c-span.org. we leave this as the senate is about to gavel back in following their weekly party caucus lunches. this week, senators debating the nomination of brett kavanaugh to the associate justice on the u.s. supreme court as the fbi investigation into sexual assault allegations against him continues. majority leader mitch mcconnell reiterating earlier that his plan is for final vote of the nomination this week. senators are also working on a five-year faa reauthorization bill that includes nearly one point of a billion for hurricane florence relief. now life to the senate floor here on c-span2.

ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. ms. klobuchar: okay. thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to speak in support of the federal aviation administration, the f.a.a. reauthorization act of 2018. this bill provides needed certainty in aviation and gives the f.a.a. authority to enhance consumer protections and passenger safety. it also maintains critical investments that will help to modernize and maintain our

aviation infrastructure. this agreement is the product of bipartisan negotiations over the last several months. i have i'm proud to serve on the commerce committee, which of course played a major role here. i thank senator thune and senator nelson for their work on this bill and i urge my colleagues to support t minnesota mass a long aviation tradition, from charles lindbergh to our minnesota-st. paul international airport, two years in a row it was ranked as the best airport in america. we manufactured jets in duluth. we manufacture parachutes that go with those jets in our state. we have great military training bases in bloomington and in duluth, and we have very strong regional airports, including duluth and rochester, which has recently expanded their airport.

it matters in our state. for too long the aviation sector of our economy has had to rely on a series of short-term extensions. it's not good for workers. it's not good for businesses, and that's not good for travelers who use air services. for airports looking to expand or airlines looking to test new routes, these short-term bills create uncertainty that hampers growth and prevents new investments. this five-year reauthorization bill will provide the long-term stability needed to encourage investments and help maintain american leadership in the global aviation marketplace. we know a lot about that in our state, being a major delta hub as well as the home of sun country airlines. so we know the kind of global competition that we are up against all the time, and that is a very important reason that america be a leader in aviation

and not a l fore. changes in the airline industry in recent years have drastically altered the way consumers travel. new fees and complicated itineraries can make even routine travel confusing and expensive. thankfully, this f.a.a. bill builds on important work we've done in past reauthorizations to strengthen protections for consumers while shopping, booking, and traveling. most people know what it's like to show up to the airport and be shocked to find out that you have to pay extra for your seat or that checking a bag is going to cost you an arm and a leg. when consumers don't have this information up front, they can be left paying hundreds of dollars in fees they didn't budget for, which can mean the difference between a family trip being affordable or not. and it isn't just fees. in some instances, online travel websites have sold unnecessarily

complicated passenger itineraries, provided outdated or incorrect travel information on their websites, and failed to provide appropriate disclosures for passengers. that's why i worked to include a bill that i had introduced to provide a consistent level of consumer protections regardless of where the airports are purchased. this part of the bill will ensure that whether a consumer books tickets directly with an airline or from a third party, that consumer will receive the same level of price disclosures and customer service. this was a provision strongly supported by consumer groups because it is such a problem that there were different types of price disclosures and customer service, depending on how a consumer booked the flight. it doesn't matter where you book the flight or how you book the flight. you should have consumer protection.

and this bill includes that provision. this bill will also make important improvements to the passenger experience on the plane. by directing the f.a.a. to set standards for the size of airline seats, we will make sure passengers can travel safely and that these seats won't even get smaller than they already are. the agreement also includes a provision to make clear that once a passenger has boarded a plane, they can't be involuntarily bumped by an airline. passengers deserve to be treated with respect throughout their entire journey, and this will end the practice of removing paying customers to accommodate airline employees. and the bill sets new requirements for airlines to promptly return fees for services such as seat assignments or recallly board -- or early boarding when these services are purchased and not received by a customer. in addition to the strong consumer protections, this bill makes new infrastructure

investments that will help ensure passengers have a safe and efficient travel experience. smaller regional airports provide a vital link to the rest of the world for many rural communities. in my state, both residents and businesses located near these rural airports rely on them to connect to the twin cities and beyond. the essential air service program is a critical tool that supports rural air service. this bill boosts e.a.s. funding to help maintain the operations of smaller regional airports across minnesota and across our country. of course, funding alone isn't enough to improve aviation infrastructure. we need policies that support the unique infrastructure needs in different regions of the country. in the 2012 f.a.a. reauthorization, i included a provision to require the department of transportation to give priority review to

construction projects in cold-weather states with shorter construction seasons. for those of us that live in states that happen to have cold weather and snow, our construction seasons are shorter, and that means we have less time to work on these projects, and maybe they -- than maybe they do in, say, miami or in california. and so what we did here was make sure that the f.a.a. realized that and how they did grants -- in how they did grants and how they got these construction permits approved. anyone who has ever been to northern minnesota in april or october understands that our construction season is shorter. there's a reason that we have cold-weather testing facilities on the canadian border in our state, because they are the coldest conditions you can possibly have for cars. well, that makes for this short construction season.

this provision was included again in the current bill, and it will help ensure that cold-weather states like minnesota can make the most out of our limited construction seasons. the investments made by this bill are an important down payment that will help address growing demand for air transportation. i look forward to building on the progress made by this bill with bipartisan infrastructure legislation to support 21st century aviation infrastructure that is prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century economy. i'd like to thank my colleagues again for their work on this bill. it makes important advances in security, consumer protections, and infrastructure development. i was proud to be a part of this. and i also am glad that these provisions that i worked hard on are included in the bill. the aviation industry and american air passengers will be safer because of this bill. i urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan agreement so we

can pass finally a long-term extension into law. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. markaz e taiba thank you, mr. president. -- mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. will be, it is congress' obstruction of justice to protect us buses. regrettably, congress has failed to fulfill that obligation with the f.a.a. reauthorization bill. with this bill, congress has missed an historic, months-in-a-generation opportunity to stop gargantuan airlines from gouging americans with exorbitant fees. last year senator roger wicker, a republican from mississippi, and i secured a provision in the senate f.a.a. reauthorization bill that would protect passengers from ridiculous, sky-high airline fees. our fair fees provision directed

the department of transportation to, one, assess whether change and cancellation and baggage and other fees are reasonable and proportional to the costs of the services which are being provided and, secondly, to ensure that change and cancellation fees are reasonable. airline fees would be fair and reasonable. that's all that the provision did. and the reason why we need that is simple. in a truly competitive industry, an airline would be unable to charge unreasonable fees because their competitors would undercut their prices.

darwinian paranoia-inducing competition would drive fees down to reflect the actual cost of the services provided. the cost to check a bag, the cost to change a flight reservation, the flight of booking a passenger on standby for an earlier flight -- fair and reasonable. but the airline industry is f -- far is competitive. in the past ten years, we have gone from 10 major airlines down to four, four articles now control 85% of traffic in the skies. and an analysis from the u.s. travel association found that 74 airports are served by only one airline, while 155 airports are dominated by one carrier, controlling over 50% of seat capacity. here is the result. sky-high airline fees and a

growing frustration with the modern flying experience. so to the surprise of no one, the airline industry launched a ferocious lobbying blitz against our bipartisan fair piece provision making its eliminatios provision making its elimination from their bill their top priority. the airline industry lobbed all sorts of false accusations against these commonsense protections. profitability of the airlines would go down. passengers will no longer be able to change or cancel their flights. but not once did the industry actually defend the price of all of these fees to cancel, to change a flight. not once did the industry actually demonstrate that their fees are reasonable and proportional to the costs of the services provided. and that's because those costs are not proportional to these

services being provided to the customer by the airlines. the independent government accountability office, g.a.o., recently released a report confirming what countless passengers across the country already know to be true. airlines are gouging captive passengers to line their pockets, not to cover the actual costs of the services being provided. and during a hearing last year, representatives from united airlines and american airlines testified that their change and cancellation fees bear no resemblance to the costs borne by the airline for actually canceling a ticket or changing a flight reservation. and even in the last few weeks, as we worked in congress to include important consumer protection measures in this final f.a.a. legislation, the airlines continued to raise fees.

that's how confident the airlines were that their powerful industry lobbyists would remove my provision, senator wishing's provision from the bill. despite bipartisan support, despite the provisions included in the senate bill, despite the public outcome, the airline lobbying knew that they could count on congress to do their bidding, so they raised their fees anyway. last month, jetblue airways raised its change in cancellation fees from $150 to $200 for certain flights. jetblue also raised fees for a passenger's first checked bag from $25 to $30 and increased the fees for a second checked bag from $35 to $40. that's now $140 to check two bags round trip. and not surprisingly, almost immediately after united

airlines, delta airlines and american airlines followed suit raising their bag fees to match jetblue's. so when i sent letters a few weeks ago to the 11 major airlines inquiring about why airline fees are on the rise even though there appears to be no appreciable increase in the costs of the services provided, the airline's response was predictable. eight airlines have refused to respond to my inquiry by last thursday's deadline, a deadline i set to ensure this body would have this critical information in hand when considering the f.a.a. bill. that's no response from united, from american, from delta, and that's unacceptable. of the three airlines that did respond, two could not explain if their fees were reasonable to the costs of the services provided. the other refused to address the matter altogether, claiming that this information is proprietary.

claiming that the flying public does not have the right to know if they are being gouged, that's the position of the airline industry. so if it's not to cover the costs of the service provided, checking a bag, changing a flight reservation, canceling a ticket, why are the airlines charging these fees? the answer -- because they can. last year, the airlines raked in $2.9 billion in change in cancellation fees. $2.9 billion. that's equivalent to the cost of 11 million flights from washington to boston. the airlines collected over $4.5 billion in checked bag fees, enough to buy 55 jumbo jets. the airlines have turned this nickeling and diming into a multibillion-dollar industry, a

7.4 billion-dollar industry last year. passengers think they are buying low-cost air only to be gouged by proliferating airline fees. the american public wants congress to stop these abusive practices, and here in the senate, we answered their call. we secured a bipartisan provision in the senate f.a.a. bill that would have stopped this fee epidemic once and for all, but through an opaque process after months of lobbying against my bipartisan fair fees provision, the airlines won and airline passengers lost. what exactly are the airlines so afraid of? why won't they even respond to my letters? the fair fees provision doesn't set fees. it only directs the department of transportation to set up a public process to assess those fees, but that's exactly what the airlines oppose. they don't want to have to

explain this, to be transparent about what they are doing, because if they did, the american people would know the truth. this is price gouging in its purest form. so on behalf of the flying american public, the millions of americans who are subjected to ridiculous airline fees, i will vote no on the f.a.a. bill, and i vow to the flying public that this fight will not die with this bill. as the fees rise, pressure will mount on congress to address this consumer protection competition issue. we know the problem. fair fees would have been the solution, but this bill does not include that solution, and this fight must go on. mr. president, i yield back the balance of my time. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: mr. president, i ask

unanimous consent to allow my sea grant fellow to be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. peters: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today in support of the bipartisan federal aviation administration reauthorization act of 2018. after six short-term extensions ranging from one week to just over a year, the senate will finally pass comprehensive legislation that will set f.a.a. policy until 2023. these short-term extensions keep the lights on, but they deny us the opportunity to make meaningful changes and better serve the american people. i'm a member of the senate committee on commerce, science, and transportation, and i'm proud of all of our committee's work that made this long-term reauthorization possible, but i am especially thankful to our committee chairman, john thune, and ranking member bill nelson

for their leadership throughout this process. this bill makes critical investments in airport infrastructure. it promotes u.s. competition and leadership in aviation, increases safety in the national airspace system and strengthens consumer service practices across the commercial aviation sector. the legislation also delivers very strong support to rural communities in michigan and across the nation by continuing the essential air service or e.a.s. program. this program drives economic development and tourism while also connecting local residents to world-class health care. i will never stop fighting to ensure that michigan's e.a.s. airports from muskegon to houghton hancock to alpena get the funding they need to continue to serve their communities. and in addition to driving sustained investment in rural communities, i support this long-term reauthorization because it gave me an

opportunity to address a number of challenges that are facing our country. this bill includes provisions that i authored that will help prepare our students for the high-tech jobs of today and of tomorrow. secure public spaces in our airports, and remove the outdated federal requirements that airports use firefighting foams containing floor natured -- floor i natured chemicals that are contaminating groundwater and causing disastrous human health effects across the country. the f.a.a. act of 2018 will improve the competitiveness of our nation's work force by clearing the way for our educators to use unmanned aircraft systems or u.a.s., for research, education, and for job training. whether this technology is used for inspecting critical infrastructure or boosting crop yields at our farms, u.a.s. technology will create tens of thousands of new jobs in the coming years, and we need

american students and workers ready to take advantage of that. this is why i have worked across the aisle with senator moran to introduce the higher education unmanned air systems modernization act and include it in this long-term f.a.a. bill. this provision has the support of the association of public and land grant universities, the association of american universities, and dozens of other colleges and universities all across our nation. our brightest minds will have the ability to design, refine, and fly u.a.f.'s to prepare our country for the safe intercongregation of u.a.s. into our national aerospace system. in my home state of michigan, alpena community college has created a u.a.s. pilot training program that complements existing certificate programs like the utility technology certificate and therefore make their graduates even more competitive. this will support job creation

across the income spectrum as our nation's workforce will be able to get the training that they need to operate these systems both safely and efficiently. ultimately whether we are talking about u.a.s., passenger planes in the air, or travelers making their way through the airport, this is all about safety. in recent years, we have seen high-profile attacks at airports around the world but also in places like flint, michigan. these attacks have diamond the vulnerabilities -- demonstrated the vulnerabilities of heavily trafficked public areas outside of security screening, such as baggage claim and pickup and dropoff areas. i heard from our international airport in detroit and others across the country that current airport funding streams cannot be used for security projects in these public spaces. their need for greater flexibility for airport infrastructure improvements led me and my colleague, senator

gardner, to introduce a bipartisan secure airport public spaces act. this legislation would increase safety and security for airport passengers and visitors outside of the t.s.a. screening areas. a critical provision of our bill was incorporated into this reauthorization bill that will now allow airports to use airport improvement program funds on state-of-the-art surveillance cameras in these public areas, which will help monitor, prevent, and respond to potential attacks at airports across our nation. and finally, i'd like to discuss what could be our nation's defining public health challenge for generations. a group of harmful chemicals known as p-fos. this class is a group of over 4,700 man-made chemicals that have been used nationwide and internationally. these chemicals do not break

down in the human body or in the environment, and they can accumulate over time and cause a great deal of harm. we already know that there are several health effects associated with exposure to certain p-fos. just a few examples include compromised immune system function, cancers, endocrine disruption, and cognitive effects i have listened to families exposed to p-fos in michigan, but p-fos is not just a michigan issue. we know that there are over 170 sights in -- sites in 40 states that are contaminated with p-fos. it is so pervasive that it is estimated that up to 110 million americans could have these chemicals in their water. p-fos chemicals have been used for decades in a wide range of consumer products, including textiles, paper products, and

cookware. in addition to all of these uses, mr. president, pfas have also been used in firefighting foams for decades. these foams have been used on military bases and in our commercial airports. they have been used in businesses and neighborhoods, near groundwater and surface water, near lakes and streams. last week i worked with senator rand paul to convene a hearing in our federal spending oversight subcommittee that addressed the federal government's role in pfas. we heard firsthand about the impactth public health fs -- on this public health crisis on community members, firefighters and veterans. not only have these foams containing pfas been used for decades, we are still requiring their use at american airports even as safe alternatives are now being developed and deployed abroad. while there's a lot of work to be done related to remediation, human health research, filter

technology and more, we must stop making this problem worse. this is why i worked with senators sullivan, stabenow, rubio, shaheen, gillibrand and hasan to lead a commonsense addition to this f.a.a. bill. our bipartisan provision gives airports the option to use flourine-free foams. using flourine-free foams is not a novel idea, but it is an idea whose time has come. over 70 airports around the world are already using flourine-free foams that have passed the most challenging of tests and they have seen real success in combatting fires. these airports include major international hubs such as dubai, london heathrow, manchester and copenhagen. every airport in australia has

made this transition. it is past time that we catch up, and i'm happy to say that this important legislation will finally allow american airports to embrace safe innovative fire-fighting technologies and stop using these foams. i want to thank chairman thune and ranking member nelson as well as leader mcconnell and leader schumer for their work to pass this important bipartisan legislation. and i urge my colleagues to support this critical long-term f.a.a. reauthorization that will help keep pfas out of our water. it will help drive investment in our nation's workforce and it will help ensure that our airports and skies are safe. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i too come to the floor to talk about the f.a.a. reauthorization bill, but before i do that, i'd like to take a moment to recognize a graduate of rogers high school in washington,

staff sergeant ronald j.shurer ii who received the medal of honor yesterday. when he heard wounded members of his team were trapped on a hill, he didn't hesitate. in the face of heavy enemy fire stafl sergeant shurer shielded three teammates with his own body. i congratulate him for his heroism and bravery and his sacrifice, and i'd like to congratulate him and his family on his receiving of this honor. we in washington are very proud of staff sergeant shurer. now, mr. president, turning to the f.a.a. bill which i hope we are going to be considering very shortly here, i'm pleased that the senate is looking at a five-year reauthorization. it wasn't that long ago that we were talking about short-term extensions and didn't know if we

could get to this point of clearing the rest of these issues. so i'd like to thank my colleagues, chairman thune, ranking member nelson, and my colleague on the aviation subcommittee, chairman blunt, for helping get us to this point. the work we've done in this legislation is so important because it's helping commercial aviation remain the safest and most secure in the world and to improve the traveling public's experience. but just like so many other reauthorization, this reflects an agreement by congress on the need to focus on safety and security, the latest and greatest technologies, the use of bomb-sniffing dogs to help the flying public feel more secure, and to move quickly through our airports. this legislation recognizes the values of the latest technologies across many aspects of the aviation sector from next gen that allows us to fly more

efficient and air traffic control that allows the use of ofunmanned equipment. while we need to keep working to address infrastructure needs at our crowded airports, most specifically for the pacific northwest where we've seen some of the fastest growth in air transportation and demand by the public in recent years, this five-year authorization does provide the f.a.a. with the certainty it needs to use its airport improvement program to invest until long-term projects that will help us increase capacity at large and small airports. again, i can't tell you how important this is for airports all over the state of washington. many of us know that about 90% of businesses live within or housed within about ten miles of an airport. so the investment in the airport

and airport infrastructure is an investment in our economy for the future. these projects in this bill, like the new runway that will be completed next year at moscow regional airport in eastern washington with $100 million in federal funding, gives communities the tools they need to keep that economy growing. and i can tell you it is growing with w.s.u. and other institutions in the region, it's helping grow and attract some of the best technology in next-generation energy. the fact that the airport is there to expand helps all of us in the region grow. the federal funding will continue to provide in this bill for it's critical for the airports to reach their capacity and help our economies. under this program, it reauthorizes in the legislation seatac is completing a runway. spokane is receiving $15 million for airfield improvements,

airports have each received millions of dollars through these programs and their facilities to date. the tricities in passcow was awarded $7 million for their new terminal. yes, our airports depend on us continuing to move forward on f.a.a. and infrastructure investment. this legislation also expands the small community air service development program which provides grants to communities to help them attract and maintain critical air service by creating marketing programs and providing incentives to airlines. this has been a great tool for our state, including airports in wala wala, spokane and pasco as they have used these resources to help grow services and once it's established, it's already easy to maintain. why? because they have helped get the carrier and the traffic and they can see that it can be sustained. the united states has the best aviation safety record in the

world, and the f.a.a.'s oversight and certification procedures are critical in maintaining that. and this bill continues with making sure that those procedures stay in place. the bill does help us with our federal, what are called air contract tower supports, in making sure that small communities that are continuing to try to have air service can do so by making sure that those towers can operate effectively. these contract towers provide a key layer of safety at small airports and in the region, so places like yakima, winachy, spokane, bellingham and walla walla will not be saddled with the responsibility here of these contract towers but will receive support so that they too can handle the demand of air transportation. they handle about 28% of a.t.c. operations, yet they account for just 14% of the f.a.a.'s tower operation budget. the bill recognizes that the

important role also that flight attendants play in ensuring cabin safety and ensuring that it's important we make sure they receive adequate rest. so this legislation finally puts them on par with our pilots. it says that they have to have their ten hours of rest as well so that they can function and continue to help us with the traveling public. the bill preserves access to important safety tools also. it bans the f.a.a. from removing contract weather observers from airports for the next several years. why is this so important? because at airports where we need observation of critical weather and measurements, this helps us maintain our safety. in places like spokane, washington, where conditions can change quickly and freezing conditions can be quite common, this helps us maintain the safety. the bill also takes important steps towards securing airports

and airplanes by reauthorization of the transportation security administration. we know that there is no better tool in our airports today than helping us make sure they operate safely and securely than having these k-9 units. that is why i was proud to lead a provision in the bill to expand the use of bomb protecting k-9's. what we are seeing is that our airports move much more rapidly when these k-9's are present. they are a deterrent in and of themselves and help us speed up lines but they also are there to deep text the use of exploa -- explosives and doing an unbelievable job. this provision allows for larger airports to get more k-9 units through a certification program by t.s.a. and work with them to address the tools of long lines at our airports. in the northwest, we've seen

that these k-9's can do unbelievable things to help us. in fact, the fact that we are one of the fastest growing airports for the last several years, it has helped us through these checkpoints in a passenger screening process can do almost 60% more passengers per hour than a checkpoint without one. 60% more people during an hour than without one. so it is so important that this legislation that helps us empower more training of k-9's and more coordination between airports and t.s.a. on these new tools are improved, and we're so happy that it's included in this legislation. we also give smaller airports more tools to improve security. the bill contains a program to implement exit lane technology at small hub airports. it contains $55 million to reauthorize -- to authorize and reimburse airports for local law enforcement officers to maintain

public airports. these tools are also important because our airports have had more and more responsibility, and yet we need them to operate efficientlily and effectively. at the same time we're trying to improve the flying experience. more people are flying than ever and airplanes and airports are becoming more cramped and chaotic. so this f.a.a. bill is set to make sure that there are dimensions for passenger seats. it raises the bar on some of the other improvements of safety in the flight and to make sure that the traveling public is treated with dignity and respect. the bill also requires airlines to provide prompt refunds when passengers -- so that passengers can be paid in a timely fashion on refunds. and it also improves other technology in the unmanned air system and increased use of important commercial, scientific, public safety

issues that are now the advent of what we see with drone applications. these are so important because we want to move forward with our coast guard, with our forest service, with transportation of using information and data to help us do our jobs better. so this important piece of legislation helps us in making sure that we are improving the right amount of safety and oversight for these new systems that will be part of this package. so, mr. president, i'm so glad to have worked with my colleagues on this very broad bipartisan piece of legislation. i can't tell you how important aviation is to the state of washington. we're a big aviation manufacturing state. yes, we like to build and sell airplanes, but we also know that as our economy has grown, that our airports are a key tool as they are in any state to continuing to grow and continue to manage the challenge of air

transportation. this bill is the right tool for many airports across the state of washington and across the nation to continue to grow, to continue to manage that population growth, and ensure safety and efficiency. so i encourage my colleagues to support this legislation. there's many more things that we need to do, but this is a good down payment for the next five years. and i so appreciate chairman thune and ranking member nelson for getting us to this point today. i thank the president, and i yield the floor. i suggest 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 ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk about a few good things that are happening. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president, i come to the floor to talk about a few good things that happened here in washington this week at a time when people are looking at washington and wondering whether things are getting done, let me suggest on the floor this week we're going to pass landmark legislation that deals with a crisis that we've got in our states, every single one of us, and that's the opioid issue. i'll talk about that in a minute. but first let me mention that

today in the energy and natural resources committee, we passed with a vote of 19-4, legislation to help national parks that is historic in the sense that is it probably the most funding we have ever put against the long-term maintenance problems in our parks. we have more visitors in our parks and we have crumbling bridges and water systems, and camp grounds closed out because of the lack of funding for the longer-term projects. there is about $12 million in maintenance backlog and we will use some of the oil and gas revenues, onshore and offshore, from federal lands. it's an example of where we're moving things forward. i'm encouraged that the president and his team has negotiated an agreement with canada to sad, along with mexico, to a new north american trade agreement. they are not calling it nafta. they changed it to the

u.s.-mexico-canada agreement. i think this will be a step forward. i looked at the summary from it. we don't have the details yet. and, i, of course, want to see the details. but i think it has two general advantages for us. one, it will encourage for production here in north america, things like automobiles. you have to have a higher content of american content, u.s. and canadian than in the old agreement. so you will have more cars built in america and north america as well as auto parts. i think that's good. there are some other things in the agreement that will help encourage production in the united states because it levels the playing field more with our country. it does things with regard to canada that are long overdue to try to keep them from putting protections, policies in place on their agriculture products, especially their dairy products. so when they send milk to us, powdered milk to us now they

can't take advantage of the subsidies they are providing for their milk producers, for example, which allows our dairy farmers compete on a more level playing field. those are the kinds of things in the agreement. i look forward to seeing the entire agreement. i think having a north american exact that -- come pabt that -- compact that is updated, because -- again, level the playing field further with these countries and our region who are our allies, and therefore, should not be viewed as a national security threat. we shouldn't be putting tariffs in place on them on a national security basis, which we were doing, especially on autos, section 232, it's called. we now have a better trade agreement with these countries that are our allies but also had barriers in place for our exports and we needed to make sure that their imports would be fairly traded here in this country. so that's positive to have this

agreement and it enables us as a north american market to be more effective in dealing with some of the trade disputes we have with other parts of the world, most notably, china, where there is unfair trade going on. china is not playing by the rules, often, and this has us with canada and mexico with us to address issues like what is happening with china right now. those are things that i'm happy about this week. i think we're making some progress. let me go to the one that will be voted on the floor i'm told sometime tomorrow. probably tomorrow afternoon. this senate will take up legislation that has now been passed in the house, passed in the senate, and there's been a conference committee between the two bodies and they've come up with a final product. i think the final product has a lot of good things in it that will push back against the opioid epidemic that is growing in our country. on my way to washington yesterday, i went my a memorial service for a young man who had died of an overdose, an opioid

overdose. i've known him and his family for a long time, and it strikes close to home for pretty much everybody in this chamber, i'm sure, and pretty much everybody listening. when we have our town hall meetings, and i asked this question, which i do regularly at two teletown hall meetings where i asked this question, have you been affected by the opioid issue? most people say yes. in parts of our state, where we had a teletown hall, it was two-thirds of the people on the call saidy. sadly, this issue has grown to the point that 72,000 americans lost their lives last year to the opioid epidemic. that's more people than we lost in the entire vietnam war in one year. one year that many people died from opioid overdoses. it's a grim statistic. and it's a report -- a record level. although congress has done some good things the past couple of years and passing legislation to help, those legislative efforts to have better prevention

programs in place, more treatment offered, more longer term recovery, more first responders with narcan, this miracle drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose, that's starting to happen but it's being overwhelmed with the influx of drugs, particularly this new synthetic form of opioids that's coming into our communities. usually called fentanyl, sometimes it's carfentanil, but this is resulting in my home state of ohio and other states around the country with a much higher overdose death rate than even the horrible drugs like heroin and the prescription drugs that are causing these opioid addictions, cocaine, methamphetamines, crystal meth. this drug fentanyl is growing and growing rapidly. i will tell you in ohio, we had about a 4,000 percent increase in fentanyl overdose deaths just in the last five years. let me repeat that. a 4,000% increase from death --

of deaths from fentanyl. over two-thirds in ohio are due for the synthetic form of opioids. by the way, this stuff is coming from overseas. mostly through our u.s. mail system. outrageous that this is being permitted without the proper screening. so the legislation we're going to vote on here this week probably tomorrow afternoon will finally put in place legislation called the stop act that we have worked on. senator klobuchar and i are the coauthors of it but we have worked on this for three years now to get it to this point. we had hearings. we had an investigation in the permanent subcommittee on investigations to understand what was going on and how to deal with it, how to stop it. we found out unbelievably that the u.s. postal service is the main conduit for this poison. we found out the postal service was pushing back against putting additional screening in place. we also found out that the private carriers like fedex, ups, dhl were required for every

single package to have advanced electronic information provided to law enforcement to help stop this poison, to be able to find that needle in the haystack, that package out of the 900 million the post office deals with every year that might have this poison in it. under this legislation, the stop act, now the post office is going to have to do what these other private carriers do and that's really important. our investigation where we used undercover resources to be able to talk to websites, to find out what was being offered, to look behind the websites to find out what was really going on with this fentanyl issue, we found out that if you shipped it by the u.s. mail system, they guaranteed delivery but not if you shipped it through a private carrier. why? because they knew the private carriers had this electronic data provided in advance, what's in it, where it's going, where it's from. and then law enforcement could use big data and figure out what packages are suspect and take them offline. i've seen that done at the distribution centers for these

private carriers. i have also spent a lot of time talking to the post office about this. they are now going to implement this legislation. i hope aggressively. it requires a hundred percent of packages within a couple of years to have this data on it right away. china a hundred percent for china this year because china is unfortunately the country where most of this is coming from. according to law enforcement. and it gives us the opportunity to be able to stop some of this poison coming into our communities. and that's really important. i will say getting that passed to me is just common sense. i think it's overdue. i'm disappointed it took us this long. how many people had to die before congress stood up and did the right thing with regard to telling our own post office you have to provide better screening? so it should be done. having said that, that's not going to solve the problem. yes, having a cutoff of some of the supply of this poison is important. it stops it from coming into our communities to a certain extent and it's going to raise the price on the street because

you're cutting the supply. that's important because it's so cheap and so powerful, 50 times more powerful than heroin. but that's not the ultimate solution. the ultimate solution is us, isn't it, in our hearts, in our families, in our communities to push back by having better prevention and education in place, by ensuring people who become addicted, who have this disease of addiction have access to treatment to get them better so their lives can be turned around. they can go back to their families and their work and being productive citizens and longer term recovery. because we know shorter term treatment isn't very successful. that so many people relapse after a short-term treatment program but a longer-term recovery program with it with support, housing, with people who are recovery coaches who have been in recovery themselves that that is going to lead to a successful recovery. this legislation we'll vote on this week does have the stop act but also have these other pieces. it does reauthorize the drug court system as an example. diverting people out of

incarceration into drug courts where they agree that they're going to go into treatment and stay clean with the risk of going back into prison or jail if they don't. that has worked very effectively in parts of might state and around the country, -- my state and around the country, as an example, to get people clean. the legislation also does something really important that some of us have been fighting on for years. we've had legislation to do this for the last three years but really it's been about a ten-year battle. and this is this issue of treatment centers that receive reimbursement from medicaid, being capped at a certain number of beds with a certain number of days that people can stay. it's called the i.m.d. exclusion, the institutions for mental disease or i.m.d. exclusion. and this is an arcane part of federal law. it's an example where, you know, well intended years ago congress said we're going to put this limitation in place on treatment centers because we want to deinstitutionalize people,

particularly in mental health facilities because we've had some examples of abuse in these institutional care settings and people aren't getting the help that they need. so let's limit the number of beds you can have in these treatment centers on the mental health side to try to deal with the problem. then the opioid crisis comes. and i would argue even before the opioid crisis, this was true with regard to cocaine and meth and other things. but beds are at a premium in many places in our country. i have spots in ohio that don't have any treatment centers. very communities that literally don't have a place people can go. so what happens there is people go out of county or out of their communities to find a place where they -- or they simply don't find treatment. other examples where people go to a treatment center and they're told, sorry, you a he got to come back in a up come -- back in a couple of weeks. we just don't have any beds. and there's nothing more heart heartbreaking than talking to a family, talking to a parent as i

have done who talks about, in this case, his daughter going to a treatment center with him, with his wife, she was finally ready and when you're ready with this disease, with this addiction disease, you need to act. you need to get into treatment. she was ready but they told her there is no room at the inn, there's no bed for you. you've got to come back in a couple of weeks. it was during those two weeks that she had a tough time. she overdosed again in their home and died. that family is really happy about this legislation because this will say to these treatment centers, you're not going to be capped at a certain number of beds. if you're doing a good job and providing the kind of treatment we want to have you provide, when we want you to be able to not be capped at a certain number of beds. so this is again a vestige of another time, this legislation that is currently in place with the 16-bed limit. this will enable us to be able to take that limit off and to be able to provide more treatment

to so many americans. we also provided in this legislation that those who want to get this exclusion lifted also have to provide medication-assisted treatment, at least two kinds to people which we know based on the evidence, depending on the person is more successful. so you want to encourage people to offer medication-assisted treatment to get people off their addiction. it also says that it's not limited to a certain kind of drug because there was some expansion of this in the previous legislation in the house. and some of us here in the senate introduced a bill a few weeks ago that is very similar to our final product here that said let's not limit it to just to those who have opioid addiction or just opioid addiction and cocaine addiction. let's open it up to people who have substance abuse addiction which could be crystal meth which is growing some some of our states. it could be opioid. so we broadened it for

individuals with substance abuse disorder. we have said that these institutions need to provide the best possible treatment, medication-assisted treatment, and we have been able through this legislative effort to be voted on here tomorrow to open up a whole other possibility for people who are a i deducted. again it's something we've worked on for many years. it's important that we expand these services. it's important that we tell people that if you're ready, we're going to find a treatment center for you because we want these people to get better. most people who are addicted, we're told, don't seek treatment. probably eight out of ten don't. one of the tricks is how to you get these people into treatment and into treatment in a way that's comprehensive where they're not -- there are not big gaps between the overdose and the narcan being applied. you want to be sure there's not a gap before treatment because people go back to their old community. unfortunately there's too many cases of people overdosing again and again so get them into treatment. but then from treatment to

longer-term recovery, how to smooth that gap out so people are handed off to a facility or to an outpatient program that can help them to ensure a greater level of success. and then how to you have this ability to say to people we're going to be there for you? because unfortunately, particularly with this opioid addiction, all the evidence coming in shows that long-term care really helps. so again, congress has taken some steps already in the last couple of years with the cures act and the comprehensive addiction and recovery act, the so-called cara legislation. there's more going on in our states. i visited about a den different places in our -- dozen different places in our state where they're taking advantage of the funding from the comprehensive addiction recovery act, legislation i coauthored a couple of years with sheldon whitehouse on the other side. it's starting to work. it's closing some of these gaps we talked about. the cures legislation goes right back to the states. ohio got about $26 million last year for that it's very helpful for us because we're struggling

to provide enough resources for treatment particularly. and then now we have this additional bill, to build on cara and cures. this will, i think, have the effect over time of reversing what we've seen as a terrible and deadly trend which is more and more americans overdosing, dying, not being in the workplace, not being with their families, not being productive citizens. this is something that affects every single one of us. if you go to your hospital, you'll see the emergency room is overburdened. if you go to your nicu unit where the babies are being born who are addicted, babies who have this neonateal abstinence syndrome, these babies have to be taken through withdrawal. how sad. innocent babies have to be taken through withdrawal because they're born to a mother who was using, who was addicted. these are all things that must be addressed and can be and again our legislation is going

to help to do that. but again, i will say that as much progress we're making on the education and treatment and recovery and with our first responders and helping, as long as you have this deadly poison coming in, this fentanyl, the synthetic opioids that is 50 times more powerful than heroin and relatively inexpensive because it's being made by some evil scientist somewhere out of synthetics, out of chemicals, as long as you have that overwhelming system, it's hard to see us reversing the trend. that's why the stop act is so important here. we also reauthorized the hida program for high intensity and drug trafficking areas. we need to do more in terms of the demand side. with that i will predict that when all this is implemented properly, we will see some hope at the end of this dark tunnel. we will see fewer funerals like the one that i was at yesterday. instead what we'll see is families beginning to be able to

come back together, people beginning to have the opportunity to achieve their god-given potential in life, whatever it is. god's purpose for these addicts certainly isn't to continue to be an add dit. his -- addict. his purpose for them is to have a meaningful life and for all of us, it's in all of our interests. i hope we can pass this legislation tomorrow. get it to the president. he will sign it, get it out to our states and communities and begin to make the difference that can indeed begin to reverse this terrible epidemic, reverse the tide. i yield back my time, mr. president, and i note the absence of a quorum absence -- -- yield back my time and i ask unanimous consent that senators be allowed to prentsz legislative items at the desk during today's session of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: thank you, 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 new hampshire. a senator: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is. a senator: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: i'm here this afternoon to address two pieces of legislation that are coming before the senate. one we are currently waiting to consider, and that is a long-term reauthorization of the federal aviation administration. and the second, which i hope we will soon consider, which is comprehensive legislation to address the nation's opioid epidemic. i want to begin by thanking chairman thune and ranking member nelson for their work to deliver a bipartisan, bicameral f.a.a. reauthorization bill that provides a five-year reauthorization for the agency. i think the last time we reauthorized the f.a.a. when i was in the senate, it took us 23 tries to get that done.

over a period of time that was actually longer than the original authorization. but this time we are doing it much faster, with three short-term extensions. last week the house passed this bill. the f.a.a. reauthorization with broad bipartisan support. and i hope the senate is going to act quickly so that we can get this bill to the president's desk for signature. the f.a.a. has not received a long-term reauthorization since february of 2012. short-term reauthorizations fail to give the f.a.a. the certainty and the necessary resources they need to make to invest, to improve our nation's airports and make commercial air travel safer for all passengers. i think it's particularly an issue right now as we're switching over to the next gen system of air traffic control. last month i had a chance to visit with air traffic controllers in new hampshire at the terminal radar approach

control facility in merrimack. it's also called the tra con. what i heard from the folks there is that a long-term bill means the tracon and merrimack will be able to upgrade its systems to keep our airways center while also continuing to hire well qualified trained controllers to meet staffing needs. the bill that we have before us now provides critical investments through the airport improvement program that provides grants to airports nationwide for planning and development projects, that these airports would be unable to complete otherwise. in new hampshire, where we have a number of small airports, this grant program is particularly important. it also increases investments in the essential air service program which provides services that would otherwise be too cost prohibitive for airlines to operate in rural communities like we have in new hampshire.

for example, e.a.s. is vital for granite staters who utilize the lebanon municipal airport and depend on this service for access to regularly scheduled flights that would not otherwise be available. and i'm sure that the presiding officer has an appreciation for the lebanon municipal airport since he went to school at dartmouth in that region of the state, and he knows how important that will airport is to new hampshire -- how important that airport is to new hampshire. i'm also pleased that the f.a.a. bill includes legislation that i introduced as part of it to permanently reauthorize the human intervention motivation study, the hims program. it also directs the national research council to study how other subagencies within the department of transportation could he create similar programs to fight drug and alcohol addiction within their workforces. now hims, as it's known, is an employee assistance program that

provides education and outreach in order to coordinate the identification, treatment, medical recertification, and return to the cockpit of flight officers with substance misuse issues. hims doesn't provide direct treatment, but instead it helps identify those who are in need and it facilitates the successful return to work. it's an industry-wide effort in which airlines, pilot unions and the f.a.a. work together to preserve careers and promote air safety. and since its implementation the program has successfully helped over 5,800 pilots and provides airlines with a $9 return on every $1 invested. there are a lot of lessons from the hims program that i think have real resonance to other agencies within the department of transportation, and i'm hoping that the study authored

authored -- authorized will be able to be shared so we can see how other agencies can benefit from this. right now we have a one-week extension on this f.a.a. bill. it expires this sunday, october 7. so i hope this bill is going to come to the floor for final passage before we go home this week. now, second, mr. president, i also want to point out that i hope the senate will be moving soon to advance the support for patients in communities act, which is comprehensive legislation to address the opioid epidemic. and it's legislation that's the product of real bipartisan collaboration not only across multiple committees within the senate, but multiple committees within both chambers of congress. and it really shows that we can work together across the aisle to help combat a crisis that has such a devastating impact on so many of our communities across

the country. and in my state of new hampshire, we have the second highest rate of deaths from opioids than any state in the country. what i've heard from granite staters time and again is that local providers and communities need more resources and flexibility to expand access to opioid treatment and prevention. this legislation responds to that call for action. i'm proud to have worked with senator hassan and senators from across the aisle ensuring that this bill includes a reauthorization of the state opioid response grants. with the inclusion of that set-aside funding pool for states like new hampshire that have been hardest hit by the epidemic, i'm also pleased that the bill includes provisions of legislation that i cosponsored with senator collins to provide technical assistance and resources to peer-recovery support networks. these networks play a vital role

in a patient's successful recovery. the bill also extends flexibility for fa physicians and other -- for physicians and other practitioners who are seeking to expand access to m.a.t. this is critical to stemming the tide of the opioid epidemic. the bill also provides a variety of improvements to prescription drug monitoring programs, which have been a priority for new hampshire. and it includes a number of provisions that will improve the ability of federal, state, and local law enforcement to reduce the illicit distribution of opioids and interdict particularly deadly synthetics like fentanyl, which is really the source of so many overdose deaths across the country. it also reauthorizes critical law enforcement programs that work to combat drug trafficking, including the high-intensity

drug-trafficking program, or hid a. i had an opportunity to visit the hida program headquarters in massachusetts and i saw firsthand the work they are doing to embattle the flow of illicit drugs. finally, this opioid legislation provides much had of needed focus on addressing the impact of the opioid epidemic on children and families. if we don't get ahead of this epidemic, we are going to see another generation of children who are going to be lost because of what's happened in their families around substance use disorders t what this bill will do is help pregnant women with substance use disorder access. it will make sure they get the maternity care they need. it has programs that will give families better options for treating opioid withdrawal in newborns. programs like the moms in recovery that dartmouth-hitchcock does so well in new hampshire.

what we're seeing in some hospitals in new hampshire is as high as a 10% number of babies who are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome caused by their mothers using opioids while they were pregnant. the bill will also help spur new family-focused interceptions for parents struggling with opioid use disorders. so that fewer kids will be raised in foster care. in sum, the policies included in this bipartisan legislation will go a long way to help us fight the opioid epidemic. we'll need to continue to focus federal resources on this crisis in the years to come, but this is an important step forward in making sure that at the federal level we're working with states and communities to address this multifacets public health challenge. if we all work together, we can help end the devastation that's being caused by opioids.

so, mr. president, i look forward to joining all of our colleagues in supporting this bill soon. and, at this point, i will yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. mr. crapo: mr. president, today -- mr. risch: mr. president, i rise on behalf of myself and senator crapo. we would like to honor an exceptional business from our state. that constituent is micron technology. although mick micron began in

idaho with just four employees it will celebrate its 40 being anniversary in week as one of the world's top tech companies with thousands of employees worldwide. micron started as a social security design company in the basement of a boise dental office. soon as it broke ground on its first fabrication plant in 1980, micron introduced the world to the smallest 256k dynamic random access memory. by 1994, it's development of solidstate drives and other flash memory technology earned it a spot on the fortune 500 list. today microbes team of more than 34,000 employees spans the globe from boise, silicon valley, and virginia to singapore, taiwan, japan, and europe.

as one of the top four semiconductor companies in the world, it works with the most trusted brands and is the only one hemisphere in the western hemisphere. micron has contributed to more than 40,000 patents and continues to advance memory and storage technologies that enable innovations in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and autonomous vehicles. micron's advancements have made the united states a leader in technology and give the nation a competitive edge in data storage, security, and supercomputing. in addition to its renowned technological developments, i am proud that micron is working to transform the communities where its team members live and work. providing resources to educate the next generation of

scientists, inventors, and engineers. in 2017, micron was ranked 23rd in the fortune just 100. forbe's list of companies with the best and most just business behavior. last year the micron foundation awarded more than 550 grants worldwide and donated more than $10 million to education and community-related causes. i would like to congratulate micron on its long list of accomplishments and thank the company for the opportunities it provides for idahoans and for all americans. the advances that micron solutions provide for computing across our country is considerable, and it is my pleasure to recognize its 40th anniversary on october 5, 2018. we all wish micron the best of luck in continued successful as a global technology leader and

world-class semiconductor company. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor and would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

?oo quorum quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

browp brown mr. president. -- mr. brown: mr. president, unanimous consent to call off the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: everyone in this chamber knows how bad the opioid

crisis in. in ohio, based on the averages, 11 people died yesterday from the opioid overdose, is 1 people will -- 11 people will die tomorrow from the drug overdose. we have a long way to go, but right now we are taking an important step to tear down red tape regulations that prevent people from getting treatment. this week we were passing a comprehensive package of legislation to fight addiction. several bills -- several of these are bills important to ohio. i work with my republican colleague from west virginia, senator capito, on the bipartisan crib act to support treatment centers with babies with neonatal syndrome, like lily's place in huntington that serves people across the river. bridges path in ohio is one of just two residential treatment

centers in the country. the one had -- the one in huntington and dayton, bridges path, are the only two in the country. i'm meeting folks from bridges path, to talk about the important work they are doing in our state. nmplets a.s. is caused by the use of opioids or other addictive substances during pregnancy. it's becoming a growing challenge for families and health care providers in states like ohio. recent studies showcases of nmplets a.s. have tripled over the past decade. right now babies are usually treated in the neonatal unit, known as nicu's where treatment costs are five times the costs of treating other newborns. but given the bright lights and -- relative bright lights and relative loud noises in neonatal units, the nicu is not only -- is not also the best place for

infants in withdrawal. residential pediatric recovery facilities like brigette's path can give these infants specialized care as well as bringing the mothers and families in for counseling in a setting outside the chaos of a hospital. so while they're treating the newborn baby, they also have opportunities with some wra around -- wraparound services to treat at i deducted mother so mother and child and others in the family can have a normal, healthy life. these unique venues are relatively new. they -- the crib act will allow them to bill medicaid for the services they offer. the crib act, the brigette's path in dayton, ohio, the huntington program, they are not eligible for medicaid because they are netsz a doctor or hospital. this will save millions of dollars and as more of these

brigette paths and lily's places are formed around the country saving millions and millions of medicaid dollars instead of going to the more expensive, less effective neonatal intensive care unit, they're going to brigette's path, other places like that. the crib act will allow them to bill medicaid for the services, expanding options for care for the thousands of babies who need specialized treatment. unfortunately, mr. president, it -- it is thousands of babies born to addictive mothers. this will also lift the cap on funded treatment facilities for five years, something senator portman and i have worked on for a long time. my colleague from ohio and the opposite party from me has been working on opioid issues for some time. this is one of the issues we have worked together of the the bill includes senator portman's stop act that i've supported. it will work with my interdict act that senator portman and others supported that was signed at the white house several

months ago to help keep illegal fentanyl, a synthetic substance, much more toxic and powerful than heroin, to keep illegal fentanyl and something called carfentanil after the streets. we know we have on -- off the streets. we know we need more work to fight the crisis. this package is an important bipartisan step forward. i hope we can get this to the president's desk and signed into law soon. mr. president, one sort of editorial comment also. i was a pretty little kid when i first kind of started to hear about n. we all know about this in the mid-1960's. tobacco, a huge number of americans smoked. and congress -- the u.s. surgeon general first brought that to the public's attention that smoking caused people -- caused people's life expectancy, life spans to be considerably shorter. all the illnesses coming out of smoking. the federal government in one of the great success stories in public health in the last half century, the federal government

working with local health officials and physicians and nurses and hospitals and cancer societies and others and the american heart association and others worked together starting with warnings on cigarette packs to the point -- to all a the things we do now so that the rate of smoking in this country has considerably dropped from what it was in the mid-1960's. when our country led by the federal government in many cases and people can say what they want about the government, that the federal government led the way on tobacco on that public health initiative against tobacco, we can help lead the way working with local communities and addressing this terrible public health affliction, opioid addiction. and it will matter to the next many generations if we do this right. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio.

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

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it recess until 10:00 a.m. wednesday, october 3. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. further, that notwithstanding rule 22, all postcloture -- all time postcloture on the house message to accompany h.r. 302 be considered expired at 12:00 noon. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the

the presiding officer: the >> the senate today the continued debate and discussion on the nomination of brett kavanaugh to supreme court. meanwhile, the fbi investigation continues. the majority leader, mitch mcconnell, has said to expect a final confirmation vote this week. lawmakers also working on a five-year extension of funding for the faa which includes money for hurricane florence relief efforts. more live senate coverage when they return here on c-span2. now we'll show you today's floor remarks on the kavanaugh nomination starting with the majority leader. >> you know, madam president, if you stop and listen, you can practically hear the democrats trying to move the goalpost on judge kavanaugh's nomination to supreme court. remember, before judge kavanaugh was even