worldwide standing. i think that we've been looked at as problem solvers and the good and i think that's changing and not for the better. that's a big concern to me. so, those are my issues. >> be sure to join us july 21st and 22nd when we'll feature our visit to alaska. watch alaska weekend on c-span, c-span.org or listen on the c-span radio app. >> friday, the conversation with the chief justice of the united states, john roberts, from the judicial conference of the fourth circuit, live friday at 3:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app.

next we take you live to the u.s. senate which continues work today on the farm bill. yesterday cloech -- clou clough-- cloture was filed. now, the senate on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black,

will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. sovereign god, thank you that your mercies endure forever. show us your ways and teach us your paths, as you lead us with your truth. today, set the hearts of our lawmakers on heaven's way. in all of their actions, may they seek your celestial approval. remind them that you are the only constituent they absolutely must please. may our senators stand on your

promises and lean on your grace. lord, thank you for your mercy. you lift the lowly, satisfy the thirsty, and fill the hungry with good things. and, lord, thank you for the faithfulness of our summer pages. we pray in your holy name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., june 28, 2018. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable dean heller, a senator from the state of nevada, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g. hatch, president pro tempore. officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 2, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 4 l 3, h.r. 2, an act to provide for the reform and continuation of agricultural and other programs of the department of agriculture through fiscal year 2023, and for other purposes.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i want to take another opportunity to pay tribute to justice anthony kennedy, who announced yesterday that he'll retire from active

service and assume senior status at the end of july. justice kennedy deserves our sincere thanks for his service and our congratulations on a truly remarkable career. he served our nation on the federal bench for 43 years, 30 of which spent as an associate justice of the u.s. supreme court. his contributions to american jurisprudence has been many. in particular, he earned our gratitude for his steadfast defense of the vital first amendment right, political speech. so we congratulate justice kennedy and his wife mary and their entire family on this well-earned retirement. we wish them every happiness during the additional time they get to spend together in the years ahead. as stated yesterday, the senate stands ready to fulfill our constitutional role by offering advice and consent on president trump's nominee to fill the

vacancy that justice kennedy's retirement will create. the senate will vote to confirm justice kennedy's successor this fall. this is not 2016. there aren't the final months of a second-term constitutionally lame duck presidency with a presidential election fast approaching. we're right in the middle of this president's very first term. to my knowledge, nobody on either side has ever suggested before yesterday that the senate should only process supreme court nominations in odd-numbered years. the situation today is much like when justice kagan was confirmed in 2010 and when justice breyer was confirmed in 1994 and justice souter in 1990. in each case, the president was about a year and a half into his first term. so just like in numerous other

occasions, the process to confirm justice kennedy's successor will take place this year. as in the case of justice gorsuch, senators will have the opportunity to meet with president trump's nominee, examine his or her qualifications, and debate the nomination. i'm confident chairman grassley will capablely lead the judiciary committee through the confirmation process that lies before us. the president's nominee should be considered fairly and not subjected to personal attacks. unfortunately, far less special interest groups are already calling on senate democrats to oppose anyone -- anyone -- on president trump's long list of potential nominees. the ink wasn't even dry on justice kennedy's resignation letter before my friend, the democratic leader, seemed to echo that right here on the floor, that none of the exceptional legal minds on this list would be tolerable to him. think of that, mr. president.

these are 25 americans from all over the country who have excelled in their professions. the idea that any of them, let alone all of them, would be automatically unacceptable is totally absurd. unfortunately, i'm afraid this may be a precursor of all the unfair attacks to come, both from inside and outside the senate. fortunately, we have every reason to expect an outstanding selection. president trump's judicial nominations to date have reflect add keen understanding of the vital role that judges play in our constitutional order. interpreting the law fairly, applying it evenhandedly, setting aside personal preferences and assessing what the law actually says. these tax rates have characterized the -- these traits have characterized the

excellent nominees the president has sent to the senate. i look forward to another such nomination. we hope to wrap up our consideration of the farm bill, a victory for american agriculture. all week i've highlighted some of the ways this important legislation will support the family farmers whose harvest feeds america and splice the world. -- and supplies the world. it is an understatement to say this bill comes at an unopportune time. american farm families need predictability and they need it urgently. the industry is filled with uncertainty. these are volatile world markets. there are persisting low commodity prices. there are natural disasters beyond their control. all of these things make it harder for our growers to go about their business. they depend on the kind of long-term certainty that this legislation will provide. this subject is extremely important to me as a proud senior senator from the

commonwealth of kentucky and as a member who has served on the agriculture committee since my first day in office. agriculture is in the bones of our state. it's a huge part of who we are, from soybeans and corn and hay and tobacco and poultry and livestock, kentucky agriculture encompasses a multibillion-dollar industry that supports thousands and thousands of good jobs in nearly every corner of the commonwealth. kentuckians know as well as as anyone just how important american agriculture is. and we understand as well as anyone all the unique challenges that it faces. that's why i'm pleased to support this bill, which will bolster the safety net programs for our producers. it will also enhance infrastructure investment in rural communities on everything from local water projects to broadband internet to helping curb the drug epidemic in rural america. and it gets washington out of farmers' ways in areas where

bureaucracy is holding them back. one such area is industrial hemp. consumers across america buy hundreds of millions in retail products every year that contain hemp but due to outdated federal regulations that do not sufficiently distinguish this industrial crop from its illicit cousin, american farmers have been mostly unable to meet that demand themselves. it's left consumers with little choice but to buy imported hemp products from foreign-produced hemp. fortunately, this farm bill will change that. it builds on the progress of the pilot promise i initiated years ago and break down the barriers that prevent american farmers from exploring the hemp market. when this becomes law subject to proper regulation and oversight, u.s. producers will no longer be barred from this legitimate u.s. market.

i'm also proud of how this farm bill has come about. the chairman and ranking member, senator roberts and senator stabenow, established it through an exemplary bipartisan committee process that included 73 amendments. here on the floor, 18 more bipartisan amendments were adopted in the substitute amendment. it's my personal hope that we could have had even more amendment votes, but the senate is a consent-based institution and members have the ability to object. nevertheless, the transparent and open leadership of chairman roberts and senator stabenow has been commendable. now the time has come to deliver. the farm bill is too important a subject to keep our farmers and their families waiting. after all, the groups charged with advocating on their behalf overwhelmingly support it. more than 500 industry groups and advocates representing agriculture, food, nutrition, hunger, forestry, conservation,

faith-based, and research interests have already publicly backed the senate bill. and nearly 70 such groups had this to say in a recent letter to congress. during a prolonged recession in agriculture, failure to pass a farm bill on time would undermine the financial security of america's food, fuel, crop, and fiber producers. the senate must not fail that test. it's time to pass the farm bill. now on another matter, mr. president, it's been a little over six months since this republican congress passed historic tax reform. already we've seen big headlines. millions of worker bonuses, plans for thousands of new jobs, and billions of dollars being invested whoer in the united states. -- here in the united states. individual companies announcing billions in new american

investments, small business optimism is at its highest level since president reagan's first term, but these national headshrines don't tell the whole story on their own -- headlines on their own. this week i've discussed how tax reform is already transforming american families' kitchen table conversations, how lower rates and larger deductions are letting them pocket more their hard-earned money, how new corporate tax structure has already started paving the way for higher wages. you can pick up a local paper in almost any state and find another angle to the story. from montana to florida, americans are paying less to keep the lights on. that's right. despite warnings from our democratic colleagues that tax reform savings would never reach consumers, utilities all across

america are already making that happen. in my home state of kentucky, the new tax code led to announced rate cuts of up to 6% for kentucky utilities and louisville gas and electric customers. just this month, idaho power announced a 7% rate cut for consumers. and in pennsylvania, metropolitan edison is one of the 17 utilities that are planning to deliver rate savings thanks to the new tax law. on july 1, more than half a million customers in philadelphia can expect their electric bills to drop by as much as 8%. help with monthly bills, higher take-home pay, new job opportunities because american enterprise is thriving. this is what tax reform means around middle-class kitchen tables. this is why republicans passed

this historic law. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, yesterday, justice anthony kennedy announced his retirement, creating a vacancy on the supreme court. after kennedy's departure, the supreme court will be evenly divided between justices appointed by republican presidents and justices appointed by democratic presidents. whoever fills justice kennedy's seat on the court will have the opportunity to impact the laws of the united states and the

rights of its citizens for a generation. because justice kennedy was frequently independent minded and a deciding vote on issues like marriage equality and a woman's right to choose, a more ideological successor could upend decades of precedent and drag america backwards to a time before americans with preexisting conditions could affordably access health care, to a time when women could not be prosecuted as criminals for exercising their reproductive rights, to a time before gay and lesbian americans could marry whom they love. an ideological justice, more extreme in their views than kennedy, could eviscerate the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively for a fair wage and stretch the bounds of executive power for a president who has demonstrated

little respect for them. now, of course, if republicans were consistent, they would wait to consider justice kennedy's successor until after the midterm elections. time and time again, leader mcconnell justified his unjustifiable blockade of merrick garland by claiming the american people should have a voice in deciding the next supreme court justice. that was in february of an election year. it's now almost july. if the senate's constitutional duty to advise and consent is just as important as the president's right to nominate, which the constitution says it is, why should a midterm election be any less important than a presidential election? leader mcconnell is simply engaging in hypocrisy. whomever the president picks, it is all too likely they're going to overturn health care

protections and roe v. wade. we don't need to guess. president trump has said time and time again he would appoint judges that would do those two things -- overturn roe v. wade, overturn health care protections. on november 11, 2016, then president-elect trump said, quote, i am pro-life. good judges will be pro-life. in a debate against secretary clinton, then-candidate trump said, because i am pro-life and i will be appointing pro-life judges, i think that we will go back to the individual states. unquote. it is impossibly -- i am -- it is impossible to conclude that president trump will appoint a justice whom we can have faith will leave roe v. wade unsettled

law. president trump said in his own words that he wants to give them a justice to give the court a majority to overturn roe v. wade. so count on it. president trump will in all likelihood nominate a justice willing to send roe, quote, back to the states. again, those are president trump's own words, where several are preparing, if not already prepared, to roll back a woman's right to choose. in fact, according -- there ares where abortions would be wholly or partially illegal almost immediately. that is against what america wants. it is because the president and his hard-right ideological judicial acolytes are way far

away from where the american people are that are trying to create a court that will turn the clock backward in so many ways, roe at the top of the list. we also know that president trump will likely nominate a justice willing to reinterpret the court's rulings that our current health care law is constitutional. again, listen to president trump's own words. on january 1, 2016, candidate trump, quote, justice roberts turned out to be an absolute disaster because he gave us obamacare. unquote. later he said, i don't think i'll have any catastrophic appointment like justice roberts, unquote. even justice roberts was too far to the middle for the president on health care. president trump made it crystal clear that he's going to nominate somebody hostile to the court's rulings on health care. there's no other way to interpret president trump's words. so count on it, he will appoint

a nominee who will roll back health care protections for tens of millions of americans. america doesn't want that. but again, the hard-right acolytes who president trump listens to want to use the courts to roll back america's rights and privileges. we can be sure that the next nominee will obfuscate, deny and hide behind the judicial dodge, i will follow settled law. as we saw this week in the janus decision, settled law is only settled until the justices on the supreme court decide it isn't. and yesterday they reversed 40 years of precedent in a ruling that stretched the meaning of the first amendment to meet their ideological predispositions, their antiunion

bias. already there's a case wending it's way through the courts that questions the the constitutionality of the health care law by repealing the coverage requirement, republicans have removed the foundation upon which the chief justice based his ruling to uphold the law. if the change in the law changes justice roberts' mind, which is very likely, and the new jurist is as biased against our health care system as president trump said he or she will be, millions of americans could see their preexisting condition protections wiped out. i say to america, 80%, 90% of you believe we should have preexisting conditions. the nominee of the president is likely to undo them and leave tens of millions of american families helpless. stand up now, america, before this happens.

the trump administration decided the federal government will not defend the law protecting preexisting conditions in the court. the next supreme court justice may indeed be faced with casting a deciding vote on the fate of our health care, and we already know, unfortunately, the kind of vote that president trump wants. now my friend, leader mcconnell, warned the senate to not get into personal attacks of the president's nominee. of course he doesn't seem to mind the president who makes personal attacks his daily m.o. but be that as it may, i can assure my friend the republican leader that there is no desire and no need to get into personal attacks. there are so many weighty issues hanging over the vacant seat: a woman's right to choose, the fate of our health care law, the right of workers to organize, the pernicious influence of dark money in politics, the right of americans to marry whom they

love, the right to vote. we will discuss these issues on the merits and consider a nominee in light of these issues. but discussing a preordained list of candidates who meet the hard right's ideological litmus tests, that is certainly legitimate, and we are going to continue to bring that up. we will evaluate the president's nominees on the issues, but every american should have his or her eyes wide open to the fact that president trump is not picking the best legal mind. he has sworn to nominate a justice culled from a preordained list vetted by the heritage foundation and "the federalist" society, organizations whose mission has been to repeal roe v. wade and strike at the heart of our

health care law. does anyone believe that a nominee on that prevetted list doesn't want to challenge roe? how do you think they got to toe on that list? "the federalist" society led by len in order leo, whose -- leonard leo whose goal is to repeal roe v. wade putting it together and trump rubber-stamping it. given what the president has said, it is virtually certain that members of the list of 25 would vote to overturn roe. so let this be a call to action for americans from all corners of the country to rise up and speak out. don't let this new court, this new nominee, whomever he or she may be, turn back the clock on issue after issue or after issue, because president trump has embraced a hard-right group

who has a veto power over nominees. don't let us turn back the clock, america. stand up. speak out. democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives, all should want a much fairer process. america, tell your senators that if you do not want a supreme court justice who will overturn roe v. wade, those senators should not vote for a candidate from the list. i yield the floor. and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. schumer: i ask unanimous

consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the later parts of my statement on immigration and on a few other issues be added into the record right here. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you. quorum call:

,

mr. roberts: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. roberts: thank you, madam president. i again rise, especially today, as the senate continues to consider legislation on an issue that is critically -- critically -- important to our nation. it is the agriculture improvement act of 2018 or what

we call the farm bill. i want to emphasize again -- and i don't know how i can emphasize this more strongly, but i hope my colleagues will understand -- that the responsibility, the absolute requirement, is to provide farmers, ranchers, growers, everyone within america's food chain certainty and predictability during these very difficult times that we're experiencing in agriculture. as i speak right now in kansas farmers are on combines and trucks are taking grain to the elevator -- or in storage, more likely -- with the wheat

harvest. i can see in several counties probably up in northwest kansas, we have finished that in the southern part of our state. these are the same folks that have had combines on the move from texas to oklahoma now and kansas. but i can see a farmer who perhaps due to a hailstorm and had planned on harvesting his wheat in a bad situation. but luckily for him he has crop insurance. appeared luck little for him we've been -- and luckily for him we've been able to preserve crop insurance, after going through several iterations of attempts to cut it or what some people say reform it. i can see him saying, when is the congress going to pass the

farm bill? when can i go to my banker, my lender and tell him, i have assurance that i can keep going on the farm next year? especially if his crop has been destroyed, which happens. that's the person you're thinking about -- that's the person i'm thinking about, especially today when we think we out to wrap this up. especially when the agriculture bill had a strong bipartisan vote of 20-19, bipartisan. this month -- of 20-1, bipartisan. this month this bill does exactly -- or exactly provides the certainty and the predictability that i have just mentioned. the ag committee product includes also portions of the 67 stand-alone bills, an additional

74 amendments were adopted in the committee, and we've included 18 amendments thus far during consideration in the full senate. we have worked to include as many priorities for members as possible, and we want to work on a possible managers' amendment to include a handful of additional amendments, so it's not like a situation where members have not had an opportunity to vote. senator stabenow and i have extended our outreached hands to members to say, we stand ready to consider your amendments. we're endeavoring to craft a farm bill that meets the need of producers all across regions and crops. in michigan, where oftentimes i go with senator stabenow and have agriculture roundtables or even individual visits and look

at that great state's production with regards -- more especiallily to specialty crops, they're strugglings. california farmers, growers are struggling. all of agriculture is struggling, not just one or two commodities. we must have a bill that works across all of our great nation. more than 500 -- 500 organizations representing thousands of agriculture, food, nutrition, hunger, forest fishery, world business, faith-based, research, and academic interests have issued statements supporting this bill. over 500. this is what happens when the senate works in a bipartisan fashion. we're doing just that. this is a good bill that accomplishes what we set out to do. again, to provide certainty and predictability for farmers,

families, and rural america. and it is especially timely when we have a trade policy that has a question mark at the end of it. i'd really hope that the president is successful with trade negotiations, with nafta. i think we should take another look at t.p.p. or with china, and the problem with tariffs -- i know they're trying -- i know the administration is trying to send a message, a very strong message, and address the trade deficit that we have had, but the moment that happens, there is retaliation, and the retaliation 90% of the time comes at ag, agriculture, and the small manufacturers all across the country, and for that matter everybody up and down the food chain. and in many other areas of the economy as well. so, again, that farmer out there

on that combine in kansas trying to finish up his crop and hopefully the weather has not destroyed it, but again if that has happened, he at least has crop insurance, and he wants assurance and he's saying -- i know what he's saying, because i visit with them all the time. in my entire public career, this is my eighth farm bill. this is not our first rodeo, senator stabenow, as you well know. i know what he's thinking. he's thinking, well roberts said he'd get us a bill. and senator moran says that he's going to get us a bill. the entire kansas delegation says we're working on a farm bill. and we do that every time. we need to wrap this up today. i look forward to working with my colleagues on continuing to move this process forward. i would simply say, would end to

-- we need to get this done. again, the paramount issue is get it done, provide farmers concernsst certainty and predictability. if i sound like i'm repeating that ten times, i intend to. and all other issues, all other issues which i know senators feel are terribly, terribly important come in to second place. i have strong issues. i mean, this is not the best possible bill. it's the best bill possible. and we're -- and we've worked very hard to produce that. i yield to my distinguished colleague from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you. madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: i'm here joining with chairman roberts and his sense of urgency and his comments this morning. we have worked very hard, and our distinguished presiding officer, a part of the committee now, knows that we have produced a bill that is a strong,

bipartisan bill and gone on to address many other interests and needs that members have brought forward in the substitute and now, woulding with members -- and now working with members as well. but there is a sense of urgency in the country. there are so many things right now that are up in the air for farmers and ranchers. it's a very, very difficult time. and this bill really is a bill that provides a safety net for farmers and a safety net for families. and for families, because the economy is getting better, we actually are saving money, over $80 billion is going to be saved, taxpayers dollars not used over the next ten years because the economy is getting better, people don't need temporary help. but for our farmers, we, because of prices that have dropped significantly, because of questions about trade and markets, because of questions about labor, so many other

things, they are under tremendous stress. and then you add weather. i was just in the upper peninsula of michigan on sunday night and monday where rain came crashing down in just a few hours and created flooding and mudslides and wiped out homes and operations and other things that are going to take weeks, months for folks to recover from. the riskiest business p in the world -- in the world is farming. no one is looking at the weather report and determining whether or not they will have a business. by the way, we want them to have a business because we have the safest, most affordable food supply in the world because of the folks that are willing to get up every day and do this and take this risk for us. and frankly for the world. so we have a responsibility to them. you know, it just breaks my heart when i see headlines in

the paper now about the suicide rate going up for farmers. higher than any other group of people. our dairy farmers. people who put everything on the line, family operations. because of the stress coming at them from every way now are in a terrible situation. they are counting on us to do what we can to provide certainty and stability for them. the number one way we can do that is to get this bill passed. i can't think of a better way to say happy 4th of july than to say the united states senate on a bipartisan basis overwhelmingly passed a bill to support them. now, we know there are other issues on both sides of the aisle. we know conference committee is going to be a wild and woolly debate as we go forward on a number of things. we understand that there are other issues that we can revisit at that time. we have both been through conference committees. we know what that's all about.

but here's what we know right now. we have a strong bipartisan bill that helps every single region of this country. we have a big, diverse country. and we help all of our farmers and ranchers. we address conservation in every part of our country. we address food access and create integrity in programs that are very important to have, and we do all of that in a bill that we can be proud to pass on a bipartisan basis. and so now is the time to do that. and then we will continue working. we know there is more we need to do to work with the house and coming to a broader consensus. we know that there are other issues that colleagues will want to bring forward in that process, but today, today we can say to farmers and ranchers

large and small we hear you. we understand what's going on, and we're going to do what we can today to provide the certainty and predictability that they need and a sense of confidence that there are people fighting for them and are going to continue to fight for them until we can get them the certainty and predictability that they need. so i would hope that we're on a path to doing that today, and it's been my great pleasure to work with the chairman of the committee, and i'm very grateful for our friendship and great working relationship. we're going to do everything we can today working with colleagues to get that done. mr. roberts: i thank my colleague and my friend. how many times have we heard from back home, all the folks

back home, why on earth do you folks back there keep fussing at one another? why don't you work together to get something done? well, amen to that. and that's the bill we have produced. i remember the gold medal ceremony for senator bob dole. he was presented a gold medal for his tremendous leadership in the senate. he was known for working across the aisle and getting things done. and when we awarded the senator several months ago in statuary hall that gold medal, bob at 94 years old stood up when we played the national anthem from his wheelchair, on his own, and there for a time on a tuesday we were partisan in the house and to some degree in the senate.

i could go into all the cloture votes that i have felt are not necessary, 104, 105. i don't know how many we have had now, four months of delay, but i'm not going to do that. so on tuesday, we were partisan. wednesday, we were bipartisan, paying tribute to bob. everybody said well, why can't you emanate his example and work together, and then after wednesday and thursday, we were back to some partisan differences. more philosophical differences or ideological differences. compromise again was a dirty word. well, this is our opportunity. we have proved that we can work together on the ag committee. we're the least partisan committee in the congress. and for goodness sakes, when agriculture is in almost a crisis and we desperately need to provide the farmers the knowledge that we're passing the bill in their benefit and that

it is a good bill, why on earth can't we get this done? i thank my colleague for her comments and i yield the floor. ms. stabenow: madam president, if i might take one more moment. i just want to underscore what chairman roberts has said earlier. we have 500 different organizations in support of this. from every piece of the 12 titles, every part of the country, every agricultural group, every conservation. we have hunting and fishing groups. we have both that care about international trade and folks who care about trading at home with their neighbors and people who care about food access. 500 organizations have come together around this bill and a sense of urgency to get it done, and so i am very hopeful we can do that today. i would yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. perdue: thank you, madam president. i rise today to comment on something that is somewhat misunderstood in many parts of our country. that's the farm bill. i have the privilege to sit in a seat in the united states senate once held by saxby chambliss, a former chairman of this agriculture committee. i'm fortunate to be from a state where agriculture is our largest industry. i'm fortunate to sit on a committee that as we just heard from two people, two leaders, ranking member senator stabenow from michigan, my good friend, and my good friend, senator pat roberts, the chairman, this is a bipartisan committee. people sent me up here three years ago, madam president, and they said look, we need to go there and get something done. i said okay, fine. you know we have two opposing views in washington, so that

means you're going to have to compromise. i made the comment that no one gets everything they want. i reminded people, i am married. this is something that is the american way. i come from the american business community. i can tell you nobody gets 100% of everything they want in any deal. that's what we are here talking about today. this is a bill that moves this agenda forward. it provides certainty. and that's what this is about for our agricultural industry. it's not about subsidies, it's not about protection. it's about certainty. it's about protecting a strategic industry in our country. and i want to make that point up front. this is very definitely a strategic industry. the united states today enjoys a god-given position in the world. we're one of the three major breadbaskets in the world. the world needs us to be successful in our agricultural industry. there are hungry people in the world that we can feed in our capacity here in the united states.

our productivity in many of our commodities has gone up in my lifetime dramatically. i grew up working on farms, madam president. i can tell you, i know we produce a lot more corn per acre today than we did when i was 6 years old. this is an amazing productivity story. the rest of the world needs that today. it's a big reason why our state continues to be the best state in the country, is because we understand that. we have a port that we can export from. we have god-given land and water and god-given people who understand how to work that land with that given water. and we produce great products for not only our country, madam president, but for the world. for the last year and a half, we have been working on this farm bill, and all of the members of that committee have gone all over the country, myself included, listening to farmers and ranchers around the country. i have been all over my state talking 0 our farmers and ranchers there about what's important to them. i want to thank the chairman and

the ranking member for providing the framework, really, for this particular farm bill. this is indeed a strategic industry. it must survive, and it is different. getting to a farm bill that balances the needs of every commodity and every region is not an easy task. this is not a partisan problem. it's not even a reasonable problem, madam president. this is the united states trying to make the best use of our god-given blessings. i'm happy to say that this year's farm bill does that. over the last year, we have all traveled around and heard what's been said. one thing is very clear. this farm bill is indeed a jobs bill. getting across the finish line today, hopefully, is simply a must for rural communities in georgia and around the country. we have worked on this in a bipartisan fashion. i'm proud to say to the people back home that this is a compromise that they wanted us to come up here and achieve, and it does exactly what we wanted. it achieves the objective of

providing certainty for an agricultural industry that is indeed a strategic asset in the united states. we have kept programs in place that have helped farmers in georgia and around the country weather the low commodity markets we have seen just had the last couple of years. the chairman just mentioned that there are some entities, commodities at historic lows. we have cracked down on fraud within the food stamps program. we have advanced turf grass and timber research. we have included provisions important to land grant universities. now, this farm bill is not perfect, but as i said, it is a great compromise that achieves the objective. one provision that's been eliminated would help ensure american textile mills have the tools they need to compete with other countries, for example. i hope we can find a way to fix that. however, as i said earlier, growing up working on the land, i learned many hard lessons. at an early age, i learned that agriculture is not just a business, it's a way of life for

many people around our country. this farm bill is an investment in those people, in our ag industry, and indeed in our country, madam president. it's not just the product that's grown in the soil. it's the processing, it's the transportation, it's the retail, and indeed the end consumer. these are things here that are only meant to -- there are things here only meant to assist farmers during tough times. when we say strategic industry, we have to be responsible for the survival and the transferral of this industry from generation to generation because, madam president, as you well know in your home state, as in mine, most of the agriculture production in this country comes from family farms. president trump is working to renegotiate trade deals with other countries and create a level playing field with the rest of the world. this is absolutely critical. i have lived in this trade world most of my career. the president is trying to get equal access in other markets around the world. i know this is a tough thing.

after 50, 60 years of having an imbalanced trade environment where we purpose, the united states' purpose to the rest of the world, we have to now stand up and provide a balance within those trade deals. we have reduced global poverty, madam president, since 1965 when the great society was signed, the united states almost single-handedly on the back of our open market, on the back of our trade deals, and on the back of our military that provided for safe transportation of goods around the world, we have eliminated or reduced poverty by more than 60%. i have seen that happen in my career, in my lifetime. unfortunately, the united states, the poverty rate today is basically the same as it was in the 1960's. that's not a partisan comment. we all bear responsibility. what this president is trying to do is say hey, wait a minute, something is out of balance, and our ag community has been harmed by that. what we are trying to do is create a level playing field, and this farm bill supports that. over the long term, this bill

will bring certainty to the american agriculture community. the last thing family farms need from washington today are more burdens, more regulations, more incontinuing resolution. all of that takes away from the certainty and the planning that it takes to manage a family farm. some people are planning a plant that will not mature for 20 years, in some cases. some of these men and women, these families are putting product in the ground that they will not benefit from, that their heirs will benefit from. they will have to harvest this after they are dead, in many cases. people say well, we need to take care of them. absolutely. you know, the best husbands of the land and the water and the air that in my experience around the world have been farmers, and there is a very simple reason why. if they don't care of their god-given blessings in the land and the water and the air, if they don't produce what they need, they sure can't hand it down to the next generation.

farms across our country have considerable differences based on things from region to crops to climate conditions. given these differences, one-size-fits-all measurements clearly don't work. a farm in iowa is different from a farm in georgia in many cases. as i said, this farm bill is not perfect. it's unfortunate there is now an amendment on this farm bill that would measure appropriate and significant contribution to the family farm by applying a single manual threshold for farms across the country and i think this is just wrong. the opportunity to qualify as an active contributor, and i put that in quotes, active crib tor to the farm through management, bookkeeping and other activities is important because it recognizes the contributions of all family members and individuals who actually participate in farming operations. i can tell you from personal experience that were it not for my aunts, my cousins, my uncles,

our farms would not have been successful. i've lived it. i know the difference that we're talking about here from region to region. if the full scope of active participants in the farm is not taken into consideration, it may be reluctant to actually finance the operation. i've lived that, madam president. the point is this, even if an individual never drives a tractor, never plows, never milks a cow, he or she can still provide an important contribution to the vitality of the farm operation. it's a business, after all. businesses have marketing, they have finance, they have sales, they have operations, they have planning. management contributions are as important as manual labor in this industry just like it is in every other industry. amendments like this will lead to burdensome recordkeeping for family farms and could indeed put in jeopardy the ability to transfer that farm to the next generation. president trump has promised to roll back overreaching

regulations and look out for rural america. since he took office, over 870 regulations have been reversed, bringing relief to family farms and rural americans. with this farm bill the trump administration and the u.s. agriculture committee have prioritized rolling back those overreaches. these should be our shared interests because it is good for our entire country and our economy. between now and when this farm bill reaches president trump's desk, i hope this problem with the bill gets fixed, and there are ways to do that. as i said, while the current farm bill is not perfect, i'm proud to stand today and encourage every member of this body to support it and vote for it. it does provide certainty in a very uncertain world for our agriculture community and the families that are the backbone of that industry. i am delighted to be a member of this committee. i take that honor seriously. the legacy, as i begin with, coming in behind an esteemed

senator, saxby chambliss as chairman. i take this responsibility seriously. i want to commend the chair and ranking member for pulling together this farm bill and i hope to see it come to a vote hopefully today. and i yield the floor. thank you. mr. roberts: madam president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would ask suspension of the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you. i ask unanimous consent that megan mcfarland and lauren odom, interns with the staff on the forestry committee be granted floor privileges for the duration of the debate on h.r. 2. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: majority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. cornyn: i'd ask consent the qowrg be dispensed where -- the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: i'm a day late with the news, but justice anthony kennedy of course announced he's leaving the bench at the end of

the month. and i would be remiss if i didn't start my remarks this morning by thanking him for his 40-plus years of service to this country on the federal bench. he's presided over and authored the majority ping in many high stakes cases of national importance. and as the news has pointed out, after sandra day o'connor left the court, he's been the pivotal fifth vote in a lot of significant cases which is to say you can't really typecast justice kennedy. but i do believe he has remained committed to upholding the integrity of the legal system throughout the course of his career. and i can say as a former state supreme court justice myself, i know the work he has been doing has been painstaking, time consuming, and extraordinarily important all at the same time. so i want to express my gratitude on behalf of my constituents to justice kennedy

for his willingness, ability, and determination to carry out that work. while serving on the supreme court for the last three decades after having been appointed by president reagan, he has furthered the pursuit of american justice, one case at a time, which is exactly what judges are supposed to do. through calm times and politically turbulent times, perhaps some might say times like the present. but he recognizes that our core institutions are essentially democratic institutions, answerable to the people through their elected representatives. and while the court has a unique role in interpreting the constitution, which is the fundamental bedrock law of the nation, in cases that don't turn on the constitutionality of the statute, it's important to defer to decisions made by the elected representatives of the people because we are the ones accountable to the electorate for those decisions. judges by their nature are not

because they aren't elected. they don't run for election. so their fidelity is supposed to be to the law and not to a personal agenda or politics or any other agenda. justice kennedy was an important member of a court that recognized the void right to bear arms under the second amendment and recently upheld the president's prerogative to protect -- prerogatives to protect national security. as justice kennedy concludes his term next month, we of course wish him well along with his wife, mary, and their children, and we wish them many more happy and hopefully a little less stress free years together. meanwhile, the senate will conduct our constitutional role of offering advice and consent on whomever president trump nominates. as the senior senator from connecticut said yesterday, the senate should do nothing to artificially delay consideration of the next justice. i've heard some conflicting

views among our democratic colleagues, but i agree with the senior senator from connecticut. this is consistent with the standards set by former president obama and vice president biden. in 2010 which was a mid term election, senate democrats confirmed president obama's nominee to the court elena kagan. before that, joe biden when he was a senator argued that supreme court nominees should not be confirmed during presidential election years. so one was a mid term, elaine ya -- elena kagan. merrick garland who you'll hear more about from our senate democratic colleagues, this came up during a presidential election, a time during which joe biden said that nominees should not be confirmed in the runup to a presidential election. after president trump makes a selection, senators will have the opportunity to meet with the nominee, examine his or her qualifications, and debate them. we'll have a hearing in front of

the senate judiciary committee. this will be the sixth supreme court justice nominee i will have had the privilege to serve on the senate judiciary committee for and question. and then this fall we will vote to confirm justice kennedy's successor. just kennedy placed a deadline on his time in office. he's retiring july 31. so any idea of delaying this and leaving the court shorthanded, particularly under these circumstances, really is beside the point. i know chairman grassley will as usual manage a fair, thorough, and efficient confirmation process. he always does. it's crucial that as this process begins to unfold, the president's nominee not be subjected to personal attacks from an increasingly agitated and vitriolic political base. my philosophy on the role of a judge is simple. decisions should not be made on

the basis of the judge's personal beliefs but from the analysis of the legal doctrine and actual reading of the legal text. the president i believe understands that. that's sort of the model out of which neil gorsuch's nomination came. that's also why we confirmed so much of his excellent choices in the 18 months of his administration. so i look forward to another outstanding selection and a thorough and efficient confirmation process. and then in the end, we'll vote to confirm the president's nominee this fall. on a separate note, mr. president, yesterday the white house released a statement from president trump regarding an important piece of bipartisan legislation that i introduced with the senior senator from california, senator senator feinstein called the foreign investment risk review modernization act or firrma. this confirms the committee on foreign investment in the united states.

and our adversaries around the world have simply figured ways to gain foreign investment in the united states to get access to intellectual property and the know-how, to duplicate that property surreptitiously, taking advantage of the gaps in the committee on foreign investments jurisdiction. so we were updating that legislation. it passed unanimously out of the banking committee. it passed then out of the armed services committee. and now is a part of the senate-passed defense authorization bill. as president trump mentioned, this bill will enhance our ability to protect the united states from new and evolving threats posed by foreign investment while at the same time preserve our ability to engage in international commerce and create new opportunities benefiting our economy and our people. let me make clear, this is not to discourage foreign investment. i think foreign investment is a good thing, but when our adversaries look to exploit gaps

and antiquated language in some of our statutes in order to gain unfair advantage and seek access to intellectual property and dual-use technology that has national security implications, we need to act and that's what we've done here. the president concluded that fir rma will provide much needed tools to combat that which threatens our technology and national security. i think he's exactly right. i'm glad that he pledged to implement firrma promptly and enforce it rigorously once it's enacted into law. i want to express my appreciation to secretary mnuchin, the treasury secretary who is the convening authority on the committee of foreign investment of the united states and the entire cabinet for their input and their support for what we are trying to do. the -- i might just read a couple of paragraphs from the president's statement because it was pretty strong and following the end of my remarks, i'd ask

consent that this entire statement be made part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, the president of the united states said should congress fail to pass strong firrma legislation that better protects the crown jewels of american technology and intellectual property from transfers and acquisitions that threaten our national security and future economic prosperity, i will direct my administration to deploy new tools developed under existing authorities that will do so globally. so what the president is saying here, what was reinforced by secretary mnuchin and any conversations with him is the president is depending on this bipartisan legislation being enacted into law and providing the tools necessary to protect our national security. if congress for some reason stumbles and fails to pass this legislation, the president's made clear he intends to act unilaterally. and -- to fill that void.

so i applaud the president and this administration for giving congress a chance to work with the administration to fill this gap through a bipartisan, bicameral legislative process and to not just leap into that void and try to do it unilaterally, perhaps causing more confusion and less predictability. so finally, the president said in conclusion, he said i applaud congress on its progress toward passing robust firrma legislation. i urge congress to send me a strong bill as soon as possible and look forward to implementing it to protect america's security and prosperity. the senate bill we passed takes a carefully tailored approach, and the house has passed a similar version earlier this week by a vote of 400-2. so i look forward to working with our colleagues on the senate-house conference committee to ensure that cfius review process is sufficiently strengthened and meets the goa