once the fund becomes insolvent absent a change in the law, medicare can only pay hospital benefits up to an amount of revenue that comes in in the trust fund in that given year. the same as those end things on the social security. anticipating that money will be worth as much and inflation won't have driven it up even more, the trustees estimate that in 2026 revenues will cover only 89% of the program costs and that by 2046, that figure will decline to 77%. pretty heavy cuts. medicare's other trust fund, which primarily pays for prescription services and physician services, operates differently. while it isn't in danger of insolvency because it gets money from the treasury's general fund and the premiums it collected from beneficiaries are adjusted annually. so it's growing costs will put greater pressure on

premium-paying beneficiaries and on federal taxpayers. that's where the excess comes from. last year general revenue transfers into the trust fund equaled 16.2% of all corporate and individual income taxes collected by the federal government. by the end of the 75-year win dorks the trustees expect this to increase to more than 28%. that will be more than 28% of all personal and corporate federal income taxes collected by the federal government. for years the trustees for social security and medicare have warned that these programs are unsustainable. let me repeat that again. for years the trustees of social security and medicare have warned that these programs are on an unsustainable path. but successive congresses and administrations have continued a bipartisan tradition of ignoring

this uncomfortable fact. of course, ignore the problem will not make it go away. and in this case, the opposite is true. the longer we wait to make financial repairs to social security and medicare, the more severe the changes need to be to ensure their solvency. we must work together on a bipartisan basis to find long-term solutions that secure the future of these programs, and the earlier we do it, will the -- the less painful it is. when considering a $59 trillion problem like this, there are no quick fixes or easy choices, but the sooner we act, the easier will be to preserve social security and medicare for the millions of americans who depend on them and who will be depending on them while safeguarding the programs for even more future generations. to be clear, i want to make sure social security and medicare are

able to continue providing benefits to current beneficiaries as well as those who may need these programs in the future. if we don't make changes to the way these programs currently operate, a lot of people in the future will just be out of luck. in order to prevent that from happening, we have to work together and we have to consider a wide variety of options to ensure their solvency in the long term. while we may disagree on what the ideal solution might look like, i hope we can all agree on the need to put our mandatory spending programs and the broader federal budget on a long-term sustainable fiscal course. that means having the revenues match up with the costs. they don't now. there are deficits already and the funds are being depleted. i ask for everyone's help to solve this, and it can only be done if both sides of the aisle agree to do something.

otherwise it eliminates one party or the other. i thank you for your attention. i yield the floor. i yield. mrs. capito: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from from west virginia. mrs. capito: thank you, mr. president. as we begin the month of may, which i think we're just two days in now, i come to the floor today to speak son a topic that is very close to my heart, and that's alzheimer's disease. like so many americans, i have felt the impact of this disease. i lost both of my parents to

alzheimer's disease, really pretty close to the same time t and my family, my brother and my sister and me, helped to care for them, and i understand the difficulties that caregivers and families have as they're trying to figure out how to face this difficult challenge, because this disease is devastating. especially to the patients and their loved ones. my father passed away in january of 2015, just one day after i was sworn in as a united states senator. my mother, shelley, passed away just a few months beforehand in september of 2014. there is not a book that has been written yet that can tell you what to do when a loved one is diagnosed, because each case is different, and there's no magic formula. but i feel strongly that we can do much more to help our caregivers. to easy the pain of those who -- to ease the pain of those who. the presiding officer: --

mrs. capito: to ease the pain of those who suffer from this disease. over 5 million americans are living with this disease and it is estimated as almost as 16 million will have the disease by 2050 if medical breakthroughs do not slow or, better yet, cure this disease. in my home state of west virginia, over 38,000 west virginians are current lit willing with the disease. these are just the ones we know about. a lot of those cases go undiagnosed or unreported. cross the country nearly one of every three seniors has alzheimer's or another type of dementia. the cost of caring -- and this is not the emotional cost, this is the actual dollar cost -- is also notable t an estimated $277 billion in 2018 increasing to $1.8 trillion by the year 2050. these numbers make it clear that

we have very much work we need to do for those living with the disease, for those caring, and for the many who face a future diagnosis. over the past few months, i've taken some first steps to address needs facing each of these groups. fortunately, this is not a task that i am working on alone. as i said, almost everybody is touched by this disease. and i have great bipartisan partners to work with. last month i joined senator stabenow, wicker, a understand menendez to introduce the change act. this bipartisan legislation encourages earlier assessment and diagnosis of alzheimer's. screen, detect, and diagnose alzheimer's and related dementias in their earlier stages. it also establishes payment measures to incentivize detection, diagnosis and discussion of appropriate care

