director of the missile defense agency, general grieves, whether the four-star general in charge of extra tinlic command, -- strategic command, general heighten, or whether the former director, admiral searing, have saul said -- have all said space-based sensors are critical. the time is now. what does that mean? what does that do? well, we have different systems in different parts of the country -- or different parts of the world. in south korea, we have the thaad system, and we also have the asian system on our shore and in our ships, and back home, we have the home-based system, and that is mostly based in alaska. what a space-based sensor program does is integrate all of these systems and it has the ability to track what the

military calls an unblinking eye, the ability to track a missile that's shot at our country or shot at our troops from the moment it's shot until the end. we don't have that yet, but we need it to intergreat these -- integrate these different systems, and importantly, that's what the ndaa that we're debating this year will do to further bolster our nation's missile defense. why do we need that? mr. president, there's been a lot of recent goodwill with regard to kim jong un, but i just want to read a quote from him just this past january, six months ago. his new year's day quote said, quote, the whole of the united states mainland is within the range of our nuclear strike and the nuclear button is on my office desk all the time. the united states needs to clearly be aware that this is

not merely a threat but a reality. this year we should focus on mass producing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles for operational deployment. okay, that's kim jong un just a couple of months ago. so let's not be taken by this dictator too much as he meets with the president. he and his dad and his grandfather have been threatening the united states and our troops on the peninsula and our allies korea and japan for decades. and what we're doing with this technology, state-of-the-art, with this missile defense system is we are giving the president additional leverage in his negotiations. indeed, when people are looking at, hey, why did kim jong un come to the table? he's been very belligerent. he's saying these things like he said on his new year's day address, it's really three

things, mr. president. the maximum pressure campaign. the diplomatic campaign by the president, by the administration, by this congress. we passed legislation, very aggressive legislation on sanctions. it's been the development by secretary mattis, of credible military options, in the event diplomacy doesn't work, the koreans know that we're serious. and that's ongoing. and with the secretary of defense, former four star marine general secretary mattis, i don't think anyone thinks he's bluffing. that's putting pressure on the north koreans. and then it's this system, it's this system, because the north koreans know we now are developing the technology if kim jong un does want to go out in a flame of glory and try to fire one or two or three intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles at new york or chicago or l.a., the system that we have here and that we are further bolstering will shoot at

them. so this is going to give the president more leverage. the second section, it's actually section 1249, mr. president, of the ndaa that we are confident is going to increase the president's leverage involves the critical issue of our u.s. military forces on the korean peninsula. this section expresses the will of the senate by highlighting some key points as it relates to our military on the korean peninsula and the history of that military. so what's in this section, mr. president? it talks about how the united states and south korea have been allies for decades and how our military forces on the korean peninsula working closely in

conjunction with the south korean military and our alliance have been the linchpin of peace and security not just on the korean pin anyone's la but on the -- peninsula but on the entire indo-pacific region. this section of the ndaa focuses on how south korea's contributed heavily to not only its own defense, but what our military forces are doing on the korean peninsula. it emphasizes that the united states military forces pursuant to international law since the outbreak of the korean law in 1950 have been lawfully deployed on the korean peninsula, and yet the nuclear and ballistic missile programs of north korea are in clear and consistent violations of u.n. security council resolutions and international law. importantly, mr. president, this provision focuses on the fact

that china and russia and north korea have had as their long-term strategic goals the removal of u.s. military forces on the korean peninsula. that's what they want. and indeed there are reports in the media and other places where president shia jinping of china may be trying to coach kim jong un saying when you go into these negotiations with president trump, one thing you should shoot for is get rid of those american forces on the korean peninsula. make that one of your goals. so, mr. president, this provision ends by saying it's a sense of the senate, by the way, a bipartisan sense of the senate that the significant removal of u.s. military forces from the korean peninsula is a nonnegotiable item with kim jong

un for his nukes. we are not going to trade lawfully deployed u.s. military forces on a peninsula for illegal nukes that the north koreans have developed. so what are we trying to do here? well, first of all, mr. president, this is a point that secretary mattis has been emphasizing. as a matter of fact, with a couple other senators, last week i led a codel of senators to a defense ministers conference in singapore. this is the biggest military conference of defense ministers, foreign ministers in the entire asia-pacific region. secretary mattis and his team, the secretary of the navy, the admiral in charge of the indo-pacific, they were all there. we met with them, strategized with them. secretary mattis gave a great speech on u.s. strategy in the

asia-pacific, the indo-pacific as we're now calling it. but he was asked about this very topic. and he said this is not an issue that is on the table with kim jong un, nor should it be. it is not even a subject of negotiation. the issue of possibly removing u.s. military forces -- you see here in a picture u.s. marines and iraq marines training together, we're not even going to talk about the issue of removing our legally deployed forces on the peninsula in exchange for illegally developed nukes and intercontinental ballistic missiles. this is what secretary mattis said last week in front of all the defense ministers of asia. and what we're trying to do with this provision in the ndaa is strengthen the leverage of the

administration and to show kim jong un and, let's face it, russia and china, who want these forces gone, that the congress of the united states and the executive branch, the trump administration, speak with one voice on this issue. what this provision in the ndaa says is exactly what secretary mattis said last week. so we are speaking with one voice on this very important issue that is likely going to come up in singapore when the president's there. and again, we know that some of our adversaries or potential adversaries in the region want these forces gone. mr. president, i don't think that makes strategic sense. and fortunately neither does a very strong bipartisan group of u.s. senators. and when this bill passes the senate, we're going to have the entire senate speaking with one

voice on this. i've had the opportunity to talk to secretary mattis and secretary pompeo and ambassador bolton, the national security advisor, and the president about this provision in the ndaa and how its our intent, the senate's intent to give them more leverage in the upcoming negotiations with north korea. and i think they're all appreciative of what we're trying to do in the senate with this important section in the national defense authorization act. mr. president, let me conclude by making a point. it's a bit of a historical point but it's actually quite an important point as we're talking about this topic. because the senate of the united states has actually played a critical role on this very issue previously. some might recall that president jimmy carter, when he was elected, actually ran on the

topic, one of the campaign promises that he made remarkably, because i think it was strategically very misguided, was he ran on the issue of, hey, when i get elected, i'm going to remove u.s. military forces out of south korea. that's what jimmy carter campaigned on. and when he got in, he started to look at ways to implement that. well, mr. president, then the senate reacted. we feel long-term strategic interests represented by this body and a very famous senator of the president's own party -- jimmy carter was a democrat. senator scoop jackson of washington state, well-known senator, well-known foreign policy national security expert, led a delegation of senators to south korea. and they looked at this issue in detail after president carter

was elected, and they came back to washington after this trip, and they said this is not a good idea. removing our forces who have kept the peace on the korean peninsula since 1953, we don't think this is a good idea. and the story goes that he actually went, scoop jackson actually went to the white house and talked to president carter and said that the senate of the united states is going to oppose this, and you're going to have a hard time removing these troops. so we have a role to play here, and we've had a role to play here, and we've played this role. now, mr. president, i want to add one final anecdote from that trip. the senate navy liaison officer who helped lead that delegation

of senators in the late 1970's to south korea was a navy captain by the name of john mccain. yes, that's right, the john mccain, who i mentioned we're all praying for, who, by the way, we've named this bill after him. this is the john s. mccain national defense authorization act. the current chairman of the armed services committee that wrote this bill, he was on that trip as a captain in the u.s. navy. and i think that historical fact makes this provision in the current bill that we're debating now the john s. mccain national defense authorization act even more powerful. i yield the floor.

i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate be in 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 ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 429, s. 2377. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 429, s. 2377, a bill to designate the federal building in united states -- and united states courthouse locate at 200 west second street in ohio as the walter h. rice federal courthouse. officerster without objection, the -- the presiding officer: without objection, the senate shall proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion 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 immediate consideration of calendar number 430, is $2734. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 430, s. 2734, a bill to designate the federal bidding in and united states courthouse located at 1400 victoria as the george p.kazen federal courthouse. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate shall proceed to the parent -- measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and pass and the motion 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 immediate consideration of s. res. 537 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 537, commending the yale university men's la crosse team for winning the to 18 national collegiate athletic association men's la crosse championship. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate shall

proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed 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. 518? 538 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 538, commending the wesleyan la crosse team for winning the 2018 national collegiate athletic association division iii men's la crosse championship. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate shall proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed 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: so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3:00 p.m. monday,

june 11. 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. i further ask that following leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.r. 515. final will i ask that notwithstanding the provisions of rule 22, the vote son the motion to proceed to h.r. 5515 occur at 5:30 p.m. monday. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until the senate confirming to be assistant education secretary for civil rights and continuing debate on the 2019th defense programs and policyl.