challenges they faced and the legacies they've left behind. c-span's "the presidents" will be on shelves april 23rd. you can order your copy today at c-span.org/the presidents, or wherever books are sold. >> the c-span bus is stopping at middle and high schools across the country to present the prizes and awards to the winners of our student cam video competition. and throughout this month you can see the top 21 winning entries every morning before washington journal and watch every winning student cam documentary along with those honorably mentioned and behind the scene winners on-line at student cam.org. >> the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. senators are working on several nominations today under the new two hour post cloture debate

time rule. they'll be voting on nominati nomination-- to live coverage. u.s. senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. god of grace and glory, we bless your holy name.

give us a hunger and thirst for your righteousness. lord, we confess that we often fall short of your high standard for living. create in us clean hearts, o god, and renew a right spirit within us. continue to bless our senators. give them the fulfillment that comes from knowing they are doing your will. protect them from dangers as you guide them through the myriad challenges they must face to keep this nation strong. work through them to fulfill your purposes for our nation and

world. we pray in your holy name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c, april 10, 2019. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable marcia blackburn, a senator from the state of tennessee, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: chuck grassley, presidet pro tempore.

the presiding officer: the majority leader. is en scen madam president. --. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask to speak to the senate for one minute as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: on tuesday i spoke about the clinton investigation, and i want to reiterate one very serious issue. the f.b.i. apparently had highly classified information potentially relevant to the clinton investigation in its possession. the f.b.i. drafted a memo in may of 2016 to get access to the information. that memo said review of the information was necessary to complete the investigation. now sadly, that memo was never sent. how could the f.b.i. finish the investigation of the clintons if

they never got access to all the potential relevant information? congress needs to know what happened in that instance. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i understand there's a bill at the desk due a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 1585, an act to reauthorize the violence against women act of 1994, and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14 i would object to further proceedings. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. mcconnell: madam president, the senate continues to build on last week's progress in restoring our normal tradition regarding lower-level nominations. we're moving several well-qualified nominees more

fromently for floor -- promptly for floor consideration, clearing the considerable backlog of those who had been mired for months in our democrat colleagues' across the board obstruction vai sister. there is a long way to go. there is too many would had been be public servants waiting for barriers to fall. but this body should be proud of the progress we're already making and the healthier precedent we're setting for the future. yesterday the senate voted to confirm both daniel domenico, president trump's choice to serve as u.s. district judge for the district of colorado, and patrick wyrick to be a district court judge in oklahoma. today we'll turn to cheryl stanton to lead the hour and wage division in one year, seven l months and five days since ms. stanton's nomination arrived here in the senate.

in that time the nomination has been favorably reported by the help committee not once, not twice, but three times. three times through committee for this graduate of williams college and the university of chicago law school. two times -- two times sent back to the president for the former executive director of the south carolina department of employment and workforce. hopefully the third time will be the charm and we can finally do the prudent thing here on the senate floor. i hope each of my colleagues will join me in support of stanton nomination later this week. and later this week, as i noted yesterday, we'll finish with the nomination of david bernhardt to join president trump's cabinet as secretary of the interior. speaking of coming in three's, this will be the third time mr. bernhardt will have been confirmed by the senate. he served previously at the department's solicitor and as its deputy secretary.

according to the american farm bureau federation, his proven leadership in these roles has helped restore the multiple use of america's public lands. and they're not alone. over his tenure, mr. bernhardt developed a reputation among sportsmen, conservation groups and western native american tribes as a strong leader and a reliable partner in their efforts. so once again, i hope each of my colleagues will join me in voting to confirm david bernhardt later this week. now on a completely different matter, for some time now my colleagues and i have been speaking out about democrats' parade of fantastical new proposals, plans to spend unprecedented sums of america's money in order to seize unprecedented control over americans' lives. just a few weeks ago the senate voted on the so-called green new deal. it would have the federal

government intrude own basically every economic transaction and personal life choice in radically, radically unprecedented ways. the specifics of the proposal, limited as they were, painted enough of a picture for outside experts to roughly estimate the price tag at as much as $93 trillion. more money than the federal government has spent in its entire history, in exchange for the systematic dismantling of america's prosperity. the evolution of the energy sources available to american families and a hogtied american economy that our competitors would leave in the dust. so it should come as no surprise that for the sequel, we see and hear senate democrats may soon officially introduce their proposed washington takeover of

health insurance, the plan i call medicare for none. it's a fitting name for a proposal that would gut the medicare program as american seniors know it, reuse the label on a new government-run, one-size-fits-all arrangement, and remove 180 million americans from the private insurance they've chosen in order to funnel them into a system without choice. what's especially ironic, madam president, is that my democratic colleagues are choosing to agitate for this pivot towards socialism during this particularly important economic period. this particular moment with more job openings than americans looking for work for the first time since recordkeeping started. when we've seen unemployment reach a 49-year low and wages grow faster than they have in a

decade. the kind of economy where a single mom in mississippi says, quote, it's amazing that i'm getting paid almost $20 an hour to learn how to weld. the kind of economy where garage door ?awrls -- installers in nevada say they are literally afraid to let potential workers walk out the door because american workers are in such high demand. let's remember this transformation is being helped along by a set of republican ideas and policies that are the polar opposite, totally opposite of what our democratic friends are now calling for. here's how a republican pro-growth proopportunity policies helped us get where we are, by encouraging job creators to invest here at home instead of penalizing success, by recognizing that working families know best how to spend their paychecks, not washington; by creating conditions for an economic surge that touches every corner of our country. and now all of america is

reaping the benefits. this isn't like the last administration where 75% of the new jobs and 90% of the population growth flowed into the very largest metropolitan areas. this time it's an all-american comeback and all kinds of communities are benefiting. more jobs, more opportunities, more growth and pay. monday is tax day, not exactly a time many of us look forward to, but this year marks the first time americans are filing under the new republican tax reform law that's helped them keep more of their paychecks and helped create the outstanding opportunity economy we see today. democrats may be working overtime, madam president, to bring this bright chapter to an end, but over here on this side of the aisle we'll keep fighting to make sure this is still just the beginning of these brighter days for the american people.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of labor, cheryl marie stanton of south carolina to be administrator of the wage and hour division. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. menendez: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: i rise today in strong support of general abizaid's confirmation to be ambassador to the kingdom of saudi arabia. it took this administration nearly two years to even nominate someone to this critical position, and unfortunately we have seen the results of the absence of serious experienced u.s. leadership. i was pleased that the senate foreign relations committee expeditiously moved his nomination. in the past two years, we have seen saudi leadership take action that has seriously strained the u.s.-saudi relationship and that run fundamentally counter to basic international norms. saudi arabia has detained and

reportedly tortured members of its own royal family, effectively abducted the lebanese prime minister. in yemen, the crown prince's coalition has led an offensive, responsible not just for breeding the world's worst humanitarian crisis, but also potentially opening the door for more maligned iranian influence. and to this day, we seek accountability for the brutal murder of american resident and journalist jamal khashoggi. with the white house conducting freelance diplomacy, the american people have little faith that there has been serious pressure on saudi leadership to correct course. worse, we continue to learn that the administration appears to be rewarding the kingdom with secret side deals in support of its nuclear program, far outside the scope of legally described processes. amid all of this, we must find a way to get the u.s.-saudi relationship back on course as

we do continue to share some common challenges and interests. but the united states alliances are strongest with partners with whom we share values and with whom we can have honest conversations. general abizaid's faith is a tall challenge, but i -- faces a tall challenge, but i believe he is up to the job. he has the experience and leadership necessary to both manage a large mission and get the currently fraught relationship with saudi arabia back on track in a way that both advances our security interests and stays true to our ideals. i urge my colleagues to support general abizaid's confirmation, his leadership, his deep regional expertise, management skills, knowledge of arabic, and experience serving in conflict areas will make him an effective u.s. ambassador to saudi arabia. now, before i yield my time, i want to spend a moment on the issue of judicial nominees,

specifically the president's nominee for the u.s. district court for the western district of oklahoma, mr. patrick wyrick. mr. wyrick's record suggests he is little more than a right-wing crusader in the war against the reproductive rights of women. in 2014, he spearheaded an amicus in the sebelius versus hobby lobby case, arguing that corporations' religious rights were violated by the affordable care act's requirement that employer health plans cover birth control. by a 5-4 margin, the supreme court agreed. likewise, while representing oklahoma in pruitt versus nova health systems, mr. wyrick defended a law mandateing women seeking abortions to first submit to an ultrasound. fortunately, the oklahoma supreme court struck down that law. i could go on, but the bottom line is that mr. wyrick embodies president trump's pledge to only nominate judges committed to rolling back reproductive rights

even if they are seriously unqualified for lifetime appointments. now, let's be honest about why republicans seek to confirm these judicial nominations at record speed. after being punished at the polls for their assault on affordable health care, they want our courts to do their dirty work for them. how convenient it is that republicans can confirm judges with hostile records on health care even as they distance themselves from the trump administration's reckless decision to cast the entire affordable care act as unconstitutional. including the law's protections for patients with preexisting conditions, the tax credit to help families afford premiums, the expansion of medicaid and so much more. i'm tired of watching the majority stack our courts in favor of wealthy special interests, even as they know full well that americans overwhelmingly oppose that

morally bankrupt agenda. americans oppose once again letting health insurance companies discriminate against people with preexisting conditions. they oppose their plan to end medicaid as we know it and their trillion-dollar tax cuts for big corporations. they oppose the president's assault on the rights of consumers, workers, students, and women. democracy is supposed to be a battle of ideas, but when it comes to health care or student loan debt or climate change, the republican party does not have any, and when you can't win on the merits, what do you do? you tip the scales of justice in your favor. well, i for one will not stay silent. i'll continue to speak out against unqualified nominees like patrick wyrick, and i will continue to vote against judges whose views are grossly out of step with the vast majority of americans on everything from the environment to women's reproductive rights to health care for all. with that, mr. president, i

yield my time and observe the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip.

mr. thune: is the --. the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, tax day's is not anyone's favorite day, but thanks to the tax cuts and jobs act, millions of american families are facing a less painful tax bill this year. they are also seeing a lot more economic opportunity. when republicans took office after president trump's election, we were determined to make things better for american families. under the obama administration, the economy had stagnated, wages barely grew, job growth was weak, business investment growth was low. republicans knew that if we wanted to make life better for families, we had to turn that around. american families can't thrive if the economy isn't thriving. you need a strong, growing economy to give americans access to good wages, good jobs, and real opportunities. so we got right to work. we repealed burdensome regulations that were acting as a drag on economic growth and we

passed a comprehensive reform of our nation's outdated tax code. why the tax code? well, the tax code has a huge effect on our economy. a small business owner facing a huge tax bill is unlikely to be able to expand her business or to hire a new employee. in fact, if her tax burden is heavy enough, she may not even be able to keep her business open. similarly, a large business is going to find it pretty hard to create jobs or improve benefits for employees if it's struggling to stay competitive against foreign businesses paying much less in taxes. prior to the passage of the tax cuts and jobs act our tax code was not helping our economy. in fact, it was doing the opposite. so we made reforming our tax code a priority. our goal with the tax cuts and jobs act was twofold. put more money in americans' pockets immediately and get the economy going again to give

americans access to good jobs, good wages, and opportunities for the long term. and that's exactly what we did. to put more money in americans' pockets right away, we cut tax rates for american families, doubled the child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction. now families are seeing the effects. the liberal tax policy center reports that under the tax cuts and jobs act, 90% of middle-class families are seeing a tax cut. for 2018, the typical family of four saw a tax break of more than $2,000. that's more money every month to put toward a family vacation, a home or car repair, or a kid's braces or to tuck away in savings for a rainy day. and that's not all. as i said earlier, mr. president, families aren't just seeing a lower tax bill. they are also seeing more

economic opportunity, thanks to the economic growth spurred by the tax cuts and jobs act. the tax cuts and jobs act lowered tax rates across the board for owners of small and medium-sized businesses, farms and ranches. it lowered our nation's massive corporate tax rate which up until january of last year was the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. it expanded business owners' ability to recover the costs of investments they make in their businesses which frees up cash that they can reinvest in their operations and in their workers. and it brought the u.s. international tax system into the 21st century so that american businesses are not operating at a competitive disadvantage relative to their foreign counterparts. and those measures have done exactly what they were supposed to do -- get our economy going again. economic growth is up. job creation is up.

wages are up. personal income is up. business investment is up. unemployment is down. since tax reform was enacted, job growth has averaged 215,000 jobs per month. that's almost twice, almost twice the monthly average during the obama administration. in 2018, for the first time ever, the number of jobs outnumbered the number of job seekers. first time ever in 2018. the department of labor reports that the number of jobs available has now exceeded the number of those looking for work for 12 straight months. unemployment has now been at or below 4% for 13 months. and in the last week of march, the number of jobless claims hit its lowest level in 50 years. u.s. manufacturing, which saw thousands of job losses during the obama years, is booming.

since tax reform was passed 15 months ago, the manufacturing industry has added thousands of jobs. wages have been growing at or above 3% for eight straight months. since wages are growing faster than inflation, that's translathing to a real increase in purchasing power for american consumers. business investment is up. since the passage of tax reform, business investment growth has averaged 7%, almost twice, almost twice what it averaged during the obama administration. mr. president, what do all these numbers mean? they mean more and better jobs for job seekers. they mean more money in your paycheck to spend or save for the future. they mean more and better opportunities to advance in your career. thanks to tax reform, more families can afford to pay that orthodontist bill and still save some money for a family vacancy.

-- family vacation. more families can afford to cover that unexpected car repair or plumber's bill. more families can afford to put a little extra away each month for the kids' education or for their retirement. mr. president, i'm proud that tax reform is making life better for american families and republicans will continue working to secure the gains that we have made for the long term and to expand opportunities for hardworking americans even further. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, later this week, the senate will vote on the confirmation of david bernhart company -- there we go. later this week, the senate will vote on the confirmation of david bernhart, a long-time

lobbyist to the position of interior secretary. an oil and gas lobbyist will be entrusted with our sacred, jed inheritance, the great lands of america. i urge senators to oppose this nomination. the department of interior is the agency entrusted with protecting our nation's public lands, our water supplies, our wildlife, our energy resources. it grapples directly with some of the biggest questions our country faces. how to respond to climate change, how to protect endangered species, how to care for our precious natural resources. and yet to lead our interior department, president trump has nominated mr. bernhart, an oil and gas lobbyist who has made a career harming the environment, subverting environmental protections. as former secretary zinke's deputy, he has paved the way for even more polluters to run

rampant without accountability. under his watch, the department of interior has already opened a colossal 17 million acres of federal land for oil and gas leases, generating millions in revenue for energy companies, all while bernhart recklessly managed our national parks during the government shutdown. i'm especially troubled this morning because "politico" reported that under mr. bernhart's watch, the department of interior might even green light offshore drilling off the coast of florida, a prospect both parties in the state say they oppose. this should be a wake-up call to my colleagues all up and down the coasts, atlantic and pacific, gulf. if they can't find a reason to oppose this nominee based on troubling issues that have been raised, maybe this is reason enough for them. it's hard to imagine someone

whose background is so at odds as bernhardt's. washington's trump wants to add another swamp creature lobbyist to his cabinet. by the way, our resources are oil and gas resources. they are large. the motivation here to despoil public lands for oil and gas drilling, well, it's the power of the oil companies. it's nothing to do with a plan for natural resources, and bernhardt is an exemplary example of the power of these oil companies. gravely troubling is the long list of conflicting interest that bernhardt brings to his cabinet. up to 20 of his former clients have lobbied the department of interior since his arrival. "the new york times" reported last week that he is very -- he has very likely been less than forthcoming about when he stopped lobbying. no, no other cabinet nominee in

the trump era has so many conflicts of interest, and that is a low bar. it's a distinction no one should be proud to hold. worst of all, bernhardt is a hardened enemy of climate science. hey, if you were a lobbyist for oil and gas companies, you would say climate change isn't real, too. "the washington post" reported he attended a session of administration officials that, quote, debated on how best to establish a group of researchers that could scrutinize recent federal climate reports. translation -- bernhardt is actively working to set up the white house's fake panel to deny basic science. i have already introduced legislation to prohibit any funding from going to this fake climate panel, but knowing mr. bernhard it. 's role in setting it up should send shivers down the spines of every american who is worried about the impact of our changing climate on their families, their farms, and future generations.

we cannot entrust our public lands to someone known to wage a campaign of censorship against fact and reason. now, later today, i'm going to be able to meet with mr. bernhardt to discuss his qualifications. i'm letting him know now i will ask him the same three questions that i have asked my republican colleagues in this chamber. one, does mr. bern heart a -- bernhardt agree that climate change is real. two, does he agree it is a product of human action, and, three, should the federal government have a role in combating its effects. his answers have been no, but let's hear what he says today. caring for our planet and being stewards for our natural resources is very important. i'm gravely concerned about bernhardt's nomination to the department of interior and i urge my colleagues to vote no on his confirmation.

one final point. it still amazes me donald trump campaigns on cleaning up the swamp and he does exactly the opposite when in office. an oil and gas lobbist as head of the department of interior. my god, that's an example of the swam biness -- swam biness of washington. when will his supporters understand that what he promised he's not delivering. it's befuddling. it's a sign of the weakness of our democracy that someone can walk into the presidency promising so many things and just immediately do the opposite and still a large chunk of americans say they support him. it's amazing me. now, on disaster relief. for months american citizens have about reel rg from natural -- reeling from natural

disaster and in need of federal aid. i would remind mr. bernhardt that many of these disasters is because the climate is warmer and the weather is changing. but rather than work with us to provide the much-needed aid to large chunks of america, our republican colleagues have once again decided to follow president trump and refuse compromise. they are so aphrase of him that -- afraid of him that even when he proposes something that is wrong and irrational, they do a 180-degree hairpin turn and do the opposite. many are awaiting aid and need help for their homes, farms, offices and factories, are under water literally in a lot of places still. just yesterday we house democrats offered a solution. we said let's provide disaster relief, not to some americans, but to all americans, struggling

to recover and rebuild from natural disasters. their new proposal that the house offered includes an additional $3 billion -- this is house democrats, not senate democrats, by the way. their new proposal considers an additional $3 billion to address urgent needs following floods in the midwest and the tornadoes in the south. this includes $1.5 billion for the army corps of engineers to support rivers, $1 billion in cbdg for long-term recovery needs and $7 million to help farmers to replace some of the farm animals that have been lost. yesterday's house bill comes in addition to the proposals that senator leahy and i offered last week and are similar to them, and in addition to the work that senator leahy did last month.

so again and again democrats are presented option after option for disaster funding that helps the midwest, helps the coast, helps the south, and helps puerto rico and other territories. none of our offers are either or, help this but not that. enough excuses from our republican colleagues. we've had enough of the slow playing, but more importantly, the people who need this help have had enough. the bottom line is very, very simple. the aid we seek is what americans have always done. when there's a disaster, we all come together and aid those areas in a disaster because we know when a huge natural disaster hits from god, an area can't deal with it on their own. they don't have the resources, the ability and they are many

times in trouble because of the disaster itself. we say come to the aid, but all of a sudden donald trump goes into the republican lunch a week and a half ago and says i don't want any aid to puerto rico. he falsely claims they got $91 billion, not true, and then all of our republican friends go ahead with it. we don't believe you should pick and choose. why did president trump single out puerto rico which are american citizens like everybody else? a lot of theories. but regardless of what your theory is, that is not the way to govern as president, and frankly, it's not the way we should govern as senators. it's bewildering that our republican colleagues have caved to president trump's what can be called a temper tantrum even though they are well aware of the problems and were ready to

help puerto rico before the temper tantrum. some are saying puerto rico is getting a little money, they are getting food stamp aid. great. let's give food stamp aid to everybody else. what about all the farms under water? what about all the homes that are flooded and need help? you give food stamp aid that doesn't help them. let's be fair. let's treat each area the same. let's do what we've done in the american tradition, come together when there's a disaster to help americans and not be so afraid of donald trump that when you know he's wrong, you just go along. the idea that puerto rico should be treated differently from the rest of america is insulting. it's against our american values, a betrayal of the promise to look after all american citizens, not because of their politics or not because of what their last names might sound like. american citizens, we come

together during times of need. democrats will not yield in our responsibility to all american citizens, and ill tell that to all my -- and i tell that to all my friends to the farm states even though who voted aid to new york. i never considered note voting aid to any place else in the country and always have. so i say to my friends, let's treat everyone fairly and we can get the much-needed disaster aid out there quickly. finally on chaos. over the past 12 days, the president has sought to fix his broken policies by breaking down his administration piece by piece. even in an administration where we've become used to seeing extremism and ill logic rule the day -- ill logic rule the day, a government of whim, a government of erraticness, a government of

temper tantrum, the last few days have a new dysfunction and it all has a root call. every time president trump faces a new challenge, he keeps pointing his fingers and blaming others, blame her, blame him. fire this one, fire that one. mr. president, president trump, you are not a tv host. you are the president. work to fix it. don't keep firing. don't keep changing policies from one day to the next and then abandoning them. roll up your sleeves, bring in the experts and work to fix it. you're the president. but the president seems to much more enjoy blaming people whether they are in their own administration, people of our political party, and everyone else in between than of actually solving the problems. he says he wants to keep americans safe, but president trump fires the d.h.s. secretary

and provokes shutdowns that cripples our ports of entry and airports. he says he wants diplomacy, but no one has undermine diplomacy more than president trump. he says that republicans will be the party of health care, yet he sues to devastate our health care system with no plans to replace it. in this administration chaos reins and the source of the chaos only comes from one place, the president of the united states and his erratic, vacillating, often vindictive attitude towards personnel and policies. when will president trump learn that the biggest problem is not the personnel executing the agenda, it is the extreme values against the law that he insists on. every day that president trump

treats the most consequential job in the world like it is some kind of reality tv show is another day that america's security, stability, and long-term prosperity is further imperiled. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i'd like to start by sharing a story about one of my personal heroes, debbie smith. debbie smith is living proof that one person can change the world if they have the courage to tell their story and fight for justice. in 1989, debbie was at home doing laundry. her husband, rob, a police officer, was asleep upstairs after working a night shift. suddenly, a masked man entered her home and threatened to kill her if she screamed. he blindfolded and abducted debbie and took her outside to a wooded area behind her home where he robbed and then repeatedly raped her. the man threatened her over and over, saying remember, i know where you live and i'll come back to kill you if you tell

anyone. after he finally left, debbie ran upstairs, sobbing, to tell her husband. she begged him not to make her go to the police, but he, as a police officer, insisted that she report the crime and go to the emergency room for a sexual assault forensic exam, sometimes called a rape kit exam. well, debbie did go for that examination and did report the crime, but for debbie and millions of other survivors, there were no immediate answers because of the nationwide backlog of untested rape kits, it would be years before she was able to identify her assailant and find any sort of peace. although the exact numbers are hard to estimate, experts believe that hundreds of thousands of rape kits remain untested in the united states, and of course each one of them represents a unique story of the sexual assault victim and holds the key to apprehending a

violent criminal. waiting for that evidence to be tested can be excruciateing. debbie said that fear took over her life. she was haunted by the man's voice threatening to kill her. she was terrified for herself and her family, and she even became suicidal for a time. it wasn't until six and a half years later that debbie finally got the answer she had been looking for when a d.n.a. cold kit revealed the identity of her rapist. shy later said in an interview that d.n.a. -- that that d.n.a. gave her back her life. debbie chose to harness her pain and to use it to save others from living years in uncertainty like she did. she has become the fiercest advocate in the nation for eliminating the rape kit backlog, and she has devoted her life to making a difference for

victims of sexual violence. the aptly named debbie smith act was originally signed into law in 2004 to provide state and local crime labs resources they need to end the backlog of untested d.n.a. evidence from unsolved crimes through additional funding and increased capacity. under this law, congress has provided more than a billion dollars since then in vital funding to forensic labs for analyzing crime scene d.n.a. evidence, up loading the results into the f.b.i.'s database, which is what happens to the test after it's completed, and i identifying -- identifying violent fugitives in taking these criminals off the street. not only does this sort of testing provide relief for victims like debbie and justice for their attackers, the evidence is also effective in assisting investigations for other crimes.

this is important because violent offenders will often commit many different types of crime in many different jurisdictions. for example, if a criminal commits a burglary in one state, d.n.a. evidence from that burglary case could be used later to connect this offender to an unsolved rape case in another state. the states thankfully are following suit. texas, i'm proud to say, has led the nation in passing mandatory rape kit testing laws, conducting audits of the backlog and using debbie smith funds to analyze untested sexual assault evidence. i'm proud to report that over the last seven years, we have reduced our statewide rape kit backlog from more than 20,000 to just over 2,000. this is an astounding achievement, and thankfully it's being replicated all across the nation because of this important legislation and because of the courage of one woman, debbie

smith. by ensuring the debbie smith act funds can be used to analyze evidence from all types of crime scenes, we can help forensic labs to address their systemic evidence backlogs and holistically target the cycle of violence. the debbie smith act of 2019 will reauthorize the debbie smith act program to continue the testing of d.n.a. evidence from unsolved crimes nationwide, including rape kits. it will also reauthorize d.n.a. training and education for law enforcement, correctional personnel, and court officers, as well as forensic nurses that take the d.n.a. evidence during these rape kit collections to make sure that all of them are prepared to gather the evidence and to test it. since 2005, debbie smith act funding has led to the creation of 43% of all forensic cotus profiles. again, this is the f.b.i. database where the rape kit

information can be entered to see if it matches previously entered d.n.a. profiles. so let me say that again. since 2005, debbie smith act funding has led to the creation of 43% of all forensic cotus profiles, as well as nearly 20% of all offender samples in cotus. in total, debbie smith d.n.a. grants are responsible for 45% of all matches made in cotus, which is truly remarkable. reauthorizing this legislation is a top priority for me as we work to continue chipping away at the nationwide rape kit backlog and provide these victims with the answers and the relief they need. over the years, i have had the pleasure of meeting with and working with debbie several times, and we have been fortunate to have her share her perspective before the judiciary committee on multiple occasions. i have also worked with two other inspiring victims from texas, lavinia masters and carol

bart who, like debbie, had the courage to come forward and talk about a very difficult event in her life, but to use her pain as a way to help others. and they have also lent their voices, lavinia and carol, to advocating to reforms to the rape kit backlog. i'm grateful to these and the countless other survivors who bravely share their stories and ideas as we work together to eliminate the backlog once and for all. i hope the debbie smith act of 2019 will soon be reported out of the judiciary committee and will quickly make its way to the senate floor, pass congress, and make its way to the president for his signature without delay. mr. president, on another matter, earlier this week, the house passed a bill to reauthorize the violence against women act. our democratic colleagues keep saying how important it is to quickly pass this legislation to

restore funding to vawa, as it's known, but i think it's important that we back up for a moment and remember why that funding lapsed in the first place. earlier this year, our democratic colleagues allowed vawa to get caught in the crosshairs of our funding debates, and they insisted we should not fund this vital program because it was overdue for updates, so their arguments were we want to reform or update vawa so we're going to let funding for it lapse. it just didn't make any sense at all. it's no secret that folks on the other side of the aisle think it's time we made some changes to the program. it's something i support, but we don't need to lapse the funding in order to do it. and this is an issue that our friend and colleague, senator ernst, continues to champion here in the senate, but the approach taken by our democratic colleagues to get those changes is a head scratcher, to say the least. there were, as i see it, two options on how to solve the

problem. one was to provide an extension of the previous funding through the end of the fiscal year. that would have allowed us to work on a long-term reauthorization under the regular processes here in the senate, which is, in my experience, always the preferred action to take. the second option, which our democratic colleagues chose, was to do nothing and to let this important legislation expire without a plan to replace it. for whatever reason, that's the option that democrats in the house chose. in the nearly two months since, we tried to negotiate a short-term extension to fund these vital programs. as recently as last week, our democratic colleagues had a chance to support the restoration of funding while our negotiations continued. the supplemental appropriations bill introduced by senator shelby would have funded the violence against women act through the end of the fiscal year, again giving us time to negotiate changes in the law

that democrats obviously want, but our democratic colleagues simply refuse to even support a procedural vote that would have allowed us to get on the bill and debate it and then amend it. it seems increasingly clear to me that rather than providing the funding for victims of sexual assault and other violence, rather than finding solutions, really what's happening here is politics is creeping in and rearing its ugly head. it's clear to me that this isn't about finding a solution. this is about political game playing. now rather than going through the regular order to create a long-term reauthorization that includes feedback from both sides, house democrats are trying to jam a one-sided piece of legislation through the house and then through the senate. i think this is very shameful, mr. president. our democratic colleagues first

refused to fund the violence against women act. they allowed it to expire, and now they are using victims of domestic violence as leverage to push through their rushed one-sided piece of legislation. throwing a temper tantrum and holding the violence against women act hostage until you get what you want is not a responsible way to legislate. i would encourage our colleagues across the aisle to put politics aside for just a moment and work with us to pass a short-term extension to vawa while we use the regular order to discuss long-term solutions. there is a good way and a bad way to do this, and unfortunately our democratic colleagues have chosen the bad way. but we would ask them to reconsider and work with us, not for us but for the victims of domestic violence that are suffering as a result of their game playing. mr. president, i yield the floor and i would note the absence of a quorum.

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

quorum call: