these kids, not the way to help these families, and i hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me in opposing these policies of discrimination. mr. president, i yield the floor. i also note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to recognize --. the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call. mr. boozman: i ask that it is dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. boozman: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to

recognize a remarkable arkansan at the end of a 38-year army career. lieutenant general andrei pigey who will retire in september is the deputy chief of staff for army logistics. his nearly four-decade career has taken him literally all over the world but his roots are and always have been in arkansas. the general was born in stamps, arkansas, a small town in lafayette county with less than 3,000 people. the son of a world war ii army veteran, the general didn't have his sights set on a career of military service from a young age. after he graduated from high school, he chose to go to the university of arkansas pine bluff, about two and a half hours from home. he was a smart kid, so he

received an academic scholarship to attend school. there was no real reason for him to choose to go into rotc. in fact, according to him, the only reason he entered army rotc was because the school allowed him to substitute it for an otherwise mandatory physical education class that would have required him to walk all the way across the campus. that seemingly mundane decision to save himself a few steps each day and maybe allow him to sleep in a few more minutes ended up being a life-changing decision for him. it set him on a path to an extraordinary career that he probably couldn't have dreamed of at the time. all these years the general served in jobs at fort hood texas; soul, south korea,

germany, macdill air force base, florida, and many other places. he was deployed to kuwait, bosnia and aircraft and commanded thousands of soldiers and managed an $11 billion army portfolio. his capacity building efforts in aircraft and headed, trained and equipped missions in syria. he also directed logistics work in the middle east, north africa and central asia. for his exemplary service, the general has earned the legion of merit, the bronze star, the distinguished service medal, and many other recognitions. throughout all of his great accomplishments and prominent positions, he has maintained a strong connection to his alma mater and his arkansas roots. for his work with and on behalf

of his school, the current chancellor at uapb, lawrence alexander, said of the general, he not only serves as a beacon of light and hope to our university and our community, but also to our state and our country. he continues to positively impact the lives of many as well as inspiring a new generation of future military leaders, end quote. for all of his accomplishments, the general was inducted into the arkansas black hall of fame last year. now he's decided that its time to take off his army uniform to pursue his next adventure with his wife cassie. the general has risen to such incredible heights during his career. he is a hero in the sense of his outstanding military service, but more importantly, he is a hero in the sense that when you

talk about duty, honor, country, and integrity, he is the guy who is a great example for all of us. one of the best we can find and look to. i'm so proud to call him a fellow arkansan and a friend. and on behalf of all arkansans, i wish him and his wife cassie much happiness in the next chapter of their lives. thank you, mr. president. and with that, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

ms. ernst: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. ms. ernst: mr. president, i ask that we vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. ernst: mr. president, with august around the corner, countless iowans, are planning to fill up their gas tanks and take to our scenic highways for one last summer road trip. i can tell you one thing, i'll be hitting the iowa roadways myself, and i cannot wait, folks. throughout the month i'll be continuing on what i call my 99 county tour, an annual tradition where i visit each and every one of iowa's 99 counties.

i'll be logging hundreds of miles and speaking with thousands of iowans. and it doesn't get any better than heading back home, getting out of this d.c. smog, and talking with folks about the issues that matter most to them, like solutions to lower prescription drug prices, policies to help our farmers and small businesses thrive, and efforts to cut wasteful spending and to make them squeal here in washington. so far this year my tour has brought me to over 50 iowa counties, and i'm aiming to visit another 30 or so before labor day. i'll be chris crossing the -- crisscrossing the state, visiting -- holding town halls and visiting farms, plants, and everyone else currently creating

jobs and contributing to iowa's economic boon and record unemployment. meeting with and hearing from my fellow iowans is one of the best and most important parts of my job. our elected officials should always be out there listening to the people we work for. it's our job, and it really does make us more effective lawmakers. for iowans and folks across the nation plarning to hit the road this august -- planning to hit the road this august, i hope you take advantage of all iowa has to offer. 99 counties means 99 unique communities for road warriors and families to visit and enjoy. there are national challenges like the national monument, a sacred site located in clayton county, featuring more than 200

americanian mounds, and historic gems like the hubert hoover national historic site in cedar county and louis and clark state park. and i'm sure many will feed their social media feeds with attractions like the american gothic house, the world's largest concrete nome, and the famed field of dreams. who could forget the iowa state fair? truly the best state fair in north america and the crown jewel of iowa attractions, with everything from the butter cow to peanut butter and jelly on a stick, hot beef sundaes and hot

dogs. the iowa state fair lists over 69 foods on a stick -- that's right, it's on a stick, folks. you can try that at the fair this august. but while you're out on the road, there are a few things that you will not be able to avoid. first and foremost, democrats running for president. folks, they are everywhere in iowa. you will not miss them. you also can't avoid casey's pizza and why would you want to? that's my question. and now inside the d.c. swamp people may turn their nose up at gas station pizza, but iowans know it doesn't get better than pizza at k.c.'s. another thing iowans will not be able to avoid this august, it is me. if i'm out on my tour this

august or see me at a town hall or local business or organization or maybe even gassing up my harley davidson at k.c.'s or waiting in lining for a slice of pizza, be sure to stop in and say hello. hit the roads, make one last trip with the family, see the sites, and swing through iowa, visit our iowa nice folks. so, with that, mr. president, i will yield the floor.

mr. daines: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. daines: as we're getting ready for a busy august work period, i'm very much looking forward to spending time in big sky country back home in montana and away from the swamp enjoying that beautiful state take i'm so lucky to call home. in between meetings, i'm taking a few days to enjoy montana's great outdoors, including spending three days backpacking in the bear tooth wilderness with my sweet wife, cindy, and a cowell of our dogs. as an avid outdoorsman, i was raised to appreciate public lands and cherish them and i can assure you, nothing beats getting off the grid for a bit where there's no cell phone coverage unless you get on top of the peaks with my sweetheart, a couple of our pups enjoying

montana's beauty with a fly rod, and chasing cuts and sometimes even goldens, some of montana's highest lakes. i'll also be spending a lot of time on the road traveling all over montana. i get to each of montana's 56 counties every congressional period every corner of our state, down to ecolack, to the northwest corner of our state, places like libby, troy, even yack. i'll also work to get to one of my favorite places in montana. that's the famous jersey lily in ingamore. this is not well known. it's off the beaten path. but the jersey lily in montana is home to the best bean soup in big sky country. if you ever find yourself in

east central montana, rose bud county, you've got to get off of highway 12 and stop in. i've known the owner of that restaurant for many years, boots and june. there's a montana name for you, boots. they not only serve up great food and even better conversation but they're yet another example of a local family business that are the bedrock of our small towns and our counties across montana. the fine folks over at the jersey lily is what montana is all about. it's hard work. it's family values, passion for their community, passion for our great country. i'm a proud, frequent customer of the jersey lily, and i can't wait for my next bowl of bean soup. thank you, mr. president. i yield back the floor.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president, i was told i had five minutes to talk about -- i was first told i had some time to talk about everything you can be doing in missouri in the next month or so with your family. then i was told i had five minutes and those seemed to be impossible restrictions for me. so let me see how many things i can talk about here as we end the summer, family travel season. there are other people traveling after the summer, families, still some of them have their summer vacations. some schools start after labor day. some before. so i'm sure i'll -- i'm for sure going to leave things out that i'd be glad to talk about at a later time. let me talk first, just mention a couple of our national parks. if you leave my hometown, springfield, missouri, and head west, pretty quickly you get to the national battlefield park, battle in august of 1861.

several thousand people fighting who really weren't prepared to fight. they weren't trained. they weren't ready. it's a big battle that made a big difference in what happened in missouri in the war. you drive beyond that, not too far and you get to diamond, missouri, where the george washington carver national monument is. it's about a 240-acre park on a farm that george washington carver grew up, a farm he was born on as a slave but quickly was free and was raised by the older white couple that lived there, managed to get to school there a little bit and nearby soon and those years after the civil war not only became a leading scientist and spokesman for agriculture in the country but also when this monument was established in 1943, it was the first national park dedicated to an african american.

now, i've got to circle back a little bit to get to branson but with 50 theaters in branson, they have more theater seats than broadway. it's never too early to find a show you want to see in branson. silver dollar city is there, great park in the summer. last year was named the number one christmas venue in america to visit. now we're back to my hometown of springfield, the way these come up in my list. the home of bass pro shops but the wonders of national wildlife museum right there by bass pro. it was named america's best aquarium by "u.s.a. today" travel last year. that museum has 3,000 fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibious animals there. a park we just added to or national park system, popped up

to almost st. louis now, st. genevieve where you have french character texture that dates back -- french architecture that dates back. this is the first time they've had a full time park person there. but this park is rising out of what that community has preserved so well for so long. a number of houses there that reflect that early french architecture along the mississippi river. south of there at perryville is the full-size replica of the vietnam veterans memorial. there have been some traveling memorials. there's a couple of memorials that are miniature in some way of the vietnam memorial but at perryville, missouri, you can see a full-size replica. it's on a 47-acre family farm that jim edelman and his family made possible along with other

donations. i was there not too long ago. i was at the vietnam wall here not too long ago. they are in different places but they're the same wall, exactly the same size, the same names, the same way to visit. on the other side of our state at kansas city, the national negro league baseball museum at kansas city. senator kaine and i actually this week introduced legislation for a memorial coin to go to the benefit of the negro league baseball museum in kansas city. congressman cleaver and stivers in the house did the same thing. while in kansas city at the end of the 100-year centennial, the centennial of world war i, the world war i museum in kansas city was the world war i memorial dedicated in the 1920's. it is the number one place in

america to think about the war and think about all the impact that the war has had in the hundred years that have passed since then. if you want to go north to kansas -- to st. joseph, you of course you pass baseball stadiums and football fields, good places to visit if you're there at the right time. but in st. joseph, the pony express museum, that pony express didn't last very long but it became an important part of the west. these young riders that were suddenly before telegraph taking a message as quick as they could ride and change from one rider to another from st. joe to california. wouldn't want to leave out mark twain and hannibal. there was a time when mark twain was by far the best read american author anywhere in the world and that hannibal boyhood still an important part of that. i'm going to circle right back

down to the gateway arch in st. louis where the arch is really with 135 million people visiting the arch since 1963, just went through that 60-year renewal of the facility, connected it better to downtown. it's really the first example of what the park service hope will be the next century of the park, a true public-private partnership. and in going to all these places, we drove by lots of lakes and lots of fishing and lots of boating and there are a lot of things to do in our state. we're like many states, tourism is our second biggest industry and we look forward, mr. president, to people visiting us this summer and next year and the years after that.

mrs. blackburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate the opportunity to participate today and talk a little bit about my state of

tennessee. and i will tell you as we're talking about what we're going to do and how we're going to be working across our state during the august work period and how we're looking forward to having people visit our state during that time, one of the things that strikes me so very often, when people talk about tennessee, when they hear that i'm from tennessee, they will tough and say that is one of the most beautiful states. and the state's beauty with rivers and lakes and rolling hills and mountains and the flat lands over toward memphis. indeed it is. it's very long. and that also is quite remarkable to people. when they start to drive through the state, they say i spend the whole day driving through the state of tennessee. from the time they enter up

around mountain city and bristol and make their way through to memphis, it does really take the day. and i think one of the things that interests people when they cross into tennessee is they're -- as they're going down i-81 is to see the bristol motor speedway and to realize that this is truly a feat of engineering. nascar is very popular and realize the innovation and the creativity that has gone into creating that speedway. and then to be there on race day. i'll tell you that is something that is quite amazing. and to see those cars speeding around those banked turns and realize it is people who are

handling these feats of engine engineering. and also to appreciate in addition to the bristol motor speedway and car racing, to also know that tennessee is a state that is very important to the automotive industry. when you're looking at volkswagen in chattanooga and you have the g.m. facility at spring hill. you have nissan, north america. their headquarters is located in cold springs right outside of nashville, their manufacturing plant. in sure that, -- smyrna, you have the toyota plant over in west tennessee. we tennesseans are also excited about i think prospect of having an aerospace park that is up at tricities. and as a member of the committee, i have had the privilege of working with the

tricities airport and local officials to make that a destination and to make it a reality. a little further down in the state as you get onto i-40, you'll find yourself in the middle of the great smoky mountains national park the most visited park in our national parks system. and we're continuing to work -- senator alexander and i are continuing to work to designate the dean stone bridge on the foothills parkway there in blunt county, and dean stone was a pillar of the community, and naming the bridge in honor of him is a perfect way to thank him for his dedication and improving the lives of all those who live and enjoy the smokies in that part of our state. and the smokies are second? my heart -- and the smokies are second in my heart to one

tennessee landmark. you want to see the mother church of country music, which is the ryman auditorium. the best singers in the world leave their festivals and they want to have the opportunity to play just one song on the stage of the ryman auditorium, and it is a wonderful place to be, to celebrate tennessee's creativity and to celebrate the music that fills our hearts and our lives. and when i was a member in the house, mr. president, i worked tirelessly for several years and fought for the unanimous package of the passage of the music modernization act. and that is something that fixed a lot of loopholes that were

there in u.s. law, and it adversely impacted our songwriters as they were facing copywrite many times, and upon coming to the senate, i've worked with senator feinstein by continuing the fight on behalf of our songwriters to close the loopholes that exempt broadcast radio from paying royalties to music creators. and tennessee is also known for some other wonderful music a bill bit further down i-40, and that is the blues, and you can't leave the state of tennessee without going through memphis. having a visit over to biel street right there on the banks of the mighty mississippi. and the the mississippi river is our nation's original superhighway, if you will. it is vitally important not only to river but to rail, to air, to

highway transportation, networks. all of these have found their way along west tennessee's river lands. shipping and logistics giant fedex has its corporate headquarters in memphis. memphis is the city of their founding and their headquarters location, and that takes advantage of memphis international airport and their cargo operations center. all that being said, one of the things that individuals repeatedly comment on when they talk about tennessee is how nice the people are in tennessee, how welcoming they are, how they engage you and want to make certain that you come back. and you will find in tennessee a very diverse community. yes, we are the home to artists

and athletes. we are the home to engineers, to farmers, to doctors, to soldiers, and to veterans, and it is indeed one of the best places on the face of the earth to call home, and indeed a certain destination, not-to-be-missed destination for all americans. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

ms. murkowski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to my interns christopher brown it aiden

coval, elizabeth mears, kalely spencer, and nicholas shock and clair baldwin. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i would ask consent to speak for ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: thank you, mr. president. so my colleagues have been to the floor here for the past little bit here talking about ver just road trips in their state, destinations, favorite destinations. so when you think about where's your favorite place, it's like saying which sun is your favorite sun. of course we all have our favorite places all around our statement but i got to thinking about road trips and i thought, well, road trips in alaska perhaps take a little bit of a different meaning than in other states. i come from a state -- we all know, we talk about it at that lot, senator sullivan and i, we

come from a big state. we got over 663,000 square miles. but within those 663,000 square miles we don't have a lot of roads. over 82% of the communities in the state of alaska are not connected by roads. we're not part of the road system. so traveling in alaska can be a little bit of an adventure. flexibility is always key. and more often than not, what you do when you're in a big state is you move around from town to town and you rely on the commercial carriers. you rely on alaska airlines. you rely on raven. you rely on some of the others. but it is -- it's pretty much moving around by air. but sometimes -- sometimes it isn't possible to get around by air all the time. sometimes we have what i call forced road trips. not that i don't want to be on our roads.

but once you get on our roads, you're on them for a fairly long time. and sometimes the jets don't fly. sometimes the jets don't fly because you've got weather. sometimes the jets don't fly because you have a volcano that goes off. i was holding a field hearing in fairbanks and needed to get down to anchorage and pavlov blew. pavlov is one of our more active volcanoes and it shuts down the airspace. so what was going to be an hour trip home was -- 45-minute trip home turned out to be a 359-mile drive home, seven hours that evening. we had another trip going out of valdez to anchorage, needed to get back to anchorage that night. but the fog and the wind in valdez says there's no planes that are coming in to take you out and they might not be there the next day, they might not be

there the next day after that. there's bad weather. the pass is shutting down. you better move now. so you get in a car and 300 miles layer, five hours later, you are in anchorage. i had senator manchin with me just over the 4th of july break, and we were headed from anchorage to king salmon to attend a ribbon cutting for a national park service facility. and we got fogged out in the morning and waited for hours in the airport and then got word that the fog had lifted and were getting ready to get on a plane, but then they call a mechanical. and if there is a mechanical, i'm with you. we just don't fly. so senator manchin turned to me and said, l i know it's a long way. but can't we just drive there? and that was my opportunity to turn to my colleague in another learning moment and tell him, nope, this is one of those 82%

of our communities where there is no roads. so, joe, we're not -- we're not flying. so aviation really is our lifeline here. and if you're not on alaska airlines, you are on one of our many, many bush carriers. this is a picture of a pilot that i had an opportunity to fly with, eric, who is the pilot and the owner the arctic backcountry flying service. this is his cessna 206. but more often than not, these are the type of aircraft that we are in. we're not flying in some fancy leased jet. we are -- we are -- we're in a small -- small, what we call bush carrier. that's when we were airstrips -- that's when we have airstrips that we can land on. but we don't have airstrips in many of our communities.

what we do is we come in and out on the water, on our float planes. some people call them sea planes. out here, we call them float planes. so here's a picture of me and secretary perry. we were on kodiak island. we had flown over there on alaska airlines. but in order to get around you either take a boat or take a float plane. we were flying over to the air harbor on kodiak island. that's how we get around is son the water. sometimes you don't have the water, though, and in a place like alaska, what we do have in the wintertime is a fair amount of snow. so you take your floats off and you put your skis on. you can see the wheels there. so this plane can land in anchorage or take off in anchorage on the wheels. but when you're up on ruth glacier, as this cessna 185 is, you're landing on skis.

thattest goes our attention a little bit. a little bit different than a float plane. but it gets you in and out of what you need to get in and out of. there's some places where you don't have the airstrip. a float plane can't land and the only way to get in and out is by helicopter. little diamede island is owned by us. there is about 150-plus people that live out there on daamede, have a school, a community center. but how do you get the mail? how do people move in and out? by helicopter. by helicopter. the mail is delivered by helicopter. there is that he a few -- there's a few weeks in the wintertime, maybe sometimes as much as a couple months, when the ocean freezes over and they can kind of make a strip where a

plane can land on the ice. but most of the year you fly in and out on helicopter. so we fly. the other way that we get around when you don't have a lot of road spond our rivers. -- a lot of roads is on rivers. one thing is alaska is blessed with is a lot of rivers. we've 365,000 miles of rivers. in the summertime those rivers are our roads. this is a picture up river in the village of nepaskiak. we had attorney general barr with us in may. we took him up river. this is how he traveled. this is the bethel search and rescue boats there. they're not yachts. that he is are functional. they've got decent motors own them. these are workhorses. but this is how we travel in the

summer is up and down these rivers. so in the summer it makes it possible to move around these communities. in the winter you move around by snow machine and you have trucks out there as well. you have vehicles out there. and when the rivers freeze, you now have your frozen highway and you have -- you can have a hundred miles, the kukokwim plowed out 250 miles of road on the river. this is frozen river. this is actually a picture that was taken when we took secretary monize from bethel to oscarville. we had about four other members of the senate. we had a field hearing of the field and natural resources committee. we had it in oscarville. and we had a motorcade on ice.

it was basically about six trucks going down the river but the secretary said it was his first official truck motorcade on ice. but that really does allow us to get around is when the rivers are frozen over. down in the southeastern part of the state where i was born and spent a lot of my growing up years there, these are all islanded communities. the way that we move around, we either fly alaska airlines or smaller carriers or we rely on our alaska marine highway system, our ferry system. this is our -- this is our marine life line. this is how we move freight, how we move vehicles, how we move goods, how we move people. right now our very system is threatened on a host of

different levels which really hurts my heart. because as one who knows how dependent we are on being able to move on the water, these types of vessels that can move us -- move us in a way that is efficient, this is our road. the marine highway system is our road. we're working in the state right now to address it but again, yet one more -- one more way that i do my road trips when i'm back home in the state. now, in the interior you have communities -- again, these are isolated communities. there is no road system that gets you there. they're small villages, arctic villages, about 500 people strong. i was in arctic village just in july. and this is how you're picked up at the airport. not a lot of trucks. it's basically four wheelers. it's a.t.v.'s and everybody just hops on. so this was my -- this was my

driver for the day. and again, just hop on the back and ride. and then there are some communities where really the way that you are getting around is not on a road, not on a sidewalk but on just a wooden trail, a wooden boardwalk. this is the village of napaskiak in the bethel region in the y.k. delta. but it's just planks put on top of the tundra because the area is so marshy that you cannot walk on t. you'd need hip waders and better to travel through it. so just walking around on the boardwalk is the extent of your road trip in a place like nunn nip qaw or napaskiak.

wintertime gives us a little more freedom, whether it's freedom to be on a frozen river or freedom to be out on the arctic ocean. this is a picture of me with a friend up in -- on the arctic ocean. it looks like a lot of fun. we're going out snow machining. we were going out to work because the community had harvested a whale and the whaler -- the whaling crew and the community were taking their snow machines out to load the muck tuck on to sleds to haul back to the community to be sharing as part of their subsistance food. we were going out to help the community harvest that whale. so this is not fun and recreation, but this is your means of transportation. this is your workhorse. but we do have a little bit of

fun every now and again. everyone says well, do you ever travel around by dog sled. that's my dream. that would be -- that would be the next career opportunity for me. i'd love to run the iditarod. i would love to have my own dog team but right now i don't have enough hours in my day. every now and again you can hop on the back of a dog sled. i'm looking forward to being back home traveling around the state visiting from ketchikan. it's 4,000 miles for senator sullivan, congressman young and i to get back and forth between washington, d.c. and alaska. i kind of mapped out my trip for this month ahead. once i get back to alaska in that first -- in that first couple of weeks i will have doubled that air time, if you will. and then with the additional travel that we have towards the end of august, i'm looking at

about 15,000 miles of travel within my state. so i know many of my colleagues are going to exotic locations that take them to places that are a long, long ways away but i'm just reminded every day of the privilege and the honor to be able to travel an extraordinary state like alaska using a little bit of everything to get us where we need to visit some of the finest americans that i know and that i'm blessed to be able to serve. with that, mr. president, i thank you for your time and i yield the floor.

mr. lankford: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, august is coming quickly and it's a time we have a gap in the legislative calendar. congress is in session 11 months of the year, as this body knows well. we have one month that we're not in washington, d.c. and it gives us the opportunity to be able to be home. quite frankly, catch up with family, be able to travel around our state, and to be able to see what's going on in the state and to talk to folks. i happen to live in an unbelievably beautiful state. in oklahoma in august it's crazy hot and humid but it's a great time to get a chance to be able to see people and see what's going on. just the few weeks around this time period, i've already been to ada and durant and i'll be

heading quickly to chick shay, venita, miama, not miami, affton, grove, jay, chelsea, hennessey, enid, up to carl lake. of course all around the oklahoma city area, all around tulsa to spend as much time as i can with as many different people as i can to be able to find out what's going on in oklahoma. then my one precious month that i get a year to be able to make sure i get focus time in the state to get to see as many people as i can. but i got to thinking about this and the privilege that i've really had to be able to travel around my state and to be able to see so many people and to be able to see so many places. to be able to get on route 66 and be able to travel the state east to west and to be able to exactly see what's going on. i've had the opportunity to be at marlin mansion and roman state park in wotunga.

i've climbed to the top of black mesa in kenton and been to the lowest point by sea level in far southeast oklahoma and broken bow. i've been out to mount scott in lawton and to the blue whale and had the great privilege of getting a chance to walk around through the gathering place in tulsa, an absolutely spectacular park and gathering place. in fact, "u.s.a. today" just named the number one new attraction in america being the gathering place in tulsa, oklahoma. and for folks that have not been to tulsa or folks that have been tulsa before, you need to come back and get a chance to enjoy the gathering place. i had the opportunity to be able to walk the streets around black wall street and visit with the fine folks. to be in davis and falls creek. i've had the opportunity to be able to be in hochatown near

broken bow lake and get the time to enjoy the time there in beautiful southeast oklahoma and the tall trees. i've had the opportunity to be at lake murray state park in ardemore. i've driven the national scenic byway in the fall and have seen the spectacular scenery in those mountains. been to the cave in wilburton and the national forest. i've had the opportunity to be able to walk around through and see the vagueing carve stones that are there in eastern oklahoma and to see most definitely in those high trees and in those rolling hills i wasn't the first person to get there by far. been to the round barn on route 66 in arcadia and stopped to get a great hamburger at pops there on route 66. i've quietly stood at the national bombing memorial in downtown oklahoma city and have seen the amazing western art at the national western heritage

museum and walked through the oklahoma sports hall of fame. you can't come through oklahoma without stopping at cattleman's stakehouse -- steakhouse or to be able to drive out west and see the stafford museum. people who come to washington, d.c. go to the air and space museum. i will often smile at them and say do not miss the air and space museum in weatherford, oklahoma because the stafford museum there is a remarkable collection from a fantastic oklahoma astronaut. great salt plains in jett or the oklahoma territorial museum in guthrie are really remarkable places but i do have to brag on the spot because on my 50th birthday, my wife surprised me by us taking a trip to go out to the little sahara state park in the sand dunes in northern oklahoma and to rent dune buggies and to be able to drive them as hard and fast as we wanted to that day. it was a great day to be able to enjoy oklahoma just like the day

that i was able to drive and eat at the pioneer woman mercantile restaurant and enjoy the downtown area around pahoska. it's really a fantastic state and the people and the places that i miss being here in washington, d.c. 11 months of the year i look forward to getting a chance to see when i get back home in august. so as much work as we have to get done here and we still have a lot of work to get done, we'll spend some time on the phone. we'll walk through legislation. and we'll continue do writing but thankfully i'll be able to do writing and time on the phone looking out my windshield enjoying some oklahoma scenery while i do it at the same time. with that, mr. president, i yield back the floor.

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

quorum call:

quorum call: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: the senate will vote on the following nominations, executive calendars 48, 55 and 351. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the judiciary, karin j. immergut tor united states district judge for the district of oregon. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. all those in favor say aye.

all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. the clerk will report calendar 55. the clerk: john milton younge of pennsylvania to be united states district judge for the eastern district of pennsylvania. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. the clerk will report 351. the clerk: mary rowland to be united states district judge for the district of illinois. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it.

the nomination is confirmed. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: at 3:00 p.m. the senate will vote on the confirmations of executive calendar numbers 205, 231, 232, 345, 30-- 360 and 402. i ask unanimous consent if the nominations are confirmed the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report -- calendar number 205 is the pending question. the question is on the

nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: