and eat it, too. but you can't have it both ways.

these procedural slowdowns are a transparent charade, a cynical sideshow meant to shore up support among the democratic base. i would remind my friends on the other side of the aisle that this chamber is meant for policy, not politics. we can campaign on the weekends, but right now we have serious work to do. i have to say, there are some reasons to be political sometimes on the floor but not to the extent that we've been subjected to by our friends on the other side. democrats have wasted previous hours of debate with their partisan grandstanding and the country is worse off because of it. while my colleagues posture and preen for audiences on national tv, dozens of executive and judicial nominations remain unfuriing the rtt work of governmt to a halt. enough already. enough of the games.

enough of the dgenuou handwringing. enough of the twitter-taid cable tv meltdowns. let's setur egos aside for one moment to get done when the american people sent us here to do. mr. president, i look forward to working through august to make up for lost time. that's not to say that recess or in-state work periods are unimportant. indeed, cooperation with constituents back home is the most important part of our jobs. and despite what some would have you believe, we work just as much during recess as we do when we're here in session, if not more. i travel around the state meeting with senior senator many utahans has -- with as many utahans as possible breaking just long enough to eat at my favorite all-you-can-eat buffet. one day of -- inne d of recess, i can talk trade and

tariffs with a group of cattlemen before meeting with health experts to learn more about medical marijuana research, visiting a utah captive held overseas and meeting with a panel of education leaders to discuss school safety -- all in just one day. and that's just part of what that one day was. as anyone had a who irv core, recess is no reserve pit. the time we -- respite. the time we spenttome meeting with constituents is absolutely vital to our jobs, but otance is confirming capable, qualified judges to our courts. our responsibility here in the senate is to keep the judicial branch up and running. i've participated in more than 1,800 judicial confirmations during my -- throughout my term of service. and i look forward to working through august to confirm a few more. mr. president,reso time

to waste. i call on my colleagues 0 both sides of the aisle to come together to get thisone. mr. president, i believe there are really good peo onot sideof floor. i believe that most people would like to see us function better than we do right now. i'm certainly one of them, and i think there are a lot of others in this body who feel exactly the same way. mr. president, i just hope that for the remainder of this year we can get together and do what we should do in the best interests of the american people. and if we do that, everybody will be better off. this country will be better off. our functions in government will be better off. almost everything will be better off. i think it's time for us to quit playing games around here and do the work of the united states nate,he greatest deliberative body in the soay

i'm one ofhem who does that i believe we handle more absolutely crucial matters than any other legislative body in the world. and i intend to see that we continue to do it. th are that sure our folks the other sid and even folks on our side might want to fully test and fully work against. that's not bad. that's part of this job, too. but to do it on everything, to make it just miserable around here to get anything done, to act as though there's always bad faith on the part of whoever is moving on whichever side it is is just plain wrong, and we've got to wake up and start acting like adults and do the things that really should be done in this greatest of all legislative bodies. so with that, mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum.

and yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. orum call: quorum call:

quorum call: