>> this is what it will look like. mitch mcconnell was to remain majority leader of the republicans, of the senate. john thune will take on and will be the majority whip and the conference chair for senate republicans will be john barrasso. turning over to the democrats, it is chuck schumer as minority leader. dick durbin as minority whip and patty murray also as assistant minority leader. that's just what to expect as far as leadership, the ones that will be making in setting the temple for activities of the 116th congress. the 20th amendment to amendment to the constitution directs that congress convenes at noon on january the and odd-numbered year. that date can change from time to time. legislation makes it able do so. one of the activities we'll see, expect to see a vice president named by the constitution as the president of the senate presiding over the senate as it first convenes. after that we should her prayer from the senate chaplain and the

vice president will lead the whole senate in the pledge of allegiance. after that many assume on your our guest talk about. there is vice president mike pence at the gavel. we will listen in. the chaplain will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, we honor your name. from you comes the help we need to face life challenges and setbacks. guide our lawmakers. lead them through the turbulence to the destination of your choosing. may they hold on to your firm hand, finding in your radiance the ability to

transform bitterness, disappointment, and failure into redemptive opportunities. make our senators increasingly the kind of people whom you can use as instruments of your purposes for humanity. bless the incoming senators of this 116th congress with your wisdom and might. we pray in your sovereign name. amen. the vice president: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america,

and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the vice president: the chair lays before the senate the certificates of election of 33 senators elected for six-year terms beginning on january 3, 2019. one certificate of election to fill an unexpired term and one certificate of appointment. all certificates, the chair is advised -- all certificates, the chair is advised, are in the form suggested by the senate or contain all the essential

requirements of the form suggested by the senate. if there is no objection to the reading of the certificates, they will be waived and they will be printed in full in the record. if there is no objection, if the senators to be sworn will now present themselves at the desk in groups of four, as their names are called in alphabetical order, the chair will administer theiffice. the clerk will read the names of the first group. the clerk: baldwin, barrasso, blackburn, braun. the vice president: please raise your right hands.

do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will call the names of the next group.

the clerk: brown, cantwell, cardin, carper. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter:

so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the third group. the clerk: casey, cramer, cruz feinstein. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same;

that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the fourth group. the clerk: fischer, gillibrand, hawley, heinrich. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith

and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the fifth group. the clerk: hirono, kaine, king, klobuchar.

the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the sixth group. the clerk: manchin, mcsally, menendez, murphy. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on

which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the seventh group. the clerk: romney, rosen, sanders, sinema.

the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the senate will be in order. the clerk will now read the names of the eighth group. the clerk: smith, stabenow, tester, warren.

the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the final group. the clerk: whitehouse, wicker.

the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the vice president:

the senate will be in order. a quorum is present. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved, and the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the vice president: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 1 submitted earlier today. the vice president: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: senate resolution 1, informing the president of the united states that a quorum of each house is assembled. the vice president: is there

objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the vice president: without objection. pursuant to senate resolution 1, the chair appoints the senator from kentucky and the senator from new york as a committee to join the committee on the part of the house of representatives to wait upon the president of the united states and inform him that a quorum is assembled and the congress is ready to receive any communication he may be pleased to make. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of the s. res. 2, submitted earlier today. the vice president: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: senate resolution 2, informing the house of representatives that a quorum of the senate is assembled. the vice president: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate

will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the vice president: without objection. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 3, submitted earlier today. the vice president: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: senate resolution 3, to elect chuck grassley, a senator from the state of iowa, to be president pro tempore of the senate of the united states. the vice president: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the vice president: without objection. if the senior senator from iowa will present himself at the desk, i will administer the oath

of office. the vice president: please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that you will swear and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which you are about to enter, so help you god? mr. grassley: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the president pro tempore is now invited to preside in the chair. the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 4 snitted earlier today. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 4,

notifying the president of the united states of the election of a president pro tempore. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 5, submitted earlier today. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 5, notifying the house of representatives of the election of a president pro tempore. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, then, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 6, submitted earlier today.

the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 6, fixing the hour of the daily meeting of the senate. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, then, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 7, submitted earlier today. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 7, to make effective appointment of senate legal counsel. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 8,

submitted earlier today. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 8, to make effective appointment of deputy senate legal counsel. the president pro tempore: is there any objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, then, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i serchedz to the desk en bloc 11 unanimous consent requests and i ask for their immediate consideration en bloc. i further ask that the requests be agreed to en bloc, the motions to consider be considered made and laid upon the table and that they appear separately in the record before the chair acts on my request, i would like to point out that these requests are routine and done at the beginning of each congress. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to

the unanimous request en bloc. without objection, then so ordered. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i have a resolution at the desk. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 9 fixing the hour of daily meeting of the senate. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding? mr. mcconnell: i ask for its immediate consideration and to send the resolution over under the rule. i object to my own request. the president pro tempore: objection is heard. the objection then -- the resolution will go over under the rule. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, as we begin the

116th congress, i'm glad to be welcoming back my friends and routining colleagues to what i hope will be a productive session. before we get to work, i'd like to note the arrival of eight new members who were just sworn in. the senate welcomed marcia black burning, mike braun of indiana, kevin cramer of north dakota, josh hawley of missouri, mccaly, jackie rosen of nevada, and kyrsten sinema of arizona. in the coming days, rick scott of florida will join our ranks. i'd like to welcome each of our incoming colleagues as well as their families to the senate. today you're forming the newest links in a historic chain and continuing the rich traditions of this body in which we are so fortunate to serve. on a related note, i'm pleased that our new colleagues and entire senate will continue

learning from the example of one of little most loyal stewards of our traditions, senator chuck grassley who's been elected today as our new president pro tempore. so congratulations to the senior senator from iowa on this tremendous accomplishment. so, mr. president, as we begin this new congress together, one fact is abundantly clear. the american people need democrats and republicans to work together. today illustrates that very point. last november voters expanded our republican majority here in the senate but ensure that 60 votes will only attainable by working across the aisle. and incoming speaker pelosi will be leading a new democratic majority over in the house. this is the landscape in which we'll be operating. fortunately, the record of the 115th congress illustrates just how much is possible when both sides make bipartisan collaboration a priority.

here in the senate, our good-faith efforts yielded a historic tally of legislative accomplishments on behalf of the american people. we passed landmark legislation to help heal the wounds of the opioid epidemic. we delivered measures to help lower prescription drug prices and expand access to save treatments. we reached a measured agreement to rebuild america's military and designed v.a. reforms that will help our nation better keep its cool lemm promises to -- solemn promises to the brave men and women who have served. we brought about bipartisan scalpel to financial regulations so that fewer of main street's local lenders will get trapped in a maze of wall street's rule book. we reasserted a commitment to regular order appropriations. we laid the groundwork for rebuilding american infrastructure. we certainly -- we delivered certainty and predictability to farming communities across our

country. so we know that the senate with the republican majority is fertile soil for big bipartisan accomplishments. the question is, will the newly democratic house join in this good moment tum or bring it to a standstill. it's a clear choice and will be clear to the american people watching all this at home. good governance or political performance art? the public interest or political spite? policymaking or presidential harassment? so, mr. president, the first test is already upon us. just yesterday i was glad to join house and senate leaders of both parties in a meeting with president trump at the white house to discuss border security and outstang appropriations. this meeting included a briefing on the urgent crisis at our southern border, the facts on

the ground are truly striking. as the border patrol chief testified before the judiciary committee a few weeks ago, the border patrol apprehended more than 800, 800 gang members just last year. a 50% increase over the previous year. methamphetamine seizures are up 75% since fiscal 2015. importantly, we also know that in each of our four cbp sectors where physical barriers have been improved or expanded, illegal traffic has dropped by at least -- now listen to this -- 90% in areas where there are physical barriers, illegal traffic has dropped by 90%. these are the facts on which the

entire conversation must turn. and yet as yesterday marked the 12th day of this ongoing partial government shutdown, our democratic colleagues seem less concerned with these facts than with their own reasonable political standoff with president trump. so for the benefit of all involved, let me restate the terms of engagement. in other words, where we are. we need a bicameral, bipartisan compromise solution. we need an arrangement that can check these three boxes. pass the house, achieve the support of at least 60 senators, and get a presidential signature. it's not complicated. that's how you make a law. the legislation that house democrats reported -- reportedly plan to vote on later today is nrks my view, not a serious attempt to check all three of those boxes.

in fact, it ignores the bipartisan conference negotiations and progress made on these spending bills over the last month. so i would call it political theater, not productive lawmaking. so i've made it clear on several occasions -- let me say this again, the senate will not take up any proposal that does not have a real chance of passing this chamber and getting a presidential signature. so let's not waste the time. let's not get off on the wrong foot. with house democrats using their platform to produce statements rather than serious solutions. let's pick up where we left off and dedicate this 116th congress to the spirit of bipartisan collaboration to create more victories for the american people.

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

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democrat leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now first, mr. president, allow me to welcome all of the new members who w just sworn in for the first time as u.s. senators. as well as my friends who were

reelected to this body. we are entrusted with an awesome responsibility. to conduct the vital business of this country we all love. we come at it from many different perspectives and backgrounds and geographies but the hope is that we can come together and get some good things done. i hope that in this new year and throughout the new congress, the senate will prove ourselves worthy of the responsibility and faithfully discharge our duties to our states, our country, the constitution, and, of course, the well-being of the american people. but now sadly, mr. president, as i address you, this new congress is under the shadow of a government shutdown. only one person is to blame for this predicament, president trump. democrats made several offers to the president that would keep the government open over the

holiday break. we even agreed to leader mcconnell's proposal to pass a clean, continue -- clean continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown and it passed the senate unanimously. every single democrat, every single republican was for it. all indications were that president trump would sign it. but then it hounded by the far right, particularly the radio and tv commentators, president trump threw a temper tantrum at the 11th hour and demanded more than $5 billion for an ineffective border wall, knowing that it full well lacked the votes in the senate. after publicly rooting for a government shutdown for mounts, president trump finally got his wish. now, nine cabinet departments, dozens of other agencies are shut down. hundreds of thousands of federal workers are doing their jobs

without pay. food safety inspectors are running out of resources. federal courts are running out of money. national parks are suffering. in a few short months, the i.r.s. won't be able to issue tax refunds, so vital to so many families. so yesterday the president invited congressional leaders to the white house. speaker pelosi and i sought to have a sensible discussion about how to reopen the government. we proposed two bills that separated the wall fight from the government shutdown. let me repeat that. the two bills we proposed separate the wall fight from the government shutdown. you don't have to have one, even if you can't resolve the other. first, a six-bill minibus to provide appropriations for every cabinet department except homeland security. and, second, a 30-day continuing resolution for homeland security.

the six bills are not democratic bills, as i heard some of the commentators, the right-wing commentators say. the six bills are the same bills that republicans, including leader mcconnell, supported in the senate appropriations committee. the c.r. passed unanimously through the house -- through the senate last year, and four of the six bills came to the floor and passed the senate 92-6. the vast majority of democrats and republicans being for them. so these are not democratic bills. they were crafted in a bipartisan way by a republican-controlled senate appropriations committee and a republican-controlled senate. now, if these bills passed, they'd allow us to continue discussions on border security without leaving large portions of the government shut down. now, we obviously disagree about

the best way to secure the border. we believe the wall is wrong on many counts. the wall is ineffective. most experts agree with that. the wall is expensive. the wall was promised -- the wall, when promised by president trump -- he says it is a campaign pledge he must keep. that was not his campaign pledge. his campaign pledge was to i would about the wall and -- his complain pledge was to build the wall and have mexico pay for it. the president has no plan to deal with eminent domain. there are hundreds of landowners on the southern border who will go to court an fight every attempt by the federal government to expropriate their land. that will take years. and, by the way, the trump administration has not even spent the border security funding allocated by congress last year. so the wall is wrong.

it's ineffective. it's expensive. mexico doesn't pay for it, has no plan to deal with eminent domain. they haven't even spent the border security funding allocated last year. and one more point -- to so many americans, we do not want the wall to be a symbol of america, much preferring the statue of liberty be that symbol. symbolism is bad for the country, our our economy, for our security, for our ability to get along in the world. so democrats certainly support strong, effective border security -- fencing, drones, technology, roads -- but the -- what the experts say actually works, not a wall. we totally disagree on that. but even with that disagreement, mr. president, i repeat, there is no reason to keep unrelated parts of the government shut down because of those disagreements.

today, if leader mcconnell tonight would put the bill that's passing the house on the floor, it would pass. after all, it was crafted by republicans, especially those on the appropriations committee. so they're not opposed to it. so, i asked on multiple occasions yesterday at our meeting, i asked the president to give me one good reason why he should keep large portions of the government shut down while we have a separate debate about the border. he couldn't name one. he kept coming back and talking about the border. i said, no, mr. president. these six bills have nothing to do with the border. why can't we pass them? why must we hold millions of americans who depend on the services of these agencies that are closed, hundreds of thousands of workers who get paid by these agencies, why must we hold them hostage?

why must a temper tantrum determine how we vote? and what happens in this government? anyone can shut down the government on anything. any leader, any president. that's not the way to do thing. so the president couldn't name a single reason that made any sense about why he should keep the other agencies closed, not homeland security but the others. and that is the best indication of why there's a shutdown. president trump is holding the government hostage over his wall. president trump is holding the government hostage over his wall. using the well being of millions of americans as hostage in a futile attempt to get what he wants -- a concrete border wall. so where do we go from here? well, we have a new congress,

several new senators were just sworn in. the house of representatives, of course, will change control and democrats will seat a healthy majority. the new house majority is poised tonight to pass the two bills we offered the president. the senate republicans, leader mcconnell ought to take it up here on the floor of the senate. let me be clear about a few points. the six-bill minibus is completely silent on the issue of border security. it would solely fund the eight cabinet departments not named homeland security at levels agreed to by both parties and signed off on by the overwhelming majority of republicans on both the appropriations committee and in the senate. there is absolutely nothing in those six bills that my republican friends oppose. let me repeat -- there is nothing in those six

bills that senate republicans oppose. all but six voted for the four of them that came to the floor, and every single republican on the appropriations committee, including leader mcconnell, voted for them in the appropriations committee. so when leader mcconnell calls this some democratic proposal, he's absolutely wrong. leader mcconnell, you voted for it. leader mcconnell, you supported it. -- on both the floor and in the appropriations committee. it is not a democratic proposal. in fact, the house democrats went out of their way to pass a proposal that republicans supported. and senators graham and moran and lankford and murkowski voted for those bills as chair of their appropriations subcommittees. they put them together.

so even if there are disagreements about border security, why not pass the six noncontroversial bipartisan bills? that's the question i would ask every one of my republican colleagues. that is the question the american people are asking every one of my republican colleagues. and, above all, they're asking that of president trump. what's the rationale for keeping eight cabinet departments shuttered for an unrelated dispute over the wall? there is none. we can continue to debate the best way to secure our border. we have disagreements on those. but let us reopen these cabinet departments and ensure hundreds of thousands of federal workers receive their paychecks and, even more importantly, that these departments get back to work for the american people. as i mentioned, the house will also pass a 30-day continuing resolution for the department of homeland security. again, there's nothing in that bill that senate republicans

don't support. the senate passed it unanimously before christmas break. the only thing that's changed between now and then is that we will have a house speaker who will pass this bill as well. and once the house passes these two bills, leader mcconnell should put them on the floor, where i believe they will receive strong bipartisan majorities. it's going to be very hard for a lot of republicans to vote no on the same bills they supported just a few months ago. now, the leader says he's waiting for white house approval. well, unfortunately, the white house is all over the map. we don't know where the white house stands on any of these things. yesterday president trump publicly rejected an offer made to democrats a week ago by his own vice president. there's no telling where the president will come down on any given day. surely leader mcconnell knows that after passing a c.r. through this chamber thinking it had the president's support,

that if we rely on the president alone, we can be shut down for a long time. at this point, we need to take the lead here in congress in the hopes that we can show president trump the sweet light of reason. we've given our republican colleagues a way out of the shutdown based on republican-approved proposals. all leader mcconnell needs to do to reopen the government is to bring to the floor the legislation that he and nearly every other republican senator already supports. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: sident?

the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: ask that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: i realize that the distinguished presiding officer, my friend, the senior senator

from texas, can't respond to what i say, but i wish him a happy new year, and i'm glad we're starting another year where we serve together in this body. i do want to talk about what's happening, though, in the congress. we're in the 13th day of the trump shutdown. 13 days at nine of 15 federal departments, dozens of agencies that have shut their doors. that's 13 days in which hundreds of thousands of americans have been furloughed or are working without pay. 13 days that americans have been denied government services of which they rely and for which they pay taxes. the president is holding the federal government funding hostage in an attempt to force congress to pay for an ineffective and expensive wall on the southern border, a

wall,ence dentally, that he promised -- incidentally, that he promised that mexico would pay for -- promised over and over again, and when everybody knows that's not true. mexico will not pay for it. unfortunately, though, the people who are paying for it are the american people. they're paying for the price of the trump shutdown, and, frankly, he doesn't seem to care. let me give you some examples. since the shutdown began, our national parks -- the treasure of this country -- have been left largely unsupervised. the welcome centers are closed. park rangers have been furloughed. there are few emergency personnel left to rescue injured guests. that's threatens national and cultural resources and national parks in every part of our

country. we're already receiving reports of damage to sensitive lands and national treasures, campgrounds littered with trash, overflowing toilets, locked reserverooms, even where parks remain open, campgrounds and orestes have begun to close because of the obvious health and safety reasons. and then aside from government, the businesses in gateway communities surrounding our parks -- taxpaying businesses -- are also paying the price in lost sales and rentals, empty storefronts, as families cancel their plans to visit because the shutdown drags on and on and on. there are a lot of other problems with this. because of the trump shutdown, the u.s. forest service has

curtailed forest thinning and fire prevention projects. just think of that. within months of the time the nation is reeling from and dealing with a record-setting fire season, things that might prevent fire, we can't get in there and work on that. we also have closed visitor centers, reduced services at campgrounds. just a few days ago, the farm service agency. if you're a farmer or if you live in a rural community, you know what this is. the farm service agency support -- they shut their doors. that's the agency that supports farmers in rural communities across the country. now, we came together, republicans and democrats, and passed a 2018 farm bill, five-year farm bill. i was proud to be one of the

conferees of that. i saw both parties work together. we passed it. it is a complex and important bill. but farmers and ranchers need information from that bill right now. every farmers and farmer and ral tell you they are planning for the growing season. what can they plant, what can they buy, what should they do? but they don't know how the law is going to affect their operations heading into the planting season. why? because no one is in the office, staffing the phone to answer these questions, to sign up producers for new programs. there is nobody there. farmers will also -- farmers have also applied for much-needed loans, loans they need to count on to get started for the year and pay back as a result of their labor during the year. many farmers including those in my home state of vermont face

seasonal hardship drew to the dramatic drop in commodity prices brought on by president trump's tariffs. they need loans to help to prepare for spring planting. with banks not willing to lend to them not knowing what's going to happen, many rely on the u.s. department of agriculture. the usda is their lender of last resort. but it's really become the lender of last resort because the doors are closed, and they can't even apply for the loans. there is nobody home. and while the president loudly proclaimed he would provide assistance through the market facilitation programs to help farmers mitigate the financial losses caused by his tariffs, as of december 28 there is no one there to process any new applications for these payments. so the bottom line, well, the president tax cut the tariffs

in, we passed legislation in the house, but now they are told to fend for themselves because the president is holding the department of agriculture and its safety nets hostage to secure funding for his border wall even though the department of agriculture has nothing to do with the border wall, couldn't fund it if they wanted to. and yet, virtually every farmer of every kind in this country is going to be affected by that. in addition to government services grinding to a halt, an estimated 450,000 employees are working, but they're working without pay. that includes 41,000 federal law enforcement and correctional officers at the department of justice, a.t.f. agents, f.b.i. agents, u.s. marshal, d.e.a. agents. they're not getting paid, but their mortgages still come due, or if they have tuition payments for their kids, those come due. if they have health care costs, that comes due.

and they're told, you show up for work, maybe we'll get around to paying you and maybe we won't. and then we have 380,000 federal employees who also have children, families, bills. they have been furloughed and they have no guarantee they will receive back payment when they return to work. let me give you an idea of who some of these people are. they are 96% of our employees at nasa. i suppose they could sit at home and watch china land their satellite on the backside of the moon. what else does it include? it includes 80% of the national park service, 60% of the department of commerce, 33% of the forest service, and in addition many federal

contractors have discontinued their services, which leaves thousands of employees without work and without a paycheck. now, this doesn't affect the president. many of our dedicated federal employees work every day to help our country and they live paycheck to paycheck. custodial workers, cafeteria workers, telephone operators, contract specialists, customer service representatives, the people the taxpayers think they can call when they have a question and now they get no answer. their employees who have mortgages to pay, have families to take care of. this financial disruption comes on the heels of the holiday season when so many families' budgets are tight. it's even harder to justify the fact -- justify -- in fact, i'd say it can't be justified. most of these federal agencies

or these employees are without a paycheck have absolutely nothing to do with border security. that's the worst part about that. that's not the ones involved in border security, but they are casualties of president trump's single minded obsession of the -- of walling off our southern border. the president has repeatedly said this is all about border security. really? really? come on. give me a break. his actions have caused the very department charged with securing our borders to be cut off from all funding. 88% of the department of homeland security employees are working without pay. they have got to think about how they are going to pay their mortgage, their bills. they are working without pay. that includes the 54,000 customs and border patrol agents who protect our southern border and our northern border. many of them are veterans.

as of january 1, roughly 42,000 hardworking, dedicated members of our nation's coast guard will be protecting our country without pay. t.s.a. officers, every one of us who would fly back home to our states, look at these t.s.a. officers. they screened over two million passengers and their bags per day through the holidays. they're not being paid. they're not being paid. i talked to some of them when i flew back from vermont. they are hurting. one has health care bills. another has a mortgage. they don't know how they're going to pay it. last week, house democrats put forward a commonsense path to end the trump shutdown. they introduced a minibus comprised of six bipartisan appropriations bills, and a continuing resolution for the

department of homeland security. keep it up and running through february 8. now, the house is going to vote on both these bills this evening. i expect they'll pass. after all, just a few weeks ago, the same bills passed this republican-controlled senate unanimously. so we know the votes are there to pass. so i -- i would urge my friend, the majority leader, senator mcconnell and senate republicans to take up these bills expeditiously. the six-bill minibus is not controversial. senator shelby is chairman of the appropriations committee, myself as vice chairman of the appropriations committee have both voted for them as have virtually all members of the appropriations committee.wide bipartisan support in this

chamber. in fact, four of the six bills passed the senate 92-6. the other two were reported out of the appropriations committee on nearly unanimous votes. why? because it is a product of bipartisan compromise. they provide billions of dollars of new resources to address critical needs of the american people and to protect u.s. national security. so it's irresponsible for the president to hold these six bills hostage in order to compel taxpayers to pay for his wall, the wall he falsely promised mexico he would -- promised mexico he would pay for. if he could stop holding it hostage, we could pass these bills, send them to the president for his signature. that would get the vast majority of the federal government back open for the good of the american people. we ought to do that. it also makes sense to pass a

continuing resolution for the department of homeland security to february 8. we did that here in the senate, republicans and democrats alike, voice voted on december 19. we should not shut down the very agency responsible for securing our borders over a fight over how is the best way to secure our border. i will tell you what is not the best way -- furlough everybody, stop paying them, close down the government. man does that make us secure. of course it does not. everyone agrees, republicans and democrats alike, we need to keep our borders safe and secure. but let's have smart border security, border security that works, new technologies proven to work on the border at our ports of entry, new air and marine assets, and additional personnel were needed. not a 30-foot medieval wall.

i have visited that border. i have seen what's needed. i know from the pro formas who were there what they need. they need a lot of resources, the very last of which would be a wall. now, let's recall before the holidays, the president said he would sign a continuing resolution to february 8. we had a path forward. we all relied on the president's word. well, with 24 hours of fox news and right-wing pundits criticizing him, apparently his ego was so bruised, he reversed course and broke his word. here we are, 13 days into a trump shutdown. it has to end. madam president, we have a clear, sensible, responsible path forward. i strongly urge the senate republicans to support and pass this bipartisan compromise and for almost every republican and every democrat has voted for

these bills. let's vote for them again and tell the president we'll work on the need for border security. we all agree on the need for cybersecurity. let's work on the best way for that. let's not close down the department of agriculture. let's not close down all these other departments that american taxpayers rely on. madam president, i yield the floor and i would suggest -- i withhold the suggestion of the absence of a quorum. i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas is recognized. mr. cornyn: madam president, my colleagues, the first order of business for the 116th congress is to finish the business of the 115th congress just concluded.

as we all know, one of the most important responsibilities of congress is to fund the vital services provided by our government, and in so doing provide paychecks to the hardworking public servants who keep the cogs of government turning. and while, as the distinguished senator from vermont recognized, we were successful in a bipartisan way to pass 75% of those funding bills, we know that the remaining 25% is being held hostage over the issue of border security. that equates to hundreds of thousands of federal workers and their families that don't know how or if they can make their rent this month or buy groceries or keep the lights on. they simply don't know when that next paycheck will be deposited in their bank account or how long this standoff will last. that's unfair, and it's unacceptable collateral damage. it is our collective

responsibility to fund the remaining seven departments and agencies and to do so soon. but unfortunately, over the holidays, not much progress seems to have been made. really, what it amounts to is a debate over semantics. is it a fence, is it a wall, is it border security? what is it? the semantic debate has led us to a partial government shutdown now 13 days in without a clear end in sight. and we know washington, d.c., where the blame game is a world-class sport, that everybody is on the battlefield pointing fingers of blame any way they can. now, later the house democrats will consider a wholly unserious proposal that funds the remaining portions of government without a significant investment in border security. i believe that's a nonstarter. they know it, and we know it. the president won't sign it, and

so the majority leader has said it will not be considered here in the senate. my constituents, as well as the presiding officer's constituents in maine and americans living in tennessee, they're not interested in show votes. they they want real border security, something our democratic colleagues used to support and have voted for time and time again. but the debate is somehow shifted from how do we solve this problem to who's going to win. no longer is it a search for solutions. it is about embarrassing your political opponent and scoring points. yesterday on cnn, alexander pelosi, the daughter of incoming speaker nancy pelosi made a comment about her mother's leadership style. she said, quote, she'll cut your head off and you don't even know that you're bleeding. close quote.

kind of shocking comments coming from a daughter. it's not something i would necessarily consider a compliment but the left appears to believe it's a commendable trait and they're eager to hand her the speaker's gavel. it seems a desire to cultivate a reputation for ruthlessness, win at all costs has replaced an appetite to actually get things done. rather than working with those with whom we occasionally disagree, members are resorting to guerrilla warfare, almost literally the law of the jungle. this practice is not only unproductive, it prevents us from securing the border and getting those workers impacted by this partial shutdown back to work. of course, we know what it's going to take. it's going to take a negotiated agreement between the parties, between the houses of congress, and the president. it's a challenging task, but it is not impossible.

in fact, we have done it often. my friends, contrary to what you've seen in the news or may read on social media, bipartisanship is not an antiquated or quaint idea. and you don't have to look very far back to see how we have been able to make bipartisanship work for the benefit of the american people. the 115th congress was marked by major bipartisan accomplishments. just two weeks ago the president signed legislation to overhaul our criminal justice system. this bill was a result of a lot of hard work and tough negotiations between democrats and republicans on both ends of the capitol as well as the leadership at the white house. bipartisan work also has allowed us to pass bills to tackle the substance abuse epidemic in this country which claim more than 70,000 lives last year alone. it's allowed us to fight human trafficking together and to reduce gun violence and other violent crime.

together we've supported america's military and delivered real reforms to veterans' benefits and provided a pay raise to our troops. we reauthorized the federal aviation administration modernizing airport security for the air traveling public. we eliminated the gag clause to ensure drug price transparency and those are just a few of the things we have done together in a bipartisan way. working with those you disagree with isn't something to be ashamed of. it's actually how we turn good ideas into good laws. and in so doing, govern. i'm glad to see them on the floor because i was going to mention the great example from our friend from tennessee, senator alexander who wrote an op-ed in "the washington post" today about the importance of finding common ground. and he gave an object lesson of how working together on potentially polarizing legislation can be mr. issued in a way that produces a result

from which the american people benefit. and of course, that with the lessons he learned from negotiating with president obama while working on the every student succeeds act. he wrote, why as a republican did i agree to a democratic president's request with which i did not concur? because i've read the constitution, he said, and i understand that the president doesn't sign legislation, it does not become law. well, regardless of which party controls the senate or the house or occupies the white house, that remains a constant. it is the distilled essence of our constitutional system. democrats in the house should take our colleagues' wise words to heart and return to the negotiating table with the president. i believe there are a lot more productive ways to spend our time in congress than ruthlessly

attempting to annihilate our political opponents, people we disagree with. we can, we have, and we should strive to do better. so it's time to wash off the war paint, madam president. we know how to solve problems when we want to. and as we begin a new congress, i urge all of our colleagues, both republican and democrat, to stop trying to score political points and start being productive and in so doing, govern. i yield the floor. mr a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee is recognized. a senator: madam president, i appreciate the comments of the distinguished senator from texas. mr. alexander: i'm glad to know at least one person read my article in "the washington post" this morning, and i appreciated his mentioning it. i think we should be blunt about

this. there is never an excuse for a shutdown of the government. there is never an excuse even for a partial shutdown of the government. government shutdowns should not be -- it should be as off limits in bargaining over the budget, for example, as chemical weapons are in warfare. shutting down the government is not a demonstration of skill or courage. it's a demonstration of incompetence, a failure by negotiators. it's embarrassing and the american people ought to hold us accountable for that because we're sent here to get a result. it takes no particular skill or courage to take a position. if all one wants to do is take a position, you don't have to go through all the trouble of being elected to the united states senate. you can just stay home and get a soap box or get a radio show or a tv show. there are plenty of ways to take

a position in this country. the real skill or courage belongs to those who first take their principle positions and then work together to get a result. that's what we do here. day in and day out, the senator from texas gave some examples of that. one of my favorite examples is what happened this past october. there we were. if you watched television. in the midst of the kavanaugh hearing in the supreme court about which there are enormous differences of opinion. producing, i might add, an historic speech by the senator from maine toward the end of it. and one might have thought, well, all they're doing in washington, d.c. is just throwing mud at each other or at judge kavanaugh. well, that was one side of the capitol. i suggest you look at what happens here as a split-screen television. that was on one side of the capitol in october. but look at what was going on on

the other side. 72 united states senators, more than -- about half of them democrat, half of them republican, were working together on a bill to address, as the senator from texas mentioned, the single biggest public health epidemic in this country, the opioids problem. and we passed that and it became law. that was done in october on one side of the screen. we also passed a bill, senator hatch was a leader in that. i worked on it as well. a once-in-a-generation change in the copyright laws which helps make sure song writers are paid fairly. maybe that's not important to you. it is to thousands of song writes in nashville and memphis and maybe los angeles, norg, and around -- los angeles, new york, and around the country. that happened in october. also in october the appropriations committee passed bills, 75% of the money for funding the government which included record funding for the fourth consecutive year for biomedical research, record funding for the fourth

consecutive year for our national laboratories, record funding for the fourth consecutive year for super computing. there's a lot of other things that were done in october. that's the split-screen television. we're not defined really by the fights we have, by the positions we take. we're defined and admired or not admired by whether we can have the courage and the skill to come to a result. so let me tell my colleagues a story that i told in that piece that was printed in "the washington post" today that comes from the summer of 2015 that might offer a suggestion for how to resolve this government shutdown. there's no excuse for having it but we're stuck in one and need to get out of it. the summer of 2015 president obama invited senator patty murray, the democratic senator from washington state and i down

-- and me down to the white house for a meeting with him in the oval office. i'm chairman of the senate education committee. senator murray is the ranking democratic member. what the president wanted to talk about was our work in congress on trying to fix the law called no child left behind. now, if you think that that resolving an impasse on border security is difficult, try dealing with kindergarten through the 12th grade education policy. try setting federal policy for 100,000 public schools in this country. it's like 100,000 spectators at university of tennessee football game, all of whom are sure they are the expert coaches that know exactly what play to call on the next play. they all had a little football when they were kids so they know what play to call. all of us have a little education so we know how to fix the schools. add to that the opinion of

governors, the opinion of teachers' unions, the issues of federalism, of civil rights, of overtesting and common core. and we had a divided government in 1015. -- in 2015. a democratic president, barack obama and the majority in congress. it was that environment we were trying to fix no child behind. so the president asked senator murray and me to meet with him privately in the oval office. on that day the president said to me and senator murray there were three things he wanted in the legislation before he could sign it. i told the president that if he would not oppose the bill as it made its way through the congress, that those three things would be in the final bill or i wouldn't bring it to him. on december 10, 2015, president obama signed that bill. it's called the every student

succeeds act. he called it a christmas miracle, even though there were plenty of provisions in it he didn't agree with. the three things mentioned were -- i promised him that but there were plenty of other things he did not agree with. he kept your word, he told me. you did too, i said to the president. now that's how you get a result when you have divided government and strongly held opinions. why as a republican did i agree to a democratic president's request with which i did not concur? because i have read the united states constitution, that's why. and i understand if the president does not sign a law, it does not become a law. on the other hand, i knew that the entire law was historic in what it was doing. "the wall street journal" said that it was the greatest evolution of power from

washington, d.c. to the states in a quarter of a century. it repealed the common corpsman date, dismantled the national school board and restored local control of schools. we worked on it for a long time. we listened to each other. we made a lot of changes. we came up with a result that 85 members of the united states senate eventually were able to vote for and that both the national governors association and both of the major teachers unions could support. and the result will be for the teachers and those 100,000 public schools and the school superintendents and the parents, federal education policy on kindergarten through the 12th grade will be stable for years to come. nobody even suggested in all of that shutting down the government to get his and her way. we all knew we were elected to get a result if we could. now what is the lesson -- well, let me tell you another short story.

the next year we were working on something called 21st century cure, same president, obama. same congress, republican. complicated issues, very complicated. how do you get biomedical research funded and through the food and drug administration in a way that people approve of and would agree to, much more complicated than you would expect. i worked with president obama who wanted precision medicine. that was in there. vice president biden wanted cancer moonshot. his son had died from cancer that previous year. that was in there. senator mcconnell, the majority leader, said he wanted something on regenerative medicine. that was in there. speaker ryan said he wouldn't approve it unless it had funding in a particular way so he did it that way. and still we were having a hard time with it. i remember calling vice president biden at one point late in the year of 2016 and saying, joe, i'm standing --

i've got this all tied up with a ribbon around it. it's got all of what i described in there, precision medicine, cancer moonshot, funding for biomedical research, regenerative medicine. i feel like the butler standing outside the door of the oval office with an order on a silver platter and no one will open the door. and the vice president said, if you want to feel like a butler, try being the vice president. well, he went to work, and that bill was signed in december of 2016 and senator mcconnell said it was the most important legislation of the congress. now, that wasn't because i took a position and president obama took a position and vice president a position. it's because we worked together understanding that we had to agree to get a result. so what is the lesson for today? first, democrats should recognize now, as i did with president obama in 2015 on fixing no child left behind, and

2016 on common core and on other issues, that when an elected president -- one elected by the people of the united states, whatever you may think of him -- when an elected president has a legitimate objective, you should bend over backwards to try to meet that objective if you want a result. now, as for the president -- and in this case, president trump -- i would suggest he should be as specific and reliable as president obama was in 2015 when he told me he needed three things in order to sign a bill and when congress passed a bill with those three things in it, even though it included some other things the president didn't like, he signed the law. since president trump has made it clear that he won't sign any legislation to reopen the federal government without some increase in funding for border security, here are three options for where we could go from here

to get out of this hole that we've dug for ourselves. number one, go small. give the president the $1.6 billion he asked for in this year's budget request, which the bipartisan senate appropriations committee, upon which the senator from maine and i serve, approved. throw in another $1 billion to improve border security at ports of entry, which everyone knows we need. or, even better, go bigger. pass the bill that 54 senators -- i believe it was the collins-king bill that we're talking about; we voted on it last february -- which combined a solution for children brought to the united states illegally, the divert action for childhood arrivals -- the deferred action

for childhood arrivals, the president said he was for that, and $25 billion in appropriated funding for border security overton years. that's not $5 billion or $1.6 billion or $3 billion. that's $25 billion appropriated dollars for border security, which every one of the democrats voted for. that was last february. the bill failed only because of last-minute white house opposition. or, even better, go really big. begin this new congress by creating a legal immigration system that secures our borders and defines the status of those already here. in 2013, 68 united states senators, including 54 democrats, voted for such a bill. but the house refused to take it up. that bill, for which 54 democrats voted, included $40

billion and many other provisions to secure our borders. so there's three ways to turn this lemon into lemonade. three ways to turn this hole -- and to say once we dig a hole, climb out of it in a graceful way by solving a big problem. someone asked me in the hall recently, well, why would president trump agree to such a thing? why would he not agree to such a thing? i've said to the president on more than one occasion that when you're in the white house and you take a to you, you look at the portrayed -- and you take a tour, you look at the portraits, you see president reagan, what do you think? reagan and the soviet union. but nixon was not always for a

relationship with communist china. he was opposed to it. and reagan was the biggest critic of the soviet union in our country. yet the two of them took those credentials and they tackled a big problem, and they made an historic contribution to this country. i believe president trump could and should do the same thing. we could go small, we could go a little bigger -- pass the collins-king bill or something close to it that we voted for -- but i'd luke to see the president said, okay, we've got a new congress, we've got divided government. i'm the president who can actually make this happen. i believe the american people would trust me if i said we were creating a comprehensive legal immigration system. get us unstuck from this partial government shutdown and go real big on immigration.

that could be president trump's nixon to china, reagan to the berlin wall moment in history. i thank the president. i yield the floor. mr. president, i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: the quorum call be

dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: today is like opening day here in the senate. we've seen some of our colleagues, incumbents who were already elected walk down this aisle and be sworn in. we've seen some new members come in from around the country, both parties. just like every opening day, there's a certain sense of optimism in the air. i just went to a number of receptions, democrat and republican alike. people were talking about the need for us to work together. we also are facing a new reality. that is, we have divided government now. before we had republican house and senate, republican president. now we have a democrat-led house to go along with the republican senate and republican in the white house. we haven't had divided government for a little while. and yet our jobs don't change at all. because our job is to figure out how to work together to get things done. and frankly, here in the united

states senate, we need 60 votes for almost anything which requires a super majority meaning it's always been the case, really, that there's only one way to accomplish things around here on behalf of the people we represent, and that's to figure out how to find that common ground. it's time to get back to doing that on some of these big issues. i would suggest to you that maybe issues like health care and immigration, you know, we've had a gridlock situation where we just can't seem to figure out even how to get started. i will say that in 2018, the year that just passed, we did make progress in some areas. and it's worth reflecting on that and talking about how that happened because that would be the model for the future. we made progress on combating the opioid epidemic that has gripped this country, the worst public health crisis we have in our country now. in october president trump signed opioid legislation into law that contains a number of different ways to push back against this issue.

in my home state of ohio, it's the number one cause of death now. nationally it's the number one cause of death for those under age 50. we've had over 70,000 people die in this country last year alone from opioid overdoses. so the president has signed legislation into law that will help. one is called the stop act, something we worked on for three years. in fact, it came out of some work we did in the permanent subcommittee on investigations. the presiding officer here today and i are on the committee where we're able to work together, republican and democrat alike, and do investigations, deep investigations into issues that then result in good legislation. in this case, we found out that this fentanyl which is the most deadly of all the drugs now, more people are dying of fentanyl overdoses, synthetic opioids than any other drug. we found out it comes in through the u.s. mail system primarily. and from china. and we are really doing virtually nothing to provide the screening to try to keep some of this poison out of our communities.

so that is now in place. and i've met with the postmaster general and also with the head of customs and border protection, the two individuals most responsible for implementation just a couple of weeks ago to talk about how we can more quickly implement that legislation to save lives. but that bill also includes some other legislation we worked on for years. one is to remove an arbitrary cap on the ability for people to get treatment. some treatment centers cap at 16 beds just because they take medicaid funding. that made no sense. there's some good treatment centers out there that were turning people away. these are people who are addicted. if they don't get into treatment, they're going to continue to have their addiction, continue to cause crimes, continue to break up families and cause all kinds of problems for our criminal justice system. so it's a positive part of what's happened here. we also passed legislation in that package to help care for pregnant and postpartum women who are addicted and for their children and for babies who are born with this neonatal syndrome, dependent on drugs and

how to get them through life. also, last year we passed important legislation that's already having an enormous impact to push back on another topic that we studied in the permanent subcommittee on investigations that i talked about earlier. that's legislation dealing with trafficking of women and children. so much of that has moved online. our research indicated that most of it was happening actually on one website called backpage. we wrote legislation that enabled the victims to go after some of these websites if they had been exploited but also to allow prosecutors, including the prosecutors in your state, in your city, in your county, to go after some of these groups online that were knowingly, knowingly trafficking women and children. and as a result of that, we've made huge progress. it took three years of investigation and legislating to get there but that legislation now having become law, according to the significance center for missing and exploited children has resulted in substantial decreases of online sex trafficking of women and

children. lives have been saved. those who were not able to pursue god's purpose for them in life are now able to because no longer are they being traffick trafficked. in addition, the permanent subcommittee work, our report helped the department of justice indict this worst actor in the trafficking, backpage, their executives. we were able to shut down the website altogether because of that. we've made progress. 2018 was also the first year of the new tax code that has made american workers and american companies far more competitive and is responsible for more than any other thing for the fact that we not only have more jobs in this country and historically low unemployment numbers now, but also we have higher wages. over the past few months we've seen this where we've had for the first time really in a decade and a half rising wages relative to inflation. so people working hard, playing by the rules can feel like they're getting ahead again. a couple of months ago was a 3% increase from the previous year.

that's something you want to see happen continually and this tax reform because it encowrmings investment -- encourages investment in jobs and expansion is having that impact. 2018 was also the year we provided more funding for our brave men and women in uniform who are out there protecting us every day, our military was not able to do its job because we didn't have adequate resources. we were able to do that in 2018 on a bipartisan basis. so there have been some examples of bipartisanship that have made a big difference. and again, we should look at those and determine what happened there. why were we stuck on one issue and yet others we were able to make progress? i would suggest to you there are four or five other issues that are at the point where they have enough bipartisan support that we should be able to get them done this year. i know people say well, we're getting into the 2020 election. folks, it's only 2019. we're only a couple of days into it. let's not talk about the 2020 election. let's not focus on what happens on the talk shows and what

happens on the op-ed pages and what happens in terms of the red meat speeches being thrown out from both sides. let's instead focus on what can we do this year, 2019? there's no election this year to actually make progress on some of these issues. some of them are ones that hasek all of our constituents in very fundamental ways. others perhaps are not as significant. right now, we have an opportunity to break this gridlock and to stop the partial government shutdown and also to make some reforms in the immigration system as we do it. the appropriations process for funding our federal government is stuck right now. there are seven bills out of 12 that have not been passed. by the way, of those seven, six of them have been agreed to by this body and the other body, republicans and democrats alike, have voted for them, so we should get those done. we should also be sure that as we try to figure out a way forward, we do two things. one, stop the government partial

shutdown, which makes no sense, particularly for taxpayers, which i will explain in a second, but also strengthen our border. of course we should strengthen the border. there is a lot of bad things happening on the border. one, of course, is people being able to come across illegally. that's something none of us should want to see. we should want to see a legal process. i think that's true that pretty much everybody in this chamber understands you have to have a secure border, and there is not a secure border now. some of it requires new fencing. some of it requires other kinds of barriers. some of it requires more technology and more people to be able to respond when somebody breaches a fence or a wall. we all know that. we know there has to be more funding provided there. we should be able to do that. we also, though, should at the same time realize that with regard to government shutdowns, as i said earlier, they really don't accomplish much because we always go back and repay the workers who have not been working on behalf of all of us. taxpayers always end up in these shutdowns having to pay more, not less, because of the

shutdown. i don't think it's political leverage in particular because i do think that with regard to the shutdown right now, some of those who are more partisan on the other side of the aisle are happy to have it continue, thinking it's good for them politically. let's take the politics out of it. let's stop shutdowns all together. there is legislation that has been introduced called end government shutdowns. actually, the presiding officer when he was in the house of representatives was one of the leaders on that and still supports this idea. the notion is if you don't finish an appropriation bill or a continuing resolution expires, which is short-term temporary funding instead of an appropriation bill, but if that happens, instead of having a shutdown, what you do is continue spending from the previous year and slowly over time, 1% after 90 days, another 1% after 180 days and so on, you reduce that funding to give the appropriations committees around here and our leadership some incentive to come to the table and to resolve the issues. i just don't think shutdowns work. i have never quite understood it. again, from a taxpayer

perspective, i don't think it makes much sense. we're going to reintroduce the end government shutdowns bill again next week. it's been bipartisan in the past. i hope it will be bipartisan next week when we introduce it. so let's get that done. at the same time, again, let's figure out ways to have more security at our border. everybody agrees with that. i hope we can find a way to get to some common ground here. along with senators thune and moran, i introduced legislation last year when we got into this issue that would provide $25 billion over a five-year period to support this plan for a more secure border, including a plan from the trump administration, while at the same time providing legal certainty to those young people who came to the united states as children illegally through no fault of their own. some have called these children who are now young people part of the daca program, so you've heard that word, daca. these are den people who came

here as kids without going through the proper channels, but they shouldn't be punished for that, and so let's codify the administrative action that's been taken and let's combine that with the funding. that seems to me to be one where republicans and democrats could each find some opportunity for a victory. the win-win would then allow us to reopen government and to move ahead with broader immigration reform, having had a little bit of success on at least one small part of the immigration issues that we face. i think this is an example where both sides can give a little. we don't have a touchdown anymore and -- a shutdown anymore and we can move ahead on some other important legislation. i want to talk about some of the other priorities that we could address this year easily because they are bipartisan, they have already been worked on for years in some cases, months in others, and frankly just before we broke for the holidays, we came close to passing some of these. one is for us to reform the tax collection agency, the i.r.s. everybody should want to do this

because the i.r.s. once again is not serving taxpayers as they should. i say once again because about 20 years ago, congress took on this task, formed a commission. i was cochair of it actually with senator bob kerrey. we passed legislation to improve the customer service of the i.r.s. but also to give them more money for technology so they could do a better job with regard to enforcing the tax laws. at that time, the i.r.s. was in really tough shape. they weren't answering the phone. when they did, they weren't providing the right information. the agency suffered from wasteful spending, from low work force morale, from a lack of leadership and strategic direction. guess what? that's happening again, all of those things. so now we have a new commissioner who has just been confirmed. i'm very hopeful that he will make a difference there, but he needs our help legislatively. we need to give him some tools to be able to use. this new commissioner along with his new team is eager to have those reforms. they think it's a prime opportunity to update what

happens with the i.r.s. and be sure it's serving taxpayers better. so my hope is that calls will begin to be answered again, that we will have correct answers when we call to find out what the answer is to a tax law question. we have now simplified the tax law in certain ways. we have also made it more complicated in other ways with this new tax reform legislation. so there are lots of questions out there. our legislation would be very helpful. 20 years ago, by the way, we decided to include an independent appeal of an i.r.s. decision. very important. our community is sort of a fundamental right that if the i.r.s. is wrong about something, you should have the ability to appeal it and have an independent forum. over the last ten years or so, the i.r.s. has kind of moved away from that. the appeals have declined because the i.r.s. have chosen to settle a lot more cases in tax court, costing taxpayers a lot more money. so our legislation that, again, has been bipartisan will help to create a new, independent appeals process.

again, if the commissioner supports that, it's a way to ensure we have, frankly, more faith and competence in the i.r.s. by having that independent appeal. we also give more structure to withhold the i.r.s. oversight board. this has tweabd 20 years ago. it hasn't worked for the past ten years. it's basically not in existence anymore. we say let's establish this very simply so it focuses on long-term strategic goals for the agency but doesn't again fall back into the situation it's in now with bad technology, bad customer service, and so on, and sets this oversight board up in the right way. senator ben cardin and i have introduced legislation called the protecting taxpayers act. again, we almost got it done at the end of the year last year just a few weeks ago. my hope is that we can get this legislation up and get it passed very, very quickly. we have already had hearings on it, and the senate finance subcommittee on taxation and i.r.s. oversight which i chair. my hope is that we can get that to a final vote very soon. another opportunity we have is to expand retirement savings.

something very important to a lot of my constituents who are finding themselves with the situation where they thought they had saved but they haven't saved enough. people are living longer, healthier lives. unfortunately the amount they have saved in their i.r.a. or 401(k) or having their pension plan is not enough for them to have a secure retirement. so we've done this in the past. again, we have worked together in a bipartisan way over the years to try to increase what people can save for their own retirement. in fact, senator cardin and i, again, senator cardin from maryland, a democrat, and i have worked together in a bipartisan way going back a couple of decades, putting out -- in that situation, we had three different bills that expanded how much you could put away in a 401(k) or an i.r.a., say, and having catchup contributions if you were over 50 and changing the rules to make it easier for small businesses to provide plans. unfortunately, it's time to do that again so that people can be able to set more aside for their golden years, to be able to have more peace of mind in

retirement. the numbers are pretty interesting. after our three pieces of legislation back in 1997, 2001, and 2006, we did see more savings. in fact, the nationwide growth of 401(k)'s and other defined contribution plan savings, i.r.a. savings expanded pretty dramatically. 107% increase in 401(k)'s in the last 20 years -- in the last, actually, about 17, 18 years. and a 254% increase in i.r.a.'s. so we have shown that by passing legislation to provide more opportunities for people to save for their own retirement, that more money is being put in. however, having had those successes moving retirement savings from about $11 trillion in 2001 to $28 trillion today, there is still a lot more to be done. my generation, the baby boom generation, just aren't saving enough for their retirement, but the same with succeeding generations. young people aren't putting enough aside.

and we need to give them that incentive to do more because, frankly, that's a much more effective way for us to both improve their chances of having a secure retirement, not depending solely on social security, but also to help our economy because more savings is a good thing for our private sector economy. even today, only just over half of employees who work in private companies have a company health care plan. i think they should all have one. we should make it so easy that every company says you know what? you come work for me and i am going to provide you a 401(k). maybe it's a simple plan which is something we want to work on to create a new simple plan for small businesses because a lot of small businesses don't have the pro formas, the h.r. people, the human resources people to do it. so that's part of what we have in our legislation. we need to do more to help part-time workers in particular. we need to do more to ensure that the smallest businesses have an opportunity to have savings plans. so before the end of the year, we introduced this legislation just a couple of weeks ago.

it's called portman-cardin 2.0, the retirement security and savings act. it has more than 50 provisions. again, it's a culmination of many years of work with various stakeholders to come up with stuff that makes sense. among other things, it establishes new automatic enrollment safe harbors. it does raise the catchup contribution limits. it allows individuals to make additional catchup contributions after age 60. it would also expand the savers' credit for low-income families and make that refundable and to ensure americans don't outlive their savings, the bill exempts any savers with less than $100,000 in aggregate savings from the currently required minimum distributions from from your 401(k) or your i.r.a. right now at age 70 1/2, you have to start taking it out. for many people who are working in their 70's, this makes no sense at all. so you have worked your whole life, you are still working in your 70's, as my dad was, and you're told you have to start taking out your money from your retirement account or we're going to penalize you. so we say if you have less than $100,000 in savings, you

shouldn't be subject to the minimum requirements at all. and for others, we raise it from 70 1/2 up to 75 years old over time to ensure, again, that those who are in their 70's don't start depleting their retirement accounts when they may well need them, living, again, longer and longer lives. so let's continue our work to focus on helping people save for their own retirement, and that's something we can do on a bipartisan basis. we also have a little issue that is growing dramatically with regard to defined retirement plans, defined benefit plans, not defined contribution plans like 401(k), and specifically what are called multiemployer plans. you may have heard about this, but if you haven't, you probably will if we don't do something, because it looks like by the year 2025, the federal insurance program called the pension benefit guaranty corporation, will go insolvent because of these plans not being properly funded. some of these plans are very big. they are about 60,000 people in

the state of ohio who are in one of the plans, the central states plan that if it goes belly up will result in the pbgc going bellyup. we need a bipartisan solution for that. we came close to it last year. we had a joint select committee formed to look at it. that should be bipartisan, really nonpartisan. we don't solve this problem, it's going to have a big impact on our economy. as not only does the federal guaranty program go bankrupt, but a lot of businesses that rely on that are going to go bankrupt as well. finally, to continue our progress in combating the opioid epidemic we talked about earlier, we need to take the next step. there is new legislation called checks addiction recovery act 2.0, referring to the same legislation, comprehensive addiction and recovery act, cara, that was passed here in this body two and a half years ago. this legislation is to do more in terms of treatment, recovery,

and specifically prevention. it also deals with this issue that we don't have effective drug monitoring programs back in our states so that somebody doesn't know if someone gets a prescription for opioids whether they have already had that prescription often. they ds don't -- also don't know if someone crossed the state lines in ohio, cross over into michigan or indiana or kentucky or pennsylvania as they do, all states of which have opioid problems as well, get a prescription filled there, and we don't know in ohio that it's a double up of prescriptions when they go to a pharmacy in ohio. so we need to work better on being sure that we have an interstate system. that's in this legislation. we also have a limitation on prescriptions for acute pain. this is based on the center for disease control, the c.d.c. guidelines that tell you that after three days of taking opioids for acute pain, it is far more likely that you are going to become addicted to pain medication. this obviously is a huge issue.

if we want to stop so much of this opioid addiction, even the fentanyl addiction we have now, the fentanyl addiction coming in, start it with prescription drugs. start it with somebody who is legally prescribed a prescription drug. again, this has for those who are prescribed after a surgery, let's say, for acute pain, not chronic pain, not cancer, but acute pain, there should be a three-day limit. again, based on the c.d.c. research that's been done. it's also based on the research being done by the f.d.a. about how the pain medication works. there they say the opioid medication may be helpful for somebody that has a serious pain issue after an operation, let's say, for acute pain, but after the first couple of days, it's much more likely to be handled through something less dangerous. like an ibuprofen. there's not a need to have a continual use of these opioids. that alone, getting this three-day national limit in place, would have an huge impact on overdoses going forward

because it starts with an addiction. it leads to the overdose. and again, for over 70,000 americans last year, this led to not just an overdose but overdose deaths. the number one cause of death of people under 50 in our country today. it also requires hospitals and doctors to not just use these prescription drug monitoring programs but to share that data, to prevent people from again cheating the system and getting prescription drugs they shouldn't be getting. right around the holidays, "the new york times" did a really interesting three-part study on the issue of addiction. and i found it very helpful. and i commend it to you. it was about the science of addiction and it was about some simple information about how these drugs hijack your brain essentially. this is a two-page foldout that was in "the new york times" just before christmas. it goes through the various stages from the gateway to opioids. we talked about earlier.

often from prescription drugs. tolerance to withdrawal symptoms, addiction treatment, relapse, and recovery. if you haven't seen it, can you find it online. i would recommend it. it's in very simple language talking to addicts, talking to experts, and giving people a simple sense of what happens here and what we can do, therefore, to address it. and what we can do is much better on the prevention side. again, more information out there, understanding how dangerous these drugs are. but second, getting people who are already addicted into treatment. this is in everyone's interest, including our law enforcement officials who are tired of arresting the same people again and again for the same crimes, usually property crimes, number one cause of crime in my state of ohio are these crimes. it's also incredibly important for our families that are being broken apart for so many of our systems, health care systems, emergency rooms, our neonatal units in our hospitals which are overwhelmed with these babies, the huge cost and impact to that

on the individuals and families and on taxpayers. it's something that is affecting employers in big ways now. when i look at the numbers out there in terms of what's happening in our economy, the biggest issue in terms of workforce is really people who are not in the workforce at all anymore. that's a at historically high levels. they aren't even applying for jobs. among men it's probably at historic levels, men and women combined you would have to go back to the 1970's to see such low levels of participation in the workforce. that's when we had, by the way, late 1970's, double-digit unemployment, double-digit interest rates, double-digit inflation. we don't want that again. when you look at it as to why these people aren't working, it is dramatic how many of these people are addicted, that opioids is really driving these numbers at a time when there should be no season more people engagengaging in the workforce because the jobs are there. the jobs are open not being filled. often people can't pass the drug test if they are looking because of their opioid addiction.

so it's affecting us in every way, including our economy and our workforce. to address these issues again, this cara 2.0 legislation will help just as will the legislation we passed last year with regard to synthetic opioids, with regard to providing more treatment for people. i think if we keep up these efforts, continue to pass legislation that addresses the specific problems that are out there i think this year, this year, 2019 we will see the tide turning. we will see fewer addictions. we will see fewer deaths from overdoses. we will see more families that are not broken apart but coming back together. we will see our communities begin to heal because we're beginning to make progress. it's not showing up in all the numbers yet but he see it back home with regard to individual regions and cities, with regard to communities that are doing an awesome job as volunteers coming together, using some of the tools we've been giving them to be able to again have a more effective prevention campaign but also getting people into treatment and where that's working, they're making a huge

difference. so i'm hopeful in 2019 if we can keep this up on a bipartisan basis, we'll be able to see this progress be manifested in our communities. there's plenty more that can be done this year. i joined a bipartisan group of colleagues on the senate floor just before the holidays calling on the senate to pass restore our parks act which is to deal with the maintenance backlog in our national parks. things are falling apart, roads, bridges, water systems. it's a shame because it's really a debt that's owed. we aren't keeping up because our annual budget doesn't provide money for the so-called capital expenses. and yet if we don't deal with them, it becomes far more expensive. if the roof isn't fixed because it's too expensive, what happens? you have the entire building then as it's happening at one of our great parks in ohio have to be rebuilt at a huge cost to the taxpayer. so there's an opportunity here again in a bipartisan way to deal with this long overdue maintenance at our national parks. the administration supports it. our committee, energy committee here, natural resources committee has voted it out of

committee with a strong bipartisan vote. the house of representatives supported it on a bipartisan basis. let's get it done. there's also been talk of a major infrastructure compromise. we need that. our roads and bridges are crumbling generally not just in our parks. we do need to have an infrastructure bill. make the parks bill will be the start of that. we'll see if that can be something where we can find some compromise. we also of course have to make progress on health care. the cost of health care are out of control. i know senator alexander talked about this earlier on the floor today. there are so many opportunities here for us to improve the health care system and the cost and the quality of that system. and this is something that has been very difficult, very partisan. it's been difficult for us to make any progress on it. but i think we kind of have to put our partisan blinders away and say how can we come up with sensible solutions. some were talked about today on the floor. senator collins who was here earlier today as presiding officer has specific legislation to have these high-risk pools in states -- it's worked in her

state of maine. it can work nationally to be able to be sure we're reducing the cost for everybody, for their premiums, deducts and copays. i think the american people are looking for wins right now. i think it would help our country to have some of these wins. i think there are great examples i presented today of et easy wins, low-hanging fruit. whether it's dealing with these issues that were left -- we're left here with with the government shutdown and immigration, making some small steps forward on immigration reform right away, or whether it's low-hanging fruit like the reform of the internal revenue service, retirement savings expansion so people can save for their retirement, this idea we can turn the tide on the opioid epidemic that's gripped our country. it doesn't have to be a year of gridlock. it can be a year of progress. and my hope is on this opening day as members are walking down the aisle and here with their families and celebrating and the optimism of that opening day

thinking, you know, hope springs eternal, this can be a good season. this can be a good year. this can be a year where we focus on what's best for the people we represent. focus on what's best for our country. if we do that, i think we will make a difference and i think we will look back and realize that it doesn't have to be this way. thank you, mr. president. i yield back.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: as we begin a new congress, it's an exciting time, always a lot of family and friends here. our members and colleagues who were sworn in earlier today. it represents a new beginning. obviously a time when there is a

hope and an optimism that we can come together and do some good things for the people we respect, our respective states, and for our country. that's certainly the way we approach this new session of the congress here. it's -- there are lots of things, i think, that we can do, we can find to work together on, find some common ground, but obviously we have to deal with the issues of last year's business before we can start this new year's business. last year's business is incomplete because we are almost two weeks now into a partial government shutdown because democrats don't want to fund increased security for the border. border security is a national security requirement. every member of congress, democrat or republican, should take seriously our responsibility to protect our nation by ensuring that our borders are secure. at one time, madam president, democrats understood that. in 2006, the democrat leader and the ranking member of the senate

judiciary committee voted for legislation to authorize a border fence. they were joined in that vote by then-senators biden, clinton, and obama. in 2013, every senate democrat supported legislation requiring the completion of a 700-mile fence along our southern border. this legislation would have provided $46 billion for border security and $8 billion specifically for the wall. nearly every senate democrat supported $25 billion in border security funding just last february. as recently as less than a year ago. and yet today, democrats would rather a key part of the government shut down than provide the money that we need to secure our borders. so the question, madam president, is what's changed? our national security situation certainly hasn't changed. our borders are not sufficiently secure, and as we have seen they are a target for illegal entry.

over the past year, illegal border crossing apprehensions have shot up by more than 30%. the holes in our border security leave us susceptible to illegal entry by gang members, human traffickers, drug dealers, terrorists, and weapons traffickers. the democrats are refusing to budge on sorely needed border security funding. why? i think that's a fair question. well, because i think democrats are reluctant to oppose the far left-wing of their party which increasingly seems to be advancing this preposterous notion that we really don't need to secure our borders at all. madam president, every nation has to secure its borders. a country without borders, madam president, really isn't a country. preventing dangerous individuals and goods from entering is an essential part of every country's security, and as my democrat colleagues have proved in the past, they know this,

which is why they voted that way in previous sessions of congress as recently as last year. madam president, i hope they will think better of this government shutdown and decide that their national security obligations are more important than catering to the left -- far left- -- far-left wing of their party. it's time for us to take care of border security and end this shutdown. it simply requires the sides to come together and to find that common ground and to do what is in our country's best interests and the best interests of the american people, and that is to make sure that our country has a secure border and that we discourage people from coming here illegally and encourage them to come through legal means. madam president, i had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago in my state of south dakota to welcome into our state, into our country 99 new citizens from 33 countries around the world. they came here the legal way. they went through the process and followed our rules, followed

our laws. that's what we want to encourage more of. what we don't need more of are people coming into this country illegally and presenting the types of threats that i mentioned earlier any time you have that kind of people -- that many people in a mass way migrating across your border. so, madam president, i hope and i sincerely believe that as a -- as a congress, as a senate working with this president who has made this a big priority for his administration, and it's an important priority for our country and the requirement and an obligation that i think we all have as united states senators first and foremost to protect our country and to protect the american people. if you don't get that right, the rest really pretty much is conversation. so, madam president, i hope that the democrats will come to the conclusion that their statements in the past, their votes in the past in support of border security are the right way to

proceed and continue on that tradition that we have had in the country, in the past where on these important issues, both sides come together and work to find common ground. madam president, i yield the floor.

mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not, sir. mr. mcconnell: i understand there are three bills at the desk and i ask for their first reading en bloc. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bill for the first time. the clerk: s. 1, a bill to make improvements to certain defense

and security assistant provisions and to authorize the appropriation of funds to israel to reauthorize the united states jordan defense cooperation act of 2015 and so halt the wholesale slaughter of the syrian people and for other purposes. s. 21, a bill making continuing appropriations for coast guard pay in the event of an appropriations act expires prior to the enactment of a new appropriations act. s. 24, a bill to provide for the compensation of federal and other government employees affected by lapses in appropriations. mr. mcconnell: i now ask for a second reading and i object to my own request all en bloc. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. friday, january 4. further, that following the

prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, finally, following leader remarks the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so, if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. the dvd on the house side as well. give us your thoughts this morning.

2,027,488,000. for others, (202)748-8002. and if you want to add your thoughts on social media this morning or this afternoon you can do so one of several ways. nine c-span is how you hit us up on our twitter feed in our facebook page. a lot of activity took place today on the senate side and the house i appeared on the house side in fact nancy pelosi still working on this first day of house speaker ashley is participating in the grading of people and taking of photographs appeared on the senate side much activity and talk about the shutdown, particularly the desires there's the republicans and democrats on how to resolve the shutdown issue. this has come as the president goes to the white house earlier today that the white house press briefing room for a couple of minutes meeting with order security and personnel. those associated a seven and a half meeting with no question

being taken by the president or the white house press secretary. that took place earlier today. later i noted a chance to comment on these things. again the numbers if you want to do so is 202-748-8000. 202-748-8001 a republican spirit others is 2,027,488,002 appeared you can go on her face but age facebook.com/cspan. if you're going over in the house side, nancy pelosi still after a long day of gaming the speakership and other things, she's still grading people there and that some of the activities she is participating in. this is her first day regaining the gavel. this part is the ceremonial aspect of what's going on. she ceremonially takes pictures

as families and colleagues gather for these pictures and this has been going on for several hours right now. just how to reduce today. from simpsonville, south carolina, democratic signed, you are first. this is patricia on the first day of the 115th congress. thanks for calling. go ahead. >> i wanted to just first make a complaint. you can't get through to nancy pelosi unless you get through on her zip code and i think that's ridiculous. second of all, and added state citizen and we made some defense against this immigration. whatever is needed that it has to be done. i'd like you to pass that along to her. >> host: do you think the president's desire for this a $5 billion figure, is that what you would like to see and also as those were the shutdown? >> yes, i would like to see it and it is with the shutdown. as people getting killed daily by these illegal immigrants. a way to get in this country and

you follow that way. i agree 100% and i don't even like them but i agree 100% on this issue. >> host: you said you tried to contact speaker pelosi on this. >> caller: i did it by e-mail. you have to put a zip code in there. i'm in south carolina. if you put the zip code and there they say sorry she only takes constituents are the only people that can comment here. i tried several e-mail addresses on my ipad and i can't get through to her. i'd appreciate it if you get this message to her. >> host: patricia from south carolina giving us a call about the 116 congress. she specifically aiming her comments towards bigger pelosi and the issue of immigration and particularly that of a border wall. you just heard from senators from senator cornyn. you heard from senator leahy

earlier making their comments. by the way if you want to see the speeches that took lace today, you can go to our website at c-span.org and not only see those speeches but all the other comments and speeches that have been made. concerning the topic of border security and particularly in light of this government shutdown. again 202-748-8000 for democrats if you want to call and give us your thoughts on the activity of the 116th congress. 202-748-8001 for republicans. others 202-748-8002. @cspan is how he reaches our twitter feed and facebook is facebook.com/cspan. the house and senate side we would encourage you to stick close to c-span.org for more information on that. so, if you go to our website, by

the way also not only will it give you a piece of the information concerning the legislation that's going on. remember the house democrats introduced as one of the first acts they have assuming power as of today. the legislation may have lain out what they want to do to resolving the funding of various aspects of government and how they address the border wall issues, too. you can go to c-span.org for that. let's go see some sound of senators on this issue. will go to bat. [inaudible conversations]