planning services, including the potential for clinical trial participation. now, let's be honest here. a conversation along these lines on this topic is very difficult. early assessment and diagnosis offer the important possibility to the patient to be able to be involved in decisions regarding their own care. involve the people before they can no longer make that decision for themselves. i wish i'd been able to do that. i wish -- i tried, but i wasn't able to kind of get that answer that i was hoping for. that's a goal that senator stabenow, collins, markey, menendez and i had when we championed the hope for alzheimer's act back in the 114th congress. and it is a goal we achieved in 2016 when the centers for medicaid and medicare services announced that medicare would begin to pay for an individual care plan for newly diagnosed alzheimer's patients, effectively implementing our legislation. this new benefit went into

effect in the year 2017, and encourages doctors to give a clear diagnosis to patients with alzheimer's disease. that includes information about treatment options and what medical and community services are available. so here's the rub. unfortunately, in 2017, less than 1% of seniors living with alzheimer's actually received the care-planning benefit that was created in the hope for alzheimer's act. so our bipartisan team regathered, as i've mentioned -- these are not easy conversations. they're not ease sis for a family or medical professionals. and in late march we introduced the improving hope act. this bill would require the department of health and human services to conduct outreach, to make sure that our health care providers are aware of this important benefit, and to report back on rates of utilization and barriers that we need to know about. hopefully this will help ensure more alzheimer's patients and their families actually receive this benefit as well as the

information it's intended to provide. it's also important to remember that while many living with alzheimer's are in their later years -- like my parents were -- there are also more than 200,000 americans under the age of 65 that are living with alzheimer's. i've met several their in the early stages, and it's a difficult disease at any time, but for a younger person, it's tremendously sad. these individuals and their families also need access to support and services that most their age don't require or don't need. to make sure they have access, is recently joined senator collins, casey, and jones to introduce the younger on-set alzheimer's disease act. this will amend the older american act to allow individuals under the age of 60 who are diagnosed with younger on-set alzheimer's disease to access its support programs. under current lurks only those over the age of 60 are eligible for older american act programs,

leaving americans with younger i do not know set alzheimer's without access to vital programs and services. the younger on-set alzheimer's disease act would address this disparity and would ensure that these individuals have access to nutritional he wases is, supportive services and respite care through the national family caregiver support program. of course, it is also essential that while we continue working toward a cure -- that we continue to work towards a cure for that heartbreaking disease. as a member of the senate appropriations committee, i've worked with labor, health, and human services subcommittee chairman blunt and others to provide resources for crucial alzheimer's research. in fact, with the passage of the labor-h.h.s. labor last year, we passed the $2 million milestone when it comes to alzheimer's research. that means that we're making sure that n.i.h. has the funding it needs to continue its work and to help to support the work

of owes. i was recently very proud to welcome to west virginia dr. marie bernard, the deputy director of the national institutes of aging at n.i.h. she came to west virginia university where we visited the rockefeller neurosciences institute, which will be opening soon. actually, in about ten days i think. we spent the day learning more about the innovative and groundbreaking work being done there. and dr. bernard shared with the institute's faculty, students and staff the opportunity that increased funding can offer to the field of research at west virginia university. it's easy to get discouraged when you hear about a once-promising clinical trial not moving forward. it was just in the news like two weeks ago where they were moving forwarded with the clinical trial with medication and they had to stop the trial because they weren't getting satisfactory results. or when we learn another person we know has been diagnosed with the disease. or when a cure really does seem

so far away. but hearing the passion in dr. bernard's voice for the work she has dedicated her life to and seeing the excitement and hope in the eyes of the students who listened to her and the young researchers, well, that was proof to me that we are making progress. and an illustration of the will and determination that exists to continue making progress. well, i share that will and determination, and i will continue to work for the day when a patient and their families can more easily receive an early assessment and diagnosis, for the day when following such a diagnosis, they routinely receive an individual care plan to help guide them, for the day when the alzheimer's patients of all ages are able to access the older americans act support services. but best yet, of course that day when we can celebrate the first person cured of alzheimer's disease. i think of this as a mission for

me in loving memory of both of my parents who fought hard through the diagnosis, but in the end, for those of you who have been exposed to this through your own families, it's a losing battle. and a sad battle and a tough battle and emotionally and financially draining. so i look forward to working with my colleagues to make all of this and so much more a reality of those living with alzheimer's. and those who care and love them. thank you. i yield the floor.

mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. the senator is recognized. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to discuss special counsel robert mueller's recent report, which is entitled "the report on the investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 presidential elections." the mueller investigation was authorized to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, as well as any lengths and/or coordination between the russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of donald trump.

deputy attorney general rod rosenstein said, when appointing the special counsel, that the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command. i am confident that special counsel mueller will follow the facts, apply the law, and reach a just result. i encourage all americans to read the redacted version of the mueller report and draw their own conclusions. the report lays out in stark detail russia's attack on our country before and during our 2016 elections. and the special counsel rightly concluded that the russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in a sweeping and systematic fashion. mr. president, in january 2018, i issued a report on behalf of

the democrats on the senate foreign relations committee entitled "putin's asymmetric assault on democracy in russia and europe and its implications on u.s. national security." that report outlined some of the same tactics used by russia in europe that the mueller report identifies were used in our 2016 elections. mr. putin has waged war against democracy. the mueller report concluded that russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. first, a russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate donald j. trump and disparage presidential candidate hillary clinton. second, a computer intrusion operation was conducted against entities, colleagues, and volunteers working on the clinton campaign and then released stolen documents.

the investigation also identified numerous links between the russian government and the trump campaign. when discussing the mueller report, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein recently said, there was overwhelming evidence that russia's operatives hacked american computers, defrauded american citizens, and that is only the tip of the iceberg of the comprehensive russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discourse, and undermine america, just like they do in many other countries. end quote. the director of national intelligence testified before the senate in january that, quote, even as russia faces a weakening economy, the kremlin is stepping up its campaign to divide western political and security institutions and undermine the post world war ii international order. we expect russia will continue to wage its information war against democracies and to use

social media to attempt to divide our societies. the special counsel fulfilled his mandate to fully investigate both criminal acts surrounding the 2016 elections as well as efforts to obstruct this critical investigation. let me be clear that president trump has consistently taken steps to deny russia's involvement in tampering in our elections, resisted efforts to hold russia accountable, besmirched the reputation of the special counsel while trying to dismiss him or willfully impeding his investigation and attacked the integrity of our law enforcement agencies. despite the president's egregious behavior, special counsel's work has resulted in dozens of indictments and numerous convictions and guilty pleas. several legal cases and investigations are still ongoing. let me remind my colleagues that while the special counsel has delivered its final report there are several ongoing federal investigations and criminal trials including those publicly

known in the southern district of new york and in washington, d.c. congress must now fulfill its oversight obligations under the constitution. in order to prevent future attacks on our country and stem abuses of power, we must review a complete copy of the report as soon as possible and hear direct testimony from special counsel mueller. the mueller report laid out numerous disturbing episodes where behavior by president trump may have constituted obstruction of justice. in fact, the report stated that, quote, if we had confidence after a thor row investigation of the l facts and the president did not commit obstruction of justice we would so state based on the facts and applicable legal standards. however, we are unable to reach that judgment. the evidence we obtained about the president's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct had occurred. indeed the report stated that

the president's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful but it is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or assent to his requests. congress should therefore closely examine the president's behavior, keeping in mind the president's obligations to fully execute the laws and preserve, protect and defend the constitution. members of congress took an oath as well as to support the constitution before taking office. the american public now deserves to hear directly from special counsel robert mueller will you the relevant -- through the relevant house and senate committees. congress still has the ability to make a judgment on the obstruction of justice. congress must fulfill its oversight function under the constitution and do all we can to prevent future attacks on our country and stem abuses of power and corruption. congress has an obligation to understand the report fully and

respond in such a way to prevent such attacks from happening in the future. this should involve prompt and thorough hearings in both the house and senate. here are some areas that the senate should consider legislative action. first, if americans is approached by a foreign entity about an involvement in an american election that american should have certain responsibilities to immediately notify appropriate law enforcement agencies. i think many of us thought that was probably already the law. second, legislation should be considered to protect our election from foreign interference by imposing appropriate responsibility on social media platforms and amending our election laws in regards to attribution on advertisements including through social media. third, the senate should consider additional sanctions on russia for its undocumented attacks against our 2016 elections. congress must continue to take the lead in defending u.s. national security against continuing russia aggression against democratic institutions

at home and abroad. earlier this year i joined other senators in introducing the defending america security from kremlin aggression act of 2019. this comprehensive legislation seeks to increase economic, political and diplomatic pressure on the russian federation in response to russia's interference and democratic processes abroad, malign influence in syria and aggression against ukraine. i'm pleased to work with my colleagues on a comprehensive bipartisan effort to counter russia's pervasive attacks on our electoral system and cyber infrastructure. i introduced the election systems integrity act to better america's election systems so we are aware when a foreign national a or interest seeks to take ownership or control of election service providers or related infrastructure. the american people have every reason to be disappointed and alarmed at the lack of preparedness to defend this nation. news reports just last week

suggested the former homeland security secretary nielsen unsuccessfully tried to elevate the u.s. government response to intiewt it threat to the -- cybersecurity threat because president trump was not interested in the issue and did not want to call into question his election victory with russia's assistance. jared kushner inconceivably tried to argue that russia's interference amounted to a couple of facebook ads and congressional special counsel's investigations were more harmful to the u.s. than the actual russian interference. congress needs to look very carefully and independently at the ten episodes which could constitute obstruction of justice by trump where attorney general barr disagreed with some of the special counsel's legal theories and felt some of the episodes examined did not amount to obstruction as a matter of

law. remember that president trump tried to label special counsel mueller's probe as a witch hunt. the special counsel mueller, a well-respected former f.b.i. director under both president bush and obama who was unanimously confirmed by the senate for that position on two separate occasions kept his head down and did his work without fear or favor. the special counsel's investigation has resulted insofar 199 criminal counts, 37 people and entities have been indicted, charged as a result of the investigation, 7 guilty pleas and 1 trial conviction, 5 people sentenced to prison. the report is clear that the trump campaign knew it would benefit from russia's illegal activities. several individuals affiliated with the trump campaign lied to the office and to congress about their interaction with russian affiliated individuals. mueller's report states some corroborating electronic

comiewkses were deleted. one editorial in "the washington post" asked the question, how could there be obstruction of justice even if there was little evidence to support the underlying suspicion of trump's campaign coordination with russia? first, mr. mueller argued obstruction of justice can be motivated by a desire to protect nine criminal personal interests to protect against investigations or underlying criminal liability falls into a gray area or to avoid personal embarrassment. the injury to the integrity of the justice system is the same regardless of whether a person committed an underlying wrong. more specifically, the president had a motive to put the f.b.i., russia's investigation behind him, mr. mueller wrote. a thorough f.b.i. investigation would uncover facts about the campaign and the president's personally that the president could have understood to be crimes or give rise to personal and political concerns.

i'm quoting directly from the mueller report. for the record the president did not fully cooperate with special counsel mueller's investigation. the president refused to sit for an interview. he has taken every opportunity to say that this process was a witch hunt and done all he can to undermine the authority of the special counsel, its investigators, its purpose and, therefore, its results. as special counsel mueller noted in his final report, beginning in december 2017 the special counsel sought for more than a year to interview the president on topics relevant to russia election interference and obstruction of justice, we received the president's written responses, informed could you -l of the insufficiency of those responses. we considered whether to issue a subpoena, we viewed the written answers to be inadequate but at that point our investigation made significant progress and produced substantial evidence

for our report. we thus weighed the cost of potentially lengthy constitutional litigation and resulting delay in finishing our investigation. so, mr. president, there's no question that the president did not cooperate as mr. mueller had requested. special counsel mueller noted he declined to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment due to the acceptance of the justice department's office of legal counsel's opinion prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president. special counsel stated while the office of legal counsel opinion holds that a sitting president may not be prosecuted, the same opinion recognizes that a criminal investigation during the president's term is permissible. the opinion also recognizes that a president does not have immunity after he leaves office. given those considerations, the facts known to us and the strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of the criminal justice system, we conducted a

thorough factual investigation in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and document material were made available. and that's ending a quote by the special counsel. mr. mueller's report is a clear directive to congress to move forward with its own proceedings. the criminal process at issue here for a sitting president is completely separate and independent of both the congressional oversight power and the congressional impeachment power for high crimes and misdemeanors. even if the house decides to begin impeachment proceedings against the president it has the sole power to do so. or even if the senate were to convict the president, it has the sole power to do that. the constitution provides that the party convicted shall nonetheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law. the report emphasizes the president's constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws under article 2, section 3, of the constitution and notes that the proper supervision of criminal law does

not demand freedom for the president to act with a corrupt intentions of shielding himself from criminal punishment, avoiding the financial liability or preventing personal embarrassment. congress should take action and convene oversight hearings on the mueller report and the underlining evidence. the report states, and again i'm quoting, our investigation found multiple acts by the president that were culpable of asserting undue influence over law enforcement investigation tion including the russia interference and obstruction. the incidents were often carried out through one on one meetings in which the president sought to use his official power outside of usual channels. end quote. these actions range from efforts to remove the special counsel and to reverse the effect of the attorney general's recusal to the attempt to use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses

with the potential to influence their testimony, viewing acts collectively can help illuminate their significance. it's again quoting from the mueller report. these are disturbing and troubling actions by the president. congress needs to get to the bottom of what happened and lay the bare facts for all americans to see. the report continues, the president's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful c, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or assent to his request. comey did not end the investigation of flynn which ultimately resulted in flynn's prosecution and conviction for lying to the f.b.i. mcgahn did not tell acting attorney general rod rosenstein that the special counsel must be removed but was instead prepared to resign over the president's order. le do you i ask and ledowsky did

not cooperate and mcgahn refused to recede about directions to have special counsel removed despite the president's multiple demands that he do so. that's again quoting from the mueller report. the american people can take little comfort in the fact that the episodes of potential obstruction of justice would have been much worse had the president's staff actually followed through on his orders. the misconduct here emanates from the president himself. the report notes the marked change in the president's behavior after the firing of f.b.i. director comey once the president realized that the investigators were conducting an obstruction of justice inquiry into his own conduct, the president launched public attacks on the investigation and individuals involved in it and who could possess evidence adverse to the president. while in private the president engaged in a series of targeted efforts to control the investigation. for instance, the president

attempted to remove the special counsel. he sought to have the attorney general sessions recuse himself and limit the investigation. he sought to prevent public disclosure of information about the june 9, 2016 meeting between russia and campaign officials. and he used public forums to attack potential witnesses who may offer adverse information. and to praise witnesses who declined to operate with the government. the report continues. the conclusion that congress may apply the obstruction laws to the president's corrupt exercise of the powers of the office accords with our kiewj system -- constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law. in some, contrary to a position taken by the president's counsel, we conclude that in light of the supreme court's precedent governing separation of powers issue, we have a valid basis to investigate this report and the obstruction of the

statutes would not be an impermissible burden to supervise prosecutal conduct. the record concludes, and i quote, the protection of the criminal justice system from corrupt acts by any person, including the president, accords with the fundamental principles of our government that no person in this country is so high that he is above the law. and they cited a case of u.s. versus leigh, clinton versus jones, and congress versus nixon, congress should closely examine, investigate, and take testimony on the following episodes and events related to potential obstruction by president trump. the special counsel examined these episodes in great detail and found supporting documents an testimonial evidence that raised significant concerns about potential wrongdoing in a number of cases, including trump

campaign's response about russia's support for trump, conduct involving f.b.i. director comey and national security advisor michael flynn, the president's reaction to the continuing russia investigation, the president's termination of comey and efforts to have rosenstein take responsibility, the appointment of special counsel and the efforts to remove him, efforts that curtailed the special counsel's investigation, efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence or cooperation or testimony, to have attorney general sessions take control of the investigation after recusal, efforts to have the white house counsel don mcgahn to have the special counsel removed, conduct towards flynn and manafort, and conduct involving michael cohen. congress should rise to its responsible constitutional duty and produce a road map to the

mueller report both with interference of the 2016 election. i will yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate armed services committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 160 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 160, recognizing the contributions of defense laboratories and so are forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the motion be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the

motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. res. 144. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 144, designating may 5, 2019, as the national day for awareness of missing native american women and girls. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 185, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution, 185, commending the northwest missouri state university bear cats men's basketball for

another collegiate athletic association division ii national championship victory. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no the intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration s. res. 186, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution, 186, recognizing april 30, 2019, as celebrating young americans. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res.

187, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 187, recognizing the cultural and historical significance of the cinco de mayo holiday. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i know of no further debate on the measure. the presiding officer: if there's no further debate, the question is on adoption of the resolution. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it, the ayes do have it. the resolution is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 693 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report.

the clerk: s. 693, a bill to amend bill 96, united states code, and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged -- the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3:00 p.m., monday, may 6, further, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the senate proceed to executive session an resume consideration of the banco nomination. finally, notwithstanding the rules of 22, the nomination

ripens on monday. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: if there is no further business, i ask that the senate stand adjourned mr. schumer: mr. president, attorney general barr's performance in yesterday's judiciary committee hearing