>> the house will be in order. >> for 40 years, c-span has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events from washington d.c. and around the country. so you can make up your own mind, created by cable in 1979, c-span is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of governme government. >> the u.s. senate is about to gavel in on this thursday. senate lawmakers will debate and then vote on nomination of justin walker to be a judge on the u.s. district court for western kentucky. the senate also continues work today on 2020 domestic federal

spending. we do expect the chamber to recess in about 30 minutes so lawmakers can attend a memorial service at the capitol for maryland congressman elijah cummings who died last week. his funeral will be in baltimore. now to live coverage on c-span2. the reverend black will lead us in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. precious lord, spirit of light and life, your mercies endure forever. guide our lawmakers through the turbulent waters of division and pessimism to your safe harbor of unity and hope. keep their hearts clean, their

spirits courageous, and their minds clear. bless our nation with your continued presence, as you empower our senators to be servants for peace and freedom in this world of human need. and, lord, we again thank you for the life and legacy of representative elijah cummings. we pray in your great name, amen. the presiding officer: please join me in the pledge. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of americ, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., october 24, 2019. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable cindy hyde-smith, a senator from the state of mississippi, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: chuck grassley, president pro tempore.

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: later today the senate will have the opportunity to confirm another brilliant nominee to the federal judiciary. in this case, i'm proud to say this new lifetime judge will be another fine kentuckian. for those of us who know justin walker and have seen his work up close, it's clear that president trump made an outstanding choice to be a district judge for the district of western kentucky. mr. walker has sharpened his legal skills at the highest levels, including premier clerkships to then judge brett kavanaugh of the d.c. circuit and former justice anthony kennedy. as a prominent attorney and law professor, he's earned the respect of his peers in the legal world and of the community that he'll serve on the bench. for his students, mr. walker has been a mentor who helps push them to fulfill their potential

in the classroom and throughout your legal careers. his thoughtful and deliberate approach have fit the mold of a federal judge who, imagine this, will uphold the laws and the constitution, as they're actually written, not as he might wish them to be. so i'm confident mr. walker will serve our commonwealth and the country extremely well as a district judge. i look forward to voting to confirm him and i would certainly urge my colleagues to join me. so now, madam president, on another matter, too many times i've had to come to the floor to speak about the pain inflicted on families and entire communities by opioid addiction and substance abuse. it's a crisis present in every zip code, one that has wrecked lives throughout our country. my home state of kentucky has been hit particularly hard, but i'm relieved to say we're seeing at least a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

this past summer brought news of the first nationwide decrease -- decrease -- in overdose fatalities in almost three decades. kentucky saw a nearly 15% drop after so much suffering, an indication that the tide may be starting to turn. the result has been hard-won, after years of coordinated efforts between states, localities, and washington, it' been a nationwide response. we've been focused on doing our part. today marks the one-year anniversary of one key part of our ongoing efforts. one year ago today, president trump signed into law our landmark opioid legislation that will hopefully spare more families from the pain of addiction. this legislation included work from five different committees and 70 senators. thanks to chairman lamar

alexander and so many of our colleagues, this significant package focused on providing innovative solutions, promoting long-term recovery, and empowering the local leaders and first responders out on the front lines. and a little more than a year ago, it passed the senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. i'm proud that two of my own bills were included in that package. the protecting moms and infant act safeguards the youngest victims of addiction crisis from its heartbreaking consequences. and the career act addresses the major role that stable employment plays in long-term recovery. it encourages treatment facilities to form partnerships with local businesses and short-term housing facilities to hand up to those who need it. society we're proud of what we -- so we're proud of what we accomplished a year ago and i'm proud that my kentucky colleague andy bauer is pushing for the

companion legislation over in the house. we know that this work is far, far from finished. that's why this very week the senate is moving forward $25 million for the career act's transitional housing pilot program and the domestic appropriations we're advancing here on the floor. and the work will not stop there. this fight has been one of my top priorities since i became majority leader. we've put cutting-edge tools into the hands of health care professionals and first responders who face this crisis every single day. in my state alone, i helped secure an unprecedented $200 million to address the urgent crisis facing kentuckians, a funding increase of more than 400% on this issue for kentucky since i became majority leader. we've committed to a comprehensive strategy of prevention, treatment, and enforcement efforts. at my invitation, the white

house drug czar saw some of kentucky's leadership when he visited this past april. we've found new ways to treat addiction and help families escape its painful consequences. ly this month i -- early this month i joined secretary azar and nih director collins and a research team at the university of kentucky to establish the largest federal grant in the university of kentucky's history. these new resources will fuel u.k.'s bold commitment to cutting overdose deaths by 40% in 16 counties over the coming three years. i was proud to help secure those funds. kentucky is proud that we're leading the national response, but i know my colleagues each have their own inspiring stories of how states are fighting back. as i said, the work is far from over, but today we take a moment to celebrate the progress of the past year. to help mark this anniversary, the first lady of the united

