that that's wrong. if you come by 25 percent the cost of college, that's $25,000 out of public universities. want to knowhow to do it? redesign curriculum because as many people say, the curriculum isn't designed for today. we need to start challenging institutions and get behind real change . and i'll end with that. >> i appreciate that. so we have time tohear more . thank you so much for steering it and thank you congressman for coming up from the hill. i know you've got mister delaney and of course as always, we reallyappreciate that. we are running a little behind, we're going to break quickly . go get some grub and make it fast because we have to be back here at about 12:50. to get started on a tremendous discussion on 21st century school and go right to the k-12 enterprise that david osborne is going to lead so thank you are sticking with us. go tolunch and be back soon and we will continue . thank you for a great first session. >> we take you live now to

the u.s. senate about to gather in concerning the nomination of scott, the assistant secretary of education. a vote on his confirmation will 45:30. confirmed he would oversee the auto education center. you're watching live coverage right here on c-span2. black, will the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. shepherd of love, help our lawmakers to live in such magnanimity and restraint that they will be salt and light to their generation.

may they make their world more palatable, as they bring the illumination of your word to the problems they seek to solve. guided by your love, lead them to live to glorify your name. give them the wisdom to consistently strive to live in conformity to your will. we praise you, mighty god, for you are slow to anger, abounding in love, and mercy. in accordance with your great love, continue to bless america. we pray in your strong name. amen.

the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the 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., july 16, 2018. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i here by appoint the honorable john barrasso, a senator from the state of wyoming, who will perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g. hatch, president pro tempore.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executiv session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of education, scott stump of colorado to be assistant secretary for career, technical and adult education. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the time until 5:30 p.m. will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. the presiding officer: who yields time? if no one yields time, time will be charged equally to both sides.

mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, last week i had the chance to reconnect with judge brett kavanaugh, the president's choice to succeed antsdz nip kennedy as -- anthony kennedy as associate justice on the united states supreme court, who has announced his retirement at the end of this month. i say reconnect because i actually met judge kavanaugh back in 2000, when, as attorney general of texas, i had the great privilege to represent my state in front of the united states supreme court in an oral argument. and as part of my preparation for that argument, something

that's something like the super bowl for lawyers, i had a chance to practice that argument in ha moot court -- in a moot court, as it's called, in front of three distinguished supreme court advocates, including brett kavanaugh, who at that time was a private lawyer. i'm sure i benefited at that time from his help, as i did with the help of the other two, but i followed judge kavanaugh's career very closely now in the 18 years since i first met him, and, of course, the last 12 years he served with distinguish on the d.c. circuit court of appeals, which some have called the second most powerful court in the nation since most of the noncouldn't verse legislation -- noncontroversial litigation comes through that court. based on what i know of brett kavanaugh, i am pleased with the

nominee that the president has chosen and i look forward to supporting his nomination and doing everything i can to hen sure his bipartisan confirmation. on the issue of bipartisanship, let me just point out that when justice gorsuch was confirmed, he was confirmed by 54 votes, bipartisan vote of confirmation, and i would expect, based upon similar, in many ways, outstanding academic record, outstanding experience and demonstrated ability on the circuit court of appeals, that i would think and expect that justice kavanaugh would get a confirmation vote, a bipartisan confirmation vote, much as justice gorsuch has. ofnlly there are two -- obviously they are two different individuals, but in terms of their experience, education, preparation, and judicial philosophy, i think it would be a difficult thing to explain why

you would vote for justice gorsuch's confirmation and why you would vote against justice kavanaugh. but i know the members of the senate take our responsibilities to provide advice and consent very seriously and i know many of my colleagues don't have the benefit of 18 years of familiarity with the judge will want to do their homework, and that's exactly as it should be. and so a bipartisan questionnaire has now gone out to the judge from the judiciary committee. senator feinstein, the democratic ranking member, and chairman grassley, the republican chairman, they sent him a questionnaire and asked him to answer a litany of questions that are necessary for the judiciary committee then to prepare for the hearings, which i hope will occur sometime, let's say, mid-august or so. we know also that nominees for judicial office get a very extensive background check, and that will have to be updated and

i'm sure that will take place as well. and then we all will have the chance to meet, as i said i did, again, with judge kavanaugh and to make our own personal assessment after asking questions and getting his answers those questions. -- to those questions. but many people have now become familiar with the arc of his career, graduating with honors from yeal college -- yale college, graduating yale law school, and clerking for appellate judges before clerking for judge anthony kennedy on the supreme court. from there he went to work as the staff secretary for the white house. i want to pause and tell you what the staff secretary for the white house does. this is an obscure, but secure position, basically, you're the last eyes on the document before the president signs it. what that means there's a tremendous responsibility to

coordinate and verify the accuracy of the content of the document and that they reflect the policies that the president does, indeed, support before it's presented to him for his signature. i mentioned the staff secretary position because the last time judge kavanaugh was confirmed to the d.c. circuit court of appeals, there was no discussion about getting the voa lum us in -- voluminous copies of records as staff secretary. no one thought they were particularly useful. it is for understandable reasons. he didn't author those documents. he didn't create them. but he was responsible for their verification and you a enter this indication -- you a enter thisfication and make sure that they get to the president to be reviewed as they should be. so any excuse that we hear along the confirmation process, with

the hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of documents, that would have come across his desk as staff secretary, that they would all have to be produced before the senates can vote on his confirmation. well, they didn't do that when he was confirmed to the d.c. circuit court of appease, and i think it -- appeals, and i think it makes no sense that documents that came aacross his -- across his desk that he did not create and did not vouch for are not relevant but rather represent a fishing expedition designed to delay the confirmation process unnecessarily. after he was staff secretary at the white house, he practiced law and then, of course, as i said, was confirmed to the federal bench. his resume is really one that speaks for itself. but i want to address some of the -- some of the character assassinations that have been already begun about the judge

because it's troubling to know him as i know him to hear these accusations and descriptions which i think are pure -- pure fantasy and worse than that, they are, as i said, character assassination. they are conspiracy theories, and they are designed to cause good people to doubt this nominee. but there's a good answer to each of them. first comes one from house minority leader pelosi who has no role whatsoever in the supreme court process. the senate has the responsibility of providing advice and consent. the house of representatives is a virtual spectator like the rest of the american population. but she called his nomination a clear and respectful assault on the fundamental rights of women. outrageous statement. of course, naral, pro-choice america, that's the national abortion rights action league,

has said that any vote that would confirm him would be one that punished women. the same group also degenerated into middle school mocking of his name. i'm not sure what relevance that has, but this shows, i believe, how desperate opponents of this nomination really are. if you don't have anything substance tef to offer -- substantive to offer as criticism, if you don't have policy decisions to debate, engage in name calling, and that's all that this is. one law professor, amy chua, last week wrote in the "wall street journal" about how judge kavanaugh had been a mentor to young female lawyers that he engaged with over his legal career. the professor wrote that since he join the court of appeals for the d.c. circuit in 2006, a quarter of the judge's law

clerks, the most valued members of his staff, have been members of a minority group, one or the other, and more than half, 25 out of 48 have been women. years ago when i was a member of the texas supreme court, it seemed like i also had a similar proclivity to hire female clerks, and i asked one of them one day, i said why is it that you think i hired you to be the clerk, my law clerk. she said it's easy, judge. she said women are smarter, and they work harder. perhaps that's what judge kavanaugh has discovered during his experience, too. but these women, former clerks, have spoke glowingly about judge kavanaugh's mentorship, his personal decency, and his support and encouragement for their careers. so it's absurd and hyperbollic to call just -- hyperbolic to call judge kavanaugh antiwoman. it's so ridiculous, you would

wonder why would anybody feel like they needed to respond, but here in washington, d.c., in the echo chamber inside the beltway, and with all the special interest groups and the mainstream media unfortunately many times repeating these falsehoods over and over again, it is necessary for some of us to stand up and say this is just blatantly false. women that know judge kavanaugh best and have worked alongside him in his chambers would take issue with miss pelosi's characterization. now, the second line of conspiracy theories regarding judge kavanaugh relate to presidential power. some have claimed that judge kavanaugh believes that the president cannot be indicted, that is, for a crime, and that should be an automaticcic disqualification for supreme court consideration. well, this arises out of a misreading and a miss understanding of a 2009 minnesota law review article he wrote which explored a gray area

of the law and suggested that congress consider legislation that would defer civil lawsuits and criminal charges until after the president leaves office. as people will remember, judge kavanaugh worked for a while for the independent counsel investigating then-president clinton, and he learned, he says, from that experience that the president is so busy doing so many things, it really makes sense not to provide immunity but rather to defer litigation of those criminal indictments, should there be one, and civil cases until after the president leaves office. but he was quick to note that if the president ever engaged in serious misconduct, there was always the option of impeachment, which is not -- which is very different from a criminal case. it's one where congress expresses its view on the suitability of a -- an officeholder to continue holding

office, and that always is a last resort. but as one fact checker found, his position is different from saying that presidents can't be indicted ever. professors like noah feldman at harvard law have agreed, and the fact checker from "the washington post" concluded by calling these claims an extreme distortion of judge kavanaugh's views. and i believe gave it two pinocchios for being false and misleading. a third and final line of bogus arguments that i want to address just here today, this afternoon, hinge on his views regarding the affordable care act, sometimes called obamacare. with the senior senator from massachusetts saying he, quote, was hostile to health care. that's as preposterous as saying he is hostile to women. who is hostile to health care? well, that was also fact checked

by "the new york times" that found hers and other claims to be highly exaggerated. the reality is judge kavanaugh in his official capacity has had issued two dissenting opinions and legal challenges to the affordable care act, both highly technical in nature. clearly, he is not against health care. that's really just a dumb comment. he is simply a judge who has no role in evaluating the wisdom or the efficacy of policies. his job is to call balls and strikes as an umpire would, to decide whether something is within the law or outside of the law, and i believe he will continue to do that when confirmed as a justice on the supreme court. i agree with the majority leader, senator mcconnell, who last week said that judge kavanaugh's qualifications are so obvious and his reputation is so excellent that unhinged attacks are all that remains in

the far left's arsenal. that's true, i agree with him, but that doesn't mean we won't continue to hear these unhinged, ridiculous charges against a good man. judge kavanaugh, by all accounts, is a fair and thoughtful judge who approaches each judicial decision with precise reasoning and careful analysis. that's why the conspiracy theories will not work, they are doomed to fail, and the cracks are already beginning to show. as i said, mr. president, the judiciary committee will conduct a thorough and timely hearing and then we'll follow with an up-or-down vote in the committee and then on the senate floor this fall prior to the time that the supreme court new term begins in october. the eventual outcome of this process should be that judge kavanaugh will be easily confirmed. that's what he and i believe the american people deserve.

mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, almost everybody in the world knows by now that the president met with vladimir putin today

and while nobody knows what the two presidents said in the private meeting, what they said afterwards certainly should alarm all of us. because president trump refused once again to accept the fact that russia at putin's order interfered in our elections. what the president said was alarming and it was embarrassing, and it is unacceptable. we know putin interfered and we know that he'll do it again in our upcoming elections, and this is a unanimous report of the intelligence community of this country reaffirmed earlier today by the director of national intelligence, former senator dan

coates, the appointee of president trump, reaffirmed by him this morning. in its january 2017 assessment, the i.c. assessed that russian president putin ordered an flowed campaign in the 2016 election aimed at the u.s. presidential election. that assessment described that the campaign was going to have a mix of cyber operations conducted by russian intelligence with overt use of propaganda and fake social media counts and patrols. take -- and trolls. take it from president trump's own administration.

then the director of the c.i.a. now secretary of state mike pompeo acknowledged russian interference standing by the intelligence community's assessments, and that was a year and a half ago. and he even said that he had every expectation that russia will continue to try to interfere in our elections. and then, of course, today dan coats, the d.n.i., said a few days ago, and this was his quote, the warning lights are blinking red again. the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack. end of quote. and so just this past friday, the justice department announced

the indictment of 12 russian intelligence officers for hacking the clinton campaign, the d.n.c., and that's just the latest in a series of indictments. today, though, the president standing right next to vladimir putin said that while the men and women of the u.s. intelligence community concluded with high confidence that putin did indeed interfere in our elections, he said our -- our president said, president putin said it's not russian involved. i don't see any reason why it would be. end of quote. that's rather curious. and even worse, the president stood next to putin and said the united states was to blame for the russian aggression. let me repeat that again.

the president stood next to putin and said the united states was to blame for russian aggression. well, this senator believes that our own intelligence community, not a former k.g.b. spy who was a colonel bent on undermining democracy and the rule of law around the world is who you ought to believe. what does a spy do? in order to achieve a spy's end, the spy lies. that's what and how vladimir putin was trained. and it's obvious that he's no friend of the united states.

there's been a lot of discussion about russia and i know that at times it can be confusing to everyday folks, but amidst all the talk and the disinformation, it is critically important that we don't lose sight of the threat to our democracy. that's what russian interference in our election is. it's an attack on the very foundation of our democratic institutions. and, of course, that's what putin is trying to do, to use our own democracy by invading it to divide us, to undermine our own faith in our own institutions and to ultimately to undermine american leadership in the world. and this should not be a

partisan issue in america in our domestic politics. i hope we're going to come together quickly in a bipartisan way to defend ourselves and to finally push back on putin. i hope that we are going to insist that the white house enforce all of the economic sanctions that the congress has already pushed through that the white house has been very slow to enact, and i hope this congress is also going to enact more economic sanctions and get it to where it will really start causing a crimp in the step of the russian leaders. why not start freezing the bank accounts of some of the highest leaders? first, the united states led by

our president has to see the enemy and the threat for what it is. and now going on into two years into his administration, the president is unwilling to stand up to putin, man to man, eyeball to eyeball, and to defend our country. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: it's been less than a week since the president nominated judge bret kavanaugh

-- brett kavanaugh to serve as associate justice of the supreme court. already praise has poured in for his legal abilities, professional accomplishments and personal character. some of the most interesting testimony has come from the men and women who may know better than anyone how judge kavanaugh approaches his work, his law clerkings. you can learn a lot about a leader by asking the men and women who work for and with him. 34 of his past clerks sent an open letter to chairman grassley and senator feinstein last week. their own political and legal views are quite diverse. our ranks include republicans, democrats, and independents, but we are united in this, our admiration and fondness for judge kavanaugh run deep. they describe his commitment to legal excellence. we never once saw him take a shortcut, treat a case as

unimportant, or search for an easy answer. instead in each case, large or small, he masters every detail and rereads every precedent. and they complement the way judge kavanaugh conducts himself, both inside and outside the courtroom. they call him, quote, unfailingly warm and gracious, grounded, and kind. they describe, quote, a fundamental humility. a sub set of those clerks wrote a second letter, mr. president, a second letter. it's from every one of judge kavanaughs female clerks whose current employment allowed them to sign it. these 18 women explained, quote, we feel compelled to write separately to convey our uniformly positive tif experiences with the judge as a boss on issues of gender and

equality in the workplace. in our view, they write, the judge has been one of the strongest advocates in the federal judiciary for women lawyers. they explained how judge kavanaugh seeks out the best and brightest, how he goes above and beyond to advise and mentor all of his clerks. judge kavanaugh's hiring reflects in their words rare gender parity. notice i didn't say equity. i said parity. 25 women clerks and 23 men. in 2014, in fact, all four of judge kavanaugh's clerks were women. a first for any judge on the d.c. circuit. 84% of those 25 women have gone on to supreme court clerkships thanks in large part to judge kavanaugh's guidance and support. here's how they conclude their letter. as you likely know by now, judge kavanaugh has two daughter,

margaret and liza. if they decide to follow in their dad's and grandmother's footsteps and become lawyers, they will enter a legal profession that is fairer and more equal because of judge kavanaugh. we also heard from professor amy chua who served on yale law school's clerkship committee for most of the last decade. during that time, ten yale law school graduates have clerked for judge kavanaugh, eight of whom are women. she e-mailed them to ask about their experiences. as she explained in "the wall street journal" they labeled his work ethic, his commitment to excellence, his humility and his decency, and quote, to a person they described his extraordinary mentorship. one woman said he's been an incredible mentor to me dws might the fact i'm a left of center woman. he always takes into account my goals rather than giving me

generic advice. with respect to judge kavanaugh's approach to deciding cases, professor chua points out that he actively seeks out clerks from across the ideological spectrum who will question and disagree with him because he wants to hear other perspectives before deciding a case. above all, she observes, judge kavanaugh believes in the law and wants to figure out without prejudicing what it requires. again, mr. president, we've already heard so many speak up to recommend this impressive nominee. in the weeks ahead, we'll hear more, including from judge kavanaugh himself when our colleagues on the judiciary committee conduct hearings on his nomination. but i wanted to call special attention today to the warm words of those who worked with and for judge kavanaugh. they've seen firsthand just how rigorously he approaches his work as a judge and how graciously he shares his time

and his talent with others. judge kavanaugh is certainly an impressive nominee. now, to another matter, mr. president, fueled by -- fuel american workers and assisted by the pro-growth policies of this republican government, our economy continues to surge ahead. last week we examined the department of labor's june jobs report which indicated another month of remarkable growth. 213,000 new jobs. on friday economists at the florida chamber of commerce announced that the sunshine state's g.d.p. has surpassed a trillion dollars for the first time. that's a trillion dollars the g.d.p. of florida. if florida were a sovereign nation, it would be the 17th largest national economy in the world. and in the past year, floridians alone have created 182,000 new jobs. it's hard to argue with the facts, but it's even harder to

argue with reports that come straight from hardworking americans. last month during his visit to duluth, minnesota, president trump met with local workers and job creators to discuss tax reform and economic growth in their communities. and heard them loud and clear. republican policies are working. adam morris, a production truck driver for u.s. steel mintac, told president trump that, quote, the tax plan is working and i am seeing a difference in my paycheck. bray klokowski, commissioner of the sea way port authority, says that the past year has brought significant steps forward for the port and the jobs it supports. they added a first-ever international modal freight area, which has allowed duluth to slug expand shipping capabilities. there are millions of dollars in new contracts and commitments to

hire hundreds of new workers at the port. mr. klokowski summed it up saying, quote, the customers we've been used to are old, tried, and true customers have experienced expansion because of the new tax structure. they're coming to us with more business than we've ever seen in the past. so, mr. president, our democratic colleagues are still grasping for ways to put a negative spin on all this good news and on the republican policies that are helping it along. but all around the country americans are trying to get their attention so they can explain just how tax reform, regulatory reform, and the rest of our policy agenda is helping to improve their businesses and their lives.

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

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the minority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer:, would. mr. schumer: well, mr. president, like any patriotic american -- democrat or republican or independent -- i was appalled by the press conference that capped off the president's trip to europe this morning. president trump hardly pressed president putin on a single issue, saying that, quote, both countries are responsible for the state of relations between the united states and russia. when it came to interference in the 2016 elections, the

president has managed to point the finger at just about everybody except the culprit. the one person he hasn't blamed is the man who's rule actually responsible -- vladimir putin. rather that happen taking the opportunity to confront putin and stand up in defense of the united states, rather than demanding that putin hand over the russian intelligence agents indicted last week, the president took the word of the k.g.b. over the brave, hardwork ing men and women of the c.i.a. it's amazing. when ever has the president done something like that, believed our enemies instead of our own intelligence agencies who've worked so diligentland hard to keep us safe? vladimir putin's goal for over a decade has been the weakening of american leadership and the erosion of vital international alliances like nato that promote american values of democracy and

freedom and open markets. he's labored for ten years, and he didn't get very far. and now president trump is handing him the keys to the city. president putin could hardly have scripted a more successful foreign trip for his interests than the one we've just witnessed by president trump. and now because of president trump's actions, inexplicable as american citizens of the world from one end to the other are scratching their heads saying what is going on there inside the president's head -- so now because of the president's almost inexplicable actions, a single ominous question happenings over the white house. what could possibly cause the president to put the interests of russia over those of the united states? millions of americans will continue to wonder if the only possible explanation for this

dangerous and inexplicable behavior is the possibility, the very real possibility that president putin holds damaging information over president trump. and now the question of the moment that our security has been put at risk by the president. where are our republican colleagues? where are the republicans who cheered reagan's famous challenge to gorbachev to tear down this wall? where are the republicans who demanded a strong response of president obama when putin annexed crimea? where are the republicans who surely know in their heart that trusting putin over american intelligence, defense, and law enforcement diminishes the standing of our great country?

well, now is the time if there ever was one for republicans to stand up. if we wait much longer, our global alliance will fracture, the institutions that america created in the ashes of world war ii will crumble, our allies will consider abandoning us, maybe even embracing china, with the consequences economic and military devastating for our country. and putin's russia will emerge all the stronger for it. american power, prestige, and even our economy will be deeply damaged. so i am pleading -- pleading -- with my republican colleagues to push back by doing four things. first, ratchet up, not water down, sanctions against russia. second, join us in demanding

that the president's national security team immediately come to congress and testify. third, by ending their attacks -- third, end attacks by so many on the hard right on the department of justice, the f.b.i., and special counsel mueller. these attacks are beyond the pale. but now that the president has done this with putin, these attacks are dangerous to the future of the republic. the special counsel needs to finish his work. the president needs to sit for an interview with the special counsel, as previous presidents have done and as republicans demanded of president clinton. the president has no problem breaking bread with a man who maliciously attacked america during our elections, but he can't sit down with a man charged with investigating it, special counsel mueller? please, what is the president

afraid of? what is he hiding that we don't know? and, fourth, our republican colleagues must demand with us that the president insist the 12 indicted russians be sent to the united states immediately to stand trial. every one of these actions is important. every one should be bipartisan. every one of our republican colleagues, no matter what their ideology within the republican party, ought to choose country over party. what's good for america over the politics of the moment. strength and not fear when president trump shows weakness. -- as he has today. i am asking leader mcconnell, speaker ryan -- both friends -- to make sure the four things we've asked for are done. i am pleading with them for the

sake of the country to do so. the president is doing grave harm to the standing of the united states, to the strength of the united states, to the security of the united states, to the economic robustness of the united states by kowtowing to vladimir putin. the president will continue to do it if he's not checked, and the best check are our republican colleagues if they only have the decency, the honor and the courage to stand up at a time when the moment calls for it. some have. senator mccain, senator graham, senator sasse. where are the others? and where is leader mcconnell? the summit today was an insult to all americans: democrats, republicans, independents. we have to stand up together to push back. on a related matter, i want to

speak for a moment on president trump's nomination of brett kavanaugh to the supreme court. we know that president trump promised to pick a judge who would be hostile to a woman's right it to choose, to roe v. wade, and to the health care law, including protections for americans with preexisting conditions. that is incredibly troubling in and of itself. but i have little doubt that every one of those 25, in the eyes of the federalist society and heritage foundation, which put together the list, would do those two things that would so hurt america, in my judgment. but there's another troubling aspect of judge kavanaugh's nomination. his views on presidential power and whether presidents should be treated as though they are above the law. judge kavanaugh seems to take an almost none -- mon new yorkal

view -- monarchi al view of congressional power. he has written that a president doesn't need to enforce a law that the president deems unconstitutional. he contradicts the well-settled principle some think at the heart of our constitution and what the founding fathers in their braveness did back in 1789, and that is that presidents should not be above the law. now those are dangerous beliefs at any time, but at this moment in time, with this president, those dangers -- those beliefs are especially dangerous. anyone who followed the president's trip overseas and his summit today with president putin saw reckless, self centered president willing to bully allies, comfort adversaries seemingly on a whim.

president trump's first year and a half in office have been marked by numerous examples of the president stretching executive authority, testing the rule of law, the separation of powers. now more than ever, especially in light of today's events, we need a supreme court justice who understands and respects the important boundaries the constitution and our system of government place on the chief executives. we don't need a justice who is ideologically predisposed to favor almost unchecked executive power especially with donald trump as president of the united states. judge kavanaugh has clearly tipped his hand that he prefers to give broad deference to the executive. perhaps that's why judge kavanaugh was ultimately selected from a list of 25, that all had been given the good housekeeping seal of approval by the federalist society intent on repealing roe and by the

heritage foundation intent on rolling back government involvement in health care, whether it be a.c.a., protecting preexisting conditions or medicare. special counsel mueller's probe appearing to be discovering more and more evidence of president putin's interference in our election and potential cooperation of american citizens in that interference. given that a justice kavanaugh could one day be faced with ruling on the matter of whether or not a sitting president can be indicted or subpoenaed, i hope senators from both parties scrutinize judge kavanaugh's beliefs about executive powers. on all other courts, defendants, potential defendants don't get to pick their jurors. the president, particularly this president, shouldn't have that power either. i yield the floor and note the absence of -- i just yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: i ask to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. mr. murphy: thank you, madam president. madam president, in my lifetime, no american president has ever had a more disastrous overseas trip than the one that was just concluded by president trump. five days of disaster after disaster, insult after insult, capitulation after capitulation, and now today donald trump has america weaker in the world than at any time in recent memory. let's start with what just happens today that has the whole world reeling. to the shock and horror of the american public, president trump

stood on stage with vladimir putin and told the world that he believes putin when putin insists that russia did not try to interfere in the american elections in trump's favor in 2016. despite what president trump wants to us believe these days, there are some truths left in the word. not everything -- world. not everything is political spin. not everything in the world is up for debate. russia did attack our elections in 2016. they plan on attacking our elections in 2018. in 2016 they did so with the explicit purpose of trying to elect donald trump. all 100 senators agree on this. every u.s. intelligence agency agrees on this. every law enforcement agency in the country agrees on this. everyone working for donald trump in his national security cabinet agrees on this. and now we actually have the

specific names of the specific russian individuals who carried out these attacks. they've been indicted by donald trump's department of justice. there is simply no question, no debate over whether the russian government engaged in a massive, willful, illegal campaign to push the 2016 election to donald trump. it is a fact. now, president trump no doubt doesn't like this fact. first because there is an investigation that is pending right now over the outstanding question of whether he knew that it was happening and whether he and his campaign team coordinated with the russians to make that happen. there's increasing evidence this might be the case but we'll have to wait for the mueller report to know. second, because without the russians' help, it's possible that donald trump might not be president. we don't know this but the slim margins which the president prevailed in certain states leaves room to surmise that

without russia's illegal help, maybe donald trump might not have been elected president. but regardless, regardless of whether trump coordinated with the russians, regardless of whether their support ultimately tipped the balance, it frankly doesn't explain what just happened in helsinki. when asked if trump agrees with his staff, every member of the senate, every law enforcement intelligence agency in his government or russia, he chose russia. let me say that again. when asked whether the president of the united states believed his own government or russia, our president said he believed russia. he took sides against american national security interests, and we are left with a question of why. we raise that question because frankly, the expectations for this summit, this meeting

between the american president and the russian leader were very low. all president trump had to do at that press conference today was offer some mild push back, an ak -- acknowledgment of russia's interference in the election, to stand up in mild terms, offer america's support for the sovereignty of ukraine. he didn't do anything of that so we're left with this question of why. now, i don't know what mueller knows. i don't know what vladimir putin knows. but americans should be freaked out today that there is some explanation that we don't know for why our president is so friendly to russian national security interests and so hostile to our own. now, of course, today my colleagues, this was just icing

on the cake. we all have forgotten what happened on the first four days this trip. shortly before the meeting with putin, trump announced to the world that after several days in meetings and consultations with our european partners he could definitively say that europe was an enemy of the united states. called the european union a foe. that conclusion was bracketed by his comments upon his arrival in europe when he announced that his meeting with putin was going to be a whole lot easier than his meetings were going to be with europe. let's be clear about two things here. first, europe is our most important friend and ally, and it's been that way for a really long time and nothing's changed. over the last 70 years when we need help in the world, you know where the first place in the world we turn to is? europe. it shares our democratic values. they're our most important trading partner. the post-world war ii order which is ushered in an era of

relative global stability never before seen in the world is reliant on the continued alliance of the united states and europe. now, we have always had our grievances. we may want them to spend a little more money on defense. they may want us to shoulder a little bit of the burden with respect for the world's refugee crisis and not leave it all for them. but the alliance is just as important as it ever has been. europe is just as important a partner as it has been. but here's the other thing to make clear. donald trump's intent is to smash nato, is to smash the european union, and to break the united states and europe apart from each other. now, his advisors and his cabinet members, they may go on tv or show up to hearings on capitol hill, and they might say all the right things about the strength of the transatlantic alliance and about america's rock solid commitment to nato. i've heard them say that.

i saw john bolton say it on tv this weekend. i watched secretary pompeo come to the foreign relations committee and testify as such before congress. but the people that work for president trump don't set u.s. policy. the president does. and the president has made it clear over and over that nato is temporarily functionally irrelevant. that sounds like a radical thing to say. let's admit that it is true for the time being. trump has made it crystal clear that if russia ever perpetuated a ukraine-style attack on a nato country, one that was in plain sight for everybody to see but that was officially denied by the kremlin, does that sound familiar? that's what happened in ukraine. clear russian invasion but officially denied by the kremlin does this sound familiar?

2016 attacks on american elections, there for everyone to see, denied by the kremlin. trump has made it clear that if russia ever perpetuated an attack like that against a nato country, trump would believe russia and not his own eyes, not his own government. he has telegraphed to russia that if you simply deny the invasion or the attack, we will believe you, not our own government, not our own intelligence and security agencies. that's what he told us today. and that's what would likely happen if europe was attacked. so the europeans know this. why we are so much weaker today is because that message to the europeans comes with a price. if the europeans don't feel that we are going to get their back, having watched the president mock and insult them over the course of the last four days, it

is now in doubt as to whether they would come to our defense if we asked as we did after the attacks on september 11. now, none of our european partners will say that. they are going to try to save face. they are going to try to be the bigger party to this contest and say that the strength of the alliance is as strong as it ever has been, but it is not and there are consequences, potentially serious ones for the united states. and as bad a shape as our president left nato, the e.u. is in no better condition today. it is in tatters in large part because of a president who continues to cheerlead those who want to break apart the e.u. now, there are people who understand the genius of the european union that are working hard to keep it together. and i'm going to cheerlead them. but president trump spent his time in britain telling anybody that would listen, including the press, that unless the british government carried out a clean,

painful break from the effort u., there would be consequences -- from the e.u., there would be consequences from the u.s. that's madness. our policy should be the opposite, that if britain and the e.u. want to reconcile, america will be there to assist. let's bring it back to vladimir putin again because his top priority, his number one goal is the dissolution of the european union which is his main rival. the breakup of nato sup there as well. his chief ally in the deconstruction of the e.u. and nato today is the president of the united states. america is so much weaker today than we were just five days ago, and that's saying a lot. our nation and the world has never seen a more cataclysmic

foreign trip than the one we just witnessed. this country can survive a lot. we're resilient. but president trump is making this country a laughingstock. we used to be a pillar of strength, an example to be looked up to. now we are the butt of jokes. we're seen as weak, a total pushover. all you need to do, if you were a despot or autocrat or enemy of of america is to get in the room with the united states president and he will give you anything you want with no price to pay. that is america in the world today. i couldn't be sadder about it. i yield back.

we're very pleased to welcome today's headliner guest, the commissioner of major league baseball, rob manfred. before we begin our conversation, i'd like to remind our in house audience to please silence your phones and i would like to invite everyone who is watching our listening to today's program to please follow the discussion live on twitter using the hashtag npc live. now it is my pleasure to introduce our head table guests. i would like to ask each of you to stand briefly as your name is announced and i will ask our audience to please hold your applause until everyone is introduced and i will bet that's not going to happen today. [laughter] >> from your right, director of publications at mitchell institute for aerospace studies. freelance journalist and npc headliners team member. deputy production director at

politico pro. principal owner of the washington nationals baseball club. mark and his family -- [applause] >> mark and his family will be hosting the 2018 major league baseball all-star game at nationals park tomorrow evening. mark, we're very pleased to have you with us today. courtney norris, national affairs producer at cbs news hour. the last correspondent personally hired by edward r. murrow at cbs news. [applause] >> senior advisor to the pulitzer center on crisis reporting and moderating of the public broadcasting series. retired united states navy captain, executive director of first global and the npc headliners member who organized today's luncheon. thank you, kevin. [applause] .

>> washington correspondent at nj advanced media and former national press club president. major league baseball's chief -- [applause] >> he's going to get another one when i'm done. [laughter] >> major league's baseball chief baseball officer, a nine time all star as a player, national league most valuable player in 1971, two time american league manager of the year and winner of four world championships as one of the greatest managers in new york yankee and baseball history. [applause] >> and inducted into the hall of fame in 2014. assistant news editor at tribune information services. freelance writer, npc headliners team member, and an organizer of today's event.

co founder of the baseball foundation and a consultant for the world health organization. head of the sienna school in silver spring, maryland, and coach of the national press club softball team. [laughter] >> i would also like to acknowledge additional members of the headliners team responsible for organizing today's event, lisa, laurie, tamara, danny, and bill, as well as the national press club staff led by lindsey, laura, and executive director bill. may we have one round of applause for everyone. [applause] >> the late comedian george carlin had a wonderf fuful rout in which he compared baseball to football. according to him, baseball begins in spring the season of

new life. football begins in the fall when everything is dying. football is concerned with downs. what down is it? baseball is concerned with ups, who is up? football has hitting, clipping, piling on, personal fouls, late hits and unnecessary roughing. baseball has the sacrifice. [laughter] >> football is played in any kind of weather, rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog. in baseball, if it rains, we do not go out and play. baseball has the 7th inning stretch. football has the 2 minute warning. in football, the quarterback is also known as the field general, with long bombs he marches his troops into enemy territory balancing the aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the enemy's defensive line. in baseball, the object is to go home and to be safe. i hope i will be safe at home. at the helm of that home front

today is rob manfred, who grew up as a fan of the new york yankees, because his dad was a yankees fan. his favorite player was mickey mantle. in the first game he ever saw at yankee stadium, mickey hit two home runs. in august of 2014, rob manfred was elected as the tenth commissioner of major league baseball. he took office in january of 2015. previously he served as baseball's chief operating officer, executive vice president for economics and league affairs, and as executive vice president for labor relations and human resources. he is a graduate of the school of industrial and labor relations at cornell university and holds a law degree from harvard law school. please join me in formally welcoming back to the national press club the commissioner of major league baseball, rob manfred. [applause] >> thank you. >> your dad lived to see you

become commissioner. that must have been a source of great pride to him. >> you know, i think it was. my dad was a great sportsman. he liked all sports. as a matter of fact it was broader than sports. i don't think there was a sport or game that he didn't know how to play. i was out visiting my mom the other day, and i noticed she still has his board up in the living room. i think he was proud. it was actually nice on his 80th birthday i was able to give him the first baseball that was produced with my name on it, and i think it was something that was special for him. >> very special. did he give you any advice coming into the commissioner's role? >> you know, my dad only gave me one piece of advice early in my career, and it really has served me well. he told me that i should always think about doing the job i had as well as i could and that the next job would take care of

itself. and that actually turned out to be true for me in my career. and it is i think a thought that every once in a while you should refocus on. >> terrific. according to a report in forbes magazine, major league baseball set a record for industry revenues, for the 15th consecutive year in 2017. revenues exceeding 10 billion dollars. so while baseball was everything george carlin said it is, nostalgic, traditional, intimate, it is also a business and a big one. how would you assess the health of the game at this midpoint of 2018, and how would you compare it say the national football league, the national basketball association and the national hockey league today? >>i'm happy to talk about our business. i'm always reluctant to talk about anybody else's, but i think baseball is in a great spot. i was just in sun valley at the allen and company conference, and i think the dance card for me in terms of meetings was

indicative of how interested both traditional media and new media is in our content. and one great thing about baseball, 2430 times we go out there, we've got lots of content. i do think that it provides an opportunity for baseball to be a leader. in terms of making our content available on a variety of platforms, our big experiment this years are generally wednesday afternoon games with facebook, been a really positive experience for the game in the sense that we're attracting an audience that has a very different demographic than our traditional broadcast audience. on the field, we think we have a generation of young players that may be as talented as any in decades. and they have made their mark on the game, early and often, and it seems like every year there's just a new player.

there's a great example who comes along and we say wow we haven't seen anybody this good in a long time. we're really positive about our product. third, i make the point that baseball has been a leader in the technology space. we have a nice little technology business, known as baseball advanced media. we sold a part of that business to disney last year. we think it was a great transaction, a transaction that's part of a larger relationship that we have with espn and disney, but more important, i think it gives the great technology group that stayed with baseball an opportunity to refocus on the next big thing. >> so the other part of technology would be the use of analytics, both off and on the field. talk about that a little bit. >> well, you know, in general, i am an analytics based

decisionmaker. i have never believed that i had the sort of intuition that would allow me to reliably make good business decisions based on how my gut felt. so i like data. i like information as a basis for decision making. i think that same sort of thinking has permeated the individual clubs. it's driven the way they have decided to put teams together. and i think -- i probably know that analytics are here to stay. no matter -- you can't change the way people want to think about their businesses. now, it has had results on the field. it has changed the way the game is played on the field. i mean, i just think that's beyond debate. anybody who is any sort of a baseball fan knows that. so i think the issue for the industry with analytics is you can't change the way people want to think. so there's only one path available to you.

that is do you want to alter the rules of the game in a way that manages that change and prevents it from making the product something different than what it has been traditionally? >> so we have sitting at the head table today joe torre, nobody would argue with his record as a player or as a manager, and he works for you. >> i think of it as he works with me to tell you the truth. you know, it is sort of a big undertaking to say that joe works for you. joe's an invaluable resource in the commissioner's office. you know, i think broader than baseball, certainly broader than my job, it's always important to know what you don't know, and, you know, i never played in the big leagues. i played as an amateur, but i never played in the big leagues. i never had the opportunity to manage like joe did in the big leagues. and i think particularly when

you get involved in issues that revolve around changing or trying to manage the way that the game is changing on the field, you need insight from someone like joe, because you're predicting that if i change -- you know -- let me pick one, doing like defensive shifts; right? you decide you're going to adopt a rule about defensive shifts. really the toughest part -- that's all easy. you can decide that shifts are bad. i want to adopt a rule. there's the rule. the hard part is what's going to happen in response to that rule. and one of the things that we've learned over the years is joe and i have -- the rest of the group in new york has navigated these changes predicting the outcome of a rule change can be difficult, difficult. >> so you're in your fourth year as commissioner now. >> that's right. >> what would you say are some of the best lessons you have

learned on the job so far? >> well, let me start with the public part of the job. i think that probably at the beginning i was too inclined to talk about, you know, changes that could be made to the game. i think that i've learned you need to be very very careful about articulating what sort of changes you'd be open to, and that's because our fans are so passionate about the game. they care so deeply about the game that, you know, even if you are not 100% committed to the change, you can evoke a very very strong reaction. i will give you an example. the first interview that i did, after i became commissioner, the reporter kind of kept after me and after me about, you know, what would you change? what would you change? i said one of the things i might think about changing was

defensive shifts. i didn't really like them. and i got phone calls, voice mails, e-mails. i actually received two papers on what a stupid idea that was, that had footnotes. i swear to you, it had footnotes in the paper. i'm thinking oh my god what have i done here? you have to be really careful. that's the good thing. it is the passion people feel for the game, that's a great thing. secondly, i have -- the one thing i have learned from our internal activities in terms of working with the owners, i think transparency gets you a long way in life. you know, i have tried to overcommunicate, if there is such a thing, with owners about what we're thinking about, what we're planning on doing. i've tried to rework our internal governance in a way that gives particularly the 30 stake holders.

there are really 30 stake holders in our game, an opportunity not only to get direct communication with me, but to get direct communication with each other. and it is the trick in terms of a building consensus among a very competitive and high-powered group. so those are a couple of things that i would mention. >> do you feel when the right thing comes along that you could be bold in making some change? >> i mean, that's a loaded question. it sounds like there's some doubt as to whether you could be bold or not. but yeah, look, i think that we are at a point in the evolution of the game where the owners, and it is more important because it is their game, at the end of the day, where the owners feel that the game has changed in a way that we do need to be more aggressive with respect to managing that change. we are not out there or up there in new york sitting around thinking, you know, baseball,

it's been this way a long time. how are we going to change it; right? that's not the question. the question is we're watching it change organically in response to decisions that are made by 30 general managers in 30 different markets in an effort to win two more games in a year. and i think that we have come to the realization that that change is going to affect the product on the field, and we have to be a little more aggressive about managing that organic change. >> so looking at just back to that word bold, it brings to mind say 1947, jackie robinson breaking baseball's color barrier. >> uh-huh. >> for people here at the press club, 1978, the reporter for "sports illustrated," winning a supreme court decision, allowing women into baseball locker rooms. do you feel that with the progress that's been made that changes are going to come and continue to come in this organic

way, rather than, you know, some earth-moving decision? >> no, i think it is going to be a more proactive decision-making process. that's why i made the comment that i made about consensus among the ownership group. this is a very, you know, historically, and i was around for some of this history. you know, it's been a group of owners, i think some people still have that perception, it couldn't be further from the truth, i think our owners are very united. i think that they share a common view about what's going on with respect to the game, and i think that puts the institution, really isn't about me. it puts the institution in a position to be bold about managing what is a treasure as part of our culture. >> so in terms of people that may be in the pipeline, could

you see a woman major league umpire, manager, general manager, player or perhaps the next commissioner? >> well, i will tell you, i do think that we have made tremendous progress in terms

the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: we're not currently in a quorum call. the senator is recognized. mrs. murray: i come to the floor today in support of scott stump as assistant secretary of education for career, technical and adult education. as secretary devos continues to make it easier for predatory

for-profit colleges to take advantage of our students, students need someone at the department who will remain committed to putting them first no matter what secretary devos tries to pressure him to do. although most of the nominees president trump has selected, i believe mr. stump will be different. if confirmed, mr. stump would be responsible for advising secretary devos on career and technical education, adult education and literacy and community college education. while overseeing over $2 billion in funding to provide our students and workers with the education and skills they need to compete and get ahead in the 21st century. mr. stump's resume shows he is a nominee qualified for this position. he served as the assistant provost for career and technical education for the colorado community college system. he was elected by his peers to serve as the president of the national association of state directors of career and technical education. and he earned the support of a number of key stakeholders and

advocacy groups. if confirmed, mr. stump would be responsible for adult education and literacy to help adults get the basic skills they need to be productive workers and family members and citizens. and community colleges to ensure students have the education skills they need to advance their education in their careers to remain competitive in the 21st century. finally, mr. president, the office of career, technical and adult education at the department of education is responsible for implementing the perkins career and technical education act. it is a critical law that gives students and workers the education and skills they need to succeed and provides businesses with a high-quality of talent pipeline of workers with in-demand skills to compete in the 21st century economy. last month members of our help committee set partisan differences aside and we passed a reauthorization in the perkins c.t.e. act making important updates to support an education system that prepares students

and workers for an economy and a country that works for everyone. in order to help students and workers and businesses compete in a rapidly changing global economy, it is critically important we pass that reauthorization which would allow programs to adapt to the unique needs of their communities and continue to provide students and workers with the education and training necessary to get a better job and earn better wages and climb up the economic ladder. as members of congress, we should always be looking for ways to help make people's lives better, which is why i hope we can advance this long overdue bill to the floor in a timely fashion. if the senate confirms mr. stump, i hope he will remain committed to putting students and workers first no matter what pressure he gets. and if he's able to do that, i look forward to working with him to help provide high-quality education and ensuring above all else our focus is on students and their success. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the

clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from iowa is recognized. without objection. without objection. all time has expired. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: have all senators voted? any senator wishing to change their vote? on this vote the yeas are 85. the nays are zero. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. a senator: i ask that the senate proceed to the consideration of executive calendar number 601 as under the previous order. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of education, james blew of california to be assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy

development.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senate majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume legislative session for 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 consideration of calendar number 436, s. res. 386. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 436, s. less 386, urging the government of the democratic republic of the congo to fulfill its agreement to hold credible elections and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the senate shall proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendment be agreed to. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i know of no further debate on the measure. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, the question is on adoption of the resolution as

amended. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the resolution, as amended, is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the committee-reported amendment to the preamble be agreed to, the preamble as amended be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tuesday, july 17. further that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day and morning business be closed. i ask that following leader remarks the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the blew nomination under the previous order and that at 11:45 a.m. all time be yielded back and the senate then vote on the

confirmation nomination with no intervening action or debate and that if confirmed the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. further, that following disposition of the blew nomination, and notwithstanding rule 22, the cloture motions filed on thursday, july 12 ripen. finally that following the cloture vote on the quarles nomination, the senate stand in recess until 2:15 to allow for the weekly conference meetings. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: so if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator brown. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from nebraska. mr. sasse: i come to the floor to talk about what happened in helsinki today. let's not mince. today was a terrible day for the

american brand, for the american people people and our allies. we did not negotiate from a position of strength. we acted from a position of weakness. as a result, one of the world's worst despots walked away today from helsinki with a win. vladimir putin is leaving helsinki with an undeserved legitimacy. the united states took a loss today when we backed away from our long-standing commitment to principled american leadership and, frankly, we walked away from basic reality. today the press asked the president of the united states who he believed on the subject of russian information operations in the u.s. in 2016. did he believe in the men and women in the is u.s. intelligence community or did he believe in vladimir putin, a member of the russian intelligence community? a thug turned russian despot. the choice here was between people who are risking their lives on behalf of our freedom and people who go around the world taking people's lives to

limit freedom. the president of the united states, how did he answer? he answered, quote, that he didn't see any reasons, quote, quo why putin would have interfered in the u.s. election. make no mistake, putin has a reason. the reason is clear to all those who have been watching growing russian authoraranism in recent years. putin wants to weaken the u.s. government. putin wants to destroy nato which isn't just an alliance. it's arguably the most important military alliance in two millenia. undermine confidence in self-government not only in this country but around the world. that's why putin, a soviet-styled dictator who thinks more about american elections than his sham

elections attacked us in 2016. it's why he's planning to attack america this fall in 2018. it's why there are ongoing information operations against the u.s. and against our public at present as everyone who goes into the skiff and reads their intelligence briefing knows. it's why putin is planning to attack the u.s. 2020 election already. and that's why the men and women of the u.s. intelligence community unanimously and without any regard to party understand that putin waged an information operation against the united states in 2016. and that's why dan coats, an esteemed former member of this body, went to the press today -- not six months ago -- went to the press today and reaffirmed with, quote, our assessment of russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, close quote, remain the opinion of the u.s. intelligence community. this isn't a question of republican versus democrats. this is a question of patriotism

versus deciding that you want to be on the side of sowing discord and doubt in america. we shouldn't sugar coat this. vladimir putin is a despot and he's propped up by a band of oligarchs every bit as corrupt as he is. putin fakes democracy while preventing free and fair elections. putin funnels massive amounts of russian wealth from his people to himself and to his cronies and he keeps an iron grip on the press. these matters are not matters of dispute. it's not on the one hand and on the other hand. some people are saying. the russian people know who vladimir putin is. you can ask the leaders of political opposition in that country who tried to get there to be a free or fair election. you can ask the human rights activists or the international observers who try to speak up against what he's done or who show up in my office and give firsthand accounts of certain situations in which putin has intervened. you can ask the journalists who

try to expose corruption in that country. you know who these men and women often end up being? the men and women who randomly disproportionately happen to fall out of the fifth story windows of office buildings in moscow and st. petersburg, people who show up in one car accidents that either are never investigated or when they're investigated unfortunately there are never prosecutions. vladimir putin is working overtime to make the soviet union great again. over the past decade he has carried out an aggressive, often brutal expansionist campaign. in 2008 he invaded next-door georgia. in 2014 he invaded ukraine and annexed crimea. he provided military support to the assad regime and syria. russian troops are responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians. under the guise of attacking the islamic state, russia targeted hospitals and schools and many other civilian locations.

putin is currently flexing his muscle across europe although his preference there is always for pho subtle means than tanks if he can get away from it. he has more detphaoeublt and it's -- deny ability and it's cheaper. in 2007 he is stone i don't see with a hit with -- estonia was hit with cyber war attacks. not only in the ukraine and the baltics, but in germany and france as recently as last year, russian hackers attempted to interfere in elections to disrupt parliamentary proceedings and to shut down media operations. this is in addition to trying to put his thumb on the scale for pro-putin parties across europe, including by spreading misinformation through influential russian-backed and russian-originating social media accounts. these questions are not actually gray. any member -- any member of this body who does their homework,

any member of the house down the hall that does their homework and lots and lots of the good and well-meaning that serve around the president who do their homework know these things to be true. these questions are not in dispute. putin's most daring performance to date, though, was deciding to take on the most powerful country in the world, an influence operation inside the united states. national political committees in 2016 saw their computer networks breached and their data stolen. vladimir putin isn't obsessed with the ups and downs of political life here in the u.s. he isn't an agent of one party or the other, one candidate or the other. vladimir putin is an agent of chaos and his objective is to undermine trust. his objective is to make americans doubt ourselves and doubt whether or not u.s. leadership over the last 75 years has been a good or a bad thing and to doubt whether or not we should keep our word to our allies.

vladimir putin's objective is to make us think that there's no difference between countries on the global stage that believe in human rights, that believe in free press, free religion, free assembly and free speech versus those who don't. vladimir putin's goal is to preach a moral equivalency that allows his thugocracy to be no less ugly than what happens in our country where people who often disagree decide to argue by means of reason and persuasion, not by violence. his goals aren't that hard to figure out. his enemy is trust and good faith. vladimir putin is trying to create mistrust in this country. and today the president of the united states decided to let vladimir putin off the hook, and in so do he creates an incentive for putin to ratchet up his campaigns of misinformation. this should be a time for all

americans to stand together against what putin's doing. it's a fundamental part of the president's job to articulate basic truths. and while we're being clear about who vladimir putin is, we should also be clear about who we are. the american people are a people, and we are a nation that believes in human dignity. we believe that this isn't just true of 320 million americans. it's true of 7.5 billion people across this globe. we believe in free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, the right of protest not because government gifts us those rights but god created us with dignity. governments are just tools to secure the rights that people have by virtue of having been created with dignity. in other words, we believe the very stuff that terrifies

vladimir putin. vladimir putin believes only that might makes right. americans don't believe that. we never have and may we never devolve to believing only that. we're dedicated to the thesis that the dignity of every person is worth protecting. it is not the job of the united states government to be the policeman of every nation on earth, but it is most clearly part of the united states' job to articulate on the global stage things that are true of everyone everywhere. we are dedicated to the idea that humans should flourish. vladimir putin is dedicated to the opposite. he crushes men, women, and children under foot for the purposes of keeping his hold on power. americans do not stand with vladimir putin. americans stand with the russian champions of liberty and of free

speech and freedom of religion and freedom of press and freedom of assembly and the right of protest against tyrants like vladimir putin. we believe in peace through strength and we believe in basic moral clarity. and that's why in the face of the world's two most destructive wars, americans went and created the international order. it is an american-led international order. the international order embodies america's fundamental values and we push back against the drift to old world authoritarianism in all its forms, the very things that vladimir putin lusts after. this world isn't made for the elites. but it is made for american interests to be articulated because we are the de facto leader of the free world, and that's why we've always negotiated from a position of strength. sadly today we negotiated from a position of weakness. in previous years, many

americans, myself included, have spoken out against the crazy idea that america could somehow lead from behind. today america decided to simply give in. on the floor tonight, as i came to the floor tonight the president tweeted that, quote, in order to build a brighter future, we cannot remain exclusively focused on the past. close quote. fair enough, but let's talk about that future. what do we want from it? and at what cost? is the cost of the future that president trump wants the sacrificing of american moral leadership on the global stage? is it walking away from the idea that 7.5 billion people have been created with dignity? is it walking away from the idea that america fundamentally announces to the world that we believe that everybody has the rights of free speech, press, religion, assembly, and protest? not because a government might decide to condescend and grant you this right but because the government's job is to serve the people by preserving these

rights which come from nature and nature's god? the problem today is not the united states. the problem today is not the russian people. the problem that needed to be named today was vladimir putin. instead our president decided to advance a fake moral equivalency that plays right into the hands of vladimir putin's bloody hands. everyone in this body should be disgusted by what happened in helsinki today. i yield the floor, mr. president. mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: it's been a good year to be a wall street banker. barely a day goes by that doesn't bring news of another consumer protection rollback,

another unraveling of taxpayer protections, another handout to wall street. the man at the center of many of these decisions is right now on this floor up for nomination to a 14-year term, a 14-year term as a governor on the board of the federal reserve. when randy quarles' nomination to serve as vice chair of supervision of the fed, the first person ever to serve in that position, when it came before the senate last year, i urged my colleagues to vote no. quarles' record worried many of us. he wasn't interested in doing much actual supervision. i said he seemed far too ready to swallow financial industry talking points once again and relax the rules for wall street. since then, his record at the federal reserve has confirmed the worst fears so many of us held. in just ten months under mr. quarles' leadership, the fed has taken steps to

systematically unravel wall street reform. look what happened, start with the stress test. the fed allowed the seven largest banks to redirect $96 billion, that's 96,000 million, $96 billion that should have been used to pay workers to consumers to protect taxpayers from bailouts. instead they plowed that money into shared buybacks and dividends to do what? of course. they reward wealthy executives and the biggest investors. two banks, goldman sachs and morgan stanley had capital below the required amounts. that's right. those banks failed the test, but they got passing grades anyway, because they are wall street. the fed reportedly called them up, let them haggle over the test results. imagine this happening in school when you were in school growing up in oklahoma or i in ohio. a lot of them proceed then after haggling over the test results allowed them to proceed with

buybacks and dividends that would drain the required capital. under quarles' leadership, the fed wants to make funneling money back into stock buybacks even easier. feds' pending proposal and big bank capital will allow the eight largest banks in this country, banks each worth hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars. eight largest banks in the country to redirect up to $121 billion into share buybacks and dividends, money that could be used to protect taxpayers from bailouts. remember, share buybacks and dividends, they do little to reduce long-term growth or to reward the workers that make a company's success possible. going forward, the fed also wants to make stress tests even easier, apparently haggling with the megabanks over the scores wasn't lenient enough. quarles has proposed letting bankers comment on the tests before they are administered. that's like, you know, letting

the students write the exams. and the fed is considering dropping the qualitative portion of the stress test altogether. that's a part of the test that examines banks, risk management processes, data systems, and the fitness of its board of directors. understand these boards of directors are all paid, i believe, in every single case in the eight largest banks at least $200,000 a year. the fed plans changes to the volcker rule, the rule that stops big banks from taking big risks with americans' money. that rule required that banks make investments in the real economy, not casino-style trades using families' checking and savings accounts. and lest you think only american banks are getting handouts, don't worry, soon foreign banks r&b getting in on the action. this spring, mr. quarles said the fed wants to loosen the rules on foreign megabanks. weeg talking about deutsche bank and santander, ups and

barkley's. these foreign banks have broken our laws time and time again. yet we're going to loosen the rules on these foreign megabanks. the question i have with all of these weakening of protections for american taxpayers and american consumers is what problem, what problem exactly is the fed under mr. quarles' watch trying to solve? banks increase their profits by -- increased their profit by 13% last year. that's before you cot for the windfall in the tax cut. when you add in the tax benefits, it was 28% increase in their profits. the banking sector bought back $77 billion worth of stock last year, and the c.e.o.'s of the six largest banks got an average raise of 22%. so what exactly is mr. quarles trying to fix? what's not going all the bank's way day after day after day? the c.e.o. of wells fargo got a 36% raise even as scandal after

scandal after scandal after scandal mounted at the bank under his watch. so i don't think these megabanks are really the people that need mr. quarles' help. maybe you ought to look elsewhere. maybe you ought to look at the tellers. the average teller in this country makes $12.50 an hour. wages for ordinary americans simply aren't moving up. mr. quarles was in a very similar position a decade ago in the bush administration. the financial sector was booming, but average americans were sitting around the kitchen tables feeling less and less securing, wondering what they were going to do next. during this time when mr. quarles served in the bush administration treasury department, foreclosure filings in ohio doubled from around 40,000 at the beginning of 2002 to 80,000 by the end of 2006. mr. quarles just brushed off concerns about growing troubles in the mortgage market, and he said in those days famously in 2006 the future looks bright. his actions today suggest he

ain't learned a lot since. his amnesia and the collective amnesia of this body, it's just a little too familiar in this town. we can't afford any more nominees who fail american workers, who fail american homeowners, who fail american taxpayers. it always comes back to whose side you're on. are you going to fight for the little guy, whether she punches a time clock or whether he works in a diner, or are you going to fight for the 1%? are we here to serve american workers in the middle class or are we here to serve wall street? randal quarles has made it clear whose side he is on. i urge my colleagues to reject his nomination. mr. president, i ask that the remainder of my comments be placed in a different place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: this week, the president of the united states went overseas. first i want to say how much i appreciate the words of senator sasse. i hope that other people in his political party will have the courage he does and stand up and speak out on some of these things.

instead of standing up to america's enemies, the president of the united states went out of his way to attack the american free press. as senator mccain described today's press conference with russian president putin -- these are senator mccain's words -- the president made -- president trump, the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press and to grant putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world. let me repeat that. senator mccain, once republican nominee for president of the united states, one of the most respected senators of our -- of our lifetimes, senator mccain said the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of the free press and to grant putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world. unquote. we're talking about a man,

president putin, who presides over a regime where journalists are killed. according to a 2016 politifact article, russia ranks 180 out of 199 for press freedom, behind -- not ahead of, behind iraq, sudan, the democratic republic of congo and others, according to the international watchdog freedom house. after all, putin was a k.g.b. agent. but the president just didn't defend a dictator against the press. he openly attacked the american free press. heading to meet with the leader of a country that tramples on the rights of journalists, he said, our president, president trump, our president said much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people. that's soviet talk. that's putin kind of talk. that's k.g.b. talk. it's never been the talk of an american president. much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people.

mr. president, everybody in this body knows a lot of reporters. nobody in this body believes that the media are enemies of the people, but unfortunately almost nobody on this side of the aisle will stand up to the president and say no, mr. president, no fox news, the media are not enemies of the people. they're doing work that's essential to our democracy. journalists' entire job is to ask tough questions, to challenge powerful interests. in church, we comfort the afflicted. journalists afflict the comfortable. reporters put their safety, we know, sometimes their lives, we see that, on the line, whether it's covering floods and hurricanes at home or transversing the globe to bring us a story of war zones. we depend on reporters in ohio and around the world to both bring to us the stories that have an impact on our day-to-day lives and tell our -- tell the stories that might not otherwise be told. you too often -- yet too often today we see reporters

restricted, vilified, and threatened, all for doing their jobs. we can't dismiss these threats as just empty rhetoric. think of the anguish and the heartbreak and the terrible sight that happened in the newsroom at ""the capital gazette" -- at "the capital gazette" in annapolis. just last thursday, the harold newspaper, daily paper south of columbus, got an unmarked letter in the mail. inside it threatened physical harm to all the workers there. think about that. just for doing their jobs at a legal newspaper, covering football games, covering a business that might have cheated a customer, covering a television that might have cut corners. serving their community, these workers had their safety threatened. mr. president, this is personal to me. i apologize for making this personal. my wife, connie shultz, is a

pulitzer prize winner from "the cleveland plain dealer." she writes a column that's syndicated in 150 newspapers. she is about as far from being an enemy of the people as anybody i know. you know how she won the pulitzer prize? she is a working class kid, grew up in ashtabula, ohio. her dad carried a union card which saved her life because she had health care at the cleveland clinic that people whose dads didn't have or moms didn't have insurance would have not been able to benefit from. she worked her way through kent state university. she became -- she became a reporter. but do you know why she won the pulitzer prize? she won the pulitzer prize because she wrote about servers, servers in restaurants where sometimes management skims their tips. she wrote about single parents, single parents who struggle every day and get little help from anybody oftentimes. she wrote -- she has written about workers, workers where the system is so often rigged against them. they work every bit as hard as

we all do here. they get so little for it. she temperatures at kent state. she teaches millennials. she temperatures young men and women, mostly working class kids, most of whom will graduate with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, something the president of the united states never faced. they'll graduate with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. they're working part time, some of them full time. they are struggling to get through their classes. they want to be reporters because they want to go out and comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable because they care about truth and they care about honesty, and they arr from being enemies of the people president of the united states says that. the job of the president of the united states, the job of our political leaders is to set an example, to respect our democratic institutions, including the press. to bring americans together, not divide us. please, mr. president, won't you do that?

i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. senate approved the nomination of scott. more nominations are expected throughout the week. we'll have more coverage here on c-span2. >> the ccm buses traveling across the country on the 50 states bus tour. they recently stopped in alaska. >> one of the most important issues in alaska is ask access to healthcare and the cost of the care is extremely high. >> the most important issue

for alaska is job creation. linking and aligning resources to help support our businesses and community. >> the most important thing is it's tourist season and we have millions of tourists who come every year by cruiseship or drive-up or fly up and come see the nalley national park is. we'd like to see more tourists come by cruiseship. we only get a few crew ships a year. were trying to improve our port. >> i think one of the most important issues happening in alaska is the need for us to begin to convert our energy sources over to something a little more sustainable. when i think about that, i notice