>> host: cam is the delegate for the u.s. house of representatives for the cherokee nation also joined by the chiefr of the cherokee nation. thank you for the conversation. >> the senate about two gavel in meeting to see the company and short-term funding in the federal government past the end of this month depending on the senate agenda. take you live down to the floor of the senate. the chaplain, dr. black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. mighty god, hear our prayer. because of your mercies, give us the wisdom to strive to please you. continue to effectually work through our lawmakers to

accomplish your purposes. lord, strengthen them to catapult the hurdles that threaten true freedom. grant that in all our perplexities, we will seek your truth lord, may we hear the thunder of your justice, mingled with the showers of your grace. preserve our lawmakers even during turbulent seasons. we pray in your holy name. amen. the president pro tempore: would you join me in the pledge. 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. mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i'd like to address the senate for one minute as in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: last week sioux land energy, an ethanol plant in sioux center, iowa, announced they're holding production due to the unfair small refinery exemptions. this farmer-owned plant was

annually buying 23.4 million bushels of corn from farmers in the area, and it also employed 42,000 people who today do not know when they'll be able to go back to work. this kind of economic impact is a big deal in rural communities communities, and if it spreads it's going to create a lot of unemployment and close ethanol plants other places around the country. and i have heard others announce in other states as well. in fact, the ethanol industry supports more than 365,000 total jobs in the biodiesel industry, supports more than 65,000 total jobs. we have made great progress through the renewable fuels standard in diversifying our nation's fuel supply while

creating jobs and strengthening local economies. we've got to get this issue settled, and i hope we can get an announcement from the e.p.a. very soon about that so we can get these plants opened and get these people back to work. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, over the weekend, details emerged about president trump's conduct with the ukrainian president. specifically, the president's phone call with the ukrainian leader were the subject of an official whistle-blower complaint by a member of the intelligence community. the intelligence community inspector general, a trump appointee, determined that this whistle-blower's complaint is incredible and a matter of urgent concern whose subject matter, quote, not only falls within the d.n.i.'s jurisdiction but relates to one of the most significant and important of the

d.n.i.'s responsibilities to the american people, unquote. by law, by law, a whistle-blower complaint labeled in this way must be transmitted to congress, not shall be transmitted to congress, must be. the trump administration has not allowed that to happen. so far in the face of this dire warning and the trump administration's effort to cover it up, the republican-led senate has remained silent and sub missive, shying away from this institution's constitutional duty to wuct oversight. that's -- to conduct oversight. that's an obligation we have. it's not a yes or no. it's not -- that's our job. the republicans are in the majority. with that majority comes the power to call witnesses, issue subpoenas, and decide what

legislation comes to the floor. the majority in the senate therefore has an obligation to consider an act on the senate's behalf, particularly when it comes to matters of oversight and matters of separation of powers. and yet so far we have no indication that senate republicans are planning to act. most have yet to speak out. the senate republican see no evil, hear no evil attitude is unacceptable and must change. this again is an issue of solemn obligation. there is no wiggle room here, none. the obligation of the inspector general is to turn over the information, the whistle-blower information now that he has found it incredible and urgent. and here typically are senate

republicans and the senate leader sit supinely. in obeisance to donald trump's reckless lawbreaking. this is a democracy. this is a democracy. and we've heard nothing from our republican colleagues in what the president has done and in the stonewalling of information. what's the president afraid of? in this whistle-blower report? we don't know. we can only speculate. but we do know there's an obligation for it to come to congress. so today i've sent the republican leader, senator mitch mcconnell, a letter calling on him and the republican chairs of the senate relevant committees to fulfill their constitutional

duties and immediately, immediately take the following actions. one, convene hearings to -- one, convene hearings to determine exactly what the -- what prompted the whistle-blower to file this urgent complaint. at a minimum, these hearings should include testimony from the acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire, acting office of management and budget director russell voght, secretary of state mike pompeo and president trump's private attorney rudy giuliani among others. two, to issue a subpoena to compel the delivery of the whistle-blower complaint to congress as required, required by law. three, request the white house to release the transcript of president trump's conversation with ukrainian president

zelensky during which president trump reportedly pressured the government of ukraine to investigate vice president biden and his family. four, identify the administration officials who directed the $341 million of security assistance to ukraine be delayed. and request that all records relating to this decision be turned over to congress. and five, insist that the department of justice provide any legal opinion or other guidance it has given regarding the administration's obligation to transmit the whistle-blower complaint to congress. it is the senate's duty, duty to take this national security matter seriously and investigate now. senate republicans have the sole power and the overwhelming responsibility to see that it does. how long must we wait for our republican colleagues to rise up

to their responsibilities to the constitution, to separation of powers and to rule of law when president trump brazenly violates that law? when are we going to hear the voices? it is unbelievable. as president trump erodes the very fabric of this democracy, our republican colleagues i believe out of fear do nothing. that is not a profile in courage. that is not even what senator after senator for generation after generation regardless of party has done. but we're obviously in a new era here where on the republican side anything donald trump wants to do he can get away with. whether it violates the law, violates our principles, violates the grand traditions of this democratic republic or not.

on a somewhat related matter, again about president trump's overreach and lack of respect for any rule of law. senate republicans will be forced to vote later this week on the president's emergency declaration which he is using to steal money from our military to find a border wall that he promised mexico would pay for. again, my republican colleagues face a choice about whether or not to have the senate enforce its role as a check on the executive branch. by declaring a national emergency, the president has tried to go around the constraints his office -- of his office to spend taxpayer dollars the way he wants instead of the way the congress appropriates. remember, congress has explicitly and repeatedly rejected the president's request for border wall funding. now he is trying to improperly take it from funds elsewhere.

in this case, the military. the constitution dictates that congress alone has the power of the purse. will my republican colleagues vote to reassert those constitutional powers or they buckle to the pressure of partisan loyalty to the president? and i say to some of my very conservative friends, conservatism says let's not have large conglomerations of power. let the individual have the most freedom to exercise his or her will. when the president overreaches, what has happened to the true conservatives? they're quiet. they almost hide under their desks. history will not look at it kindly. many of my republican colleagues have military installations, schools, major projects in their states that would suffer as a result of the president's emergency. the president last week warned

of dire outcomes if this funding was not restored. even warning that lives might be at risk. will senate republicans vote to defend our troops, their families, their children? will they vote to defend millions of dollars of important projects in their states, including medical facilities in north carolina, a hurricane recovery project in florida, a middle school in kentucky? well, these questions will be answered this week. i have seen reports that the republicans are searching for other ways to restore military funding other than by ending the president's emergency declaration. make no mistake, democrats will not assent to backfilling accounts or other backhanded ways of approving taxpayer dollars for the president's border wall. the president said mexico would pay for it. that's the only thing he said

during the campaign. when people yelled build the wall, it was mexico who was going to pay for it, not american taxpayers and certainly not our military, not the brave men and women who risk their lives for us and whose families go through such hardship. the simplest, quickest, and only way of protecting military funding is for my republican friends to join us in terminating the emergency declaration later this week. i urge, urge my republican colleagues to think about their states and the important military projects that hang in the balance. to think about the precedent it would set for this president and for future presidents and above all, to think about the constitutional questions, to just read the constitution, and defend the article 1 powers of congress given to us by the

founders this week. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: this week the senate will consider more of the president's choices to fill important positions in the federal government. too many important seats have continued to gather dust at two and a half years into this presidency due to a systematic democratic obstruction. the president deserves his team and the american people deserve to be governed by the government they actually elected back in 2016. so as long as there continues to be resistance to processing

uncontroversial nominees in the typical fashion by voice vote, we'll just continue to vote on these impressive men and women leading off this week are nominees to be deputy under secretary of the treasury, ambassador to the republic of fiji, solicitor of the department of interior, depend if i commission -- deputy commissioner of sz. i hope our -- of social security. i hope our colleagues will join in voting for each of them. and also the important job of funding the government. last week brought an unfortunate spectacle. the vast majority of our democratic colleagues actually filibustered legislation to fund our national defense at a dollar figure they previously agreed to for the sake of a political fight with the president. the funding our commander's need to keep pace with china and russia, funding our men and women in uniform need for their tools and training, even a pay raise for our service members. all of it was blocked by our democratic colleagues, blocked

by democrats in order to pick a partisan fight with the white house. that's an interesting statement of priorities. but i remain hopeful we can get this process back on track. back in july both parties in both houses of congress and the white house all agreed to a bipartisan, bicameral road map to guide appropriations. we all agreed to rule out poison pill policy riders and not to seek changes in presidential authorities relative to current law. so i hope we can rediscover that road map and make some progress. in the meantime before the end of the week, we'll vote on a continuing resolution to prevent a lapse in funding while the work continues. now, on a related matter while senate republicans continue to seek bipartisan solutions, the story on the other side of the capitol had been a little bit different. speaker pelosi and democratic house continued to neglect opportunities to find compromises that might actually

become law. instead turned out one left-wing messaging bill after another. two weeks ago just days before iran's coordinated attack on the world's largest oil processing facility in saudi arabia, house democrats took it upon themselves to send us several pieces of legislation that would have reduced, reduced american energy independence. domestic energy is a driver of american prosperity and one of the big success stories of recent years. but the house democrats want us to retreat. they send us nowhere legislation in the senate, it will not pass, and the president will not sign. and then, mr. president, let's a whole week go by without one of these exercises, here's what happened last week. house democrats began unveiling speaker pelosi's hand made plan to have washington, d.c. bureaucrats start micromanaging america's prescription drugs.

it's the same old one-size-fits-all government-control philosophy we continue to see from our democratic colleagues. forget about choice. forget about competition. forget about free entire price and find -- enterprise and finding ways to unleash more market forces to help consumers. just give washington bureaucrats more power to clupsly call for the shots and manipulate markets from the top down. what this plan amounts to is not an efficient, effective way to help american families but an efficient, effective way to bring more of the economy under the bureaucracy's thumb and send us on a track toward nationalizing a major industry. so, mr. president, there are millions of americans who benefit from our nation's incredible innovations and the r&d breakthroughs on new drug treatments and cures. we really ought not to jeopardize that. american families deserve more choice, more competition, more affordability. the last thing we need is for

the socialist illusions of the green new deal and medicare for all to be copied and pasted into innovations and cures putting them at risk. fortunately, mr. president, this republican senate won't let the speaker's dangerous proposal hurt the country. we'll stay focused on the american people's business and we'll keep hoping our friends across the building put aside the political performances and join us to work on real solutions with a real chance of becoming real laws. now one final matter. the senate select committee on intelligence has long worked on a bipartisan basis in secure settings out of the public spotlight to conduct critically important oversight of classified and sensitive matters. so i've been disappointed to see our colleague, the democratic leader, choose to politicize the committee's ongoing efforts with respect to a recent whistle-blower allegation.

the specific subject of which is still unknown. as my friend senator schumer is aware, chairma chairman burr han working to get the intelligence community's inspector general before the committee this week to discuss the matter. as of both matters before the committee, i believe it's extremely important that their work be handled in a secure setting with adequate protections in a bipartisan fashion. and based on facts rather than leaks to the president. -- to the press. it is regrettable that house intelligence committee chairman schiff and senator schumer have chosen to politicize the issue. circumventing the established procedures and protocols that exist so the committees can pursue sensitive matters in the appropriate, deliberate bipartisan manner. although we don't know the

substance of the allegations there is speculation it relates to our relationship with ukraine. for my part, mr. president, as i stated earlier this month, i was very glad to see the white house release security assistance funds for ukraine. i championed u.s. security assistance to ukraine over the objections of the obama administration in 2014. i consistently believed in the importance of helping our ukrainian partners defend their territory against russian aggression. in fact, i have been personally pressing them to release security assistance funding for several months to ensure the united states did not walk back our important commitments to ukraine. on two occasions, i raised the need to keep our commitment to ukraine with the secretary of defense, expressing my interest in seeing this money be released to help our ukrainian partners. i raised it with the secretary

of state. my staff also engaged senior officials at the pentagon, at the state department, at the national security council, and at the office of management and budget. i also worked closely with senator graham on the state foreign operations subcommittee on appropriations and chairman shelby. throughout july, august, and early september, i worked hard to ensure that ukraine received this much-needed assistance. that's because going back years i've urged administrations of both parties to be completely clear-eyed about the dangerous intentions of putin's russia and the importance of standing with ukraine. i send oured the alarm early and -- i sounded the alarm early and often when president obama went soft on putin. and during the trump administration i have been a strong support of its efforts to

provide defensive lethal weapons to ukraine and georgia. as i've said repeatedly, russia poses a significant threat to u.s. interests. the best way to contest putin and his aspirations is rebuild our defenses, work close list with our allies and -- closely with our allies and partners and improve the capacities of our allies defending themselves. now the task falls on us -- on us -- to pass a defense bill and make the necessary investment in modernizing our own military to ensure america's preeminent position in the world and to deter challenge from adversaries like russia and china p. now, mr. president, i understand there are two bills at the desk due a second reading en bloc. the presiding officer: the cleared is correct. the clerk will he had radio the titles of the bills for the

second time. en bloc. the clerk: h.r. 2486 an act to reauthorize mandatory funding programs for historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. h.r. 4378, an act making continuing appropriations for fiscal year to 20 and for other -- fiscal year 2020 and for other purposes. the presiding mr. mcconnell: i would object to further proceedings en bloc. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bills will be placed on the calendar. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

s. a senator: mr. president. sploip the senator is --. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. a senator: are we in a quorum call? if we are, i ask it be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of the treasury, brian mcguire of new york to be a deputy under secretary. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i just listened to the majority leader come down to the floor and tell members of the senate that they should close their eyes and box their ears to the current scandal that is engulfing the white house and

the trump administration. i heard the majority leader accuse democrats of, quote, politicizing, unquote, president trump's demand that the government of ukraine interfere in the 2020 election. that is a laughable charge and it is not going to silence us on this matter of grave importance. first of all, i have no idea what it means to politicize something these days. news flash, we are politicians. we practice politics. that's our job. i get told very often that i'm politicizing gun violence when i suggest that maybe we should pass laws in order to change the daily trajectory of violence in this country. and yet, that's the very reason that we are here, to protect the safety of our constituents, to protect the sanctity of our democracy. what we are standing up for right now is the rule of law,

and i hope that over the course of this week my republican colleagues join us in that basic responsibility that members of the united states senate and house of representatives have. we see the rule of law slipping away from us right now. we see our nation being turned into a banana republic where the president can do anything he wants and turn the organs of state into his permanent political machine, his means of crushing his opponents. and we see today many of my republican colleagues not just letting it happen, but facilitating it. there has got to be a line that the president cannot cross. there has to be a moment where we all stand up and say this has gone too far. the president has admitted this weekend to asking a foreign

leader to open an investigation into one of his political opponents as a means of advancing himself politically. that's not allowed in a democracy. that fundamentally corrupts the foreign policy of our nation. that makes us all less safe when foreign governments now wonder whether they are going to be enlisted into the political operation of the president of the united states. this has always been a no-go area for democratic and republican administrations because we understand the vast power that the presidency has. and if the president chooses to use that power and the leverage that he has over people in this country and in other countries to do his political bidding, then there is nothing to protect any of us from the executive branch. the idea that the president can

openly admit that he is asking a foreign government to get involved in his political reelection campaign and believe that he will get away with it suggests a belief in the impunity surrounding his office that we should all be concerned about. at the very least, mr. president, if my republican colleagues don't share my grave alarm at the disclosures of the last 48 hours, then we should at least agree that the whistle-blower complaint needs to come before the united states congress unredacted. there is no fuzzy number around this law. it is clear as day. if a whistle-blower makes a

complaint that is deemed urgent in nature, it must be presented to the united states congress. the president cannot hold it back. the executive branch cannot make it a secret. and what makes it even worse is the president seems to be playing games with this whistle-blower complaint. he seems to be teasing out little bits of information that are contained in it here and there in order to play to his political advantage. it's even worse than holding back the complaint from us. he's now using pieces of it to try to gain advantage over his political opponents. at the very least, over the next 24 hours we need to come to a conclusion that the law needs to be followed. because if the president can withhold from us whistle-blower complaints that are not flattering to him, that potentially implicate him, then what's the point of having a whistle-blower law? what's the point of having a

process to protect people who are uncovering corruption in the administration if the administration can keep those complaints secret? let's just be honest, if this president gets away with it, the next democratic president can get away with it, the next republican president can get away with it. we have lost all of our power to see into the wrongdoing of an administration. and there'll be a day when republicans want to see into potential wrongdoing of an administration of the opposite party. but that's all gone if we don't at the very least come to the conclusion that we need to see it as the law states. and that's just the beginning, because i think as the president has advertised, that complaint is going to show that he did indeed try to pressure a foreign government to conduct investigations into one of his political opponents. i think this is a really serious moment for the country. i think it's a really serious moment for the prerogatives of

the article 1 branch. i understand that my republican colleagues may not be ready to talk about consequences for the administration for their wrongdoing, but at the very least we need to come together and make sure that we have all of the information necessary. and, by the way, it doesn't end with the whistle-blower complaint, because the whistle-blower complaint is likely going to raise even more questions that we're going to have to answer. and we have a duty to then go out and find additional information. for many, the president's admission of guilt may be enough to make a determination about what the next steps are. but for those that aren't persuaded that there have to be consequences for the president's admission of corruption, then we should use the ornz -- organs at our disposal to try to figure out the rest of the details surrounding this

incident or series of incidents. what kind of contact have the president's represents been having with the ukrainian government? has the state department been involved in trying to do the president's political bidding in and around the ukraine? how people knew about this in the administration? who tried to stop it? who's been involved in keeping the whistle-blower complaint from us? there are so many questions that need to be answered here, and it should be our responsibility to get to the bottom of all of it. of all of it. i think this is a really serious moment for this country. i think the minute that the president is able to turn the foreign policy of this nation into a vehicle for his own political advancement is the day that democracy as we know it slips away from us. and so if we aren't ready to have a bipartisan conversation about consequences and remedies

this week, then let's at least have some bipartisan consensus in the way that this place used to all the time around making sure that we have all the information necessary to move forward. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. menendez: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. menendez: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: mr. president, i ask to speak for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: we have heard some deeply disturbing revelations in recent days regarding president trump's efforts to tie congressionally appropriated security funding for ukraine hostage to its government's willingness to investigate his political opponents here at home. the alleged threat by president trump to withhold vital security funding from ukraine came out last week in press reports about a whistle-blower complaint from a u.s. intelligence official. these revelations suggest a gross abuse of power unlike anything i've ever seen during

my 27 years working on u.s. foreign policy. they also show donald trump once again welcoming a foreign power to influence our elections, this time using the power of the white house. as of today, the acting director of national intelligence has refused to comply with the law that requires him to share this whistle-blower complaint with congress. yet that hasn't stopped multiple members of the president's inner circle from all but confirming that the president push ukraine president zelensky to open an investigation into former vice president joe biden. together they have engaged in a disturbing effort to convince the american people that this sort of behavior is somehow normal. first we watched the president's personal lawyer admit on cnn that he had raised the issue of investigating biden on the president's behalf. then yesterday we saw secretary

pompeo sink to a new low when he defended this behavior on national tv. and then it was the president himself who admitted it to reporters. the president himself. i'm not sure what more evidence we need, folks. and where are my republican colleagues? where are those supposed defenders of democracy and freedom? where are the advocates for a strong relationship with ukraine? they're silent, mr. president. shamefully silent. for more than two months, the president held up $391 million in urgently needed security assistance for ukraine, assistance that was appropriated by the senate with broad bipartisan support. congress didn't pass this funding so that the president could sit on it. we didn't pass this funding so that the president could use it as leverage to get ukraine to investigate his political opponents. we passed this funding because

ukraine needs our support against relentless russian aggression and because providing that support is in the interests of our own national security goals. certainly many of us were not surprised to see this administration delay assistance to ukraine, given the president's repeated cowering to moscow on the international stage. and yet for two months, we wondered exactly why this money was being withheld from ukraine. now we know. the president withheld this money all in the hope that the ukrainian government would open a bogus investigation into vice president biden's son. how is that not an abuse of power? how is that not an abuse of power? i welcome efforts in the house to fully investigate the role of the president's personal lawyer in pressuring a foreign country to investigate the family of a potential political opponent. i urge the senate to follow suit because a legitimate president

would never allow his lawyer to override bipartisan support for the ukraine. a legitimate president would not let his personal lawyer compel foreign powers to interfere in our political process. a legitimate president would not withhold congressionally appropriated funding to ukraine to advance his reelection prospects. so today i'm calling for a series of measures to get to the bottom of this. first, i call upon the inspector general of the state department to withhold the security assistance for ukraine. this review must include the extent to which the department was aware of or part of the decision to hold these funds and whether our foreign assistance laws were broken. the inspector general must also examine whether the state department knew why the administration was withholding these funds and highlight any communications between the white house and the state department on this matter. second, i call upon the state

department to provide all details and records about any support in any form provided from the department of the president's personal lawyers' efforts in ukraine. likewise, we need to know about any briefings the president's personal lawyer provided to department personnel and his interactions with ukrainian officials. third, i call on the office of management and budget to tell congress why it sat on ukraine security assistance for more than two months. it typically takes the o.m.b. just five days to review notifications from the implementing agencies. to sit on a notification for more than two months is unorthodox, unprecedented, and unacceptable. fourth, i call upon the senate committees on foreign relations, appropriations, armed services, and the select committee on intelligence to immediately hold hearings on the president's purported use of security

assistance to pressure ukraine to open an investigation into a political opponent. i urge chairman risch to fulfill his commitment to hold a hearing on russia and markup on russia sanctions soon. if president trump had used money to coerce another person to perform some corrupt action on his behalf, we would call it out for what it is -- extortion. are we just going to let the president of the united states extort foreign leaders? are we going to let him reshape american foreign policy to advance his own personal goals and political goals? is this not a gross abuse of presidential power? if not, then what is? these committees have a responsibility to ask these questions and they have a constitutional responsibility to do their job. the senate as a whole has an obligation to get to the bottom of this. do my republican colleagues really think it is okay to ask a

foreign power to pursue unfounded allegations against their political opponents? is this the new normal? i hope not. this is behavior that we have never seen from an american president. unfortunately, it's behavior that fits into president trump's broader pattern of surrender to his patrons in moscow. i wish i could say that extorting ukraine was the only way that donald trump corrupted our national security over the course of this summer, but that's just not the case. last month, president trump also redirected funding for the european deterrent initiative to his ridiculous border wall. funding for the european deterrence initiative helps our allies counter the kind of russian-maligned influence deployed by putin against our democracy in 2016. it's well by now known that president trump was lying when he said that mexico would pay for the wall.

to this day, he refuses to own up to this lie, so much so that he is willing to siphon dollars away from our military and abandon our most vital democratic allies in europe to pursue a medieval vanity project. it is yet another example of him selling out our national security to curry favor with his political base. over the past few weeks, my office has heard from several european embassies who are now stuck holding the bill for trump's wall. and while you won't hear it from them publicly because they, too, fear a backlash from this president, they are defended and angry by this decision. it's simply astounding. we're talking about the allies that america fought and died for in order to defend democracy, worked so hard to rebuild after world war ii and continue to protect during the cold war. i'm sure the kremlin couldn't be happier. to putin, this must be a stroke of genius. trump is killing two birds with

one stone by redirecting these funds. he's dividing us from our european allies in the face of russian aggression and dividing the american people with his politics of hate. i've said it before and i'll say it again. investing in donald trump's candidacy was the best decision putin ever made. this patron at 1600 pennsylvania avenue will drop at nothing to repay the debt. indeed, it might be the only debt businessman donald trump has ever worked so hard to repay. my friends, we've witnessed a real summer of love between trump and putin. consider the g-7 meeting in france last month. so clearly was the united states not the leading voice at the table. so tragically have we lost the confidence of our closest allies. and so predictably about our president once again make an appeal on behalf of his patron in moscow, repeatedly calling for the expansion of the g-7 to include russia. sometimes i wonder does

president trump actually think that russia is a democracy? does he think that the russian people live in freedom? does he see russia as an advanced economy? does he believe russia shares america's interest? i have to say little surprises me these days, but even i was taken back to see him blaming president obama for russia's behavior on foreign soil, no less. there is only one country responsible for russia's removal from the g-8 in 2014 and that is russia. the russian federation was suspended from the g-8 by its fellow countries because of its invasion and illegal occupation of crimea, the territory of the sovereign nation of ukraine. five years later, more than 10,000 ukrainian patriots are dead. that is why russia does not belong in the g-8. and what has the kremlin done since 2014 that could possibly justify an expansion of the g-7? has it suspended its illegal occupation? has it behaved like a responsible member of the

international community? has it respected the sovereignty of other nations? the answers are no, no, and no. let's review russia's behavior since 2014. first and top of mind for many of us was russia's sweeping and systematic interference in our 2016 presidential election on behalf of then-candidate donald trump, as documented in the special counsel's sobering report. mr. president, spreading propaganda, manipulating social media and spying on the american election infrastructure is not the behavior of a g-7 country. second, with the kremlin's chemical weapons attack on british soil, a blatant assassination attempt against a putin opponent and his daughter. one british citizen was killed and others required medical attention, and this is not an isolated case. just last month, a russian citizen was gunned down at a park in berlin at the suspected hand of russian authorities. mr. president, this is not the behavior of a g-7 country.

third is the kremlin's complicity in bashar assad's war crimes in syria. an untold number of syrian civilians have been killed by russian air strikes long in support of assad. those responsible should be tried in the haig on war crimes charges. this is not the behavior of a g-7 country. fourth, in recent weeks, russian forces have ramped up their pressure on the country of georgia. more than 11 years after russia's invasion, the georgian people suffer under its ongoing aggression. that is not the behavior of a g-7 country. fifth is the recent russian crackdown on demonstrators exercising their basic political rights. throughout the summer, putin oversaw the brutal beatings of children, women, and men and subjected everyday russian citizens to arbitrary arrests and detention. what was their plea? that they be able to register their own local candidates for

their own local elections. mr. president, the kremlin's ongoing and too often violent oppression of the russian people is not the behavior of a g-7 country. no country in the g-7 acts this way. this behavior is destabilizing, it is aggressive, it is authoritarian, and it does not belong at the table of democracies. it is truly a disgrace that any american president would so easily discount all i just described to win favor. of course these aren't the only gifts bestowed by president trump during the summer of love. let's not forget how the president has delayed sanctions on turkey over its purchase of the russian s-400 system. through sanction acts or capsa in recent to russia's attack on our elections in 2016. we have the sanctions for a reason. they advanced america's national security interests. they starve the russian defense sector of much-needed

international business, and by not imposing them, this president is both failing to hold russia accountable and sending a dangerous message to other countries that they can buy russian weapon systems without consequence. from the moment we passed catsa, this administration has resisted every step of the way. so, mr. president, let's imagine for a moment what a legitimate american president, a president who is not a putin puppet would do in this situation. how would that person protect our country? first, a legitimate president would not endanger the relationship of the key ally in order to gain political advantage at home. they would show solidarity with our democratic allies by providing all appropriated security assistance to ukraine and funding for european efforts to counter russian aggression. second, i'm sure that they would not welcome russia back into the g-7. and third, they would impose caatsa sanctions on turkey and send a clear message to the world that the united states is serious about imposing pressure on the russian defense industry. so let me close. the united states of america

must always stand on the side of democracy, human right, freedom and the rule of law. that's why we must secure our elections from the threat of foreign interference at home and defense democracies in the face of russian aggression abroad. that is why we must demand that security funding appropriated by congress is actually delivered and that the sanctions we craft to counter our adversaries are imposed. and that is why we cannot be silent when american president extorts foreign countries into influencing our elections orwell comes an authoritarian strong man's return to the g-7. i implore my colleagues to use the article 1 of the constitution powers we have to get to the bottom of these very issues and preserve the critical checks and balances we have in our nation. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to

invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of brian mcguire of new york to be deputy under secretary of the treasury signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of brian mcguire of new york to be a deputy under secretary of the treasury shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: does any senator wish to change their vote? does any senator -- has any senator not voted? on this vote the yeas are 82, the nays are 6. the motion is agreed to. mr. alexander: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: thank you. last year ken burns told me that his eight-part, 16-hour country music film that concludes on pbs this week could be more popular than his civil war film.

after watching his first episodes, i suspect he may be right. his new film -- mr. president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senator is recognized. mr. alexander: i'll start again, mr. president. ken burns told me last year that his eight-part, 16-hour country music film that concludes on pbs this week could be more popular than his civil war film. and after watching the first episodes, i suspect he may be right. his new film plums the depths of the american soul using the one tool, music, that is most likely to touch the most number of us. as a united states senator from tennessee i will confess my bias. the first two hours of country music a week ago sunday was

about the recordings of hillbilly music in 1927, at the birthplace of country music in bristol, where the tn-virginia -- the tennessee-virginia state line runs down the middle of main street. two years ago senator kaine and i played a concert, me on the key board, he on the harmonica at the end of that main street at a fiddler's festival they have. the rest of the ken burns episode winds through a community called boogertown in eastern tennessee in the smoky mountains where dolly parton was born. to the grand ol' opry in nashville,-to-beale street in memphis. we like to say that the whole world sings with tennessee. but country music is more than tennessee music. it's more than appalachian music. it's more than the music of poor white americans.

it comes from the heart. as burns and dayton duncan's story telling reminds us, every one of us has a heart. there is no better evidence of this than in paying less than $20 to sit at a table at the bluebird cafe in nashville. there you listen to three songwriters tell the stories behind their songs and play them for a small audience that doesn't even whisper during their performances. i sat at the bluebird on a saturday in 2013 listening to a young songwriter, jesse alexander, sing her song "i drive your truck." one of her cowriters, connie harrington, had heard on npr the story. it was the story of jerry monte, an american soldier killed in afghanistan trying to save another soldier. he won a congressional medal of

honor for that. to remember his son, his father paul drives jared's dodge ram truck because, the father says, i'm alone in the truck with him. when jessie alexander finished singing, everyone in the bluebird was weeping. i said to the person next to me, that has to be the song of the year, and it was. last week, i attended the annual nashville songwriter awards show. i looked through the program, listing all the previous songs of the year. in 2012, it was dolly parton's farewell song to porter wagoner. "i will always love you." dolly parton is a great songwriter, too. in 2003, it was "three wooden crosses." in 1972, it was "old dogs, children, and water melon wine."

then in 1969, it was "okie from muskogee" by merle haggard. three words and the true is how some songwriters define country music. ken burns has become america's storyteller, a skill much more difficult than it would seem. he tackles the subjects that divide us like the civil war and vietnam, and he presents them in a form that allows us to travel through those wrenching experiences, gathering the information we need to form our own opinions. one could argue that ken burns is our most effective teacher of united states history. a subject woefully undertaught in our schools. the lowest scores on high school advanced placement tests are not in math and science. they're in american history. so i'm glad to know that there's more of ken burns' work to come.

according to a "new yorker" article in 2017, during the next decade, burns plans to produce films about the may owe clinic, -- the mayo clinic, muhammad ali, ernest hemingway, the american revolution, lyndon b. johnson, barack obama, winston churchill, the american criminal justice system, and african american history from the civil war to the great migration. producing these films must cost a lot of money, but in my view, every penny that the public broadcasting system and private contributors have spent has been worth it. if i had the money, i would ask burns how much time he'll spend raising funds to pay for these next films, and i would give him the amount of money that it would take so that he could spend that time producing an extra three or four extra films.

doing all that before he hangs it up. since i don't have the money, maybe someone else will do that. mr. president, i ask consent to include in the record an op-ed that was in "the new york times," "country music is more diverse than you think" by ken burns and dayton dunn -- duncan. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. cassidy: mr. president, i rise today with a heavy heart to honor the life of mandeville police officer captain vin sent sent -- vincent loberto who was

killed last week. he will be remembered for his life of service to community and country. after graduating from high school in new orleans, he joined the united states marine corps where he served ten years ultimately as sergeant. captain loberto had a combined 30 years of law enforcement service, five with a sheriff's department, 35 years with the mandeville police department where he was recognized as officer of the year. the captain had a brilliant mind for law enforcement. he graduated from the f.b.i. national academy, ran the city's criminal investigation division where he worked as a polygraphist and was responsible for the department's enforcement functions. those that knew him best describe him as a gentle giant, polite and upbeat, reasonable and fair-minded, all qualities that made him a great police officer. in his yard flies the marine corps flag and mounted on the front door twin wreaths, one for the marines and one for the police. captain loberto is survived by his wife tracy and seven

children. he was 58 years old. his passion for service was so strong he inspired self-of his children to follow in their dad's footsteps by entering the military and law enforcement. what a great definition of setting a great example for children. captain liberto's death is a painful reminder that our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe. he died during a gunfire exchange when a routine traffic stop turned into a tragedy. the other officer, vin cato, was also injured but thankfully has returned to work. captain liberto and officer cato, law enforcement officers return to work every day knowing they might not come home at night. they do it for us all, and for that we should always be grateful. i ask that those listening say a prayer for tracy, their kids, and the officers of the mandeville police department and their entire community who are

grieving the loss of one of their own. vincent liberto made louisiana a better place and our country a better place, and he will be sorely missed. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida is recognized. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous

consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rubio: i don't know of any topic that is more important for our country than the relationship between the united states and china. i'm a big fan of history. i love to read about history. i think it's one of the best ways to understand the future is to understand the past. it strikes me that at some point in the future, someone will write a book about the 21st century. and i think that book will have mentions of a number of the things that consume our time and political debate. but i believe the central issue globally that will define the 21st century is the relationship it the united states and china and which direction it heads. let me say at the outset that china is destined to be what it already is becoming and that is a rich, important, and powerful nation. that in and of itself should not be threatening. it is a reality and one that i think holds promise to the extent that a rich and powerful china is a responsible

stakeholder in the affairs of the world. but i think there's another truism. and that is what is developing today and a credibly serious and balance between the united states and china on trade and commerce, increasingly on diplomacy, potentially eventually militarily and geo politically. and so i -- when i come today to speak about china, it's not simply in the context of our current trade tensions which is part of a much broader issue. and the fact of the matter is that this is the way we should view it. because this is the way the communist party of china views it. the truth is that they view our trade tensions as an inevitable blip in their long-term plan to supplant the united states of america as the world's dominant political, military, and economic power. now it's understandable why many americans would feel uneasy at the prospect of being supplanted

by china. first of all, having seen so many of our industries that once thrived in our towns and cities weakened or leave altogether and then reading about the grotesque violation of human rights and dignity of people and china's communist party's persecution of christians and muslims and other religious minorities. the sad fact is that we have come to this realization far too late in this city. for many years many of the policy elites across the political spectrum turned a blind eye to this growing threat. there was this notion that once china became rich and prosperous, they would become like us as if somehow economic prosperity in the sense -- in the way china's achieving it automatically leads to supporting values such as the ones that we hold dear. but the fact is that we can no longer ignore the reality that this is not the reaction that china is headed. and has implications for our

country and the world. our country, our workers and families can no longer afford elected officials in this city who turn a blind eye to the seriousness of this challenge. at this point given all the information before us and the trends that have clearly emerged, ignorance on this matter is no longer an excuse. and frankly the communist party of china is no longer hiding its ambition about what this is all about. i'm not asking you to believe my words on this. i just ask you that you believe them. that you take their word seriously, and that's why i come here to point to a speech last week by wong chi who is recently retired as the vice chair of the national people's congress financial and economic affairs committee. he showed us, by the way, what passes as moderation within the chinese communist party.

in a speech he gave, he didn't speak in the typical communist jar gone. he doesn't invoke abstract theories or laws of history or in any way hold back. he speaks with a frankness that we should actually be grateful for because it enlightens us and hopefully propels us to take action. as he makes clear, the trade war ongoing is a fight to the death, an inevitable outcome in a fight between two systems. paraphrasing, he urged chinese business people to shed their illusions and prepare for struggle. china is the rising power. the united states is the aging hegemonic and china's rise will be sustained at this time the socialist road with chinese characteristics is obviously more competitive than the u.s. economic system he declared. such confidence are not just his words. they emanate from the very top just after gaining power, their current president apparently for life told the party, quote, this

is a quote, it is inevitable that the superiority of our socialist system will be increasingly apparent. end quote. the united states according to wong in his speech cannot have partners, cannot make space for others in the world. rather we're stuck. we're stuck in a situation in which china must fight the united states either economically or militarily define its place in the world. throughout his speech, by the way, he points to various events in the u.s. and the western world as evidence of the claims that he makes. he points to the financial crisis, to the ballooning deficits, to what he terms are political instability, and very clear language he says these are problems that capitalism can't avoid. that's his quote. but the chinese system through central guidance, this is our institutional advantage, he argues. embedded in his speech, there are two things. the first is a confidence in the inevitability of china's rise

and its conflict with the united states. but closely related to it is the second theme and that is an appeal to the rest of the world to follow in the chinese authoritarian model or as they call it, socialism with chinese characteristics because in their telling, it is clearly a superior model to ours. the time has come for america and our allies who value freedom and liberty and free enterprise, democracy, human rights, the dignity of all people, the time has come for us to eagerly confront this assertion. unfortunately there are too many in the western world and in the free world that refuse to see the challenges. indeed the threat that is posed by the communist party of china's vision of the world and the future. rather than discuss the technical threat posed by an entity like huawei, i want to articulate the threat that the communist party of china's own words, the threat in their own words, quote, as the chief said last week, our currency will

become the world currency. and understand the implications of this stated goal. china's aim is to use economic power, to displace the united states of america and the role it has played in the world since the end of the second world war. china's message to the world is that its industry, its workers, its politics will be more productive than ours. the chinese communist party says to foreign country, investors, businesses that the long-term play to keep their economy's growing is by partnering with them, not partnering with us. and some may say what's the big deal about that? let's just take care of our own problems. here's the big deal. here's what it would mean for americans in real terms. if the world heads in the direction they advocate, it would mean lower wages for you. it would mean homes and mortgages that are unaffordable and it would mean a world where with what you can say and do abroad but also at home is increasingly dictated by the

chinese communist party and its benefactors in the united states and elsewhere. if you don't believe me, just realize that already major motion pictures produced in hollywood are sense -- censored even as they are played in the united states because those movies will not have access to chinese movie theaters. we've already seen multiple american companies have to apologize, take content off the internet, change t-shirts they sell at stores because they offend the communist party of china and are going to be cut off from selling to that market. it's already happening. it will happen at a much more accelerated pace. by the way, we've also seen news outlets in some places have to cut back or sensor -- censor what they say. we've had a television in a major american network take out content from a program for fear of being censored in the vast chinese market. beyond that. the new companies, the new

technology, the improved standards of living which the united states has always relied on to prove the superiority of our way of life would also no longer exist. indeed some of these predictions are already happening. the economic growth, the prosperity, the stability that marked america's shared memory of the last century appear to be increasingly absent from this one. simply put, the chinese communist party believes that the 20th century termed the american century was an anomaly and they believe they alone have mastered the scientific laws of history and so democracy must stand aside and give way. we should clearly understand that the communist party of china's mission, a mission they term national rejuvenation of chinese power and china's prominent place on the world stage means supplanting our values and our way of life. as ping explained two years ago, this goal is the original aspiration and mission of the party. what is our model?

it's been incouple pent upon us -- incumbent upon us and americans and leaders to make the case that our model is just as superior. it's incumbent upon us to make the case that our -- on behalf of our model just as aggressively as an all authoritarian china is making their case for socialism with chinese characteristics. our leadership must also be one that respects human dignity, that defends our interests and religious liberty and democracy and human rights and the rule of law which means consistently sticking up for nations committed to the same ideals and standing with people who are fighting for these and being crushed by the totally tearianism in anywhere in the world. by the way, the 20 -- 21st century, american leadership brought peace after the carnage of the first half of the last century, the unction has led the

world to avoid great power -- open great power conflict and it meant historically little bloodshed and deep international stability compared to previous eras. the international system that america helped craft and lead comes with a promise of multilateral security and that's why we must remain wholly committed to protecting our allies. we spared no cost to help them rebuild, to defend themselves and to protect the dignity of their citizens. the chinese communist party on the other hand cannot conceive of the world that's not driven by status and hierarchy. they are not partners and they view no one as partners. they view them as vassle states. this progress even to someone like wong is a hidden plot to suppress others. such cynicism, by the way, reveals more about the chinese communist party than it does about us with a failure of american efforts to offer a helping hand to china in exchange for moderation. the chinese communist party

power serves no purpose but to strengthen the party's rule and to spread its influence around the world. and for them, those who deviate from the party's expectations deserve to be sent to forced labor camps where they toil on the party's behalf, where mass surveillance is a necessary safe guard against deviants whose only crime is to want a private civic life. as part of making the case for our model, we must continue to make the case as to why china is an untrustworthy partner in any endeavor whether it's a nation state project, an industrial capacity, or financial integration. they have a neo colonial project, the belt and road initiative which follows a very consistent playbook, approach nations with promises of lucrative state projects, exploit corruption, bleed those nations dry, and then hijack their domestic infrastructure and sri lanka what it meant was the de facto takeover of wide swaths of their political system

after a project sputtered and beijing seized the port. beijing is also an untrustworthy partner in international commitments. we've seen this repeatedly in the asian pacific where they have flagrantly violated international agreements and obligations on hong kong, on taiwan. we see it right off the coast of vietnam and the philippines where beijing is literally building artificial islands to substantiate ludicrous territorial claims. chinese leaders have long claimed to never seek the gem any and yet the bullying of their anybodies, they justify it and they justify it on the grounds that china deserves respect because of its power and position. doing business in china is not just like here or anywhere else. it's not business between two private companies. it means doing business with companies backed by, sponsored by, protectioned by the chdges communist party -- chinese communist party. their economy is purposely

opaque and chinese companies, many of which are state owned, state directed or tools used by the chinese communist party to further their goals. the telecommunication company we've heard so often of, huawei is one example, nations that have naively partnered with huawei on 5g expose vital infrastructure to beijing surveillance state, a partnership that beijing has shown it will readily exploit. the bottom line is that china no matter what will continue to play a prominent role in the future of our world and frankly we should welcome a growing, thriving china, but one that plays by the rules. today's china, governed by the chinese communist party, is not playing by any rules. it's a predatory state in nature, and it actively seeks to supplant not just the united states but a world order committed to democracy, human rights, and the dignity of all. since their induction into the

world trade organization in 2001, china has shown itself to be anything but a responsible global partner, and this is a dangerous recipe for conflict. and that is what china's leaders are preparing for. xi put the party on notice in 2013 saying that, quote, china moss diligently prepare for a long period of cooperation and of conflict with capitalist democracies. if anything, the intervening years have strengthened this conviction. wong told chinese business leaders that americans, quote, want your life. unquote. he called it an illusion that, quote, some small amount of money, unquote, would resolve the trade war. we do not want to fight but are not afraid to fight, wong concluded, once again quoting moo. china clearly sees the moment. as their opportunity to small

businesses america from its global leadership role and conflict, armed or otherwise is an inevitable by-product of that. america, as wong noted, has been the world's leader for decades and we have used that power to build an international system that prioritizes fundamental human rights, open democratic governance, and liberal economies, all the things that the communist party of china believes represents weakness. so we must be absolutely clear as to what that means. if china becomes the world's dominant economic power, they will become the world's dominant military power. they will become the world's dominant financial power, they will become the world's dominant cultural power and given their critique and i would say disdain of our system, we can expect that in a future such as that, it will look much different than the one -- the reality that we live now. if china supplants america and the west, the world our children

will inherit will be nothing like the one we grew up and know. instead of exporting the chinese communist party, china will be positioned to reorient the entire globe. the aindication of the governance at home on a global scale with the way countries interact with one another. let me close with the prophetic word after chinese dissident. in his testimony before congress in the year 2000 against and in opposition china's asession essential to the w.t.o. this is a quote. if the united states will not fight the world's largest tyranny, then it will have to fight it economically. and eventually militarily. therefore, the only way to preserve peace and freedom begins which comprehending democracy's greatest enemy and countering it effectively, end without. blissful ignorance is no longer an option. we cannot overlook the obvious

signs of near--term economic gains. the world has reached a crossroads, one in which our inability to act will usher in a chinese century, and that will have disastrous consequences. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

mr. rubio: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: mr. president, i that the quorum call bees vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rubio: i ask that the cloture motions for the cella, jarjani and black nominations ripen on tuesday. i ask that the cloture motion on the black nomination, the senate resume consideration of the mcguire knocks.

at 3:30 p.m. all time be considered expired. finally, i ask that if any of 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: without objection. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 4285, which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 4285, an act to amendment title 38 united states code to extend and modify certain authorities and requirements relating to the department of veterans affairs and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous consent notwithstanding the order of august 1, 2019, the senate proceed to the immediate

consideration of calendar number 102, s. 1340. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number s. 1340, a bill to authorize activities to combat the ebola breakout in the democratic republic of the congo and for other pursuance. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. rubio: i further ask this the menendez-lee amendment be agreed to, the substitute be agreed to, the bill, as amended, 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. rubio: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. res. 323 submittedder earlier today. officer the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 323 designating september 2019 as national kinship care month. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed measure. mr. rubio: i ask that 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. rubio: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tuesday, september 24. further, that the fog the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the cella nomination under the previous order. finally, ask the that the senate recess following the cloture vote on the black nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rubio: if there is to further business to come before the snarks senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate