nominee brett kavanaugh of assaulting her while in high school and mr. kavanaugh will also testify and that's monday and we'll have it live on c-span networks. the senate is considering a $855 billion spending spill covering the department of labor and education and defense. now to live coverage. u.s. senate here on c-span2. will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, whose mercy is great unto the heavens, help us to do what is right. may we not forget that you are the judge of the earth, and that we are accountable to you. protect us from our enemies

for we place our trust in you. sustain our senators. surround them with the shield of your favor as they seek to live for your glory. hasten the day when your just rule of your kingdom shall fill the earth with health and life and peace. be exalted, o god, above the heavens. let your glory be over the earth. we pray in your great 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., september 18, 2018. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable cindy hyde-smith, a senator from the state of mississippi, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g. hatch, president pro tempore.

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: yesterday, chairman grassley announced the judiciary committee will continue its hearings for judge brett kavanaugh's nomination to the supreme court on monday morning. dr. christine bracey ford of california and judge kavanaugh have both been invited to testify under oath. dr. ford will have the opportunity to offer sworn testimony. she communicated with the ranking democrat on the committee in writing nearly

seven weeks ago, but through no fault of hers, senate democrats chose to play politics and keep it secret throughout the entirety of judge kavanaugh's regular confirmation process. they sat on this information for nearly seven weeks, seven weeks, until they leaked it to the press on the eve of the scheduled committee vote. but as my colleague, the senior senator from texas, said yesterday, the blatant malpractice demonstrated by our colleagues across the aisle will not stop the senate from moving forward in a responsible manner. as i said yesterday, i have full confidence in chairman grassley to lead the committee through the sensitive and highly irregular situation in which the democrats' tactics have left all of us, all of us, judge kavanaugh, dr. ford, and the

entire senate. dr. ford will be heard, and of course judge kavanaugh will have the opportunity to defend himself against this accusation. an accusation which he has unequivocally denied. and which stands at odds with every other piece of the overwhelming positive testimony we have received about his character from his close friends, colleagues, law clerks, from the distant past to the present day, including high school years during which this misconduct is alleged to have taken place. so this alleged incident is completely at variance with his entire life history. he welcomes the opportunity to address the committee about this claim, but colleagues, we should not have gotten to this point in this manner at this time.

that this process has played out with so little order and so little sensitivity lies solely at the feet of senate democrats who saw a political advantage in leaking this to the press instead of vetting it through proper channels. but this is where we are. so on monday, chairman grassley and our colleagues on the judiciary committee will reconvene. they and the american people will hear testimony under oath. now, on an entirely different matter, yesterday the u.s. senate sent a clear message to the millions of americans who have personally done battle with addiction to opioids and prescription drugs. we sent a message to the families who have watched our nation's drug overdose fatalities double in the last decade alone. to those in recovery who struggle to access the housing and work opportunities they need to get back on their feet, to

the governors, mayors, and local communities who have seen communities from rural towns and inner cities literally hollowed out and threatened by this epidemic. to the police, firefighters, paramedics, and other first responders whom our nation has asked to confront this crisis, often without all the specialized training and resources they need. to every american affected by the opioid epidemic, the landmark legislation the senate passed yesterday says the nation will not stand for this. more help is on the way. yesterday evening, we voted to build on congress' prior efforts and deliver more relief to the communities that need it most. this landmark legislation addresses the crisis at every step of the way. it contains provisions, too, cut down on fentanyl and other illegal drugs coming across our borders, reform how pain killers are prescribed and packaged,

invest in comprehensive opioid recovery centers, and provide for more long-term medical research. it also contains two provisions i was pleased to secure for my fellow kentuckians and for the whole country -- the career act which will help individuals find the housing and rebuild lives of sobriety and protecting mothers and infants act will help the federal government to do more to support pregnant women and protect unborn children from these drugs. this landmark legislation is like a swiss army knife that will help the federal government fight opioid addiction in many different ways. and so i'm grateful to chairman alexander for assembling this package, integrating the input of more than 70 senators and shepherding it through to passage. now, on one final matter, currently before the senate is a crucial appropriations measure for the upcoming fiscal year. the conference report that will fund the departments of labor,

health and human services, education, and defense. it's the second minibus conference report we have taken up in what has already been an important year for regular appropriations. thanks to the leadership of chairman shelby and senator leahy, all 12 spending bills were favorably reported from the appropriations committee by the end of june, the fastest pace in 30 years. and for the first time in 15 years, the senate passed our labor, h.h.s., education bill before the beginning of the fiscal year. these milestones may sound like inside baseball, but what they signify is a senate that is getting its appropriations process back on track, a senate that is attending to vital priorities for our country. the package we're voting on today will account for over half of federal discretionary spending for next year. critically after subjecting america's all-volunteer armed forces to years of belt

tightening, this legislation will build on our recent progress in rebuilding the readiness of our military and investing more in the men and women who wear the uniform. this conference report increases appropriations to the department of defense by $19.8 billion over fiscal 2018 levels. once exacted, our war fighters will have certainty in their funding on time on october 1 for the first time in ten years. first and foremost, this reflects a major investment in personnel, more resources for recruiting the forces that our military commanders have called for, and the largest service member pay increase in nearly a decade. it fully funds the pentagon's stated requests for operational support, including hundreds of billions in base support and maintenance funding, ensuring that critical ongoing missions continue from fort knox, fort campbell, and the bluegrass army depot in kentucky to installations all around the

world. it also supports our national guard and reserve components, including many of the important missions executed by the kentucky national guard. the bill further ensures that combat units are equipped with overwhelming cutting edge capabilities. critical funding for aircraft and aviation programs for a new battle force ships, and hundreds of millions for the future of our missile defense capabilities. in addition to our armed forces, this bill will also provide for communities wounded by drug addiction for families working hard to save for college tuition, for workers who are trying to catch up in ever-evolving industries. under the labor, hastings, education title, this would fund critical research at the national institutes of health, ongoing support for state opioid response grants, and apprenticeship and job training programs. it sets aside special funds for priorities like combating

infectious diseases that ride on the coattails of the opioid epidemic and retaining dislocated rural workers, both key priorities in states like kentucky and around the country. so, madam president, to sum up, more support for the best-trained, best-equipped and strongest military force in the world, more support for the health, prosperity of american communities and workers, all the more reasons why i will be proud to vote for this legislation and why i would urge every one of my colleagues to join me. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the provisions of rule 22, the senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the conference report to accompany h.r. 6157 at 12:00 noon today. further, that if invoked, all time be considered expired and the senate vote on adoption of the conference report. the presiding officer: is there objection? seeing none, so ordered.

under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the conference report of h.r. 6157, which the clerk will report. the clerk: conference report to accompany h.r. 6157, an act making appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2019, and for other purposes. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: madam president, i think it's important for us at this moment to reflect on a little senate history. this goes back to the year 1991, 27 years ago. it was a chapter in the history of the senate and the senate judiciary committee, which many people who lived through it either as observers or participants will never forget. it refers to the hearings for the approval of the nomination of clarence thomas to the supreme court. let me read to you a summary of

what occurred. after anita hill alleged that judge clarence thomas had sexually harassed her, the full senate on october 8, 1991, agreed by by unanimous vote, unanimous consent, to delay a vote on thomas' nomination to the supreme court until october 15. madam president, let me underline that. the full senate agreed by unanimous consent to delay the vote after the allegations surfaced. three days later, beginning on october 11, the senate judiciary committee held public hearings over the course of three days enabling clarence thomas, anita hill, and other witnesses to testify in an open setting. two days after the hearings ended, on october 15, the senate

then voted on thomas' nomination. however, we have learned subsequently that this process was rushed to a point where information came out after the hearing that in fact several other women had made similar allegations. having said that, according to press reports from 1991, anita hill faxed her four-page statement making the allegations to the judiciary committee on september 23, 1991. then-senate judiciary chairman joe biden in turn passed that information on to the white house and the f.b.i. on the same day -- the same day that this letter was factioned to the senate -- faxed to the senate judiciary committee, on september 23, 1991, white house counsel c. biodieselen gray --

c.boyden gray ordered the f.b.i. to investigate anita hill's allegations. the f.b.i. spent two days investigating the allegations including conducting interviews with anita hill and clarence thomas and completed its report on september 25, 1991. i recount that history because it is remarkable in light of what we have witnessed with the allegations of dr. ford. first, that the senate by unanimous consent, democrats and republicans, once this allegation surfaced by anita hill voted to delay the vote on thomas' nomination. and, secondly, that when the supreme court -- barred -- pardon me when joe biden turned over the allegation, on the very day he received it to the white house, the white house counsel c.boyden gray, ordered an

investigation by the f.b.i. apparently at that moment in history democrats and republicans in the united states senate and on the judiciary committee and in the white house at least wanted to maintain an open mind as to whether there was truth to the allegations and ordered an investigation. contrast that with what we are going through here. contrast that with the fact that many, including the majority leader, who just spoke, have already presumed that any allegations by dr. ford shut not -- should not be taken seriously, and as he said over and over again, that judge kavanaugh deserves the benefit of the doubt in this circumstance or more. that's a departure from where we were 27 years ago when a credible allegation appeared and both sides stepped back and said let's investigate it, call them before the judiciary committee. let's hear their testimony before we make a decision. in many cases, since dr. ford's allegations have come forward,

republicans have prejudged this and dismissed it as political. let me say a word about my friend and ranking democrat on the senate judiciary committee, senator dianne feinstein. senator feinstein faced a choice none of us would want to deal with, and i think she has done it responsibly. she received, through a member of congress, a letter making the allegations against judge kavanaugh. but it was clear in that record that the woman making the allegations did not want her identity disclosed. the woman claimed to have been victimized by brett kavanaugh and she did not want her name made public. what was senator feinstein to do at that point? ignore her request? make it public to the embarrassment of her and her family? senator feinstein did not believe that's what she should have done, and she didn't. she continued to work with

dr. ford many she reached out to -- ford. she reached out to her personally. she discussed the matter with her attorney. when i hear statements on the floor from the senate majority leader that suggests there was a leaking to the press, i don't know where he's pointing his finger, but he shouldn't point it at senator feinstein. she is an honorable person, and she is a person who is sensitive to the reality of a victim and the fact that some of them were afraid to step forward and tell their story publicly. i think that's what occurred here. and the time came when the story did leak to some credible and -- not credible. i couldn't characterize him, some publication known as intercept, and it started to make the rounds, and at that point things started changing. they changed for the committee. the senate judiciary democrats met last week and said, we

believe we should refer what we have, redact it to the federal bureau of investigation, we did that. and it was sent to the white house. we did that unanimously. and then, of course, the decision made over the weekend by dr. ford to go public. i don't think that was an easy decision for her. clearly it wasn't because for weeks she made it clear to senator feinstein and others that she didn't want her identity disclosed. and it's understandable. look at the attacks she's faced already and what she is likely to face in the future. it is a reality of sexual harassment and sexual assault that victims are reluctant to speak for fear of what will happen to them and their family as a result. now we have a situation where we do not have an investigation of dr. ford's allegations by the federal bureau of investigation. this morning the senate judiciary democrats are making a plea to the president as well as

to the republicans to initiate the very f.b.i. investigation which is necessary certainly of brett kavanaugh's comments as well as ms. ford's comments about this alleged episode. i think at a minimum that should be done. what has been said by the majority leader this morning, and i quote him, so little order, so little sensitivity. i think that senator feinstein from the start showed sensitivity to the reality of the victims of sexual assault. i applaud her for that. i think it was a humane approach, a sensible, and ration -- and a reasonable approach. sensitivity, you know, it goes in both directionings, both -- directions, both to the kavanaugh family and to the ford

family in this circumstance. in terms of order, it is difficult to judge when a person is willing to make a decision. obviously after six weeks dr. ford made the decision she would become public. that was not a timetable established by senator feinstein or anyone else. it was one she had come top grips with in her own mind from her personal point of view and her family point of view. it's ironic, madam president, just a few weeks ago we had a hearing before the senate judiciary committee on this issue. i hope my republican colleagues will think about that hearing and some of the things that were said. i hope they will treat dr. ford's allegations with the seriousness and dignity that sexual survivals deserve. chairman grassley made a statement about that, it was the hearing of sexual harassment by a federal judge alex ka zings i

ask. he was speaking out about this. i was sitting next to him when he said it. chuck grassley said, speaking out against powerful judges in a system that doesn't always protect victims takes tremendous courage but because of your bravery, referring to these witnesses, we can hopefully begin to make real, significant changes to this these empower imbalances. i think i have a duty serving on the senate judiciary committee, a responsibility of fairness when it comes to the allegations made by dr. ford and a responsibility when it comes to fairness when it comes to brett kavanaugh in this circumstance as well. and that means that i am not allowed, in my own mind, to prejudge this and say automatically that dr. ford is right or automatically judge kavanaugh's right. what i need, what the american

people need are the facts. we should harken back to what occurred before with president bush and mr. gray as counsel when they ordered an investigation by the f.b.i. that should occur now. if we are going to have a hearing on monday, we should walk into that hearing after an investigation, which at least involves brett kavanaugh being interviewed and at least involves dr. ford being involved, -- interviewed and at least involves mark judge, the person identified as an eyewitness to this occurrence, to be interviewed as well. there could be others. i will leave that to the f.b.i. let's get the facts before the american people. let's understand the seriousness of the responsibility. a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land, that's what's at stake here and the credibility of an alleged

sexual assault victim and others who are watching this carefully in light of their own life experiences. i hope we meet that responsibility, but we will never meet it if senators continue to come to the floor and prejudge the facts before any investigation, before any testimony by either of these individuals. if we are truly going to meet our responsibility to advise and consent under the constitution, it is time for us to step back, put our democratic and republican clothes at the door and stand together in judgment of an important issue that affects the future of this country and the future of the united states. madam president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is.

mr. nelson: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, over the past few weeks, i have been meeting with residents and business owners in south florida who are continuing to experience the health impacts and the financial troubles as a result of the persistent algae blooms, and that's on the east coast of florida. then on the west coast, those algae blooms going down the caloosahatchee river are supercharging the red tide bacteria in the gulf. it's having a profound ecological effect with the dead sea life literally, literally littering the beaches. the smell is pungent. it's irritating. and i'm here to urge our

colleagues to support the water resources development act, what we refer to as the wrda bill, because it contains authorization for an important reservoir project that could help alleviate some of the discharges. when discharges come out of the big lake, lake okeechobee, already combined with local runoff and discharges of nutrient-laden water into the waters and lakes of florida, but particularly the caloosahatchee on the west coast and st. lucie on the east coast, then all of that nutrient-laden water is like throwing fertilizer into water, and since algae is

already in the water and you throw fertilizer to it, the algae is going to grow. the algae grows. it turns into this green gunk. it absorbs all of the oxygen in the water. it becomes a dead waterway. the fish can't live because the oxygen is not there. well, there are important things in this water resources development act, particularly a reservoir that is going to be authorized south of lake okeechobee, which would allow instead of all those discharges, some of them could go into this in excess of 10,000-acre reservoir. last week, the house and the senate committees of jurisdiction resolved their differences, and in conference

negotiated, reached an agreement and got that agreement passed in the house by a voice vote. so we're going to have the water bill come up here in the senate. we should take it up and pass this bill immediately so that it can go to the white house for signature into law and so we can get to work on the reservoir south of lake okeechobee. the reservoir is particularly important and it's timely right now because of this algae crisis in florida, but it's also a critical piece of a broader everglades restoration effort. we need additional storage so that we can move water gradually from lake okeechobee, clean it up, and send it south to the areas of the everglades that are starved for freshwater.

madam president, one of the true champions of everglades restoration, nat reid, passed away earlier this summer. i came here and expressed remarks on the floor of the senate about what he meant to our state, our country, and its environment. and i want to note that today i'm filing legislation with my colleague, senator rubio, to formally rename the hobe sound national wildlife refuge after nathaniel reed. in july when we all learned the sad news that nat had passed away, there were conversations about the most fitting tribute and what it might be. naming this particular refuge

after nat reed makes sense because the refuge wouldn't be there without his family. in 1967 nat's father joseph reed established the reed wilderness seashore sanctuary on the northern end of jupiter island, had it designated as a national landmark. in 1969, he gave florida audubon that piece of land that today is the island portion of the hobe sound national wildlife refuge. today the refuge provides habitat for dozens of threatened and endangered species. in fact, this stretch of beach is one of the most productive sea turtle nesting areas in the entire southeastern u.s. so it is fitting that we rename

the hobe sound national wildlife refuge which nat reed's father started after this great american environmentalist. and i urge our colleagues to pass up senator rubio's and my bill, to take it up and pass it very soon to honor nat reed's legacy. and i urge the majority leader to call up the bill immediately so we can get on with this new reservoir project and the many other projects that are in the water bill. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: democratic leader. mr. schumer: first let me thank the senator from florida for his

steadfast actions in the senate for many years protecting florida's waterways which are not only a treasure to floridians but to all of us in america. and he deserves to be congratulated on that. now, madam president, last night in the wake of extremely serious and troubling allegations about supreme court nominee judge kavanaugh, chairman grassley announced he would hold a hearing of the judiciary committee next monday to examine the allegations. i want to salute the six republican members who i believe changed senator grassley's mind and leader mcconnell's mind, their first instinct of course was to rush it through, have this ridiculous phone call, republican staff with both people on the phone, both the now witnesses on the phone. made no sense. but because a good number of our

republican friends said there ought to be a hearing and testimony, senator grassley and senator mcconnell backed off the position of no hearings and we have one. it's a good thing that we have hearings. and i -- but they have to be done right. there must be an agreement on witnesses and the f.b.i. should be given time to reopen its background check investigation into judge kavanaugh, to speak to any potential witnesses or other relevant individuals and update its analysis. that way senators will have the necessary information and expert analysis at their disposal at the hearing.making it much less likely that it will evolve into a he said-she said affair. many say well, they've done background check investigations

several times on judge kavanaugh. that's true. but none of those background investigations brought up the specific incident that professor ford says happen and i believe that it did. and because they didn't know -- the f.b.i. didn't know of these allegations before, reopening the background investigation into these specific allegations interviewing judge kavanaugh, professor ford, mr. judge and all other relevant witnesses is necessary. the idea -- we have two diametrically opposed stories. my view, professor ford's telling the truth. but if you don't want the hearing to be just a he said-she said affair, an independent investigation, a background check by the f.b.i. is essential

this is not a criminal investigation. it has nothing to do with the statute of limitations. it's simply what the f.b.i. does for all witnesses. when there are new and troubling allegations this emerge, there's nothing wrong. in fact, it's fundamentally right to reopen the background investigation so that the f.b.i. can query the witnesses involved, more so now than ever because there are two diametrically opposed stories. it will make the hearing far more valuable because once the members see what the witnesses have said to the f.b.i., they'll be able to ask much better questions. they'll be able to get at the truth. i think every american wants the truth, democrat, republican, liberal, conservative. but instead there's still an instinct from leader mcconnell and chairman grassley to rush these things through. the hearings must be done right, not rushed, fair to both sides,

respectful of both parties, and as dignified as possible under the circumstances. senators and witnesses need time to prepare testimony and senators who are not on the committee need time to review and consider that testimony once given. there must not be a hearing on monday and then a possible vote on the nominee a day or two after. this morning chairman grassley said there would be only two witnesses. that's simply inadequate, unfair, wrong, and a desire not to get at the whole truth and nothing but the truth. the minority has always been able to request a number of witnesses to provide context and expert opinion to the committee. in this case it certainly makes sense for one witness to be mr. mark judge who was named in "the washington post" as present during the event in question. how could we want to get the

truth and not have mr. judge come to the hearing? and be asked questions? and if the majority won't call him as a witness as they should, if they're really interested in getting the whole truth, the minority must be able to do so. the minority always has had a right to call witnesses. but the bigger issue is that the committee must be able to call more than two witnesses in total we must not repeat the mistake of the anita hill hearings. they were rushed and were a debacle. do we want to repeat that mistake? we cannot let these hearings be even more rushed than the anita hill hearings. and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are so hypocritical. leader mcconnell delayed the nomination of merrick garland, the filling of the late --

justice scalia's seat. leader mcconnell delayed the filling of justice scalia's seat for ten months and now they're saying we can't take an additional few weeks to get the truth of a serious allegation? what hypocrisy. what a 180-degree turn depending on who's in charge and who's making the nomination. what a shame in this senate. so let's not rush the hearings. let's not repeat the mistake made in the anita hill hearings. let's call all the relevant witnesses, not just two selected by chairman grassley who did not want to call the hearings to begin with. let's do this fair and full and right. and whatever the outcome, the american people will at least think this senate has given a fair shot at getting to the truth. now, one additional point, madam

president. much of the focus these past few days has been on the nature of the allegations themselves. but there's another focus that's equally important and that is judge kavanaugh's credibility. mr. schumer: dr. ford has made an exceptionally specific allegation, one she made years ago, i think six years ago to a family therapist long before judge kavanaugh was nominated for the supreme court. she volunteered to take a lie detector test which she passed. judge kavanaugh meanwhile has, quote, categorically and unequivocally denied the entire story. there's no wiggle room in that denial. he didn't say i didn't remember. it is a whole and complete denial. someone is not telling the truth. someone is not telling the truth. now, here's what president trump said, quoted in bob woodward's book about sexual assault

allegations. president trump said, quote, you've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women. if you admit to anything and any culpability, then you're dead. you've got to be strong. you've got to be aggressive. you've got to push back hard. you've got to deny anything that's said about you. never admit. so the question looms. is judge kavanaugh taking a page from president trump's playbook? are the people advising judge kavanaugh telling him to follow president trump's dishonest strategy? we don't know the answer, but it's certainly an important question. and if the facts of dr. ford's allegations prove to be true as bad as they are, they bring up a second point that is equally damning, that the nominee is not

credible. even for those, i can't understand why, but there are some who say well, it happened 40 years ago. we should ignore it. these are not typical, typical things that happen to people 40 years ago. this is very serious stuff, the allegations. but even if people want to dismiss it, and i hope they won't, there's the issue of credibility. and it wouldn't be the first time questions were raised about the judge's credibility. facing confirmation vote for the d.c. circuit in 2004, brett kavanaugh told senator feinstein that the white house didn't know about any potential judicial nominees' views on abortion in the vast majority of cases. recently released e-mails show that wasn't entirely accurate. judge kavanaugh repeatedly denied knowledge of the bush administration's policy on detention and interrogation.

but recently released e-mails show that wasn't accurate. judge kavanaugh denied working on the controversial nomination of judge william pryor but recently released e-mails show that wasn't accurate either. in the case of dr. ford's allegations, the senate and the american people must ask themselves once again is judge kavanaugh's complete denial credible? both can't be true. what dr. ford is saying and what judge kavanaugh is saying cannot be true. that's why we need hearings and that's why we need a bunch of witnesses and that's why we need an f.b.i. preliminary -- to continue its investigation. because there's an issue of credibility here. and when you're nominating someone to the highest court in the land, their credibility

should be unimpeachable -- unimpeachable. on another matter last night president trump ordered the declassification of documents related to an ongoing investigation into his own campaign and administration, which seemed to be a transparent attempt to give his legal team a sneak peek at the government's investigative materials against his campaign. on its face, just on its face alone, the action by president trump is an abuse of power and a direct slap in the face of rule of law. and even more troubling because president trump regularly abuses power but even more troubling law enforcement officials have informed congress that some of the disclosures will put at risk the most sensitive sources and methods of our nation's law enforcement and intelligence professionals. there are thousands of americans risking their lives as

informants in our intelligence services. if they can be exposed on the whim of a president for political purposes, what does that say to them? what does that say to future recruits to the c.i.a. and to so many of these other -- n.s.a. and so many of these other agencies that are so important to our national security? it is a disgrace that the president did it, and i have to say, it's an equal disgrace that our republican leadership in the house lets a small band of house renegades, led by chairman nunes of the intelligence committee, help undermine our intelligence agencies and the brave men and women who risk their lives for us there for his political purpose. it's just like the infamous memo prepared by rep nunes and the

fake wiretapping scam. president trump and his handful of water carriers in the house are willing to go to any length to cherry-pick, distort, and invent materials to discredit the mueller investigation, even when our national security -- the safety of millions of americans protected by the men and women in our intelligence agencies -- is on the line. the latest disclosure by president trump is a blatant abuse of power. it's the action of a dictator in a banana republic. it's not politics as usual. it's not just democrats and republicans bandying things about. it's never really happened before. it will make america less safe. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president, today we're about to mark a milestone, and it wouldn't be a milestone for any other group maybe except the united states congress, and that milestone is getting a significant part of

our work done on time. this will be the first time in 22 years that we've passed the labor, health, and human services appropriations bill before the start of the fiscal year. just a few days ago it was the first time in 11 years that this bill had even been debated on the senate floor, and so we're headed in a good direction. now, mr. president, this isn't exactly the bill that i prefer. it's a bipartisan agreement. it isn't exactly what my ranking member, senator murray, would like to have done here. but working with our house colleagues and with senator shelby and senator leahy, we have actually done the job this year that the appropriating committee is supposed to do, which is to appropriate the money, to decide how to spend the people's money that we've been entrusted with. for instance, mr. president, this bill funds things like the opioid bill that 99 senators voted for yesterday.

one thing to -- it's one thing to vote on a bill that says, here's what we ought to do. it's another thing to then actually do it. most of those things we voted on yesterday will not happen unless we decide to fund the things we said we wanted to do. now, this is one of the most difficult bills to negotiate. it's 30% of all the nondefense spending. it's, interestingly, combined this year with the defense bill, so you've got the number one priority of the federal government -- to defend the country -- as part of the bill. that's 50% of all the discretionary spending. and then another 12% or so with the labor-h bill. 62% of all the spending the government will do, that we've got a choice in, that's not the mandatory spending, happens in this bill, the bill that the senate is voting on today. there's lots of push and pull in this bill. in fact, mr. president, our committee got 6,164 requests

from senators during the committee negotiations about things they cared for in this bill. there were 31 amendments that were offered on the debate on the bill on the floor. today's bill reflects the priorities i think of both sides of the capitol and both sides of the aisle. we fulfill the commitments that the leaders made in the february budget agreement to keep the extraneous issues off these bills that fund the government. it also fulfills, by the way, the president's demand that he doesn't want anymore of the omnibus spending bills. he wants these bills in small packages that we can debate and he can look at. it invests in national priorities like fighting the opioid epidemic and expanding medical research and promoting college affordability and strengthening our workforce. this bill ccomplishes a --

accomplishes a huge goal that i and senator murray and senator durbin and others have had for several years now, which is to get back fully committed to health research funding, that n.i.h. process that had gone -- to a great extent had gone into a stagnant, no-growth mode for over a decade. this bill looks at things like alzheimer's where we're spending well over $200 billion a year in tax dollars for alzheimer's and dementia care. and now we're spending 1% of that in a way that would try to find a solution. and, mr. president, if we don't find a solution, alzheimer's disease alone -- the tax dollars spent on alzheimer's disease is anticipated to increase to the size of twice today's defense budget by 2050. twice what we're spending today

to defend the country is what we'd be spending to deal with alzheimer's if we don't find more than we know now of ways to diagnose. if you could delay on-set by five years, you'd cut that number by 46%. so focus on research, whether it is alzheimer's or am neo-therapy with -- immunotherapy with cancer. researchers are back in the business of getting some grants that encourage them to stay in research. so that's an important part of this bill. the things we're doing with opioids -- again, yesterday was about what we want to do. today is about whether we're willing to do it or not. it continues that commitment. the council of economic advisors says the cost of opioids is more than $500 million a year.

-- $500 billion a year. the lost work, the family trauma, the other mattes that occur -- other matters that occur. the number-one cause of accidental death in america today is drug overdose. this bill provides $3.8 billion toward targeted opioid funding and represents the fourth year we've increased opioid treatment, prevention, and recovery programs. one of those programs is a billion and a half dollars that will be divided among the states to see what they can do in their state to, again -- this is not only the number one accidental cause of death in america, it's the number one accidental cause of death in most states in the country today. we have $200 million for community health centers to expand behavioral health and substance abuse disorders. if you don't have a behavioral health problem before you get addicted to opioids and other drugs, you certainly have one after. we increase funding to improve

surveillance and prevention in all 50 states. there are extra dollars here to research at n.i.h. pain management, to try to figure out a better way to manage pain without the addictive impacts of opioids. we have a set aside for rural communities. rural america is much more impacted by this opioid epidemic than urban america is. there's money here for services that -- for children at risk, children that have to be taken out of the home they're in and helped and assisted about a being to some normal environment where a kid can grow up, as they do that. got money here to help people enter school ready to learn, to be ready and prepared for careers and training. certainly the apprenticeship programs here are programs that

senator murray has advocated effectively for both in this bill and on the floor. the bill includes an increase for head start -- again, getting i hads can ready to go to school -- getting kids ready to go to school. more money to help kids in low-income schools and help them immediate challenging academic standards. there is an increase in the disabilities education act. so students with disabilities have more federal encouragement, though more of that burden is borne locally than ever thought possible when the bill was passed. there's more funding for academic enrichment grants, for charter schools, for impact aid, for dedicated evidence-based stem education programs, for career and technical programs. and i will say that in the four years we've worked on this committee together, we did have a -- we do have a little more

funding this year than in previous years. but we continue to move in all those directions, i think, in all cases the first two years, and we did that by eliminating programs and combining programs that weren't working. so this bill still reflects hard choices, things that allow people to get to college, to stay in college, returning to year-round pell grants and increasing the maximum pell grants. as i said earlier, for the first time ever, i believe, it's on the floor with the defense bill. it's something that our leaders on both sides of the aisle thought we might be able to do. it was frankly by a lot of standards a pretty bold experiment, but i believe the vote today is likely to show that it's an experiment that really makes a lot of sense. and so, mr. president, i'm certainly urging my colleagues to support this bill today, thanking senator murray and others who have worked so hard to make it happen.

and i would yield the floor. mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington state. mrs. murray: mr. president, thank you. i want to thank my colleague, senator blunt, and echo his comments here this morning and come to the floor to urge our colleagues to support this conference report. i do want to thank chairman shelby, vice chairman leahy, chairman frelinghuysen and ranking member lowey as well as leaders mcconnell and schumer. because of their hard work and leadership, we have been able to work together across the aisle and pass bills in a way that we have not been able to do for many years. i want to thank senators blunt, representative cole and representative delauro. i want to recognize the staff effort on behalf of all of our staffs on both sides of the aisle who worked extremely hard over the summer. thank you to all of them who

brought us this far. i am very proud we were able to negotiate and pass our bill through the committees and on the senate floor of congress, something that has not been done here in the senate side for over a decade. and that we were able to work together to get this conference report done. and i believe this was possible because we rejected partisanship and poison pill riders and worked together to make families and patients and students and workers and our middle class. our bill builds on the strong work we've done to increase access to child care and early learning. it includes targeted funding to address the opioid epidemic, especially in underserved areas, significant new resources to address the truly alarming issue of maternal mortality. senator blunt just went through much of what this bill -- is in this bill, so i won't repeat all of that but just echo that we have done much in this bill for a lot of our families, and i'm

proud of the work we've been able to do. i do want to note -- i was disappointed that we were unable to include language clarifying that the department of education can allow title 4 funding to arm teachers and put more guns into our schools. i believe congress was clear when we passed the bipartisan students act. i had hoped we could clarify this further for secretary devos in our bill. i do want senators to know that i will keep working to keep the pressure on her to do the right thing. mr. president, the conference report that we will be voting on today is a product of hard work and a commitment to bipartisanship, and i'm really glad that we're taking this next step and moving it closer to becoming law. so again i want to thank chairman shelby, senator durbin, representative granger for their work and leadership on the defense side of this bill and i

encourage all of our colleagues to vote in support of this conference report. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

vbd mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. a senator: thank you. i would ask relief of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: thank you. i want to speak today on the appropriations process. mr. moran: i'm pleased that we're moving forward. and in a few short minutes, we'll have a couple of additional votes in regard to appropriation bills. i want to acknowledge the recent

success we've had in moving our appropriations process forward. one would think that we would be able easily to meet our legislative mandate. the law says we should pass a budget by april 15 of every year and then follow that with 12 appropriation bills that fill in the spaces in that budget. that's -- that turned out to be much more complicated, difficult, politically challenging that i -- than i would have hoped. as a member of the appropriations committee, i want this to work but as a representative of taxpayers in kansas and across the country, i need the appropriations process to work. it is the place that we establish priorities, spend more money here, less money here, no money here. those are important decisions that need to be made every year. it's also the opportunity we have to send messages and directives to the administration. and by the administration i mean cabinet secretaries and bureau

chiefs, agency heads. the power of the purse string is an important tool for congress under article 1 of the united states constitution to direct how taxpayer dollars are spent in the united states. and so it's a cause of mine to see that the appropriations process works so we could establish those priorities but also so we could have input into any administration's intentions to establish rules and regulations, develop new policies. the power of the purse string exhibited -- should be exhibited by congress in a way that allows us to behalf of the citizens of this country to have input into what goes on in any administration. but we're doing much, much better than we have been for a long time. this has been a year of success. the senate appropriations committee has passed all 12 bills from the appropriations committee, and we will today pass several more on the senate

floor. the goal would be in my view, should be that we complete all 12 bills hopefully before the end of the fiscal year which ends on september 30 but more likely between now and the end of november or early december. we have had significant guidance from certainly the majority and minority leaders of the united states senate but especially with the help of richard shelby, the chair of the appropriations committee and the vice chairman of the appropriations committee, the senator from vermont, mr. leahy in avoiding the usual contentious issues in appropriations bills that then cause this deadlock to occur with no result, no capability of moving appropriation bills and the end result has been way too often what we call a c.r., a continuing resolution that funds the federal government next year at the same level as it does last year, as it was funded in the previous year. or ultimately it could end up in

an omnibus spending bill in which all the spending is combined together and the opportunity for us as members of the appropriations committee but equally or more importantly members of the united states senate, the u.s. house of representatives to have input into those spending items is greatly diminished and the amount of knowledge of what one can have about what's in that appropriation bill when it covers everything and results in trillions of dollars of spending is pretty limited. the president was correct in his admonition, his desire to see that we get spending bills done and avoid another omnibus appropriation bill. and i want to thank both sets of leadership, the full senate leadership and the appropriations committee leadership for their efforts to get us back to what we around here call regular order. and i'm pleased to see that we're moving solidly in that direction. so i applaud these developments, but i continue to believe that

all 12 appropriation bills should be continued to be worked on and should be pursued toward a final conclusion between now and the end of the fiscal year or certainly between now and december 7, a date that is established in the legislation we are soon to vote on. we should not simply kick the can, that proverbial can has been kicked down a long road for a long time. and those 12 appropriation measures should be completed. we should work quickly among ourselves with a sense of cooperation for a desired outcome to see that our work is done. of those 12 appropriation bills, i have the privilege of working with the senator from new hampshire, senator shaheen, the vice chairman of that committee. i serve as the chairman of a subcommittee called c.j.s. again in our words but that c. and j. and s. stand for commerce, justice, and science. we in particular are here on the

floor today, senator shaheen and i, to encourage that that bill not be left behind and that it, too, be considered on the senate floor as it has come out of the appropriations committee on a vote of 30-1. i suppose you could say it could be slightly more unanimous than that if it had been 31-0. but there is broad support, republicans and democrats, for the legislation that we have crafted that deals with very important issues for the citizens of our nation. and i want to make certain that the message is delivered that we stand ready to work with our house colleagues and with the administration to see that commerce, justice, science ultimately passes the senate, the house, and is signed into law by the president. in particular, i also would raise four bills that have been packaged together after having had their approval by the united states senate committee on appropriations. there are four subcommittee

bills that are awaiting final resolution. sounds like from everything i can understand with a modest level of cooperation, those bills could also be completed and those bills are interior, transportation, financial services, and agriculture. again without exception, all of them important to kansans and important to the country. we have come extremely far and we are so close. please do not let this process get bogged down and prevent those four bills from being considered but also the bill that senator shaheen and i are here to support, the commerce, justice, science. i do recognize within our bill there are contentious issues. we worked together, senator shaheen and i, to resolve those differences. we worked with our republican and democrat colleagues on our subcommittee and on the full committee to reach a resolution that was satisfactory broadly, again 30-1 vote. it is important that having come

this far that we don't stop now, and we are here to again express our willingness to work in every way possible with house colleagues to make certain that these bills are fully considered and passed. these bills are important. they are important for what in our case c.j.s. includes. as we look at crime statistics in this country, one would think we would focus on what resources our law officials need. c.j.s., it stands -- it funds the law enforcement of our country and is the partner that works with -- this funding is the partnership that works with local, state, and law enforcement officials to combat increasing crime. this bill includes economic development that is so important, particularly to a

state like mine that is rural. while the national statistics suggests that the economy is increasing and job growth is occurring, it is less likely to see that at home in my home state of kansas and we need to make certain we have job creation. scientific research, space exploration, those things are awfully important and are included in the appropriate way at an appropriate level and agreed upon level of funding in support of those programs. in light of this administration's aggressive trade agenda, the c.j.s. bill provides funding for several of the agencies involved in u.s. trade, our products abroad and enforcing trade as we engage in the trade policies that we're currently engaged in, we ought to do everything that we can to export around the world and j. -- c.j.s. highlights and

prioritizes that. our subcommittee held two hearings, one with ambassador lighthizer and those responsible for trade issue and whether or not you agree with this administration's use of tariffs and its general direction on trade, i would think, perhaps without exception, my colleagues would agree resources are needed to implement a transparent and expeditious exclusion process for u.s. stakeholders shall our businesses here in the united states, to be sure they are not unfairly impacted. the c.j.s. bill includes important funding that includes businesses, manufacturers, and farmers to export and promote their products abroad. one would think at this point in time -- if we think about the point name we are in the calendar, the census is

approaching in 2020, the census bureau is entering a critical stage of development, and as it perhaps for the 2020 census, the funding in this bill, c.j.s. bill for fiscal year 2019 allows the census to prepare and execute its constitutional responsibilities. data for the census is so important. it needs to be accurate and correct. it facilitates the distribution of billions in federal funding for counties, states, and municipalities, determined on the population of those communities. congressional reapportionment will occur, using that census data. there are so many reasons we want to make sure that this uses the dollars available. the c.g.s. crafts a balanced

space program within nasa and it contains increased funding for the national science foundation and for noaa. senate c.j.s. bill includes funding for the noaa satellite and data imagery program to timely warn agencies in advance of severe weather. it was helped with hurricane floarches. it -- florence. this data disit should by -- distrib iewtd by noaa helps keeps americans safe and provides valuable information to members of our ag community at home where we experience the opposite of floods, droughts, and other intense storms. the bill supports federal law enforcement, as i indicated, providing grant funding for state, local, tribal

enforcement, and other governmental entities to protect the citizens of their community. we have had a transparent product and worked to accommodate members' priorities that address the needs of the nation and the needs of our constituents at home. i again urge the senate not to walk away from this opportunity to complete its work, to establish priorities and give directions to those agencies within the jurisdiction of this appropriations bill. i hope that we will consider c.j.s. on the floor quickly and send a final product to the president. mr. president, i'm going to yield the floor in just a moment to the vice chairman of our subcommittee, but let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude to her, senator shaheen, from new hampshire. she and i only knew each other briefly before i arrived at the chairman of the subcommittee. i would like to compliment her

for the way she has treated me and the respect that we have treated each other and our constituencies and our work. we brought ideas to the table, we sort them out, and worked hard to come to and he result. i don't think any of us came to the senate to have our name on the door or a nice office. we came here to accomplish good work on behalf of the american people. this appropriations bill is an example of that. it needs to be concluded. it would only be in the position it is because of the character and abilities, the intellect and capabilities of my colleague from new hampshire, senator shaheen, and i would yield the floor to her. mrs. shaheen: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: well, thank you, mr. president. i want to start my thanking my colleague and chairman, senator moran, for his very kind remarks and for his leadership on the

science, justice subcommittee. it has been a great partnership. it has involved give and take. there was compromise. neither of us have gotten everything that we wanted appropriations for our committee, for the states, or our country, but we made a commitment that i think has been shared by the appropriations committee as a whole, that we were going to get back to regular order of passing these appropriation bills and funding the government in a reasonable timetable that the american people can count on and i applaud senator moran and the majority and minority staff that have worked with us to get this done. i also want to congratulate, as you did, senator moran, chairman shelby, and vice chairman leahy on moving all 12 appropriation

bills out of committee in a bipartisan manner. nine of those bills have passed the senate and three are on the president's desk and today there will be two more of those bills and a continuing funding resolution, and we expect that those bills will become law before the end of the fiscal year on september 30. this is the first time since i have been in the senate -- i started in 2009 -- when we will actually see the bills that were passed out of the appropriations committee. we've seen them taken up on the floor and we're going to see them passed and signed into law by the president. now, unfortunately for the work we have done on c.j.s., the c we will -- c.r. will include funding in the agencies of the commerce, justice, and science bills, among others, but like senator moran, i believe passing this short-term c.r. today should not keep us from working

to pass full-year funding for c.j.s. that's why we're here on the floor today urging that the senate continue to take up and pass the c.j.s. appropriations bill. i'm sure that's what our chairman shelby would support and what his vice chairman leahy would also support. they've joined us on the floor. but, you know, if you have any doubts about why whats in the c.j.s. bill is so important and why we're taking it up, all you have to do is turn on the tv or have watched the television coverage over the last four days of hurricane florence as it's hit the carolina coast. it has caused devastation, it caused deadly flooding. i know that we all empathize and support the people of the carolinas with what they are dealing with with hurricane florence. but we've been able to predict

the course of that hurricane because of the national weather service hurricane forecastsers. they knew about florence's track and they didn't do it alone. they need models to track wind intensities, to track storm surge, and the direction of hurricanes. and we need researchers to constantly improve those models. those predictions rely on satellite imagery and other measurements from the noaa administration and hurricane hunter aircraft and that is funded with the c.j.s. bill. that's why we need to make sure that the whole bill actually gets passed and signed into law ultimately. the other thing that's in the c.j.s. bill that i think all of us share in the importance of in a bipartisan way is the support

that it provides to address the opioid epidemic. this is an issue that's particularly important to us in new hampshire where we have the second-highest overdose death rate from opioids in the country, but it's important to the entire country because from 2015 to 2017 the number of deaths from drug overdoses has risen nearly 40%, from 52,000 in 2015 to -- and that is from synthetic opioid is up as fentanyl as well as heroin of those 72,000 overdose deaths 70,000 are estimated to be from fentanyl. last night the united states surgeon general reported that 21 million americans have a

substance use disorder. that's far more people than are affected by cancer, but only one in ten is receiving any kind of treatment, and that's one of the things that's so important in this c.j.s. bill because it would provide funding to state and local governments and organizations working on the front lines for our law enforcement, for treatment and recovery, for those resources that help our communities deal with the opioid and fentanyl crisis. the bill also continues the cops anti-heroin task force grant program despite efforts by the administration to discontinue that very effective law enforcement program. i want to enact the whole c.j.s. bill into law because i don't want to lose these critical increases in funding that are going to support people in new hampshire and across the country who are dealing with substance use disorders. and senator moran mentioned

trade and what's in this bill that's related to trade. our subcommittee has held two hearings on the administration's trade policies in the last month or so and i think it's fair to say that at these hearings there's been bipartisan concern about the impact of the administration's tariffs on manufacturers, on farmers, on small businesses. i'm hearing from small businesses in new hampshire about what they are seeing as the result of these tariffs. but while i don't support those tariffs, i think is it important that we make sure that the department of commerce has the resources that are included in our bill to quickly and fairly evaluate and decide on american manufactures' requests for exemptions for those tariffs and so we can continue to promote american exports abroad. also to keep the american

economy going strong, the bill supports strong investments of research and development at the national science foundation, national aeronautics administration, and the -- and noaa. and my colleague mentioned nasa and the breakthroughs that we're seeing at nasa helping to drive innovation. this scientific innovation creates new discoveries that leads to new industries to new american jobs. that's good for this country. we need to make sure that the funding in this bill gets passed out of the senate and the congress before we get to the next process -- appropriations process for 2020. instead today what we're going to do is to vote to put the agencies that are funded by c.j.s. on autopilot until december through a continuing

resolution. they will spend the same amount on programs and initiatives on the same items with no adjustment under this c.r. now we know that businesses don't operate this way, families don't operate this way, and the united states government shouldn't operate this way. so senator moran and i are going to continue to argue that we pass this bill. i would urge the leaders here in the senate and our leaders on the appropriations committee to bring the full bill to the floor. let's have a robust debate. let's pass the fiscal year 2019 commerce, justice, and science bill. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, i'm a republican because i'm a conservative. and i'm a conservative because i believe the constitution and the ideals that it asserts on behalf of the american people are worth

protecting. they're worth defending. even when they're untimely, even when they're unpopular. and especially for the vulnerable, for the marginalized and for the forgotten among us. equal rights, equal opportunity, equal justice under the law, equal dignity under god. we fail as americans when we violate these ideals, when we neglect them to whatever degree, when we exclude some number of our neighbors from their god-given share of our common inheritance. when we declare in the interest of expedience and a defiance of our own national creed that some people are somehow just less equal than others. such was the cruelty of our nation through our laws long visited on african americans, on native americans, immigrants

and ethnic minorities, on women, on the be disabled, and on religious minorities, including religious minorities like my own forebearers as members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. happily, mr. president, this is no longer the case. happily all these groups who taken together comprise the vast majority of all americans were at different times in our history affirmatively brought under the protection of our laws. this work of inclusion, of expanding the circle of legal and constitutional protection was not a natural organic spontaneous, evolutionary process. no. it was the product of hard work, the work of vigilant citizens, activists, and lawmakers affirmatively, aggressively, painstakingly advancing the cause of justice

at every opportunity even against the entrenched forces of the political status quo. republicans in this congress have undertaken such efforts on behalf of certain priorities. in particular, the tax relief and spending increases that are poised to yield the budget deficit of nearly $1 trillion this year. but no such legislative progress has been achieved advancing the right to life nor the plight of those denied it. for the second straight year of unified republican governance, unified pro-life governance, congress' annual spending bills will include no new reforms protecting unborn children or getting federal taxpayers out of the abortion business. the house version of this health and human services spending bill included multiple reforms. it denied taxpayer funds to the largest abortion provider in the country, planned parenthood. it eliminated title x family

planning grants which cross subsidized abortion providers. it prohibited federal funding of research on aborted fetal tissue. it included the conscience protection act protecting pro-life people and groups from funding discrimination. none of these modest, commonsense spending reforms survived the house-senate negotiations. none of them. none was made a priority by the people in power to set priorities. the authors of this bill defend their $1.3 trillion compromise. and of course this being washington, i know, as is always the case, that in this case it could have always been worse. but, mr. president, before this bill passes with an overwhelming bipartisan supermajority as its base of support, despite being mostly unread by supporters, someone ought to speak up for the

americans that this legislation conspicuously leaves behind. the best measure of any government or any policy or proposal can be measured according to its impact on the least among us. too often today washington acts as though the least among us refers to our most vulnerable incumbents rather than to our most vulnerable constituents. this $1.3 trillion spending bill exemplifies that very confusion and fails that very test. under this bill, neither the unborn nor taxpayers are any more protected from the abortion industry than they were under president obama and a unified democratic congress. i understand that fighting on con contentious issues comes with a cost. i understand it's not easy. but other things come with a cost too. it's not just this that comes with a cost.

so too does not fighting on them, especially in the rare moments when we could win. this bill represents a significant opportunity missed, and missed at a time when we can't be sure how many more we will be given going forward, how many more opportunities like this one we might have. some causes, mr. president, are worth fighting for, even in defeat. the god-given equal rights and dignity of all human beings being paramount among them. the arc of history may, as i hope, bend toward life, but only if we bend it, mr. president. i oppose this legislation, but i do so neither in anger nor in sadness. rather, i do so in hope, looking forward to another

bill, another time in the not too distant future, one that stands up for those americans who ask nothing more than the chance to one day stand up for themselves. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my prepared statement be made part of the record here. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. shelby: mr. president, i just want to take a few minutes and explain to the senate where we are on appropriations, where we've come from and where we hope to go briefly. thanks to the work of my colleague on the appropriation committee and many others, especially senator leahy, we've hung together as the presiding officer knows, to make the appropriations committee work again.

it hasn't worked for regular order, toward regular order in years and years. but today we passed this minibus dealing with defense and h.h.s. mr. president, that would be 74.9% of all appropriations money in these five bills, the three we passed, the two we hope to pass in a few minutes. 74 -- 75 if you want to round it up, i do round it up to 75%. we have pending, as the presiding officer knows, we have another minibus four bills, and if we were able to move that, that would be 87% of the whole appropriations process. mr. president, we know that's progress, but it just didn't happen by itself. it happened because people worked together.

we worked to bring regular order back in the spring, i talked to senator leahy about bringing the appropriations committee back to where it used to be. he said let's work together to do it. and the only way we can do it is do it together. i talked to senator mcconnell. i talked to senator schumer. i talked to senator durbin. i talked to everybody, including the presiding officer, everybody on our committee. so we made great progress, and i want to thank again the people, starting with senator leahy, senator mcconnell, senator schumer, senator durbin, that really helped this come about. i want to take a second and thank some of the staff of the defense subcommittee. brian potts and eric rainch and

long with senators blunt, durbin, murray, for their work on these bills that are eminent here today. this is a good start with us. we're not there yet, mr. president, but we're getting there. and if we keep on the road, keep the trains running, we're going to make the appropriations committee work again. thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i thank the distinguished senior senator from alabama. before i start, i should note we have votes scheduled for 12:00. i may go a little bit over that, so i ask consent that i be allowed to finish my whole statement. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, the senator from alabama and i have

been friends for decades. our wives have been friends, as the presiding officer knows. we have different political philosophies. we joined together wanting to make the senate work the way it should work, the way it used to work. it would have done that in these appropriations bills. it means that the senator from alabama has had to decline some things in this bill that he might have liked otherwise. but i've had to do the same. and that's why we're here today. the two bills in the package, the defense bill, labor- h.h.s., education bill, that's a product of hard work and bipartisan cooperation. i'm pleased that those of us working together, that we've been able to work out the differences between the house and senate bill. and it goes way beyond the

procedure, way beyond working together. these bills make important investments not only in our national security, but also in the future of our country, for us, our children, our grandchildren. they demonstrate the importance of the bipartisan budget agreement we reached earlier this year. let's take the labor, h.h.s., education bill: new investments in health care and education. we increased funding for the national institutes of health, that jewel that we have here in this country. we invest in working families by improving access to child care, promoting college affordability. we provide new resources to combat the opioid epidemic, something that hits every single state represented in this body. and the defense bill provides

critical resources to support our men and women in uniform and their families and invest in national security. i'm glad we do not have poison pill riders on the left or the right in here. we did our job, we focused on what we should be doing. responsible, thoughtful decisions on how to fund these federal agencies, leave controversial policy issues out of it. people want to have debates on those and bring up separate bills and debate them up or down. we have a continuing resolution to keep federal agencies up and running through december 7. that's to make sure that we don't face a government shutdown in the event we don't finish our work on the remaining bills. now we never want to just fund the government by continuing resolution.

that's inefficient, actually it wastes money. that's why chairman shelby and i worked so hard to get the appropriations process back on track. we have more work to do. we're still in conference on a four-bill minibus. we should finish that work, send it to the president's desk before the start of the new fiscal year, so we won't have to c.r. those agencies. this will be a far more effective, cost-saving, efficient way of doing things. it can be done. in fact, i think the chairman would agree we're very close to an agreement. most of the funding issues have been resolved. we do have some controversial poison pill riders. we shouldn't delay this package over unrelated policy matters. get the poison pills out, pass the bills. the four bills: intear --

interior, financial services, agriculture, transportation, h.u.d. these are programs important to the american people. they should noted -- not be frozen at fiscal year 2018 funding levels not even for a few months. look at the agriculture bill, critical support for our country's farmers all over the country, in rural communities, investments in rural development, housing, agriculture research. clean water programs. every state in this union have rural communities. i can think especially of my own state of vermont and farm economies. they benefit from these programs. they shouldn't have to operate under a c.r., the financial services bill, regulatory agencies, the american people people rely on to protect them from unfair, unsafe, or

fraudulent business practices. we should fund these agencies and not put them on autopilot. and it will include a cost-of-living adjustment for federal workers that is not provided under the c.r. in failure to pass this bill in time for the cost-of-living adjustment means 1 .2 million federal workers will not see a raise, including fema employees responding to federal disasters. interior bill. we know how important it is. it means our children and grandchildren will enjoy clean air and clean area -- clean water, important conservation programs, funding for our national parks. funding for fire suppression. we certainly know that we have seen a fire season that has been one of the worst in recent

memory. and finally we're closer to a deal on the transportation, housing, and urban development program. i hope we can finish negotiations on this bill this week. that's our nation's infrastructure bill and i worked very closely with senator shelby on that. we want to rebuild our crumbling bridges and invest in our community because it creates thousands of jobs for americans across the country. funding the government is really one of our basic responsibilities. i would urge my friends in the other body to do what senator shelby and i have done, drop poison pill riders so we can send this bill to the president before october 1. now, we can do it.

i realize we need 60 votes in the senate. if we don't have poison pill riders, that should be easy to do. we can get across the finish line by october 1. so i'm pleased that we will vote on the defense, h.h.s., and labor package that is before us today. i want to thank chairman shelby, senators blunt, murray, and durbin and the staff on the appropriations committee, and i -- we never could have done this without the hard work of the staff -- the democratic staff or the republican staff, and i can consent that i be able to include the names of all those staff members. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i yield the floor, and i think we're ready to vote. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke

cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on the conference report to accompany h.r. 6157, an act making appropriations for the department of defense, and so forth and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by i ask unanimous consent the manned -- my unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that the conference report, an act making appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2019, and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: do any senators wish to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 92, the nays are 8. three-fifths of the senators duly chosening and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. under the previous order, the question occurs on the adoption of the conference report to accompany h.r. 6157. is there a sufficient second? there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there even senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 93. the nays are 7. the conference report is agreed to.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. flake: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. flake: mr. president, i have 11 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and the minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until senate stands in recess until defendant is only thoughtfully come on to attend our lunch meeting. they approved funding for education on the fence of health and human services prodromal return, we will have live coverage here on c-span2. connect this weekend on american history tv on c-span

three, saturday at 10:00 p.m. eastern, on real america. >> we have witnessed a significant achievement in the cause of peace, and achievement none thought possible. and achievement that reflects the courage and wisdom of these two leaders. >> the 1978 film framework for peace on the camp david peace accords and sunday on american artifacts, look back on the 1998 bombings of u.s. embassies in nairobi kenya and tanzania. >> we were meeting with the ministers of congress and we heard an explosion, most of us went to the window. ten seconds later a freight train sounding impact of high

energy. 213 people were instantly killed. 48 of home were employers of the united states government. >> watch on american history tv, this week on c-span three. the senate judiciary committee has postpone the vote on bret cavanagh nomination to the suit u.s. supreme court. they are holding a hearing to hear from christine ford who accused him of sexually assaulting her in high school. they will also hear from him about the allegation. that hearing is set for 10:00 a.m. eastern. you will be able to see it live on our network, c-span. >> kenneth starr is out with a hanew book as independent counsel for the whitewater and the linsky investigation, the