great recession. and if we continue down this path without an exit strategy, we're going to regret it. so already our boat manufacturers in florida have lost tens of millions of dollars in canceled orders. regold marine industries had $4 million worth of orders fall through. the company estimates it'll lose about $13 million this year because of these tariffs. that will wind up costing people their jobs, and it's no small thing. and this is what happens when you get excessively extreme, when you get partisan, when you act like you know it all, when you improvise your way through a

complicated world and you don't have a well-thought-out plan of how to get out of this mess. again, it's the nature of the politics that we've got to rein in in bipartisan consensus. there's also the story of micro-stamping. it's the sole supplier of high-grade surgical equipment. that equipment is used in the treatment of breast cancer. they're contemplating shutting down because the president's trade moves are stopping them from getting the specific type of steel that they need to manufacture the equipment. or what about hale products. they're up in owe calla.

it's also be crushed by the tariffs. they make fire-suppression equipment. and since the cost of the tariffs is passed down to the end consumer, they say the tariffs will make it harder for municipal fire departments who are already facing stiff, stiff budget constraints, it's going to make it harder for them to buy the new, lighter-weight, lifesaving fire fighting equipment. this will have repercussions beyond the immediate business needs of the company. it's worth noting that what is going on is having a lasting damage to our strategic alliances. the united states government, this executive branch, is

treating our friends like enemies and is giving comfort to our adversaries. this is no way to run a country. we should be working with our allies to address our global challenges, and we ought to be advancing our shared interest, not just in trade but national security and a range of things. and before we escalate these things and they get out of hand, we need to think a little more about what we're doing and why we're doing it and if we're doing it the right way, and this senator is saying that we are not doing it the right way. what we're doing is we are sending a message that america is closed for business.

i don't think that's what we want to do. i urge our colleagues to join this senator in shining the light of day on the hard truth of what happens when you go along and make things up without a clear plan for success, which is exactly what this trade war is right now. that kind of approach doesn't work for u.s.a., it doesn't work for florida, it doesn't work for the vast majority of hardworking, everyday americans, and i think it's time to come to our senses. mr. chairman -- mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. blunt: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president, last night the all-star game was hosted in washington, and in conjunction with that game, the micro-league baseball museum hosted a game honoring the homestead grays, one of the teams from that league. there were great teams in that league. the homestead grays had won the negro league world series in 1943, which was 75 years ago, and they had a great exhibit here in town of that team and about that team and about the history of that league. the museum, which was founded in 1990, is located in kansas city, missouri. it's dedicated to highlighting and preserving that important part of our history, of our sports history, the history of african american baseball.

bob kendrick runs that museum, and it's a museum i'd encourage all of my colleagues to visit. it's a museum when the all-star game was in kansas city a few years ago, one of the venues for major league baseball was there. it's a museum that when people are in kansas city playing the royals, often managers and coaches take their players, players who haven't been there before and players who want to go back, just to have a sense of what that was like, the segregation of baseball, but also some of the great players that played there. the chairman of the board, stewart meyers, was here yesterday. the vice chairman aaron sachs, was here yesterday. but the museum is actually expanding. it is expanding and building. the buck o'neil research and education center on the paseo in kansas city. buck o'neil was a great kansas

citiian, but he had also been a great part of major -- of negro league baseball. in june of this year, vandals broke into the ymca that a the love money had already been spent on where that part of the museum was going to be housed, that research center, and did more damage than they should have been able to do, unfortunately some water damage in the building. but that effort continues. the negro national league was created there in 1920 at that paseo ymca. there was an owners' meeting and the owners decided, you know, it's time we really put more of a structure into this league and so they established a league that before 1920 these african american teams had barnstormed around the country and played whoever they could play. but after 1920, they could still

barnstorm, but there was a league and there was a league championship, and there was a structure that they hadn't had before. in 1947, as every baseball fan knows, the brooklyn dodgers decided to integrate baseball and jackie robinson, who played for the kansas city monarchs, was the first player to step into that challenge of integrating baseball. the last -- the league lasted another 13 years or so. i think the last team finally folded in 19 -- in the early 1960's, but some of the greatest baseball and the most exciting baseball ever played was played in this particular league. names like satchel paige who said he was so fast that he could -- this is what he said about himself. he could turn off the light in the bedroom and be in bed before it got dark. he was a great pitcher. avenues great runner. buck o'neil, satchel paige, cool

papa bell, jackie robinson and 1 see other names that -- in that last three years of the 1940's joined the major leagues, are all part of that story. missouri teams were an important part of that story. the monarchs -- i already mentioned jackie robinson played briefly for the monarchs before he went to the dodgers. but the monarchs played for 37 seasons. they won a dozen league championships. they sent more players than any other team to the major leagues. the st. louis stars on the other side of our state, originally the st. louis giants, played 12 seasons. they won the league championship in 1928 and 1930 and 1931. but the real focus of the exhibit here this week was the homestead grays. now, where did the homestead grays come from i think i already mentioned that they were

celebrating the anniversary of winning the world series in 1943. the homestead grays were based originally in homestead, pennsylvania, just outside of pittsburgh. but in 1940 and 1941 and 1942 they played at least half of their games here in washington, when the washington senators were traveling, senator nelson, they would -- the ballpark would be available and the homestead grays would play games there. by 1943 they were playing about two-thirds of their games in washington. and generally they had more people at their games than the washington senators had at their games. they won nine consecutive league pennants from 1937 through 19456789 there was even effort when the nationals -- when the team was brought here, the nationals, to call the nationals the washington grays. because of that tremendous team

that had played here, the team owners chose the nationals because it was one of the official nicknames of the washington senators. but an important part of our history right there. we're going to be celebrating the 100th anniversary of that league in 2020. i know congressman cleaver on the the other side of this building and i are looking at ways that we can draw more attention to this great part of our story. it's sad because of the segregated elements of it, but it's a great story because of the entrepreneur and the sportsmanship and the competitive nature of that league. and senator nelson, have you -- mr. nelson: will the senator yield? mr. blunt: i can tell you're interested. i am pleased to yield. mr. nelson: indeed, this senator is interested because, would you believe, that a lot of those retired players that are still living happen to live in florida. mr. blunt: right. mr. nelson: and, further, would you believe, as you correctly pointed out, that once

jackie robinson was able to break into the majors -- 1947 -- but it was another 11 years, 1958, before the last team in the major leagues integrated. and for all that period of time, these great baseball players who have contributed so much, they had no pension. and, further, would you believe that it was years later in this senate in the last decade that finally the commission on baseball was brought in front of the commerce committee, having to face the music about the fact that the retired players that had not played in major league

baseball but in the old negro leagues in america, because they couldn't get into major league baseball, even while the rest of the teams were being integrated, that took 11 years. and finally major league baseball, through bud zell i.g. finally agreed to give them a one-time pension payment. and this senator is so grateful because that's helped so many of the residents in my state that are these great players that you have so accurately, senator, described their considerable talents on the baseball field. mr. blunt: i think that's an important part of the history, senator. there are a couple of players there last night that had played in the league and of course there are fewer of those players all the time. but i've had a chance, as you have, to meet and talk to them

over the years and talk about the excitement of that kind of baseball, the ability to entertain both with their sportsmanship as well as just their talent as sportsmen, and i think it was a great league. it is a great story. i don't know if you've had a chance to be at the museum in kansas city, but as a guy who knew those players and appreciates what that league was all about, i'd certainly love to go there with you sometime. mr. nelson: if the senator would yield, as a matter of fact, i'm looking forward to seeing that museum. but it was one of your players, the kansas city monarchs, that peachhead bob mitchell, who was living in my state retired brought to the attention of his senator, the inequity that had

occurred in them never getting a pension. even though they were certainly capable of getting into major league baseball but for segregation could not. mr. mr. blunt: i'm looking forward, along with others, to celebrating that century of history. it's an important part of the story to be told, and i'm glad you helped add to it here today. i also want to talk for a few minutes, mr. president, about the work of the importance of getting the appropriations bills to the senate floor. and i want to do that by talking about the opioid epidemic, our annual opportunity to look at that is both legislative and legislative in terms of deciding how to spend money as we try to deal with this epidemic that claims more lives than any other single accidental cause of death. car accidents, for a long time predominated that list. but in virtually every state and

certainly in the country, more people die now from drug overdoses than die from car accidents. there are people of every age, from the high school cheerleader who hurts her leg in springfield, missouri, my hometown, who got medicine for that leg injury. it was three years later, after three years of struggling with addiction, that her mother found her dead in her bedroom of an overdose. every age, every race, there are stories of incredibly successful people who from the doctor, the dentist get more, got more pain medicine than they needed not because that's what the doctor or dentist intended to do, because the doctors in the 1970's, dentists in the 1970's and 1980's were told this is not addictive. there is no reason for people to have pain. they can take these opioid-based painkillers and not have pain.

that part was true. the part that wasn't true was the nonaddictive part. and the part that wasn't true was what you would do when the doctor was no longer giving you that medicine or you could no longer act like you were getting the medicine because of pain. you were by then getting it for some other reason. so the appropriations bill that our committee has voted out, that we're eager to get to the floor, includes $3.7 billion of targeted on the opioid epidemic. this is about 12 times, it's a 1,300 percent increase over where we were four years ago. as the congress became more aware of not only how widespread the epidemic was, but the incredible human cost of the epidemic. the bill includes almost half of that money, $1.5 billion, for state opioid response grants.

one reason we're doing this with grants is we really don't know yet all of the options and we haven't been able to evaluate the best ways to deal with this. we do feel like in our committee and in the congress that it's unlikely that the best way to deal with this in one place is necessarily the best way to deal with it in other places. my state, missouri, received $10 million last year. we'll receive $28 million this year if this grant funding is approved. and other states will be proportionately, they'll go up exactly as we did. now what do we do in missouri to use that money in our state to see what you can do to deal with this epidemic? 1,700 people received evidence-based medical treatment for opioid use disorder. 1,700 people in the last few months received that.

more than 4,300 kits of nalaxone, which is what you take when you've overdosed. that is less effective sometimes than it used to be because of the fentanyl, because people don't have any idea that are trying to help you, what you've put into your system, and you don't either. and so occasionally now you'll get that shot to relieve you from the overdose and think that's happened, and then suddenly what you have put in your system overwhelmed even that normal cure if you get it on time or at least that cure might be the wrong word because all it does is save you that one time. around 4,000 people have received training on what to do in the event of an overdose. about 10,000 people have received training in our state on topics from treatment to prevention to recovery. for a state like ours, the rate

of opioid death has increased. opioid overdose deaths has more than quadrupled in the past 15 years. that would not be an unusual number for states to see. in west virginia, senator capito and i were here on the floor talking about this earlier this year. this is not necessarily an urban problem. in fact, in most cases it's more of a rural problem per capita than an urban problem per capita. and we've set aside money targeted for those rural communities. of the $135 million targeted for rural communities based in different things that appear to be needed more in rural communities than other communities, a cum hundred million dollars disinto community health? -- goes into community health centers to support people and their behavioral health concerns and mental health concerns. if you don't have a mental health problem before you get

addicted to opioids, you have one once you've gotten addicted to opioids. and so what happens there in terms of trying to deal with that, senator stabenow and i introduced a bill a few years ago, the excellence of mental health act, and eight of our states now have situations where they're treating in that eight-state pilot where they're treating behavioral health like all other health, that particularly steps up somebody with an opioid addiction problem has a behavioral health problem, they wouldn't have had otherwise, and there's no limit, just like there would be no limit if you had kidney dialysis, there's also no limit in those eight states for your behavioral health element. there is no 28 days and if you haven't quit this in 28 days, you're going to have to deal with this as a unique problem, dealing with mental health and behavioral health in the same way matters in all cases. but it particularly seems to

apply as people try to beat this addiction. the department of labor and health and human services bill includes $60 million for child abuse prevention and treatment programs to support what happens in families when somebody in that family gets into an abuse situation. the number of people that become addicted needs to change, but also how we deal with pain needs to change. and so some unique money available to the national institutes of health to try to develop a pain medicine that's none addictive, $500 million, and to that effort. mr. president, i just say that in all of these cases, we feel like we've produced a good bill out of our committee. it has about a third of all the money in it after defense is taken off the table, so it's a

big bill with large jurisdiction. but, mr. president, everybody in the senate deserves a chance to be part of this debate. everybody in the senate deserves to look at how the appropriators with a vote with, i think it was 33-1 voted for this bill, how the appropriators decided to spend the money may be the way everybody decides to spend the money. but everybody ought to have a chance on this floor to say, no, i think this money would be better spent here than here, better spent this way than that way. and for every single senator to be able to be part of that discussion. if we continue this process that we have been in for a few years, one big bill that nobody ever gets to vote on, that means that the senators who aren't on the appropriations committee don't have a say in establishing our national priorities. it's an important time to do

that. these bills are all out of committee and have been for almost a month now. we have had three of them on the floor already. i think we plan to have four of them on the floor next week, and maybe defense and labor h. not too long after that. but these are big issues that every senator should have a say in, and the only way that happens is if these issues are decided right here on the floor. and so, mr. president, hopefully that will, we'll set some recent records at least of having all those bills on the floor and debated. and i will yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i want to reflect on some of the data coming in with respect to our economy on tax reform and deregulatory push. before i do, i want to commend my colleague from missouri and thank him for his leadership and work in this just incredible crisis that we're dealing with

with opioids. it's not a uniformly national crisis. it's more concentrated regionally. my state of pennsylvania is affected as badly as anyplace in the country. i'm pleased we've been able to take a number of constructive measures, but we've got a lot of work left to do as we try to deal with this scourge. so i want to thank him for that. on the tax reform, before i get into some of the macro and statistics that are really, really incredibly encouraging, i just want to touch on a couple of constituent companies and their employees and how our tax reform is affecting them. one is a company called glass and sons collision center. they're located in reading, pennsylvania, which is in the eastern part of our state. and they recently announced that they'll be paying $1,000 tax reform bonuses to all of their

employees. $1,000. this is a small business. it's a father and son business. the owners charles and trevor glass, they made the decision to pay the bonuses right after they met with their accountants and they learned how much they're going to save as a result of the tax reform. the first thing they did is said we're going to share this with our employees. a terrific development for everyone involved. there's another company, the other side of the state out in somerset, southwestern part of the state, a company called the guy chemical company. they recently an announced that not only are they increasing wages and bonuses, but they are also making new investments including a new forklift, updated computer equipment, new software and building a new lab for research and development five times the size of their old lab. they're doing this because of the tax reform and the confidence they have in economic growth that's occurring in this reformed environment. but it's not only individuals

who work for companies that have been able to pay higher wages and bonuses who benefit from tax reform. it's just about everyone. about 93% of all the folks that i represent and all the folks that we all represent, when they file their tax return for this year's income, they're going to pay less in federal income taxes. the direct savings for, according to the tax foundation, for a pennsylvania family with an income in the $50,000 to $70,000 range, it will be about $1,400 in savings. and in addition to the direct savings from the lower federal tax bill, because of the savings that pennsylvania utilities have on their federal tax bill, they're required to pass that on to their customers, and that's exactly what they're doing. there is so far a combined $320 million in annual savings to pennsylvania consumers in the

form of lower utility bills as a result of our tax reform. so there's no question, tremendous direct personal individual benefits across the board. but related to that is the fact that the economy is just taking off. the economy has been on fire. this year it's been tremendous. and nothing reflects the strong economic data better than the employment picture. it's fair to say, mr. president, that the employment picture in america may never have been this good. and i know that's making a very bold statement, but stay with me here. we go through some of this data. the month of may, we had the lowest unemployment rate since 2000. the lowest unemployment rate in 18 years. african american unemployment rate hit an all-time record low. it has never been measured as low as it was in may of 5.9%.

likewise, hispanic unemployment rate, all-time record low, 4.6% in june. small business optimism, second-highest level on record ever this past month of may. dividends paid from overseas subsidiaries of u.s. multinationals, dividends paid back home, money that's sitting overseas and invested back in america reached an all-time record high in the first quarter because we changed the rules to diminish the penalties that we used to have when an american company brought income that was earned overseas back home. well, one of the things we wanted to have happen as a result of our tax reform, we wanted to see more capital expenditures, more companies putting money to work, buying plants, equipment, technology, tools. guess what? first quarter of this year,

tremendous growth in capital expenditures by american businesses. it's up over 7%, well above even the ambitious estimate that came out by the congressional budget office late last year. one of the most amazing statistics, i think, about this whole employment picture, is what happened in march. we saw in the month of march, again, the first time ever that i'm aware of, the number of job openings, the number of available jobs that need to be filled is greater than the number of people looking for jobs. think it about that -- think about that. there are more jobs available in america than there are people looking for jobs in america. that's terrific for people who need work. the jobs are out there. the national federation of independent business, that's america's largest network of small businesses, they were surveyed in june.

63 are%, almost -- 63%, almost two-thirds, were reported to try to hire or were hiring. and 87% of those who were trying to hire or actually hiring people were concerned there were too few people out there to be hired. so we've, in a way, the economy is growing so robustly the job opportunities are expanding so quickly that we have a shortage of workers we have -- workers. we have too few people available to meet the demands of all of these jobs. it's the right demand to have. what happens as a result of that? it's exactly what we predicted. people who had decided to leave the workforce, to give up on work, people who were working age and healthy but decided, for whatever not to work, they are coming back into the workforce

in big numbers. in the month of june over 600,000 americans who had worked in the past but then he had had stepped out of the workforce for whatever reason, over 600,000 came back into the workforce. the biggest proportion of these folks are people who had never gone to college but they have a renewed confidence and optimism about the economy and a confidence that opportunities available to them, despite the fact that they don't have a college income, that they have decided they are going to reenter the workforce, and in the process, start to improve their standard of living. and, by the way, the labor force participation rose really across, i think, all ethnic groups, women, men, african americans, hispanics, it's up across the board. so so far this year over a

million workers who had left the workforce are back in it. that compares to about a half million workers in the first half of last year and about 600,000 in 2016. so a big surge in the number of workers coming back into the workforce. and they are finding jobs. it's improved our overall population, our overall percentage of working age people who are working, and it is across all demographic groups and contributing enormously first and foremost to improving the quality of their lives and their family's lives and our overall economic glowth. what -- growth. what else do we get from the june jobs report? in june alone 213,000 jobs added. that is a rapid pace. these numbers are always

revised. in june we got the revision for april and may. it turns out it was better than we thought. all together there were 37,000 more jobs when we revised the april and may numbers than we had originally figured. a modest uptick in the unemployment rate, but don't be fooled by that. that is because so many additional people entering the workforce and we're counting far more people now in determining that. one of the truly exciting things about this, mr. president, is, you know, for many, many years we've had stagnant wages. wages just weren't rising very rapidly. it's because productivity won't growing. that, i think, was being driven by the fact that there wasn't growth in capital expenditure. now that we changed that dynamic, capital expenditure is growing and wages are starting to grow. i'm not satisfied with the

growth yet but it is encouraging that the direction is positive. the average hourly earnings grew about 2.9% in the first quarter, that is the fastest pace in a decade, and the hourly wage for managers rose at its fastest right. and 3.8% which is clear indication that employers are forced to bid up wages because they need to hire workers and they are having trouble finding their workers. this whole dynamic is very, very encouraging. it means wages are growing and likely to grow more. i should also point out there's a feature in the arithmetic that suggests that we -- it could mask the extent to which wages are growing. and what i'm referring to is when i say that wages are greenhouse gas, the average wages are growing by 2.8%, it's

true. but keep in mind when you get a surge of new people in the workforce, most of those people are coming in at the lower end of the wage spectrum. maybe it's their first job or maybe they have been out of work for a long time or maybe, as i pointed out, they don't have the same level of education or skills as those in the workforce, so they are starting at a lower-than-average wage and so all things being equal, it would bring it down. people who have been continuously employed, they are getting even bigger growth in their wages. so this is very, very encouraging. i think it's likely to continue. it's exactly what we were hoping would happen as a result of our tax reform. but there's another whole development, mr. president, that's not directly about wages, but when you think about it makes a lot of sense. with all of these people finding work, with all of these opportunities for work, people coming back into the workforce,

guess what. there's a reduction in dependency on government programs because people are able to earn the income to support their families. so, for instance, the four-week average, one of the things we monitor closely, the four-week average of unemployment benefit claims, people collecting unemployment, that number hit a 45-year low of 213,000 in may. 45 years. you have to go back 45 years to find so few people who are require -- who require unemployment for an extended period of time, which is really amazing when you consider how much bigger a country we are today that we've gotten down to a number that was matched only 45 years ago. amazing. or you could look at disability benefits. according to the social security administration, fewer americans applied for disability benefits last year than at any time in

2002. so 16 years since we've had a number this low. or take the food stamp program. two million people have come off food stamps because they are working and are working enough that they don't need it or they don't qualify for it anymore. these are encouraging trends. because the driver is a new set of incentives with capital expenditure and productivity growth, i think this will continue. the macro numbers reflect this as well. the congressional budget office -- last year they estimated that growth for 2018 would be 2%, they resized -- revised that up to 3.3%. for the quarter that just ended, the estimates are that growth

was equal and maybe even more than 4%. so tre mund whys growth. we already had -- so tremendous growth. we already had a great quarter relative to other quarters, the second quarter very, very big. if this growth is sustained, not only will we continue to have good employment numbers, like we had, we will also have good federal numbers. our government is driven by how strong our economyand every company that -- economy is and every company is paying taxes so revenue coming into the government is likely to be very strong. so i am tre optimistic -- i am very optimistic. i believe the combination of pushing back on regulations and pro-growth tax reform has led to this growth. i should warn. i think there is a bit of a cloud on the horizon.

i hope it doesn't develop into a big storm. right now it's just a big cloud, but that cloud is trade policy that could really start to hinder economic growth. it's interesting we had testimony at the banking committee yesterday from the fed chairman, chairman powell, and i pointed out that the minutes of the federal reserve's open market committee, the minutes for the june meeting, had a disturbing reference. and i will quote briefly. the fomc minutes for june stated some districts indicated that plans for capital spending had been scaled back or postponed as a result of uncertainty over trade policy. that's a warning. that's a warning to us. if we spiral down into a full-blown trade war, and we've

certainly got a lot of skirmishes going on. if this spirals out of control, business will start to pull back. they will lose the confidence that they have had that could lead to diminished capital expenditures which will start to really diminish the tremendous growth that we have seen. so, mr. president, so far this year the economic picture has been extremely encouraging, benefits very broad based, economic growth broad and strong, unemployment numbers that we haven't seen in decades, and i believe this can continue. it's much more likely to continue if we avoid a damaging trade war. with that, i yield the floor. mr. whitehouse: mr. president,

i'm grateful today to be joined by senator king from the great state of maine to speak about the troubling changes that we are seeing in the oceans and how climate change is reshaping our state's fisheries. the food and agriculture culture organization of the united nations recognizes and i quote, climate change imperils the structure and function of already stressed coastal aquatic ecosystems. and for the record, mr. president, maine and rhode island are, indeed, aquatic. the oceans have absorbed approximately 30% of the excess carbon dioxide that we've pumped into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. that is changing the ocean's chemistry. the oceans have also absorbed roughly 90% of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by

those greenhouse gases. as a result of that excess carbon dioxide and that excess heat, our oceans are warming and they are rising and they are losing oxygen and they are growing more acidic. this puts marine life coastal communities and the global ocean economy all in jeopardy. commercial fishing is an important economy in the united states and both maine and rhode island celebrate our longstanding fishing traditions. according to the national marine fishery service, over 9.6 billion pounds of wild seafood valued at around $9.3 billion was commercially landed in the united states in 2016. across new england american lobster was our most valuable fishery, bringing in

$633 billion, two-thirds of a billion dollars of lobster to shore. sadly rhode island's fishery is badly knocked down by warming ocean waters. noaa notes, the lobster industry in new york and southern new england has nearly collapsed. so maine dominated the catch, bringing in nearly 85% of the lobster landed in the region. according to noaa, from 1994 to 2014, maine's landing surged to more than 124 million pounds. the lobster population is shifting north, away from rhode island and new york and connecticut as waters warm, leaving rhode island and other southern new england lobster traps empty, but mainers are taking notice too as warming waters are driving lobsters

northward along their rocky coasts. a p reason study of 7 -- a recent study of 700 marine species predicted lobster populations could move 200 miles northward by the end of the century as waters continue to warm. senator king can report what 20f maine. lob sister is -- lobster is not the only fishery feeling the heat in new england. a study found that the greater northeast region is anticipated to warm faster than other regions of the world. according to the climate science special report, a federal report that will form the scientific basis of the fourth national climate assessment, and i quote it here, the northeast has warmed faster than 99% of the global ocean since 2004. we are a global ocean hot spot off our coast. the northeast is also expected

to see higher than global average sea level rise, putting our ports, fishing docks, and coastal infrastructure all at risk. fishermen have noticed they are keenly aware of the myriad of ways climate change is altering the waters. generations of their families have fished these waters, and they see the difference. as fishermen in rhode island have told me, sheldon, things are getting weird out there. sheldon, it's not my grandfather's ocean. they share anecdotes of catching increasing numbers of tropical fish early in the summer season and seeing fish that rarely frequented rhode island waters until recent years. as new fish move in and traditional fish move out, fishermen are left with more questions and answers. in southern new england, black sea bass has become the poster fish for shifting stocks. as you can see in this graphic,

the 1970's had the hub of black sea bass here, with this as the center and then a slight reach upwards, but basically off the mid-atlantic coast. this is 2014, the center of activity has moved up closer to rhode island. we are right here. and of course black sea bass populations in our region have increased concomitantly. the black sea bass can represent rhode island replace the additional species which are growing more scarce, like winter flounder, the fish my wife studied for her graduate work, which has crashed as winters warm. the current fisheries management structure, however, forces rhode

island fishermen to toss the increasingly abundant and valuable black sea bass overboard. noaa scientists call this northward transit of the black sea bass coming years ago, but regulatory catch limits did not keep up. they are generally based on historical catches and states are hesitant to give up quota even after the fish have moved northward and left their shores. so state-specific quotas badly lag the changing distribution of the fish. a former mid-atlantic fishery management council scientist acknowledged that fish like summer flounder are moving north, telling npr some of the southern states are having trouble catching their quota, and states to the north have more availability of fish. dave monte is a friend who is a

charter boat captain in north kingstowne, rhode island. dave says, and i quote him here, there is no doubt the waters have warmed and black sea bass have moved in. the quotas haven't done a good enough job at figuring in climate change yet, end quote. mr. president, i'd like to submit for the record an article from the providence journal describing the changes that captain monte sees and reports and are local efforts to deal with these changes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, we have got to fix this. to use the black sea bass example, the species is comanaged by the mid-atlantic fishery management council and the atlantic states marine fisheries commission. rhode island only has a seat on the atlantic states commission. it does not have a vote on the mid-atlantic council. that means that my state is not fully represented in the decision-making process and perfectly good black sea bass keeps being thrown into the sea by fishermen who ought to be

able to bring that catch home. in 2016, noaa scientists assessed the vulnerability of the effects of climate change of over 80 commercially valuable species in the northeast, so this is not just a story about black sea bass or about lobsters. this northeast climate vulnerability assessment ranked species based on climate risks and sensitivities to changing ocean conditions. here is the climate risk vector or graph. as you will see, all, all 80 species scored in the high or very high risk of climate exposure categories, all 80 commercially valuable species they studied facing high or very high risk. this is a red flag for our

fisheries. maine is the place for lobster. in rhode island, squid is king. in 2016, 56% of the long finn squid caught on the east coast was landed in rhode island. according to noaa, this catch was valued at over $28 million, accounted for nearly -- accounting for nearly 30% of our landing value in 2016. but climate change is putting our cal a march i -- calamari at risk. its carbon cousin, ocean acidification, is the hazard. like its shellfish veterans, squid require calcium carbonate. for squid, it's to grow the heart beaks they use to feed. acidic waters decrease the availability of this necessary compound in the seawater and can even dissolve calcium carbonate

organism shells under extremely acidic conditions. on the west coast, shellfish farmers have been dealing with ocean acidification since the mid-2000's. dr. richard feeley is the researcher who first identified ocean acidification as the cause for oyster spat failures in the northwest back in 2005. he noted in a recent npr article that the acidification problem is only going to get worse. quote, the acidified water welling up in the ocean floor now contains carbon dioxide gas emitted 50 years ago, he explained. carbon emissions are worse since then. some hatcheries in the northwest are already moving operations to less acidic waters off hawaii, and others are looking to buffer the water with sea grasses to absorb carbon and lower acidity. shellfish farmers in rhode island are facing the challenge

of acidifying waters as well. at the same time, marine species are facing deoxygenation, increased harmful algae, and other consequences of a warming and acidifying ocean. the symptoms of climate change in the ocean are everywhere. a recent study in global change biology warned reduced oxygen availability could limit the growth of fish and other species. well, fishermen can't make a living off sick and tiny fish. california's lucrative dungeness and rock crab season was cut short in 2015-2016, due to a harmful algae bloom. our great lakes are hit, too. i went out on lake erie after the horrible algae event there, and the fisherman who -- fishermen who took me out sounded like rhode islanders. one of them said everything i learn from fishing a lifetime on

this lake is worth nothing now because it's all changing so fast. if, mr. president, we have an opportunity to have an open bipartisan debate on a strong magnuson stevenson operation, i urge my colleagues not to overlook the toll climate change is taking on our fishing industry. the changes that are happening in our oceans do not care whether or not you believe they exist. the physics, the chemistry, and the biology driving these changes will happen anyway, and our fishermen are depending on us to give the scientists and the managers the tools and resources they need to meet the challenges climate change is bringing to our shores. and i now yield to my friend from maine to give the perspective from his rocky shores.

mr. king: mr. president. first i want to thank senator white house for the information that he -- senator whitehouse for the information that he shared. it was compelling, important, and i think very worth our deep consideration. to talk about renewing the magnuson stevenson act without talking about the effects of climate change and the effects on the water itself would be, i think, an enormous missed opportunity. first i want to commend senator whitehouse, the senator from rhode island, for his long-standing commitment to the issue of climate change, the well-worn poster, time to wake up. the work that he has done over the years to force us to pay attention to this issue. i am, as he indicated, going to talk about what's going on in the gulf of maine, but i want to broaden the discussion just for a few moments to talk about the issue of climate change as a broader question before us. this isn't some environmental

dream, it's not something that was invented by someone. it was discovered by scientists, and it is dollars and currents. it is the most -- dollars and cents. it is the most practical problem that we have to deal with. i'm on the armed services committee. we are talking about military bases all over the world, some as close as right down in this region and then down toward norfolk, virginia, that are under a severe threat from rising sea levels that is going to cost us billions if not trillions of dollars to upgrade and maintain because of rising sea levels. this isn't something abstract, this is something that's happening today, and it's something that we are going to have to deal with that is going to have an enormous cost, and the longer we put off preventing and dealing with this issue, the higher that cost is going to be. there is a second reason that this is a national security issue, and that is the

aggravation of conflict and the initiation of migration. the number of refugees from syria which has disrupted the politics of europe and disrupted many of the european countries and indeed has had a reflection here in this country are roughly three to four million people. the estimate for refugees from climate change from extreme temperature, from drought, from famine, is in the hundreds of millions. in the hundreds of millions as opposed to three to four million from syria, imagine the disruption to all of the countries of the world that are destinations for these refugees that are fleeing places that have become uninhabitable. this isn't a question that we're going to have to address and as our military characterizes, it is a threat multiplier, because when you have people moving from one region to another, you have

conflict. from time immemorial, conflict has largely been based on things like access to water and access to arable land. we're talking about an enormous accelerator of that across the world. well, now let me talk about the effects in my home state. first the good news. lobster landings in maine are up. we have ridden a lobster boom over the past 30 years. since the 1980's, the poundage of lobsters harvested in maine has grown 500%. when i was governor, a good harvest of lobsters was 50 million to 60 million pounds. two years ago, it was 127 million pounds. more than double. that's the good news. the bad news is it's starting to change, and we may have seen the

turning point in this boom. we don't know that, but the last two years have been down substantially from the peak in 2016. we will see what happens this year. hopefully it's a blip and not a trend. by the way, one of the reasons the lobster industry has survived and flourished in maine is not only the favorable impact of gradual increases in temperature, but because of the conservation ethic of the lobstermen themselves who voluntarily throw back egg-bearing females. they cut a v-notch in their tails so they won't be caught again. if they are too small or too large, they throw them back. an amazing ethic of conservation that has been imbued in the culture of lobstering and also in our laws for many years. so the fact that we still have a lobster fishery and that it's as vigorous and productive as it is is due in large measure to the

creativity and conservation ethic of our lobstermen. now, here's the bad news. the bad news is when water temperature gets to about 68 degrees, it's like turning a switch. and it stresses the lobster population to a point where they can't survive. the good news is gets warmer and they multiply. the bad news is, once it reaches a certain critical point, the species could collapse and, indeed, that is what has happened as the senator from rhode island has indicated to the once plentiful lobster populations of new york, massachusetts, and rhode island. the problem is over recent years -- and i talked to a lobsterman friend today, just this afternoon -- the center of gravity of lobstering along the maine coast is steadily moving north and east. he told me it's moved about 50 miles in the last ten years.

the other problem that's occurring is that the lobsters are going further off shore to seek cooler water, which means the lobstermen have to go further. they have to have bigger boats. they have to make more of an investment in order to make a living. right now we're in good shape. but the trend is not good. we're seeing other changes that have magnified both the boom and what we're worried about is the bust. we've seen changes decline in some fish species like the cod that fed on baby lobsters but now, as senator whitehouse mentioned, we are seeing a growth of a fish that was never seen in maine in the recent past, the black sea bass. we've also -- my friend tells me today they're catching trigger fish in the gulf of maine which are a north carolina species. they've even caught sea horses

in lobster traps. this is a dramatic change as the waters warm. and as i mentioned, if they get close to the 68-degree level, then the lobster population is in trouble. but it's not only lobsters. by the way, lobste lobster is as business in maine. half a balance dollars just in the land value, a billion and a half in the overall economic impact of this species to our state. by the way, mr. president, before i leave the question of lobster, i have to acknowledge the comments made by the senator from pennsylvania earlier when he was talking about the economy and he flashed a warning light at the end of his remarks about trade and tariffs. we are already seeing the negative impact of what i consider ilconsiderred tariffs on china, the first place they retaliated was against lobsters.

20% of the entire lobster catch in maine is sold and exported to china. it's our fastest growing market. and if the chinese tariffs that they've already announced are imposed and fully implemented, it could cut that to zero. because canada doesn't have those tariffs. canada is not engaging in a trade war with china. canada and other countries are moving into the vacuum that we've created. so the idea that we can impose tariffs on other countries without any ileffects here just isn't true. right now it looks like the lobster industry, soybeans in the midwest, maple syrup in vermont, other agricultural products across the country are going to be collateral damage in an incipient trade war that i don't understand where it's going. i'd like to know what the strategy is, what's the end game, where does this go? and so far i haven't seen any

indication of that. what i have seen an indication of is severely dangerous impacts on our iconic industry. another part of our ocean ecosystem is clams. a massive decrease in harvest mostly because of -- two reasons. acidification as the senator from rhode island indicated. 30% of all the carbon dioxide that's been emitted during the industrial revolution has ended up in acidification in the ocean. and also nonnative green crabs which are exploding because they like the warmer water. they've been around for a hundred years, but that population is growing enormously and they are just devastating the clams. green crab can consume 40 hal half-inch collapse a day. those crabs have decimated blue

musclmuss -- blue mussels and cs and we're concerned baby lobsters could be next. warm water shifting predators aren't the only challenges that we face. more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere absorbed into the ocean, one quarter what's emilted goes into the ocean. the ocean then becomes more acidic. any kind of shelled animals, lobsters, clams, oysters expend ever more energy maintaining the ph balance in their bodies and that means they can't grow and reproduce. the world's oceans have become 30% more acidic since the industrial revolution. oysters. oysters have become a great new product for man. we're -- for maine. we're growing them in oyster farms. you can go to fancy restaurants and see the oits teres and they're wonderful. but my friend bill who is one of

the pioneers of the oyster industry in maine has had to move the incubation of his oysters out of the ocean, out of the natural river, on shore, into tanks so he can buffer the water to minimize the acidification and then put them back in the water to grow out. that's a pure result of climate change and acidification of the ocean. fresh water runoff is another issue that increases the acidification. we've had an enormous increase in the amount of fresh water rainfall in this country and in maine that has increased the acidification of the oceans. so what do we do? what do we do? the first thing we do is admit there's a problem. you can't solve a problem if you act like there's nothing wrong. so the first thing we have to do

is admit there's a problem, and i think more and more people are coming to that conclusion. when this administration was nominating people, the refrain i heard in all of the hearings was, climate is changing. man has an impact of it but we don't know how much. well, that's progress. at least it's admission that something is happening. so what do we do? we admit there's a problem. i think we're close to reaching that point. the second thing we have to do is more research. we have to continue to fund the science to do the research to understand what's happening, to understand what we can do to mitigate these risks. so research and scientific data is crucial. and for some of our great agencies that have the people that have been researching this for years, to be suppressing the research or not supporting it or burying it is not a service to our country. research is crucial.

we need the facts. we need the data. we need mitigation strategies. we also need to pay attention to the underlying cause of climate change which is thecombustion of fossil fuels and enormous amount of carbon dioxide that's being added to the atmosphere. this is a long-term challenge. it's not something that we can solve in the next one or two years. and some people say, well, it's such a long-term challenge. why are we doing it because it may not be solved for 50 years? mr. president, in my office is edmond musky's desk. i sit behind edmond musky's desk, one of the greatest senators of the 20th century and one of the greatest citizens maine has ever produced. and 50 years ago, two years from now, 1970, edmond musky led the

passage of the clean water act and the clean air act, two of the greatest and most important pieces of legislation passed in this body in the last hundred years. the first real recognition that we had a responsibility to the environment, that we had a responsibility to our children and our grandchildren, and by the way, mr. president, astoundingly, the clean water act passed the united states senate unanimously, unanimously. can you imagine? we can't agree on the time of day unanimously in this body. but in 1970 under ed musky's leadership, the clean water act was passioned unanimously. -- was passed unanimously. the point i want to make is, the steps that they took almost 50 years ago have cleaned up our river, have cleaned up our atmosphere, have made parts of our country blossom again. in maine we're working on our

rivers. the towns that turned their backs on the rivers are now turning back toward the rivers because people can fish, swim, and enjoy the rivers when ed musky started his lonely crusade in the late 1960's, the rivers were essentially open sewers. 50 years ago ed musky started that work. we see the benefit of it today. we should be doing the same thing. the fact that it may not come to fruition for 20, 30, 40, 50 years is no reason to not start now. we have to start. this isn't pie in the sky. this isn't somebody trying to impose new regulations. this isn't something that's made up by environmentalists or people that just don't want to see any development. no. this is lives and livelihood. these are families, communities. it's responsibility stewardship and just plain common sense.

there's a lot of science and there's a lot of complexity to this issue. but it seems to me we can take inspiration from ed musky and howard baker and all those of a generation ago that built the edifice upon which we have a cleaner, healthier, stronger economy and stronger society. and the great debate -- i remember those days. the great debate was payrolls versus pick roll. you couldn't have payrolls if you preserve the pick roll. it turned out to not be true. we've developed one of the strongest -- the strongest economy in the history of the world and yet we paid attention to the environment. we paid attention to our responsibilities to our children and to our grandchildren, and we've created the economy at the

same time -- at the same time we were able to clean up the environment. and at the time -- i remember those debates. they were bitter. you can't do it. if you do this, you're going to put everything out of business. there will be no economy. that was the argument. it hasn't happened, mr. president. it hasn't happened. and finally, you can talk about the science. you can get caught up in all the data, but to me there's a really easy rule that makes this easy to understand. and what our responsibilities are. i call it the maine rototiller rule. many people in maine have gardens. but it's a small garden. it's in your back yard so it doesn't make sense for everybody to buy a rototiller. the machine you use once or twice a year to clean out your garden and till over the garden

and begin to plant. so you borrow one. i used to borrow one. the maine rototiller rule goes like this. when you borrow your neighbor's rototiller, you return it to them in as good as shape as when you got it with a full tank of gas. that's all you need to know about environmental stewardship. because you know what? we've got the planet on loan. we don't own it. we don't -- we own a piece of land for a generation. but we have it on loan from our children and grandchildren and their grand children. we have a sacred responsibility to turn over the planet to them in the same or better shape than we found it. that's our responsibility. very simple. you borrow something from your neighbor, you return it in as good a shape as you found it and that's what we should be doing today. we can do this.

there will be costs, but the costs of not doing it will dwarf the cost that we can undertake today to protect the gulf of maine, the coast of the united states, the fields of africa, the forests of north america, and the land and water and air that our children and grandchildren deserve to have passed on to them in better shape than we found it. mr. president, we can do this. we can start today. and we may not live to see the results, but we will know that we've done something important, something meaningful, something that will make a difference in the lives of generations that we don't know. and they will know what we do or

what we don't do. i myself choose the side of action recognizing the problem, analyzing it, understanding it. and acting to mitigate the harms that otherwise will befall our children. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, as senator king and i yield the floor, first let me thank him for joining us and, second, with senators present here from landlocked states, let me make the request to both of you that when we come before this body with concerns about what is happening to our ocean economies, which i think are shared by every coastal senator that is seeing these changes, that you view our pleas with the same courtesy and respect that

we show you when wildfires burn through utah and we come to make sure that there is adequate emergency response or when oklahoma faces hurricanes or cyclones and tornadoes, and the federal government and the senate rallies to the response of those who are experiencing the pain of that in your states. our fishing communities and our coastal communities have a very different distress, but i hope you will see it as an equal distress and pace the courtesy of your -- and pay us the courtesy of your you don't consideration. thank you. we yield the floor.

mr. lankford: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, there has been a lot of conversation again of late on election security. it seems to be a frequent conversation in the hallways the last couple of days, and it is an ongoing issue that i think some people have lost track of, but we have not. myself, and amy klobuchar have worked months quietly trying to get the language right and to be able to work through the process of what does it take to be able to secure our elections for 2018, 2020 and beyond, learning a lesson from 2016. but i do want to remind this body that the elections are not something that happens this november. it's already ongoing. many states' primaries have already been conducted. last night there was a country-off primary that happened in alabama. georgia holds their runoff primaries next week. tennessee the week after that. kansas, michigan, missouri, washington, on tuesday, august 7. it is already ongoing. so while we watch the indictments that just came down

from the mueller investigation on g.r.u. officers from russia that were trying to interfere in our elections in 2016, as we've seen the sanctions and indictments that have come down on some of the oligarchs from russia and from the internet research agency for what they were doing in social media trying to be able to interfere with our election in 2016, i think it may be important for us to do a quick look-back to what has happened and to what is still going on and what we're trying to be able to accomplish in the next few weeks. let me give you a quick look at what is happening in my state, in oklahoma. in oklahoma in the 2016 cycle, the f.b.i. and others began to discover that there were issues with the elections in some interference from what they at that time called bad actors in june of 2016. later that summer in august of 2016, the f.b.i. issued a nationwide, what they call, flash alert to every state dealing with a threat from a, quote-unquote, bad actor. the oklahoma state cyber command

director received that warning, as did everyone else, but at that time the f.b.i. didn't share any details because no one in my state was given security clearance to be able to have that kind of classified conversation with the f.b.i. it wasn't until september 22 of 2017, a year and a legal alien bit later, that d.h.s. actually notified my state and our state election authorities that we hadn't just been targeted by a bad actor; we had been targeted by the russians. a year later. because no one had clearance and there was no one engaged. d.h.s. told the oklahoma election board secretary, who was doing a great job, that there was evidence of the russians looking into the vulnerabilities of the state computer network but didn't get into the election board computer network and didn't get into any of our equipment. they basically came to check if the door was locked and they found out in oklahoma the door was locked and the russians could not get in.

they didn't penetrate into our system, though they tried. but it was a year after the elections before we were even notified that the russians were trying to penetrate our system. a subtle flash warning is all that we received in the summer of 2016. oklahoma is a great -- oklahoma has a great system for elections. our system is consistent across every single county. we've optical scanners with a paper ballot backup so we can verify the computer count with a hand count, if needed of the and we've had a very good system. that system was tested by the russians when they evaluated the computer networks, and they were also not able to get in this great thanks to some of the cyber folks in oklahoma. but not all states have the same practices. some states from county to county, their election systems are different. from township to township they may have different systems with different companies and different backgrounds. they may not have the same kind

of system that they get a chance to be able to protect their cyber systems. we saw that in 2016 when the russians were able to penetrate some of the states and actually be able to harvest some of her to voter register rolls. they weren't able to change any votes. they weren't able to affect the voting that day. but they did a tremendous amount of isn'ting through systems to see where there were vulnerabilities, what they can learn on our election systems and how they could engage for a future time. i think we should learn a lesson from that and be aware that the russians are trying to be able to penetrate that system. and learning as much as they could. at the same time that they were hacking into different systems and testing them out to see if they could get in, a different set of folks from the russian group the internet research agency, they were trying to put out social media disinformation. 200,000 oklahomans saw facebook and twitter posts that russians put out as false information. they weren't all on one candidate. they were on multiple candidates

and multiple issues. sometimes on hillary clinton, sometimes on donald trump, sometimes on bernie sanders, sometimes on jillstein. sometimes just on ideological issues. but over 200,000 oklahomans saw those posts from different russians, not knowing they were russian posts at all. they were russians pretending to be americans and they were pushing that information out. so what can we learn from this? one is the most simple of those things -- you shouldn't believe everything you see on the internet. it is not always an american. it is not always who they post to be and it is not always true. it should be the most basic information that we should learn about what's happening on the internet and what's online, including facebook and twitter. but the other lesson that we need to learn is a little more complicated. we have to be able to have better communication between the federal government and states, better cybersecurity system and the ability to be able to audit that. that is why senator klobuchar and i have worked for months on a piece of legislation called the secure elections act. that piece has worked its way through every state looking at

it in their election authorities. we've worked it through multiple committee hearings, in fact recently just in the last month two different hearings with the rules committee. it isous in ready to be marked -- it is now ready to be marked up. it affirms that states run elections. the federal government should not take over elections nationwide. in fact, that would make a bad situation worse. states need to be able to run elections and be able to manage those. but it qualifies several things. one is it gets security clearance to a person in every single state so if there is a threat from a hostile actor, there's not some vague warning that comes out. there is an immediate address from what's happening in communication within the intelligence community on the federal level to individuals with clearance on the state level. right now the d. h.s. in absence of this legislation has started implementing it anyway. every single state has at least one person with security clearance now, including my own. and they're working to have at least three in every state to do

backup system. we also need to be able to affirm that every state can audit their election. that they would do what's called risk-i want willing audits after the -- risk-limiting audits after the election to make sure their results are correct. but the ability to audit it as the election is going on. so it is not just counting on a measure, but there's also some way to back it up. now states have a variety of ways that they can actually do that. but if elections are trusting that the electronics are going to work and not be hacked into and not be affected, we should have learned the lesson from 2016 that there are outside entities trying to be able to attack these systems and to find vulnerabilities and they will. some way to be able to back it up, to be able to audit the election while it is happening. risk auditing after the fact. security clearances in states and rapid communication state-to-state and state to the federal government. all help maintain the integrity of our licks.

-- of our elections. that's what we do in the secure elections act. that's why i think it is so important that we try to resolve this as quickly as possible. i encourage this body to finish the markup in the rules committee, to be able to bring it it to the floor and have a consistent, bipartisan vote, to be able to support the work that we need to continue to do to be able to protect our elections in the days ahead. our republic is one that maintains its stability based on the integrity of our elections. i have zero doubt the russians tried to destabilize our nation in 2016 by attacking the core of our democrats. of our democracy. anyone who believes they will not do it again has missed the basic information that is how day after day after day in our intelligence briefings. but the russians have done it the first time. they showed the rest of the world the lesson in what could be done. it could be the north koreans next time. it could be the iranians next time. it could be a domestic activist group next time. we should learn that lesson,

close that vulnerability and make sure we protect our systems in the days ahe ahead. the states need to take a lead on this. this is something the federal government should do. we are very close to being able to get it done. i want to tell this body that we are very close. let's get this done in the days ahead. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. and i 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 kansas. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. i would ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: the leaders in brussels, including the united states with president trump, signed a declaration reaffirming the purpose of the alliance, collective defense and the importance of article 5 which regards an attack against one

ally as an attack against all others. there may be a growing sense here in the united states that nato is no longer useful to our interests and it's a burden that is not worth the cost. i recently traveled to moscow, to oslo and to helsinki with members of the senate appropriations committee, many of us on the subcommittee on defense. we had meetings with u.s. embassy officials, our ambassadors and with foreign government officials, people within the ministries of foreign affairs, ministries of defense and with legislative leaders in that region. my meetings in moscow, we worked to begin a dialogue with russian counterparts. everything i heard in those meetings reinforces my belief that russia remains a threat to european stability and that a united nato is essential to countering the threat and

preserving american peace and prosperity. two wars in europe last century resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of american lives who fought the forces of tyranny. to prevent a third war against this communist menace, western european powers formed an alliance with america and canada to deter the soviet union massive forces from invading what became the eastern block. not only did nato successfully deter the soviet union until its collapse, and in my view nato contributed to the soviet union collapse, but in that process these allies were able to recover from the war economically, strengthen democratic governances and enable them to stop fearing one

another. we would be naive to believe that threats critical to north atlantic security have faded along with the soviet union. my recent interactions with europe is that russia is intent on continuing its disruptive activities in europe, middle east and here at home in the united states. in every meeting i attended, i made clear that russians must end their election meddling here in the united states and europe in order to open up doors to rebuilding our relationships. i brought up russia's destabilizing support for separatists in ukraine and its illegal seizure of crimea after ukraine's democratically sought a president with closer ties with the west. supporting and admitting they share intelligence with the tax bill undermines the democratic government in afghanistan and undermines our nation's military as we continue to fight the tax

bill alongside the afghan national security forces. in each circumstance of those conversation, russian officials, including the foreign minister, continue to out right deny any responsibility. however those meetings left me unconvinced that russia is prepared to change its behavior. in subsequent talks in norway a nato member, and finland, a nato partner, the concerns relayed to me by these european leaders underscore the fear our european friends have been russian activities. my colleagues and i reassured them of america's commitment to our joint security during our meetings than the commitment from the entire united states government must not waiver. -- waver. the first supreme allied commander in europe overseeing all european operations was kansas' own dwight d. eisenhower. as president he declared before

our nato allies that we must, quote, rededicate ourselves to dispelling the shadows that are being cast upon the free world. in addition to ongoing russian subterfuge, there are threats to data information requires strong cybersecurity measures and the scourge of human drug trafficking degrade social structures. on these and other issues, nato allies are coordinated an contributed to the security of our own country, the united states of america. in particular, let's recall that only once has nato invoked article 5 in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks on our country. the only time the nato alliance has been asked to respond has declared a willingness to respond to the attack on one as an attack on all was when the united states of america was attacked on 9/11. when we went to war against al qaeda and its tax bill host in

afghanistan, we were not alone. the united states has nearly 15,000 troops serving in afghanistan and they are serving with nate he could -- nato coalition parts in the fight against the tax bill and isis which has seized strategic territories in recent years many we are approaching 17 years of support from our nato allies in afghanistan, support that has come even at the expense of the blood of those who serve. just last week, saddened to say, that two u.s. army soldiers paid the ultimate army sacrifice and were killed while serving in afghanistan and two were wounded from insurgent attacks. and there is a destabilization that is posed. the e.u., distinct from nato but a beneficiary of the security provided, is america's largest

trading partner. so questioning why we should come to the defense of a small nato member damages the alliance and it hurts our alliances elsewhere. if we won't honor a treaty in europe, friends might wonder why we would honor a treaty in asia. predators can take advantage of our perceived indifference, that is, in part, what led to the war. in addition to our nato contributions, the united states continues to increase defense spending on our military presence supporting our partners with more than $6 billion in f.y.-2018 appropriated, and another $97 billion. president trump is absolutely right to urge fellow allies to increase their defense spending, and i echoed that message on our trip to norway when we visited

with those allies in oslo. to the credit of our allies, they increased spending by more than $40 billion in the past year and fighting alongside us in afghanistan, where they continue to serve beside us today, unfortunately more than 1,000 europeans have died. nato is strong and it's getting stronger. i believe the strength of nato remains on remaining unified. words matter and what americans say can bolster or shake confidence in the united states. i will conclude on this personal note. i thought of the force for good that our country provided as i stood in our embassy on july 4, our independence day, watching the marine corps honor guard presentation of the colors as our national anthem was sung. it's difficult for me to sing the national anthem without choking up wherever i am, but it

was especially difficult on that day when i looked at the course of my life when kids practice getting under desks to avoid missiles, over the past 70 years, it is america that has safeguarded freedom for our people and for those who live elsewhere in the world. along the way our vision of a freer, more prosperous world attracted allies who shared our dream. our foremost responsibility is to protect americans all the time and to promote our values around the world. we can do this better. we can do this with our allies. with them we will have a better future. mr. president, i 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 south dakota. mr. rounds: i ask the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rounds: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of calendar 942, that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order, that any statements related to the nomination be principled in the record, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rounds: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 346, s. 526.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 346, s. 526, a bill to amend the small business act, and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. rounds: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, that the risch amendment at the desk be agreed to, that the bill as amended be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rounds: i know of no further debate on the bill as amended. the presiding officer: if there is no further debate, the question is on the passage of the bills as amended. all in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. mr. rounds: i ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. rounds: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the calendar number 347, s. 791. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 347, s. 791, a bill to amend the small business act to expand intellectual property, education and training for small businesses, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection. the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. rounds: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rounds: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: if there is no further debate, the question is on passage of the bill. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. mr. rounds: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the motion -- that the motion to

reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rounds: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 416, s. 2850. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 416, s. 2850, a bill to amend the white mountain apache tribe water rights quantification act of 2010, and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection. the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. rounds: i ask unanimous consent that the flake amendment at the desk be agreed to, that the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rounds: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. thursday, july 19.

further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. i ask that following leader remarks, the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the bounds nomination. further, that all time in recess, adjournment, morning business, and leader remarks count against postcloture time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rounds: 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 the senator from delaware. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rounds: mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: mr. coons: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: are we currently in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent that the proceedings under the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coons: mr. president, on this day, a century ago, an extraordinary life began that would chairve the live -- change

the lives of millions of others. a hundred years ago dannelson mandela was born in the countryside of grass-covered rolling hills in the eastern cape of south africa. that day began a 95-year journey of one man who led the south african people to liberation and whose legacy continues to reverberate through time. over the course of his life, nelson mandela known by his nickname became venerated as a global advocate for justice by millions. arguably more than any other political figure of our time. political activism and resistance, he led a revolution by shepherding his people from racial division, hate, and subd subjew gaition to freedom, tolerance and democracy. one of the most striking aspects of his leadership as the first president as a truly free

nonracial, nonsixist south africa was his enormous capacity for forgiveness and his ability to open his heart to those who were once his brutal oppressors. 20 years after he was released from a lifetime in prison, nelson mandela invited to dinner at his own home one of his former jailers, a man with whom he'd become close friends. saying that their friendship reinforced his belief in the essential humanity of even those who had kept him for so long behind bars. how long? 27 years, six months and one week. despite all those years, months, and days of continuous imprisonment, nelson mandela never himself became a prisoner to hate. he set the example of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation that ultimately allowed south africa's rainbow nation to emerge from the ashes of brutal

racial oppression. his example is particularly timely and powerful in light of the polarization, distrust, and division in our world and even our own nation today. history reminds us, though, that this reconciliation, this openness is not a new phenomenon 52 years ago this summer in june of 1966, then-u.s. senator robert f. kennedy delivered a memorable speech at the university of cape town in south africa. speaking to a nation then deep in the throes of the cruel injustices of apartheid, senator bobby kennedy began his speech by describing, and i quote, a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued but relations with whom remain a problem to this day. a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier, a land which was once the importer of slaves and must now struggle to wipe out the last traces of that

former bondage. kennedy then paused before famously concluding, i refer, of course, to the united states of america. then as now, the differences between the united states and south africa are significant. yet americans and south africans share more than we might recognize or want to acknowledge. on the positive side, we share remarkable constitutions, inspiring foundational documents in south africa's freedom charter and our own declaration of independence whose fundamental principles are profound and inspiring but whose lived experiences have so far fallen short. we also share a deep commitment to democracy. society's grounded in the rule of law, a vibrant free press, a capable and dependent judiciaries. we are also multilingual, multifaith democracies, federal

republics that have incredible human histories and deep and rich natural resources. both south africa and the united states have demonstrated how important civic institutions are on to sustaining democracy and preserving the progress of humanity. today on what would have been knell zahn mandela's -- nelson mandela's 100th birthday, the united states itself is facing serious challenges to the very institutions that underpin and preserve our hard-won democracy. as we weather these challenges together as a nation, let us find inspiration in mandela's life and legacy. let us remember that on his long walk to freedom, nelson mandela taught the need to study not only those with whom we agree but also those with whom we disagree and to be willing to compromise and find common ground. in his words, it is easy to break down and destroy the real heroes are those who make peace

and build. in the years to come, it's my hope the united states and south africa will look to each other as both nations continue to struggle against the legacy of racial injustice, reverse our growing economic inequality, and protect our evolving experiments in democracy. nelson mandela ventured to shape the world as it should be. he showed us that values, such as forgiveness, respect, and tolerance are not just words but concrete actions we can all take. i'm inspired by ma diva's example to keep fighting for a better and more just world here in the united states senate as i was first inspired in the fall of 1986 when i traveled to south africa to volunteer for the south african council of churches during the antiapartheid struggle. just two years ago i had a chance as a now senator to revisit johannesburg and cape town with a delegation that

included senator kennedy's daughter kerry kennedy and a whole host of the kennedy clan. our own congressman john lewis, a leader in america's civil rights struggle, and my friend and colleague congressman steny hoyer and two survivors of the racially motivated shooting in a church in downtown charleston, polly shepherd and felicia samuels, there to serve as a living example of the challenges and the difficulties of reconciliation, of forgiveness, and of grace. we had remarkable experiences. we met with desmond tutu, my former survivor at the council of churches decades ago, winner of the nobel peace prize and someone who helped lead the peace and reconciliation process in south africa. and we heard from today's chancellor of the university of cape town, nelson mandela's widow and our reflections were interrupted by student protesters demanding a more

justice in today's south africa, a jarring reminder that even the greatness of the remembrance of bobby kennedy and nelson mandela is not enough to still the relentless yearning for more, more justice and more equality by the youngest amongst us. -- among us. i still today believe in nelson mandela's vision for the world, a world governed by justice and quality and peace. but it's important to remember just how much we have to do together as a global community, to hear each other, forgive each other and get there. nelson mandela once famously said i'm not a saint unless you think of a saint as a sinner who just keeps trying. so today let us remember nelson mandela's relentless triumph, his historic contribution to south africa and the world. the example of his sphrugle to

promote human rights and justice for all. madiba's service is a reminder of what it means to place the good of a nation's people above one's own narrow interest. i'm pleased to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of a giant of history and honor nelson mandela's lifetime of extraordinary service with a bipartisan resolution introduced today. so today let us rededicate ourselves to his vision for our world and together work tirelessly to make it a reality. thank you, mr. president. with that i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.

>> c-span's washington journal live every day, coming up thursday morning utah republican congressman chris stewart will discuss the fallout from president trump's meeting with russian president vladimir putin and the mueller probe. and then democratic florida congresswoman talks about russia's meddling in the 2016 election and the potential threat to the 2018 midterm elections. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 eastern thursday morning. join the discussion. thursday the senate banking committee holds a confirmation hearing for president trump's nominees to lead the consumer

financial protection bureau and the export import bank. that starts live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span 3. friday the national governor's association holds its summer meeting in santa fe, new mexico. governors plan to discuss future technology as well as attend workshops on workforce equity, women in leadership and economic opportunities in the outdoors. see it live friday at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span 2. >> tonight it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. [applause] >> mr. president, i'm grateful to you. and i'm humbled by your confidence in me. >> brett kavanaugh of the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit is president trump's nominee for the supreme court. >> i'm pleased with the nominee that the president has chosen and after talking to him

yesterday morning i look forward to supporting his nomination and doing whatever i can to ensure his bipartisan confirmation. if judge kavanaugh is confirmed, women's freedom to make decisions about their bodies, reforms to our healthcare system, the quality of our air and water and much more will be at risk. >> frankly i cannot think of anybody who is more qualified to serve as the next associate justice of the supreme court. >> follow the confirmation process on c-span through congress as judge kavanaugh meets with key senators. the senate confirmation hearings, and the vote. watch live on c-span. watch any time on c-span.org or listen with the free c-span radio app. >> boris johnson stepped down as british foreign secretary last week. earlier today he delivered his resignation speech before members of the house of commons. he spoke about his reasons for leaving the post, which