of his friends from the college la crosse team that he was on. this man's name was david hackett, who later died on the battlefield in vietnam. as mr. mueller said in a speech -- and i'm quoting him here -- one would have thought that the life of a marine in david's death in vietnam would argue strongly against following in his footsteps. what many of us saw in them, the person we wanted to be, and a number of his friends, teammates, and associates joined the marine corps because of him, as i did, unquote. so said robert mueller about his friend david hackett. to paraphrase the words of president kennedy, robert mueller didn't join the marine corps because it was easy. he joined because it was hard. while many of his peers were seeking to avoid the horrors of the vietnam conflict and the combat in vietnam, robert

mueller volunteered to face those horrors. that sense of duty is the essence of public service. robert mueller enlisted in the marines just a few weeks after graduating from princeton in 1966, went through the demanding programs of the army ranger school and airborne school. he then spent a year in combat on the ground in the jungles of vietnam, leading an infantry platoon. "the washington post" described the conditions the regiment faced as a, quote, hellscape, unquote, of bloody jungle warfare, unquote. it was under these difficult circumstances that mr. mueller received the bronze star for, quote, heroic achievement after leading his fellow marines through an eight-hour battle where under enemy fire, quote, second lieutenant mueller fearlessly moved from one position to another, directing

the accurate counterfire of his men and shouting words of encouragement to them. he then skillfully supervised floor evacuation of casualties from the hazardous fire area, unquote. just four months later, he was shot in the leg when he responded to an ambush by enemy forces. he received the navy commendation medal with a citation praising him for rushing to save his fellow marines while, quote, completely disregarding his own safety, unquote. that sense of serving a cause larger than himself, that is what has led robert mueller to enlist -- or had led him to enlist in the marines and what led him later to apply to law school so he would continue serving his country through our

system of justice. he served in the united states attorney's offices and the justice department for years working his way up the chain of command and earning a reputation as a dogged and fair prosecutor committed to enforcing the rule of law. in 2001, he was confirmed unanimously by this body to serve as f.b.i. director and subsequently led the f.b.i.'s response to the september 11 attacks. in 2011, his ten-year term was set to end. we in the senate at that time voted 100-0 to extend his term until 2013. mr. mueller has not only earned the respect of public officialss worked with, but he has maintained that respect throughout decades of public service. there was no -- there is no one better qualified to lead this russia investigation in terms of intellect, experience, or

character than robert mueller. and a lot of americans are sure glad he is leading this effort, to find out what happened, how the russians were able to interfere in our election. robert mueller and his team have already produced results in their work, sent a powerful message to russia and to any other foreign or domestic entity that would interfere with our elections. that the united states will not tolerate any attack on our democracy. mr. mueller's investigation is critical to our national security, and it must be protected from interference by the president or anyone else. it is now more important than ever that the senate pass legislation to protect the investigation and mr. mueller's job from interference of any kind. i call on the senate once again to take a vote on the special counsel independent and

integrity act. mr. president, i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. i withdraw that motion. the presiding officer: duly noted. the senator from kansas. mr. moran: i ask unanimous consent the vote scheduled for 1:45 occur now. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the question is on the confirmation of the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

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the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 50. the nays are 49. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately be notified of the senate's action. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader.

mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is great to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 1046. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to hav-- the ay. the ayes do have it. the motion is greed to the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of the treasury, justin george muc -- muchinich of new york to be temperaturety secretary. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of justin mucinich to be deputy secretary of the treasury signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent

the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, there is uncertainty reported in the news about the trade agreements and discussions that the president of the united states and the president of china had last weekend. but one thing is certain. the agreement that president trump and the president of china made concerning fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid, mostly produced in china, and which is the largest contributor to -- largest growing contributor to opioid deaths in the united states, the certainty is that the agreement that those two presidents made last saturday

will save thousands of american lives. mr. president, last saturday evening, president president trump and president chi announced that china will designate all fentanyl-like substances as a controlled substance which makes the selling of fentanyl subject to the maximum penalty under chinese law. fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. it can be a hundred times stronger than opioid prescription pills. it's a source of the greatest increase in opioid overdoses in our country. according to our drug enforcement agency, one way or the other almost all of the fentanyl that is used in the united states comes from china. here's how. traffickers in china modify the chemical makeup of fentanyl to

bypass the authorities there. scheduling all fentanyl-like substances as a class which is what the presidents agreed to do. is the single most important step that could be -- it's the single, most important step that could be taken to stop the deadly flow of fentanyl from china into the united states. let me tell you a story about one action that helped us get to that point. about four weeks ago, i led a senior delegation of five senators and two members of the house of representatives to beijing to meet with chinese leaders. they, of course, expected us to talk about agriculture and energy and trade issues, which are sources of major disagreement between china and the united states and we did. but at the urging of the united states ambassador to china, former iowa governor, terry

branstad, we made opioid and the crisis our primary visit. president trump had already mentioned fentanyl to president xi a few months earlier and china had already taken steps to help the united states. by stemming the flow of fentanyl into our country, china announced it was controlling 25 different substances of fentan fentanyl. the drug enforcement agency in china told us while we were there, four weeks ago, that after china took those steps, there was a dramatic decrease in the amount of fentanyl available in the united states. in other words, while we were there, we asked china to do more of what it was already doing. instead of controlling just 25 types of fentanyl to controlling all, make it all illegal. controlling all of it allows china narcotics agents to go

after anyone in china who uses or produces fentanyl illegally or improperly. the chinese officials listened closely to us. they committed to working with us. they made no promises at the time about what they would do. but with each meeting that we had, we found they must have talked to whoever we had talked to at the previous meeting, and they were responsive. the truth is, i believe they were surprised. surprised first that we would make that the first point of our discussion when they had assumed that we would likely be there to talk about tariffs on soybeans and other issues. i think they were surprised to be reminded or to find out for the first time of what a massive problem it is in the united states. the more people are being killed by opioid overdoses than are killed by automobile accidents in the fastest growing source of those opioid overdoses are the

synthetic stuff coming from china. mr. alexander: and some of them were surprised and a little defensive because they did not believe when we said to them and i said to them directly that one way or the other, almost all of the fentanyl that we see in the united states comes from china. now, it comes in the form of chemicals that are made there in small processing plants and they're shipped to mexico or to canada or through the mail. and then they're turned into fentanyl and they're smuggled into this country illegally. they're often in small plastic bags. it's a white powder. one of the drug enforcement agencies from tennessee told me that once when he had seized just one package of fentanyl in dickson county, that he opened it and had to leave the room to keep from being overcome just because enough of it had escaped

into the air that it had an effect on him. just a few grams of this will kill an individual. when we returned from china after our trip four weeks ago, i spoke about that trip on the senate floor. i said that china had the opportunity to become the global leader in stopping synthetic opioids. i talked with ivanka trump about our trip. she was helping the president prepare for his trip to argentina where he saw leaders from many countries and had his dinner with the president of china last saturday night. i wanted to make sure and she helped to make sure that it was a priority in his briefings and in his previou prepare raix. i talked to the president directly to report the good work ambassador branstad had been doing in china, how the ambassador six months ago had said to me, when you come to china, make this the focus of your visit because the chinese officials don't appreciate the importance of this to the united

states. china doesn't have a fentanyl problem. they don't have people using opioids to kill themselves. at one time china had a terrible problem with opium, but they don't today. so this i think was a surprise to them to see how important it was to us. i urged the president to thank president xi when they meet -- when they met at the g-20 summit in argentina for what china had already done and to ask the chinese to continue working with us to stem the flow of fentanyl into the united states. so on last saturday at the end of the g-20 summit, president trump, president xi announced that china would do exactly what we asked them to do. china will control all forms of fentanyl as a way of stopping the flow of this dangerous synthetic opioid into the united states both by mail and by smuggling through mexico and canada.

president trump called this a game changer. and he deserves great credit for persuading china to make the selling of fentanyl subject to the maximum penalty under chinese law. mr. president, in 2016, roughly 45% of opioid overdose deaths were due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. 45%. nearly half of the deaths. and, remember, there are as many deaths from overdoses as there are from automobile accidents. to be clear, this is not a problem the chinese government has caused, but it is a problem the chinese government is helping us solve. working with our drug enforcement agency in classifying 25 fentanyl compounds caused an immediate and dramatic decrease in those chemicals coming into the united states months ago. and now president xi has agreed to control all forms of fentanyl which will make it easier for china to go after anyone in

their country who uses or produces fentanyl illegally or improperly. opioid abuse is understood by the united states senate and united states house of representatives to be our number one health care -- health epidemic in the country. while most of the country was watching the kavanaugh hearings in october of this year, if you had a split screen television, you could have seen on the other side of the television screen 72 united states senators of both parties, five committees here, eight committees in the house of representatives working together to produce landmark opioid legislation to try to deal with our opioid crisis. fentanyl, the white powder synthetic opioid, can be 100 times more powerful than an opioid pain pill. a few grams can kill you, which is why we've seen such a spike

in overdose deaths. among drug overdoses, it is the fastest killer. tennessee saw the number of deaths from a fentanyl overdose increase 70% in one year between 2016 and 2017. as i mentioned, in the legislation that the president signed in october, congress is taking action. he called that new law the single, largest bill to combat a drug crisis in the history of our country. those were his words. in addition to empowering the food and drug administration to require manufacturers to sell certain opioid pills in so-called blister packs and expanding treatment and recovery opportunities, the new law contains senator portman's stop act, which will help stop illegal drugs, including fentanyl, at the border. it also includes the salts act. which closes a loophole that allowed manufacturers and sellers of synthetic opioids like fence -- like fentanyl to

avoid prosecution by labeling the opioids as, quote, not intended for human consumption. end quote. and congress has put the taxpayers' money where our mouth has been. congress has also approved $8.5 billion, that's $8.5 billion since last march to combat the opioid crisis. what president trump ands when he xi announced this weekend is the single most important step that could be taken to stop the flow of deadly fentanyl from coalmine into the united states. i want to stop the former governor of iowa, now our ambassador to china, for putting a focus on this, for leading our delegation to this specific request and for setting up the meetings we had with the chinese officials. i thank also the staff of the united states embassy there who were very helpful, steve churchill, rob fordham for all their work. i want to thank the chinese

officials with whom we met. they gave us a lot of time. if it was to be an hour discussion. it was an hour and a half. if we started out with fentanyl and that was news to them, they took the time to understand it and talk about it. premier li key kang, director young xechi. we saw all of them. that includes seeing thehood of narcotics control and the head of the police system in china. i'm grateful to the chinese leaders for listening to our congressional delegation and for president trump and president xi's leadership in taking this action. now, some have said since last saturday, well, will china do it? will this make a difference? well, we know it made a difference before. president trump asked china to help with fentanyl, and they identified 25 forms of it.

and our own drug enforcement agency says that they saw a dramatic decrease in fentanyl in the united states immediate lid after that. now we're asking china to make all forms of fentanyl illegal. that means that the crooks in china can't say, well, they have made illegal these 25 forms but we'll modify the chemicals enough so we can create chemicals to send to mexico, canada, and then into the united states, which are not illegal. that won't be possible once china implements this. and once they implement it, i expect it to be effective. china does a lot of things well. one thing they know how to do is to be good policemen when something is against the law. i would not want to be the person in china who is misusing, abusing, selling fentanyl illegally after these new rules go into effect.

and we are asking china only to do what the united states is already doing. we have learned that to be effective in controlling fentanyl that we have to control all of it. we have to make all of it illegal so that our narcotics agencies, our drug agencies and our policemen can deal with it. what about the possibility that even if china does this, they might make the fentanyl in other countries? well, maybe they would. but we can take the same steps there that we're taking in china, and this is important in the larger sense. what the president of china has done, has listened to the president of the united states, who has said twice to him, mr. president, fentanyl is a terrible problem in the united states. china is the source. one way or the other, of most of the fentanyl that comes here. we believe the single most important thing you could do to help us control that is to make it all illegal and the president of china has said he will do

that. that kind of response, as president trump said is a humanitarian gesture, that while it doesn't have to deal with trade, it doesn't mean more soybeans are going to be sold, it helps develop a better relationship between two countries that are not enemies but are competitors and have some big issues we need to work out. so there may be uncertainty in the air about some of the agreements that came out of the dinner that the president of china and the president of the united states had in argentina last weekend, but there's no uncertainty about this. the agreement by china, at president trump's request, to make illegal all of fentanyl in china, all classes of it, will save thousands of lives in the united states. china will go from being the source of the biggest opioids

problem that the united states has to the country that is doing the most about it. and for that, all americans should be grateful. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. i'm here this afternoon to congratulate herb holtzhafel. farmers' rice cooperative has a

long and distinguished history hand an equally long history of influential leaders and herb stands out as one of those leaders, one of the very best. it may seem a little bit odd for a kansan to be congratulating a californian, but in this job as a united states senator and my earlier days as a congressman, a member of the house of representatives, this job gives us the opportunity to meet lots of wonderful, interesting people, and as a person so interested in agriculture, i had the opportunity of meeting herb now back in my days in the house of representatives. and he is one of those special people that is a joy to know and someone who has such a strong passion for agriculture, and so we easily connected. his love of agriculture, his engagement in the industry, his work in the industry has improved the lives of farmers and consumers for more than 40

years, including 33 specifically with farmers rice cooperative. herb's passionate public servant. his love for public service dates back to early moments when he remembers meeting ronald reagan has a boy and that was an inspiration to herb. as he was attending the joy scout national -- the boy scout national jamboree here in the nation's capital, he had the opportunity to become acquainted with ronald reagan. herb grew up with a sense of duty and was drafted and served in the vietnam conflict just one year after he married his wife, ginger. herb joined the national guard the samoyede and began farming rice -- the same year and became farming rice. he was offered a spot in the officer helicopter training school but had to turn it down in order to get his rice harvested. herb has always been on the lookout for opportunities to serve other people and has never shied away from hard work.

his father would always tell him that, in order to make something better, a person has to be involved. and herb took that message to heart and committed himself to doing things in the right way. to being fully involved. herb joined the farmers rice cooperative in 1985 and became a board member that year. he has served in the position of chairman for 20 years. he has fought for rice producers and leads and represents them in such a fine fashion. herb is always focused on finding solutions that will make sure that the next generation of farmers and ranchers are better off than the last. and he has worked with many members of congress to accomplish that on both sides of the aisle. as chairman of the co-op, herb spent a significant amount of time in washington, d.c., doing just that, representing agricultural producers in the halls of congress. he's one of the most genuine people i've ever met. if you've met herb, you'll

remember him. he goes out of his way to build genuine relationships with members of congress and he knows the importance of our staff. he has become a trusted advisor and a source of wisdom and good advice to many people in washington, d.c., and in so many ways that includes me. there has been no better ambassador, no better ambassador for agriculture, and especially for rice, than herb. it's notten uncommon for h. -- it's not uncommon for herb to take an incoming call from washington, d.c., back on his ranch. his legacy at the farmers rice capitol hillst cooperative is one of his great achievement. he has sissed in the co-op over the past 30 years has an impacted every facet of the cooperative. he's one who showed me how rice is grown and he's one -- and that was necessary because no kansas farmer knows thousand

grow rice. his goal was to leave the countries and the industry better than he found it. i tell you, herb, has been achieved at that goal in spades. as i said earlier, herb, as i said earlier, herb never shies away from hard work. this means he won't be slowing down but only changing directions. he will continue to work on the farm credit council board of directors. and herb's impact on the world of agriculture will continue to be felt through his work at farmers rice cooperative and there at farm credit council. i'd like to thank herb for his years of adequacy on behalf of all the things that agriculture is comprised of including wheat and cattle and corn in kansas. he made the case for all of us, for our farmers and ranchers. i aappreciate that very much and i appreciate him standing side by side and us being a team to see that good things happen in rural america. i wish him the very best in his new phase of life and i thank

him for his service and his friendship. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the additional remarks i intend to make be -- will appear at a different lace in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, last sunday kansas university head football coach bill snyder's a nnounced his retirement, marking the end of his 56 years coaching football and 27-year tenure in manhattan, kansas. coach snyder made his debut at the k state football program in 1989. took the helm of a program known as utility u it an america's most hapless team. when he arrived, the wildcats hadn't won a single game in the previous two seasons and had the most losses of any division-one football team, none of which we are proud of but which sets the stage for what coach snyder was able to do.

during a now famous press conference at his early stages as tenure of the as k state coach, snyder remarked that, i think the opportunity for the greatest turnaround in college football exists here and it's not one to be taken lightly. kansans know well today that coach snyder lived up to those words. it was a miracle turnaround. coach snyder boasts the greatest deal of accolades in a store rid career. 215 career wins, 19 ball game appearances, two big 12 championships, which seems especially remarkable given the state of the program when he took over as head coach. deeply ingrained in his legacy is the work he's done in the field of role ising young men, contributing to our community and giving back and inspiring to so many. he is a mentor. he knows the value of being a mentor and he lives it every day. coach snyder has 16 goals for

success and they've served as guidelines for his players on and off the field. snyder said, if his players followed these goals and these goals are things such as never give up, don't accept losing, eliminate mistakes -- if you follow those things, coach snyder says, then success would come. his 16 goals represent his own legacy that our work is never over and the journey to succeed is never finished. his impact on the university, kansas state university, and his impact on the community of manhattan have reached far beyond the football field. for he's helped to increase student enrollment, boost the local economy, to fund major renovation projects across k state campus that have allowed the groundbreaking work to continue at the university. coach snyder's involvement, his support, and his close work with the johnson cancer center at k state has helped to advantages

groundbreaking, scientific research being done there that will affect all of our lives and save many. his work in the community to mentor young men and women, develop community leaders and inspire philanthrophy has changed lives across kansas. his focus on family has created and contributed to a remarkable culture in manhattan. coach snyder had to overcome numerous challenges during his tenure as a coach, but he's faced those with the same grit and mental toughness that he instilled in his players. even while battling cancer, the coach still hit the road to travel kansas on cat backer tours. he didn't let anyone or anything get in the way of him meeting with the program's most loyal fans, a large number of them rural kansans. the coach's love for traveling the state and meeting with rural kansans is something we both share, but i think oftentimes kansans might be a lot more interested in talking about politics with coach -- i'm

sorry, talking about football with coach snyder than politics with senator moran. coach snyder repeatedly says he came to kansas state university because of the people, he stayed because of the people, and he returned because of the people. to get to manhattan, kansas, you take the bill snyder family highway to go to a k state football game, you go to the bill snyder family stadium. and on your way to the stadium you walk by a larger-than-life statute of coach bill snyder. his legacy is permanently sealed in the k state and manhattan communities. he is the epitome of go wildcats. history will remember coach snyder as an incredibly successful football coach and a developer. this is even more important -- a developer of young men, someone with an extraordinary work ethic and a high level, an extremely high level of integrity. i appreciate the impact coach bill snyder has had on kansas

state university and on our state. his legacy will forever be enshrined there. we wish all the best to coach snyder, to his wife sharon, and the entire snyder family in this new chapter of their lives. i hope they know how much i respect them, how much i appreciate them and how i hope i can make a difference like he has done as well. mr. president, i yield the floor.

>> it will end in a positive way. no appetite that i feel for government shutdown. it would think a president that simply, refuses to accept anything other than $5 billion for a wall. that being the case, we will see what happens, but there's no appetite for it. >> is there any appetite on the democratic side of the aisle to meet the president half way on the wall, perhaps 2 and a half billion dollars? >> always a deal to be done. >> a deal in your mind? >> 1.6 which is currently what's being offered and it's for border security. big, beautiful wall, paid for by méxico isn't going to happen, certainly méxico is not going to pay for it and what's the wall going to do when there are many other things that can be done, electronic surveillance, ways much more effective than a wall. a wall, a fence is important in some places, fine, much has been built, some of it needs to be

prepared, some extended, we can do that. >> the president wants wall on the bored, currently u.s. troops on the border, how long are they going to be there? >> not much longer because the election is over, those troops went there for election purposes, the election is over, they'll be coming back to their bases and it's very expensive, probably 60 to $100 million to send troops down there. troops need to be spent -- need to be doing other things, exercising military programs being prepared to deal with the contingencies of war and peace. >> a lot in california, have you visited the troops in border? >> san diego-tijuana area and they continue to provide specific services. >> what are they doing right now? >> on the border playing wire and standing around wondering what in the world they are doing

there, the political season is over, they can come home now. >> if you want to join the conversation republicans

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. thune: on friday, george herbert walker bush, 41st president of the united states went to his eternal reward. his death marks the passing of an era. george h.w. bush was the last president to have served in

world war ii. he enlisted on his 18th birthday, postponing college to serve his country and went on to become the youngest pilot in the navy. during his three years of service, he flew 58 combat missions and was awarded the distinguished flying cross and three air medals. throughout his life he exemplified the characteristics of the greatest generation: service, love of country, humility, honor. hayes cheessments in -- his achievements in public office were significant. as vice president, he helped ronald reagan turn the economy around and combat the evil empire. and as president he presided over the dissolution of the soviet union and helped bring order and stability to the world stage in its aftermath. but through it all he stayed humble and down to earth. i saw an article this week with anecdotes from secret service agents who had protected president bush, and what stood out to me the most was the fact that he used to stay in

washington over christmas so that his secret service agents could spend the day with their families. that was the kind of man that he was. we throw around the word "public service" and "government" but p for george bush that term meant something. public service was a real thing to him. being a congressman, being c.i.a. director, being an ambassador, being president, these weren't chances to aggrandize himself or burnish his resume. these were chances to serve. to give something back to the country he loved and had fought to protect. president bush was a statesman, a man of principle who understood that you could speak the truth without demonizing your opponents. he and president clinton may have been political adversaries, but that didn't stop him from teaming up with president clinton to raise money for victims of hurricane katrina ind

the 2004 tsunami. he was also as every american knows a beloved family man, a beloved father and grandfather and great-grandfather. he and his wife barbara who died earlier this year were married 73 years, the longest marriage of any presidential couple in our nation's history. the love and affection and friendship between them were palpable. mr. president, by now i think most americans have seen the moving image from cartoonist marshal ramsey paying tribute to president bush. in the cartoon, president bush is depicted as having flown his world war ii plane, a t.v.m. avenger to heaven. there he joins hands with his beloved daughter robin and his beloved wife who says we waited for you, and i'm sure, mr. president, that their reunion was a joyful one. mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i am both pleased and honored that my distinguished friend, senator feinstein, is joining me today to discuss how climate change is affecting our country from the east to the west, from one of the biggest states to the smallest one. of course we are small in size but we are long on coastline. as coastal states, as the ranking member -- as the presiding officer will understand, both rhode island and california and our coastal

states along the south atlantic coast are on the front lines of climate change. sea levels are already rising. and as they do, rhode island's coastal communities are having to spend more and more money on resiliency projects to protect their roads, their bridges, their beaches, their water treatment plants, their harbors and other infrastructure. a 2000 study by our d.e.m. found that 7 of 19 water treatment facilities in rhode island are expected to be overwashed by flood waters driven by climate change. frankly, just figuring out what this risk looks like is hard for coastal municipalities. so our state's coastal resources management council developed a project called storm tools, which allows rhode islanders to see how sea level rise is expected to affect their homes, their businesses, their beaches, and their parks.

this is a storm tools generated map of upper narrangansett bay, and the blue color that you see here is all land. people have homes and businesses and facilities. all of this blue is now land, but it's land that gets covered by ten feet of sea level rise, and ten feet of sea level rise is within storm tools' business as usual scenario in which we continue to burn fossil fuels unabated. as you can see, some of rhode island's peninsulas get cut off to become islands. some of our islands disappear or fracture. rhode island becomes an archipelago. i hope that my colleagues on the other side can appreciate the changes like this to my state are things that i have to

respond to. a recent "new york times" article suggested that we may have to retreat from the coasts in order to protect ourselves from rising waters and more powerful storms. why should rhode islanders have to retreat from our coast just to protect polluters? it makes no sense. it is fundamentally unjust. many of us not only live by the sea but work and sail and fish on it. so climate change threatens rhode islanders' lifestyles, our livelihoods and our lives. the union of concerned scientists has estimated for the u.s. that by 2100, nearly 2.5 million residential and commercial properties collectively valued at $1.07 trillion today will be at risk of chronic flooding, and that's just from sea level rise alone. storm surge and rain-driven flooding amplify that risk.

drill down to rhode island and diesel low, the rhode island firm, has estimated that over 5,300 homes worth almost $3 billion will be lost if the sea level rises just six feet. and that's just homes that are already there. people are still building in rhode island's coastal areas. so there are more new homes every day. why should rhode islanders have to face this risk? why should 5,300 people have to face losing their homes just to protect polluters? it is not right. rising water isn't the only way in which climate change is affecting the oceans off our coasts. warming oceans are disrupting our traditional fishing grounds and driving valuable species like lobster out of rhode island waters altogether. the just released national climate assessment warns of falling catches. last week i met with charter

boat captains and recreational fishing enthesasts. they, like their peers are facing changes in the syces, geographic range and number of fish they catch. our commercial fishermen tell the same story. they're worried that their kids and grandkids won't won't be able to experience the traditions and lifestyles they cherish or pursue the same career on the water. why should rhode island have to lose this heritage just to protect polluters? senator feinstein, you have seen similar changes in california, and i welcome your remarks. may i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that senator feinstein be allowed to engaged in a colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. feinstein: thank you very much, mr. president. and thank you very much, senator whitehouse. yes, we are already feeling dramatic changes in california, and let me give you an example. off our coast, the ocean has

become 25% to 45% more acidic. it has 20% less oxygen, and it's nearly a full degree warmer than previous decades. and all of that is according to the national climate assessment. these conditions have led to harmful algal blooms, a marine heat wave from 2014 to 2016, invasive squid, the disruption for the crab, shellfish, and fishing industry. so it is being felt. in fact, the impact has been so great, a number of pacific coast fishermen are now suing 30 fossil fuel companies for damages. at the same time, the seas are rising. the longest-running tidal gauge in the western hemisphere is at the golden gate bridge, and it's

been recording sea levels since 1854. now, as this chart shows -- and this is sea-level rise at golden gate bridge -- the sea has risen nine inches in that time, which the assessment contributes mostly to thermal expansion of ocean water and the melting of glaciers and polar ice sheets. this is already threatening san francisco's historic waterfront. the seawall is seriously deteriorating and musting upgraded to handle the stronger -- and must be upgraded to handle the stronger storms and higher tides we're already seeing and will continue to see in the future. i just met a week or so ago with the head of the bay area rapid transit system, and that's bart-2. and they're talking about increasing the number of trains

in the tube some three times. and one wonders, you know, what's going to happen if the seawall continues to deteriorate, the city will move, it's going to be very costly, but it will be repaired. but it's a signal of what's coming. last month our city's residents approved a $425 million bond to help pay for the project of restoring the seawall. and as you can see, we're looking at another 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet of sea rise by the end of the century, if you just look at this, you see the amount of sea rise. worse, if ice sheets in greenland and antarctica collapse into the ocean, the climate science special report last year warned that sea levels could rise as high as eight feet by the end of this century.

that's an eight-foot rise by the end of the century. that would truly be catastrophic. scientists are carefully studying, senator, the greenland and antarctica ice sheets, as you well know, to understand whether we can slow or avoid their collapse into the ocean. last year alone, we saw an iceberg larger than the size of your state, rhode island, break off of antarctica's lassen sea ice shelf. events like this can give us clues into what large-scale melting may look like. antarctica holds 90% of the world's ice, and the rate of ice melting and calving increased sixfold from 1994 to 2012. a six-time increase in ten years. it's amazing.

according to an eye-opening report from "national geographic" last year, if the west and the artic -- and the artic ice sheet collapsed, as some think may already be happening, it will eventually raise sea levels worldwide by ten feet. this is a picture right of "national geographic," and a whole issue is devoted to this and the rifting of this huge gray sherr and what happens -- glacier and what happens when it breaks off. that's where there are different views, of course. but some say the seas could rise as much as ten feet. and i really suspect, between you and me and the outside world, that it's going to be some calamitous effect that shakes us up enough to do what we need to do about it, because we've been very slow to respond. "national geographic" reports,

too, that 90% of the 674 glaciers in this area of the continent are now in retreat. 90% of them. and calving more icebergs into the sea -- that means they're splitting and breaking off -- including the one that's photographed right here. a full collapse of the ice sheets in greenland and west antarctica would eventually raise sea levels about 35 feet, it's estimated. i drove through san francisco in the marina district, and i thought, oh, my god what can happen, you know, in 15, 20, 50 years. our grandchildren -- and it's really startling. but rising sea levels are far from the only problem. wildfire and drought are already reshaping my state. the california drought from 2011

to 2016 was made worse because of climate change. higher temperatures, depleted groundwater, and reduced the snowpack. large parts of california, including the central valley, which produces the majority of our nation's fruit and vegetables, had to depend on groundwater pumping that will not always be available. and the national climate assessment warms -- said that global warming will reduce the rate that groundwater replenishes aquifers by 10% to 20%. so we have a real problem, and i wanted to add to that fire. i've been to big fires. as a matter of fact, i traveled with president bush to a san diego fire in a subdivision, and then years later, i went to the

sonoma fire, and it was a fire that had been burned so hot, senator, that the subdivision i visited, which was the coffee subdivision, the block which had houses on all four sides was entirely burned down and the ground had turned to sand. there wasn't a metal structure. there wasn't a brick chimney. there was nothing that was above ground. and i called one of the chiefs, the head of the state fire, and i said, tell me what's happening. he said, the santa anas have reversed. the winds are blowing 40 to 60 knots. the fire outruns us. and we can't lay line. so what happened -- and i meaning, of course -- is that you depend more and more on air, which means c-130's and having

to get them and fortunately we got self and now i went and saw -- two are being repaired an adjusted to carry water. but that's what's happening. and we really have to come to terms with it. this new, big fire, which is the largest fire california has ever had, burned down 15,000 homes. if you can believe it. and this is a picture of what the area looks like. and wildfire alone has burned nearly two million acres now, more than -- well, as i said is 15,000 homes. it's killed 94 people. and wildfire is the deadliest and most destructive season we have on record this year. and this picture -- is this paradise? this picture is taken by a member of my staff in the city

of paradise. which was absolutely devastated, as you can tell. hulks of cars. i've even been to a fire that's burned so hot that you don't see any of this surrounding door metal. and you don't see any tires left. so the terror of fire and just as an anecdote, i read one story about an elderly couple who left their home and jumped in the pool. and he held his wife in the pool all night. and she passed away in his arms. so this is the kind of thing that we face in california. so let me ask you this -- wildfires are a problem for more than just western states. haven't fires affected even rhode island on the other coast?

mr. whitehouse: senator feinstein, the fires have affected us. nothing like this. our state has not burned. our state is not like california today, still smoldering from such a massive fire. we don't have the devastation of the photograph that he just showed. but it has sure affected our air quality, all the way across the continent from the fires that we've had in california and oregon and canada. it's affected atlantic states as far south as north carolina because, as you know, these fires lost tremendous amounts of what they call fine particulates into the atmosphere. and those fine particulates exacerbate asthma hand other respiratory conditions, increase the risk of diseases like lung cancer. in a nutshell, bad air equals bad health, and we are getting bad air from these fires. and, of course, forest fires aren't the only way that climate change degrades rhode island's

air quality. you just make the air warmer, which global warming is doing, and hotter temperatures help form more ozone. ozone, as we know, is dangerous for children and the elderly and anybody with a respiratory condition, and one in ten rhode islanders has asthma. our air quality receives a grade of c from the american lug association, largely from forces out of of our control, out-of-state sources, and ozone coming in from upwind states. this is not just an inconvenience. across the country, air pollution, much of it made worse by climate change, causes a staggering 200,000 premature deaths each year. why should rhode islanders have to put up with that just to protect polluters? and, of course, those aren't the only ways that climate change affects human health. temperature extremes are worsening human health. there have been studies that show that as temperatures rise,

there are more deaths, often not associated in the coroner's report with heat but clearly statistically following the heat. e.r. visits in rhode island skyrocket when temperatures pass 80 degrees farenheit and the national climate assessment, based on a study of rhode island hospitals, predicts that the number of e.r. visits will increase by 400 per year by 2050 and up to an additional 1,500 a year by 2095 from these conditions. of course the list of health consequences goes on. disease-carrying insects such as ticks and mosquitoes, noxious algal blooms, like you mentioned, osh, that produce water born pathogens. seasons that ramp up allergies. why should californians or rhode

islanders have to put up with these conditions to protect polluters. it is not just the doctors who are worried. economists are starting to paint some very grim pictures. freddie mac, our great housing corporation, warns of a coastal property values crash that will rival the 2008 mortgage meltdown. i quote them, the economic losses and social disruption are likely to be greater in total than those experienced in the housing crisis and great recession. the bank of england and numerous academic economists warn of a carbon bubble, a separate economic risk, that poses what they call a systemic risk to the global economy. and of course the national climate assessment details grim economic consequences that climate change will have for our united states economy. of course it doesn't have to be bad economic news. nobel prize winning economist joseph stiglitz testified that retro fitting the global economy for quite a change would help to

restore aggregate demand and growth. he goes on climate policies if well designed and implemented are consistent with growth and poverty reduction. the transition to a low carbon economy is potentially a powerful attractive and sustainable growth story marked by higher resilience, more innovation, more livable cities, robust agriculture and stronger ecosystems. why would we not want that? and that's the advice of a nobel prize-winning economist. a 2018 report from the global commission on the economy and climate estimates that this green energy transition may increase global economic growth by $26 trillion through 2030 and create 65 million low-carbon jobs. growth will come not just from those new jobs, but also from lower energy costs.

as stiglitz points out transitioning to renewables can reduce costs. to quote him, many energy efficiency technologies actually have a negative cost to implement. renewable energy, electric cars, battery storage, carbon capture, energy efficiency, low carbon and zero carbon fuels, these are the technologies of the future promising millions of great jobs. the question is whether these will be american technologies and american jobs or whether china or germany or japan or other countries will win the transition to a low-carbon economy. why should america lose that competition just to protect polluters? mr. president, senator feinstein can tell us very eloquently how innovation is california's bread and butter. so let me inquire of the

distinguished chairman, ranking member, what kind of exciting developments are you seeing in california? mrs. feinstein: i'm sorry. what kind of? mr. whitehouse: exciting developments in innovation are you seeing in california? mrs. feinstein: there are all kinds of exciting developments in innovation. let me talk a little bit more about it. researchers, it's my understanding, for 2018 expect emissions will grow by 2.4%, and the united states is part of this trend, showing a 2.5% increase in emissions due to our oil and gas use. so the first thing is that we need to move away from carbon and we need to do it quickly and we need to -- and california is producing that you can use

noncarbon electricity, and it works. one of the things, senator, that i've been really concerned about is as a grandmother, as time goes by, what is the impact. and if i understand the history well, the earth has warmed from the industrial revolution about one to two degrees. they say that if it warms another one to two degrees, it's handleable but it's difficult. if it warms four to nine degrees, we have the potential to destroy the planet. and i think that, those figures, as they become more refined, as time goes on, really sends us the challenge. and it's hard here because -- it was hard in california until i went home on this last break, i had never seen people on the streets with masks on.

and yet, there it was. in san francisco, by the golden gate with the wind blowing, and the smoke was so thick in the morning that when you looked out a window, it was lucky if you could see two blocks. and that's the kind of fires that warming encourage. and so i want to salute you for your work. you have been our leader. i think you've been terrific. i think what we really need to do is to set some standards for our government to follow as they set regulations for the future. it's going to be difficult. people won't like it. there will be differences between us, but we should have that discussion and we should recognize the fact that we can't keep going as we are now. now california is responding, and as i drove in a campaign

year through many different counties and saw some of the alternatives to carbon in terms of the towers and wind and that kind of thing, you see where it's happening. but it's not happening enough and it's not taken seriously as it should be. and so what i want to say is that i really want to work with you. i believe the people of my state, all 40-plus million of us want a solution that will work. and so i thank you and am delighted to be part of this small dialogue. thank you very much. mr. whitehouse: thank you, senator. of course california's massive economy is a vitally important part of the innovation that is going to help solve this problem if we can get the political will and the economic alignments to do this. rhode island, of course, has our own small innovation story. we're the first state to get offshore wind, steel in the

water and electrons on the grid. we're very proud of the company that did it. indeed the market has responded quite favorably, they have been bought by $500 million by a larger company and that's great progress for rhode island. we're a leader in the composites industry. t.p.i. has manufactured not only wind blades for towers that generate electricity but we just got our first electric buses in providence. and electric bus bodies were built by the same group in warren, rhode island, to be light and clean and efficient. in ten years this t.p.i. has manufactured more than 10,000 of these wind blades and it's gearing up to provide up to 3,300 bus bodies. so things are really moving. our university is following on. it received $19 million in funding from the national science foundation for developing a new research

infrastructure to assess, predict, and respond to the effects of climate variability on coastal ecosystems. we have to bring innovation to bear on the changes that are coming, and we have to bring innovation to bear to protect against the changes that will be devastating if we don't act responsibly. i hope that we as a body in the senate take the message of what is happening around us, your fires, louisiana's floods, rhode island's sea level rise and predictions for turning ourselves into an archipelago, and begin to take this seriously. or -- or we could just keep protecting the polluters. mrs. feinstein: if i may -- mr. whitehouse: please. mrs. feinstein: -- respond briefly. the state has mandated that 50% of its electricity must be from renewable sources by 2030. so we're actually ahead of schedule and on track to reach that deadline by 2020.

if we do, we'll both be here. i hope that will be a real signal to people that standards can be set and they can be met and that we can save this planet. so thank you very much. mr. whitehouse: thank you, senator. if senator feinstein will remember i came in 2007. i was sworn in in january of 2007. and in 2007, and in 2008 and in 2009, just what we would expect to be happening on an issue like this was actually happening in the senate. we had, by my recollection, four bipartisan climate bills. we had bipartisan climate hearings. we had constant bipartisan climate conversations. this was an issue that was being taken seriously by this body through 2009. and then in 2010 something happened and all of that bipartisan work came to a

screeching dead halt. and what happened was that the supreme court, five republican justices on the supreme court, issued a decision called citizens united which told big industries, big special interests like the fossil fuel industry, you can now spend as much money as you want in politics. there are no limits on what you can spend. and that industry took off like a gunshot, like a runner from the start with that decision. i suspect they anticipated it. and instantly shut down all bipartisanship on climate change by virtue of the political spending and threats that citizens united allowed them to do. if we could do it before citizens united, we ought to be able to do it still now that we have a better understanding of what the threats are. this is a very real proposition to get something done and i thank the senator for her leadership on this very real cause. mrs. feinstein: thank you. mr. whitehouse: thank you, and i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll. quorum call: