now we're moving from tragedy to action in a year. the movement that jim and sara brady started in the '80s reached a new era, the american people are no longer willing to wait months or years for change. long gone are the days that senate republicans can just bury their heads in the sand and ignore that more nan 30,000 people, americans, are killed by a gun every year. politicians offering their thoughts and prayers just doesn't cut it anymore. it's put up or shut up. leader mcconnell, senate republicans, what will you do? i yield the floor. >> the senate is about to gavel in. coming up in about an hour a number of votes on executive nominations, including

assistant secretary of state nominee for democracy, human rights and labor. we could also see work on 2020 spending for defense, plus energy and water. now live senate coverage here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, who judges justly our nation and world, we honor your name. you are so patient with us. cleanse our eyes

that we may see more clearly, open our hearts that we may love you more dearly. we confess that sometimes injustice seems to prevail. avenge injustice, o god, and cause the godly to rejoice. deliver us from those who seek to set an ambush for freedom. lord, give our lawmakers the wisdom to look to you for safety for you are our strength and salvation. we pray in your loving name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting

the pledge of allegiance to our 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 senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask permission to address the sene for 30 seconds. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: i'd like to share some real history this morning, iowa history. merrill david hay from iowa was

the first iowa serviceman to die in world war i. he enlisted with his father's blessing as he was too young to be drafted. he was assign to the first infantry division, company f. in the early morning hours of november 3, 1917, while posted in the trenches near the french village, the imperial german army attacked and colonel haye was killed. his father said, i'm proud of my boy if he's given his life for his country. end of quote. this is a constant memory of this person's sacrifice. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i'd like to take a moment this morning to mourn the passing of a devoted son of louisville, kentucky, and

someone i was lucky to call a very dear friend. i can say without exaggeration that david jones sr. was the single most influential friend and mentor i've had in my entire career. i've never forgotten something he told me when i was starting out in jefferson county. here's what he said. the most important word in the english language is focus. david used his extraordinary focus, and many other talents, to build an extraordinary american business and to better his community. whenever a local need had somebody at almost -- almost everybody, actually, stumped, david always seemed to end up in the thick of it, forging a path to success. in the days ahead, many will rightly pay tribute to david's brilliance and his

determination. but he was also one of the kindest, most decent, most generous individuals i've ever met. i'll sorely miss his friendship and kentuckians will miss his extraordinary leadership. now, mr. president, on an entirely different matter. today senate will have an opportunity to take the first procedural step toward keeping the federal government funded and open. at the end of july, the white house and the speaker of the house reached an agreement to guide the appropriations process. both parties, both chambers, and both sides of pennsylvania avenue agreed to the terms. we laid out top-line funding targets for defense and nondefense. we swore off poison pill riders, and unlike the past several budget deals which took almost a full year to negotiate while

appropriations languished, we finished this year's deal much earlier to ensure we had enough time to move the appropriation bills. in other words, congressional leaders and the president laid the groundwork for sensible, bipartisan funding process. but instead over the past week and a half we've seen our democratic colleagues suggest that they may try to shoe horn their long-standing disagreements with president trump into this appropriation process even though we all agreed not to insist on poison pills or change existing presidential authorities, democrats are threatening to filibuster chairman shelby's clean defense bill over their disagreement with the president on immigration policy. i sure hope that doesn't happen. i hope our democratic friends allow the process to move forward when we vote later today. the stakes are high. we're talking about critical resources for the missions of

the department of defense, our military commanders have told us this funding is vital to keep peace with putin's russia, china, and all the efforts to harm america's interest. just days ago saudi arabia's energy facilities went up in flames after what appeared to be a massive coordinated attack by iran. in a world this dangerous, this will not cut it for our national defense. our men and women in uniform do not deserve to their funding for their tools, training, and pay raises used as leverage by senate democrats to try to extract concessions from the white house. so, look, i would urge each of our colleagues to join me today in taking the first step toward fulfilling our obligation to keep this country safe and secure. now, on another matter.

we're closely monitoring events in the middle east following the provocative and dangerous attack on saudi facilities, which included the largest processing facility in the entire world. i said on monday this is not just a threat to the region but to the entire global economy. and it must be met with swift consequences from the international community. as our u.s. and allies continue to learn more, there is one positive lesson that should not go unnoticed. while the attack has shaken global energy markets, to be sure, the united states is much better positioned to weather the storm than we might have been in past decades. for years and years an international attack of this magnitude would have been virtually guaranteed to immensely royal the u.s. economy and send gas prices soaring at the pump.

this time around analysts don't expect to yield the significant impacts we would have seen in the 1970's or even in the 1990's. why is that, mr. president? the answer is three words, american domestic energy. over the last decade, often over the stren just -- strenuous objection of democrats our nation has made incredible strides towards energy independence. we've explored new technologies, new methods and new ways to fuel america's prosperity right here at home. and it's paying off big time. by 2015, our production had become so robust that i led the charge to the lift the outdated ban on crude oil exports. and late last year, thanks in part to republican policies, the united states became a net exporter of oil for the first time in decades. and get this, mr. president,

across all forms of energy, the department of energy projects that next year our nation will export more energy than we import for the first time, listen to this, 1953 -- 1953. so let me say that again. thanks largely to republican policies our nation is poised to become a net energy exporter for the first time since the iceen hour -- eisenhower administration. that's huge progress, not just for our economy, but as we have just been reminded, for our national security as well. you would think the country would be united in celebration, but not everyone is happy, mr. president. oh, no. last week, just days before this massive disruption in the middle east, house democrats sent us several bills designed to limit domestic energy development and literally tie america's hands. one of those bills would have shut off exploration in a small

portion of anwr in remote alaska. they p want to reverse something that had been solved for 40 years until republicans secured it in 2017. so as far as i can tell from the bills the house keeps sending us, the socialists are calling the shots over there, have never seen a pipeline they didn't want to cancel. never seen a pipeline they didn't want to cancel. a responsible development, they didn't want to kill, or a step toward america energy independence they didn't want to reverse. along with the democratic house, this also seems to describe their party's presidential candidates. almost all of them have endorsed the radical idea of ending oil l and gas exploration on federal lands not only offshore but onshore too. let me say that again. almost all of them have endorsed

a radical idea of ending oil and gas exploration on federal lands not only offshore but on shore too. that's today's democratic party. this ideology has consequences for american prosperity, but it also weakens our nation's footing in the world. just days after these democratic votes we were offered a sobering reminder of just how important american energy really is. so here's the good news. this republican senate is on the job and we won't let democrats take us backwards. we won't let them reduce our prosperity or make us more vulnerable to overseas chaos. republicans will keep working to help our nation thrive.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. and morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, by the clerk will report. the clerk: , nomination, department of state, robert a. destro, of virginia, to be assistant secretary for democracy, human rights, and labor. mr. mcconnell: i note 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 senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, defense funding is always an imperative. there are always going to be bad actors who threaten our country, whether they are major powers like china and russia or terrorist organizations like isis or al qaeda. and we have to be prepared to counter those threats. in the united states, we're used to having the most outstanding military in the world. in fact, we've come to rely on it. we assume our military will always be the best because it has been the best for as long as we can remember, but we can't forget that our military preeminence is a result of sustained investment. while our soldiers, sailors,

airmen and marines constitute the most advanced and proficient fighting force in the world, they can't do their jobs or maintain our military superiority without adequate resources. and that includes funding not just the weapons, equipment, and technology of today, but also the weapons, equipment, and technology of the future. it's too late to modernize our military when the threat has reached us. we need to invest in the equipment and technology of the future now so that when the threats of tomorrow materialize, we will be ready. this means delivering platforms like the future b-21 bomber on schedule, making robust investments in the cyber and space domains. mr. president, right now our military is rebuilding after years of underfunding and the strains of the war on terror. here in the senate, members of both parties have worked together over the past couple of years to meet our military's funding and rebuilding needs, and i hope that that trend will continue. in november, 2018, the

bipartisan national defense strategy commission released a report warning that our readiness had eroded to the point where we might struggle to win a war against a major power like russia or china. and the commission noted that we would be especially vulnerable if we were ever called on to fight a war on two fronts that's a dangerous situation for our country to be in, and we need to keep working to rebuild our military so that we are not trailing behind other nations. other countries are certainly not holding back when it comes to military preparedness. russia and china are busy investing in their militaries as we speak and have recently conducted joint military exercises. as the leader noted on monday, military spending in china over the last decade has nearly doubled. meanwhile, these countries have continued to flex their military power outside the borders of their countries, underscoring the need for other nations to be prepared to deter their aggression.

and, of course, while we may be in a new era of great power competition, we still face threats from rogue states and terrorist organizations. we need to be prepared to meet multiple threats on multiple fronts if we want to ensure the security of our nation. mr. president, later today the leader is planning to have the senate vote to begin debate on a package of appropriations bills, including this year's defense appropriations bill. less than two months ago, democrats in both the house and the senate agreed on an increased funding level for our military, which is reflected in the defense appropriations bill. the defense appropriations measure funds current military priorities and invests in the research our men and women in uniform need to be prepared for the future. it also provides for a 3.1% pay increase for our military, which is the largest pay increase in a decade. it would be very disappointing, mr. president, if democrats

chose now to play politics and to put their personal political agenda over the security of our country and the welfare of our men and women in uniform. the military needs to be funded through regular order appropriations bills, not through temporary funding measures that leave the military in doubt about funding levels and unable to start essential new projects. so i hope -- i hope, mr. president -- that our democratic colleagues will honor the commitment that they just made and to work with republicans to pass the defense appropriations package before the end of the fiscal year. likewise, i hope senate democrats will resist the tellation to play -- temptation to play politics over this year's national defense authorization bill and will work with us to initiate a conference with the thousands resolve our conference -- with the house to resolve our differences. our colleagues have the opportunity to take both of these important steps this week. mr. president, before i close, i'd like to wish a happy 72nd birthday today to the u.s. air force, most especially the

airmen of ellsworth air force base in south dakota. i'd also like to wish a happy birthday to the south dakota air national guard, which celebrates the 73 reasonable doubt anniversary of its establishment -- 73rd anniversary of i establishment on friday. the fighter wing recently had a change of command. colonel mark morale assumed command from nathan alholena on september 7. i wish the fighting success under their new leadership and i wish colonel alholena for his many years of service. while investing in equipment and technology is essential to our nation's defense, as always our greatest strength is found in the men and women of the united states military. it is first and foremost because of their dedication and sacrifice that all of us live in freedom. mr. president, i hope the men and women of ellsworth air force base and the south dakota air

national guard enjoy their celebrations this week. they are well-deserved. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i'd suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. durbin: i ask that the quorum call be suspended.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i've been involved in policy debates for a long time on capitol hill, about big tobacco, about nicotine and cigarettes, about the public health consequences of smoking. it is a personal issue for me and for so many of us. our families have been touched by tobacco-related disease and death. i lost my father to lung cancer. he was 53 years old, two packs of camels a day. i stood by his bedside when i was just a high school student and saw what tobacco could do. so when i was elected to congress, i decided to try to take on big tobacco. it wasn't an easy task. they were -- they had very many friends in high places and made it clear in both political party -- parties in the house of representatives that tobacco was untouchable. i offered an amendment quite a few years ago now to ban smoking on airplanes.

it was real really because of my irritation -- it was really because of my irritation and strong feelings that the people who were on the plane who were nonsmokers shouldn't have to breathe in secondhand smoke. to my surprise, we passed it in the house by a handful of votes even though the leadership in both political parties opposed it and then it came over here and senator frank lautenberg of new jersey passed it as well. it became the law of the land. neither frank nor i could have predicted what would happen next. but as the american people noticed that secondhand smoke was taken off airplanes, they started asking obvious planes about why wouldn't you take it off of buses and restaurants and hospitals and on and on. th net result was a change across america when it came to stand $standards -- when it came to standards about smoking and tobacco cigarettes. then i enlisted a group that was

showing leadership in washington called the campaign for tobacco-free kids. the director still works for that organization. and we went to the heart of the issue and that was a fact that big tobacco was doing its best to make teenagers customers. they had to. they were losing too many of their best customers, who were dying because of their product. so they tried to addict children. and they were successful. in ad campaigns, joe camel ads, the marlboro cowboy, all sorts of cartoon figures really appealing to children, and it worked. they were able to replenish their smokers with kids who started smoking at earlier and earlier ages. we went after them and eventually there was a national lawsuit against the tobacco companies. we changed the standards for selling tobacco in america, made it much more difficult for kids to get their hands on cigarettes. and over time reduced the

percentage of kids who were using these tobacco products. well, the tobacco companies faced a dilemma. they were losing their best customers, the kids. what were they going to do to maintain their profits? it became pretty obvious. several years ago they'd found an alternative product called e-cigarettes and vaping. what was good about this was they could make health claims about e-cigarettes and vape. they could argue that since you're taking tobacco out of the equation, merely sucking in some form of nicotine vapor was preferable from a health perspective. yet when the it came right down to it, there was no proof of that whatsoever. juul is the biggest e-cigarette defense maker in america and their full-page ads in newspaper after newspaper made these health claims that in fact

e-vaping was a healthy alternative to tobacco cigarettes. no proof, none. and then something else started happening. we started noticing that all across america kids -- the same kid whose once used to be the targets of big tobacco -- were now the targets of big vaping. vapeing targets kids. the numbers tell the story. two years ago 11% of high school students in america were vaping. a year later, 20%. today, 27%. more than one out of four high school students are using e-cigarettes and vaping today. and, even worse, 10% of middle schooler students -- 10, 11, 12

years old -- are vaping. the numbers are growing and you wonder why. well, the people in the vaping industry know how to target kids. they target them with flavors designed just for kids -- razzle-dazzle berry, guppy bears, bubble gum, unicorn milk. how many 50-year-old chain smokers can't wait to get unicorn milk flavoring for their vaping devices? it's all about kids. and the vaping industry, despite all their public denials, have targeted these kids and effectively recruited our children to be the next generation of vapors for life. how much nicotine is in that little vaping device, the one th looks like it is a flash drive for your computer? the equivalent amount of nicotine in vape something in a total pack of cigarettes, 20 cigarettes you get with one hit

on a vaping device. and nicotine is a very addictive chemical. i know from my family experience, and we all know from those who try for long, long times to quit using tobacco cigarettes. the nicotine draws them back time and time again. so this addiction was under way, and i started writing letters, which senators do, protesting to the food and drug administration and surgeon general and anyone else who would listen that this vaping epidemic was dangerous. dangerous for our kids and dangerous for our future. it took the longest time to get their attention. in fact, with this new trump administration, they initially postponed any action against vaping until the year 2022. beyond the president's first term. well, i went to dr. gottlieb, who then was head of the f.d.a., and said, you can't wait four years. you've got to do something right

now about vaping. you resisted. for a while -- but then he came around. he held a press conference and you know what he called this vaping situation? an -- an epidemic, the medical dr. gottlieb called it an epidemic. so then he left for family asonsnd he had a successor, dr. ned sharpless, acting commissioner of the food and drug administration, and i appealed to him, saying do something. you have the power right now to take all of these child flavors -- children's flavors off the market for vaping. you could do it today, and secondly, you can ban most of the vaping devices which have never been approved by the government. he didn't want to do it. he dragg his feet. it went on for months. but i'll have to say in all candor and honesty, last week there was a breakthrough.

last week the trump administration addressed this issue directly. last monday, they said the -- the food and drug administration said to juul, stop making health claims you can't prove, stop telling people that your product is a healthy alternative to tobacco cigarettes. there are no clinical trials, no proof, no credible medical study you can point to make that claim, so stop saying it. and then, just a couple of days later, they went even further, banning the use of these flavors that have enticed children into vaping and e-cigarettes. they announced probably within 30 days is their estimate these are all going to have to come off the market. in may of next year, the companies that make them, can apply to come back on the market if they can prove they are good for public health. well, senator lisa murkowski, of

alaska, a republican and i have had a bill for several months now on this issue. i thank her for her bipartisan cooperation in this effort. it's great to have her by my side. she's a terrific ally. she believes none of these should be on the market until it is proven they are not dangerous to children and they, in fact, do help adults stop smoking and show positive results. i think that's a hard measure, a hard standard for them to meet, and it should be because the alternative is unacceptable. more children addicted to e-cigarettes and vaping. there may be a place for e-cigarettes at some point in the future. i'm not sure where it will be. but as long as they are endangering our children with their products and tear flavors, i'm -- and their flavors, i will continue to fight their efforts. i want to say something else. even in the midst of my battles

against big tobacco, i still remember wt my dad went through when he tried to stop smoking, dying of lung cancer, trying to stop smoking. it was so hard and painful, and i watched it as a young boy and saw the struggle he went through. and i've always said we have to show some caring and compassion for the people who were once tobacco users and want to quit. and today we have to show the same level of caring when it comes to all of these high school students, five million american high school students, who are vaping and using e-cigarettes and should quit. we need to give them a path and a recommendation. i wrote to the surgeon general last week and asked him to come up with a plan, an education approach to allow these jung people to get off this nicotine addiction before it's too late. what happened in the past, sadly, is that many of the high schoolers who were using e-cigarettes didn't quit

completely from anything, they moved to tobacco cigarettes with the nicotine they were seeking in a different form. so that's the challenge that we face. after years of inaction and a lot of telephone calls and letters and meetings, the food and drug administration has done the right thing. i hope by the end of this year that these flavors will be off-the-shelf, and i hope that the food and drug administration truly enforces what they announced last week. it's been ten years since congress gave the food and drug administration the legal authority to regulate all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, so there's no doubt about their legal authority. last year four million children under the age of 18 were vaping in america. as i mentioned today the number is five million. over the last two years we've seen 135% increase in america's children using e-cigarettes. ask any public health official

what this means if we didn't do something, the numbers would continue to grow unchecked. schools are taking doors off of toilet stalls so kids can't sneak in and use e-cigarettes and vaping between classes. some kids are bold enough to try to do it in class. we've now linked e-cigarettes and vaping to over 380 cases of confirmed and severe respiratory illness nationwide, and as of last night in california, the seventh young person has died from vaping. we have 52 confirmed cases and one reported death in illinois. but i can tell you yesterday morning, one of my friends, it was monday morning, one of my friends, a doctor in chicago told me in private that he visited a major hospital and three young people who were vaping were hanging on by a

threat to life. kids as young as 15 have been hospitalized. there's no specific device or substance that's been linked to all of these cases, but the one common denominator, e-cigarettes. this nicotine addiction, especially juul devices and what it leads to, is extraordinarily possible with the highest levels of nicotine we have seen of products sold in america. nicotine is both toxic, highly addictive, raises blood pressure, spikes adrenaline, increases the risk of heart disease. it can have short and long-term negative impact on the developing brain particularly, including an increased chance of addiction, mood disorder and permanent lowering of impulse control. kids who use e-cigarettes are three times more likely than their peers to transition to traditional tobacco cigarettes, and they, of course, kill almost

half a million americans a year. so that's our problem and that's our challenge. i would add too that it's time to start taxing this product. for years i've been sounding the alarm that the vaping industry is following big tobacco's playbook when it comes to appealing to our children. and i've learned over the years in all of my battles against big tobacco that the single most effective tool to prevent children from starting the use of tobacco cigarettes is to price it out of their range. that's why we passed cigarette taxes years ago and many states and localities followed suit. while later this week i will be introducing the tobacco tax equity act. this legislation will establish the first federal e-cigarette tax, it will close loopholes by big tobacco, and double the tax rate and peg it to inflation so it remains a public health tool in the future.

studies have shown even a 10% tax lowers tobacco use by as much as 5%. the surgeon general have called it the most effective way to reduce tobacco use. this flavor ban announcement was an important first step, now we need to make sure the ban is implemented quickly and enforced strictly. we need the f.d.a. to better regulate e-cigarette devices, many of which are easily tampered with and used with marijuana and counterfeit products. we need the surgeon general to come up with a plan to help millions of kids who are now addicted and help today's youth with this epidemic. a movement we have seen before of big tobacco exploiting kids finally ruled in public action against those tobacco companies, and the rate of teen tobacco

cigarette smoking went down dramatically. let's not sit through the same movie again. when it comes to vaping and e-cigarettes, let's move quickly to protect our children. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: mr. schumer: mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the quorumdispend with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and i ask consent to speak on leader time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, the appropriations process demands that republicans and democrats work together. if one party decides to go it alone, it can wreck the spirit of bipartisanship necessary to responsibly fund the government. unfortunately, republicans elected to depart from the bipartisan path early in the

appropriations process this year. we had a bipartisan deal on the budget caps, the 302-a's, the defense, nondefense side. we were working on allocations to the 12 subcommittees when the republicans decided, without consulting any democrat, to divert funds from medical research, opioid treatment, and our military and their families so that they could appease the president's wish to spend up to $12 billion extra for a border wall. a wall, by the way, that the president promised mexico would pay for. leader mcconnell and chairman shelby knew it would not fly with democrats, and this ruse, this stunt, as the republican leader is fond of calling things that can't pass, puts the entire appropriations process in jeopardy. somehow in the wake of all this, the republican leader has been accusing democrats of threatening to block military

funding. now, that is an absurd statement if there ever was one. we're simply trying to stop republicans from stealing the money from our military and putting it into the wall which he said mexico would pay for. so the outcome of the upcoming vote to proceed to defense appropriations is not in doubt. leader mcconnell knows democrats as well as several republicans oppose moving funds to the president's border wall that have been duly allocated by congress for other important purposes, all military. the fact that leader mcconnell has scheduled this vote knowing it would fail makes it nothing more than a partisan stunt. my friend, the leader, reminds us all the time the senate is the place to make laws, not engage in political theater. with the vote, leader mcconnell will shatter his own rule. at the same time, republicans are considering having a vote tomorrow to instruct the ndaa conferees to backroll some of

the money they want to divert for the president's wall. the house already voted this down. democrats, myself, speaker pelosi, chairman lowey, ranking member leahy have been crystal clear we're not going to take money from the military by backfilling it later. this would render the congress toothless and the appropriations process meaningless. the president is allowed to take money from where congressional indicates it and put it wherever he wants, and we just give it back to him? what's the point. democrats won't vote for that ridiculous precedent. let's remember what this is all about. the president pledged to build a border wall that he promised mexico would pay for. he then broke that promise and demanded that congress appropriate taxpayer dollars for the wall instead. when congress declined to do that, the president declared a legally dubious national emergency to divert already-allocated military funds to his wall. now he is trying yet again to appropriate taxpayer money for the wall, the same strategy that

failed when he tried it a year ago and then threw a temper tantrum and promised the famous trump shutdown. i know my republican friends want to wiggle out of this, but there is only one way to return the money to our troops where it belongs. republicans and democrats join together in voting to terminate the president's emergency declaration. now, on a related matter, in the appropriations committee markup tomorrow, there will be a vote on an amendment to increase election security fund for the coming year. senate republicans blocked a similar amendment last year, and since then, leader mcconnell has stonewalled election security legislation. even the most bipartisan, sensible compromises. so while we still greatly desire to move that legislation and believe it to be essential, additional funding for states to harden their election infrastructure and prevent russian or chinese or iranian interference is what this amendment provides tomorrow and

is a no-brainer. on the senate floor yesterday, leader mcconnell said, quote, a partisanship box down here in washington. moscow and beijing are not actually slowing down to wait for us. i agree. foreign adversaries are lining up to do what putin did in 2016 with the presidential campaign to begin in earnest next year, the time is now to safeguard our elections from foreign interference. the country will be watching how senate republicans vote on the election security amendment tomorrow. now, e.p.a. it's been reported the trump administration is planning to finalize a rule that would block any state from getting ahead of the federal government to deal with carbon pollution from cars. that includes revoking a waiver granted to california that allows the state to place more stringent limits on carbon pollution than the federal government. in the trump era we are frequently confronted with the absurd. this is beyond ridiculous. the president is the leader of

the self-proclaimed party of states' rights, yet he is blocking states from setting their own standards. this president has repeatedly said we have the cleanest air, the cleanest water, almost like a mantra, yet he is trying to prevent california and other states from cleaning up their air pollution. the president's position is very simply put. quote, no, california, i insist you pollute more. that's in effect what the president is saying. congress has spoken on this matter. the clean air act says in no uncertain terms california can go further than the e.p.a. to reduce pollution from cars. so this is a terrible idea by e.p.a., a terrible idea by the trump administration full of hypocrisy and contradiction, clearly illegal. i'm confident it will be struck down. and one final issue. the destro nomination. today the senate will vote on the confirmation of robert destro to serve as the assistant secretary of secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor. responsible for the state

department's promotion of democracy of civil rights at their working standards across the world. typical of the trump administration. they have nominated someone whose record is diametrically opposed to the mission of the job to which he is nominated. mr. destro has vocally opposed the movement for lgbtq equality, been a staunch supporter of state-level religious freedom laws that have acted as back doors to discriminate against lgbtq americans. he has a long record of opposition to a woman's constitutional right to make her own health care decisions. when asked about the requirement that insurance plans cover contraception, his response was, quote, the idea you're entitled to have someone pay for your birth control is kind of ridiculous. if confirmed, mr. destro, this very same mr. destro, who is opposed to the rights of women, who is opposed to the rights of lgbtq people, will be in charge of promoting civil rights around the world. what a message this sends to

women and members of the lgbtq community who struggle under intolerance and -- intolerant and oppressive governments. the answer is obvious. that's why yesterday every single democrat, even one republican, voted against proceeding to his confirmation. i urge my republican colleagues to study mr. destro's record, consider the job he's supposed to do, and join us in voting no on his nomination. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the destro nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 49, the nays are 44. the nomination is confirmed. the clerk will report the next

nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of the treasury, brent james mcintosh of michigan to be an under secretary. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: