quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: mr. president, i rise today to pay tribute to a man who is a loyal and diligent staffer on the senate finance committee for merely three decades. mark prager. mark began as a tax counsel with the committee in january of

1990. during his 28-year tenure with the committee, mark has been a shining example of a bipartisan policy staffer. he is a proud portlander where he graduated with his accounting tkpwraoe from portland -- degree from portland state university, received his law degree from wil mouth university and his l.l.n. in taxation from the university of florida. after practicing law for a few years in portland, mark thought he would take a two-year break from practice to work in public service. but after he started working for his home state senator bob packwood, mark became consumed by the work on the finance committee, which is easy to do, but especially for somebody like mark. this was a time when america had a republican president and both the senate and house were controlled by democrats. and yet the tax staff, including a fresh face tax counsel from

oregon, found ways to get bills across the finish line. some of those bills included significant budget and energy deals that helped jumptart the economy in the early 1990's. after a few years mark was promoted to chief tax counsel in october of 1993, a post that became synonymous with mark prager for nearly 25 years. in 2007, mark was also named deputy staff director of the senate finance committee. for the next decade, mark's legislative management and institutional knowledge were crucial in virtually every bill that was passed out of the senate finance committee, and there have been a lot of them. but, mr. president, mark's impact in congress didn't end there. it did not end there. in 2011, mark was appointed as

the staff director of the joint select committee on deficit reduction, or the, quote, super committee, unquote, as it was more mcconnell known. as -- as it was more commonly known. as many of us remember, september of 2011 was a trying time for america and washington. just about any stray statement or suggestion seemed to throw spark on the dry kindling of political frustrations. the supercommittee was created to find a solution to america's debt crisis, but also to act as an example of bipartisan and bicameral cooperation. the first step was selecting a director who would be able to handle an immense workload while also dealing with unknown forces and members of congress who were unfamiliar with those forces. mark was the man for the job, and shepherded the committee through a process that resulted in many work products that would

be used over the next several years. but my personal work with mark is where i really learned to trust and appreciate him the most, although i trusted and appreciated him before. from the moment i became the ranking member on the senate finance committee and even more so after i became chairman in 2015, i leaned on mark to help develop and negotiate a reform to our long-outdated and broken tax code. the result was the tax cuts and jobs act, the largest and most comprehensive overhaul of the united states tax code in 36 years. in the end i think we can safely say this is one of the greatest legislative achievements in recent memory, and it all happened in large part due to mark's efforts, influence, and

expertise. i relied on him, and i have to say my reliance was well placed. perhaps more than anyone else, mark can testify that the processor tax reform was years in the making. contrary to what democrats may tout, this was not a six-month, year, or even two-year effort. tax reform had been debated, and individual pieces have been negotiated and proposed in some form or another for years with the senate finance committee producing bipartisan working papers and holding hearings on dozens of occasions throughout the last decade. rather than the last-second rush job, i think the facts and history indicate that the process actually began in earnest thanks to mark's work at the supercommittee. that was when several of the major bipartisan conversations

about improving innovation, returning to normal g.d.p. growth, and improving fairness while broadening the base became earnest bipartisan conversations. as weonnue to develop tax reform, much of the work between senators, their sff the big six, treasury, constituents, and stakeholders was at least in part facilitated by markrater, who was always there to listen and politely make suggestions and answer questions. he did not always like what he heard, but he was willing to negotiate and try to find common ground just to get the football another inch down the field. tax reform had many bipartisan ideas. provide relief for middle-class families, broaden the base, bring the corporate rate down, and fix the broken international tax regime.

as anyone who has worked in tax before knows, there are 1,000 levers to pull and knobs to twist to get to an end result. all of it has to happen while working a difficult political tightrope, a tightrope i'm not sure we would have balanced upon without mark. his absolute mastery of the tax code, his compassion, his patience, his sen of humor and his creative solutions to difficult problems were a key part of the process and the substance of the final product. i am and will be forever grateful to mark for his sacrifices and commitments to making tax reform a reality. and i would be remiss not to also thank his wife laurie and his son james for their support and sacrifice as well. he loves both of them.

loves both of them and really they're lucky to have him and his love. i'm glad to see them all here today, especially so that we can finally celebrate the stanley cup coming to washington. as most of us know, mark somebody an avid hockey fan and his diligent support in that sphere has paid off as well. in sum, losing mark has been a terribly sad day for all of us here in the senate. but i'm confident that his legacy, the tax reform that owes much to him and the example mark set for all of us will be remembered and cherished for years to come. i've had hundreds of staff people work with me over the years, all of whom i have regard for, revere our friendships, have learned from, and have pushed and shoved as hard as i

could. i've really had some really wonderful people with me. they've all been dedicated. they've all given of themselves to help this country. but i've never had anybody any more dedicated or giving than mark prater. and all i can say is he deserves, he deserves the recognition that i'm trying to give him here today, and much more. i have such a regard for him, such a regard for what he stands for, what a decent, honorable, and kind, and hardworking young man. all i can say is we've been very lucky to have him in the senate and on the senate staff and on the finance committee staff. his efforts and his work are going to be around and understood by many of us for many years to come. so i want to thank him personally for the work that he's done, the friendship that

he's given, with the hard work that he has performed for all of us here, and wish him the very, very best, him and his family. on top of all this, iust want him to know that we love him and appreciate him. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i be recognized for two minutes and allowed to speak and my colleague from colorado, senator gardner also to have two minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. bennet: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to call up amendment 2983. i'm pleased to be here with my colleague. the presiding oicdment is pendi. mr. bennet: thank you. thank you, mr. president. each year 230,000 men and women leave military service, many enter the civilian work force. i know everyone in this chamber believes we can do a better job connecting our veterans and transitions service members with award -- rewarding and

high-paying jobs. i also know people in this chamber agree these men and women are ideal employees for american businesses. they're highly trained. they're experienced leaders, driven and mission oriented. these are all qualities i'd like for in an employee. i know our state is one of the highest percentage of veterans in the country and we have military bases with transitioning service members and many veterans from all over the country choose to live in colorado and make it their home. we also have top science and engineering programs and emerging energy industries that are hungry for a highly skilled workforce. there is a need to reward high-paying jobs and that's what this amendment seeks to achieve. it directs our government to identify opportunities for the military to partner with colleges, universities, and the private sector to train our veterans and service members for jobs in the growing energy, cyber security, and artificial intelligence sector. i want to thank play cool -- my

colleagues for supporting the amendment, especially senators gardner and duckworth for joining me as cosponsors. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: thank you. i thank my colleague, senator net for the opportunity to work -- bennet for the opportunity to work with him and make sure we hon our our -- honor our service members. they proudly serve this country in active duty. when they come home, though, one of the obligations we have as a society to thank them, as a country to thank them for this incredible service is to make sure they have the skills, education and training to enter great back into the workforce. they have incredible skills they have acquired during their military service. we can put them to use here at home. this amendment simply says that the department of defense, the secretary of energy will evaluate military installations to determine which ones are ripe for opportunities to work with community colleges, institutions of higher education and others so that they can enter into agreements to help train veterans, armed service members,

members of the armed forces, to transition them into civilian life, to help work in cyber security fields, energy field,ae workforce. in colorado alone, we have 13,000 job openings in cyber security alone. this gives us a chance to continue our service and thanking our veterans for the work that they have done in service to our country. mr. president, i thank my colleague from colorado, senator bennet. i yield the floor and encourage my colleagues to vote yes. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i ask consent to speak for two minutes to inform senators where we are. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. alexander: i thank the senators on both sides of the aisle for working well on the appropriations process. we're off to a very good start. we've voted on six amendments in the last couple of days. we have about 20 others that we're close to agreement on and probably can adopt by voice vote.

we have one amendment that we're going to have to deal with. if we -- if it were not offered, then this would be the last vote for the day. if it needs to be dealt with, then we're going to have to deal with it following this vote. so i wanted members to know that unless we get agreement, we'll be having at least one more vote following this vote. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the amendment 2983. is there sufficient sond? 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 to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 96, the nays are zero. the amendment is agreed to. mr. alexander: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: for the information of senators, we're about to move to consideration of the amendment by the senator from utah. i want to take about a minute to talk about it. then the leader will -- will speak. then i will move to table the motion. depending on the outcome of the amendment, there may be other votes this afternoon. i want to thank senators for

working well together. we have had six votes. we have had 20 that we think we can work out in a managers' package, more or less. the senator from utah, by the way, has been very helpful in getting to that point, but i am going to move to table his motion, and i want to explain why. this is an authorizing amendment. it belongs on the authorizing bill. this is an appropriations bill, and we have worked very hard over the last few weeks under chairman shelby's leadership and senator leahy's leadership to try to keep such amendments off our appropriations bill so that we can get the result. it's been a long time since this body has done what we're supposed to do under the appropriations process. this is the first week of that process. if we table the motion that's about to come up, we will be

able to complete our work, i believe, today or monday and be off to a good start with about two dozen amendments and a process that is the kind that we have been saying for weeks we want to see. so while i totally agree with the senator's amendment and have votedor it many, many times, this is not the place for it. mr. leahy: will the senator yield on that point? mr. alexander: well, let me finish, if i might. we're trying to get to the vote. this is not the place for the -- well, if you want to -- mr. leahy: i was just simply going to add to what the senator from tennessee is saying. senator shelby and i have tried to keep things that are not germane or inappropriate out of the appropriations bill so we can actually pass some appropriations bills. so i will join the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i thank the senator for his support. in addition to this, for those

on this side of the aisle who support the waters of the u.s., remember that the courts have enjoined it. president trump has rescinded it. president trump's e.p.a. has rewritten the rule and is sending it to o.m.b., did last week, so there will be a new rule that's not now in effect. and finally, a small part of the bill is dealt with in the interior appropriations bill. so i thank the members for being here. i respect the senator from utah, but i am going to move to table his motion following the leader's remarks. and i urge all senators to do that. we want an appropriations process. we do not want an omnibus appropriations bill, and that's what we will get if we offer amendments like this on the appropriations process. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: look, this is a big test of the senate.

there is broad bipartisan agreement that we need to quit doing omnibus appropriation bills. chairman shelby and senator leahy have got not only the committee in a good place but senator alexander here has handled this bill in such a way and we have had broad cooperation to get it across the floor and get it into conference and actually make a law, the three appropriation bills. i have no doubt about it, i can't find many people on this side of the aisle who approved of the waters of the united states regulation of the previous administration. it's othe way to the ash heap of history right now under this administration. so this is not about waters of the united states or whether we are for it or against it. this is about whether we want to get away from annual omnibus

appropriation bills, and this is the first test here.we have a minute -- minibus consisting of three bills. we have had widespread cooperation to get it across the floor. this amendment needs to be tabled because this is not the right place to offer it. so i will be joining the senator from -- the senior senator from tennessee and the chairman of the energy and water subcommittee in tabling this amendment. make no mistake about it. not because i support the waters of the united states but because that's being taken care of and we want to have regular order passage of appropriation bills this year. now, mr. president, i call up the lee amendment numbered 3021 as modified to the alexander amendment numbered 2911. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell, for

mr. lee, proposes an amendment numbered 3021 to amendment numbered 2911, as modified. mr. schumer: mr. president. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? withoutbj. the democratic leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, i will be very brief. i want to thank the republican leader, the senior senator from tennessee and the chair of the -- one of the relevant subcommittees for their comments. we want to make this process work. it's going to take a little work to bring it back to the way it used to be on both sides. this is a -- this is an outstanding start, and i appreciate that very much. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i move to table the lee amendment numbered 3021 and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second?

there appears to be. there is. the yeas and nays are ordered. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. lamar alexander i ask unanimous consent that there being two minutes equal little divided prior to the vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. lee: mr. president? the presiding officer: senator from utah. mr. lee: it is not unusual to have policy in an appropriations bill. it happens with some regulatory. it happened in the corresponding house appropriations measure. what we're talking about here is some of the worst kind of law making that occurs here in the swamp, occurs here in washington, d.c. congress sets forth a very broad, vague standard and an executive branch agency figures out the rest, sometimes with disastrous consequences. in 2015, the e.p.a. and the u.s. army corporation came up with a clean water rule also known as

the waters of the united states rule, one that effectively, dramatically expanded the jurisdiction of the federal government over land in the united states. in some instances saying that if a plot of land is wet some of the time, some of the year during any particular year, you can be subject to massive fines totaling millions of dollars if you do anything on that land subject to the arbitrary determinations of federal bureaucrats. this is something that garnered bipartisan support in the 114th congress. we had 49 cosponsors, we ended up having 53 vote to undo this under a congressional review act resolution of disapproval. that was republicans and democrats. tragically, president obama vetoed that measure and we were unable to secure the votes to override that veto. this particular measure is in the house appropriations bill that corresponds to this one. i urge my colleagues to support it and to oppose the motion to table.

mr. alexander: i yield back. the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. question is on the motion to table. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the esidinofficer: are there any senators in the chamber who wish to vote or to change their vote? seeing none, the ayes are 62.

the nays are 34. the motion fails. -- the motion is agreed to. the motion is agreed to. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk shall call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. tillis: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated are. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tillis: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i've sadly had to do this speech once a week for the past couple of months and i am here to draw attention to one of the saddest moments in the great relationship and history we've had with turkey. for 622 days, counting today, we've had an american who spent 22 years as a missionary in turkey. for 19 of the months he was in prison, he was held without charges. a couple of months ago, he was finally charged and indicted and he was indicted on some of the most absurd charges you could possibly imagine. he was in jail on karn charges that -- on charges that wouldn't have a person in jail over night

in the u.s. he was imprisoned in october of 2016. since then, he spent nearly 17 months into a prison cell that was designed for eight people and had 21 people in it. he's lost 50 pounds. he's keeping good spirit, but you can tell his mental state has diminished. the reason i know that is i went to visit him. after the indictment was laid out back in april, i heard through his family that the american people and the congress would read the indictment and believe it and turn his backs on them. i thought it was personally important for me to go to that prison in turkey and tell him that he has the u.s. congress behind him. some 70 senators signed on to a letter expressing their concerns and appreciate their support and almost 150 comment in the house -- congressmen in the

house. i want to tell him that we'll never forget him. some say, what on earth was pastor brunson doing in turkey. he was providing comfort for syrian refugees. he has a church in izmir, a very small church -- by the way, after the prison visit, i went back to turkey and heard the allegations myself in a courtroom there. they charged this was a hotbed for terrorist plotting. that this was where pastor brunson tried to conspire with others to facilitate the coup, an illegal coup that i disagreed with, the coup attempt a couple of years ago. we actually had one witness say that he had to have been involved in some nefarious activity because one night in

the middle of the night they saw a light on for four hours. that was the charge, and therefore, there must have been something bad going on. well, number one, because somebody's light on doesn't mean they are necessarily doing anything bad, but what makes it more remarkable is that the room they were talking about doesn't have a room. there is no way anybody could observe it. so this witness who is in prison himself testifies to the fact that a light was on and therefore pastor brunson is a terrorist or coup plotter. i'm not -- there's another charge that because his daughter posted a picture of a meal she was enjoying on social media and it turns out that meal -- a very common meal in turkey -- had been identified as something from a terrorist organization, the fact that she ate a common

food and dish in turkey, they must be involved in terrorist actions. these are the nature of changes that has kept this man in jail for, as i said earlier, 800 -- it's hard to keep track of. 822 days. now, when i talked to the turkish officials, some of the senior leaders there, and i worked with the state department, particularly when i talked to the turkish officials, they say we have a judicial process that we must run through so justice must take its course. well, how do you square that with the president of turkey who suggests that if we're prepared to trade a pastor that's been in turkey for -- for 20 years for a religious leader in the united states who's legally preent that we -- present that we told the