states joins us here in the senate yesterday. i'm proud to stand with her, the trump administration, and my colleagues in this body as we recommit ourselves to this effort. so, madam president, this anniversary also reminds us of how much urgent issues are crying out for substantive bipartisan, bicameral cooperation for the good of the american people. i'm talking about funding our armed forces and the department of defense, just as both sides agreed to do back in the summer when we signed on to a bipartisan, bicameral budget agreement, the democrats have lately sort of wandered away from, just wandered right away from it. i'm talking about passing the usmca, the most consequential update to north american trade policy in a generation which speaker pelosi has put on ice in order to move democrats' impeachment obsession to the front burner, despite the fact

that there are 17 6,000 new american jobs on the way if we passed the usmca. the needs of the american people have not been put on pause just because the democrats have decided it doesn't suit them to get along with the white house. my friends in democratic leadership insist over and over their focus on undoing the 2016 election will not keep them from the substantive legislation that american families need. well, madam president, our armed forces are still waiting for their funding. our workers and small businesses are still waiting on their new trade agreement. our senate democratic colleagues have enough time to push partisan resolutions like their effort yesterday to enact a new tax cut -- listen to this -- their effort yesterday to enact a new tax cut for wealthy people in blue states like new york and

new jersey at the expense of working families everywhere else. but so far we've seen little -- little -- indication they're really ready to put our differences aside and come to the table on significant bipartisan subjects that can actually become law. i worry that something like the landmark opioid package that we're celebrating today would not have moved through the congress now that we have just one year later. i worry it would have been another victim of democrats' decision to avoid working with republicans and the white house on basically anything to keep all of their focus trained on impeachment. i hope i'm mistaken, madam president. i hope we make real progress soon. the american people are waiting on us.

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, the judiciary. justin reed walker of kentucky to be united states district judge for the western district of kentucky. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: minority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, madam president, over the past few weeks the house of representatives has continued to hear testimony as part of its impeachment inquiry which stems from allegations that president trump pressured a foreign leader

to investigate a domestic political rival. these allegations were deemed credible and an urgent concern by the inspector general of the intelligence community who is a trump appointee. that's how this all started. not with some democrats stirring the pot, but with a trump appointee, a very well-respected man, saying that these allegations were credible and urgent. the public record -- the public record -- shows that the white house delayed more than $391 million in assistance to ukraine to help the country stave off russian aggression. in a memorandum of the president's phone call with ukrainian president zelensky released by the white house itself, the president requested that ukraine undertake investigations that would benefit him politically. and only a few days ago, as we all know, the chief of staff to the president, mick mulvaney,

admitted publicly that the administration held up security assistance for the same political reasons. mr. mulvaney, of course, later attempted to retract his comments. but his original statements were quite clear, and i'd say anyone who is not biased believed the original. the white house continues to claim fighting corruption in ukraine was its only intent, but that is belied by the fact it has proposed massive cut to the state department's budget to fight corruption around the world. so on the one hand, they say we want ukraine to fight corruption. and on the other hand, they cut in the budget huge amounts of money that are aimed at fighting corruption. no one believes the president these days. on so many things, but this issue is pretty clear. if you believe in fighting corruption, you don't cut the funds to fight corruption, at the same time pick out one country. so the facts are part of the

public record. they're deeply troubling and they come before ambassador taylor's testimony this week. by all accounts, mr. taylor's testimony was explosive and undeniably credible, detailing a pattern of activity that corroborated the account provided by the whistle-blower, this time from a career diplomat, a west point graduate, who has served every administration, democrat and republican, since 1985. taylor is the kind of person americans admire. down the road, nonpolitical, served the country, west point, served democrat and republican administrations ably well. but all of a sudden of course he's an anathema because he spoke truth to power. president trump doesn't like that and our republican friends who cower before president trump don't like it. but americans know what's going on. mr. taylor's written statement

referred to additional documentation for the events he described in his testimony. notes and memos that are in the custody of the state department. these records are part of a broader set of documents that is under subpoena by the house of representatives, which the state department is refusing to turn over to congress. yesterday the house issued a new request for mr. taylor's documents. so what is it, trump administration? what is it, republicans? on the one hand, you say you want everything to be public when it comes to the hearing tion, but you won't give up any documents. pompeo won't come and testify. again, the hypocrisy, the self-serving nature of the president's statements and his republican allies here in the house and senate is glaring. we don't want any sunlight when it comes to documents, when it comes to even bringing secretary pompeo here.

but all of a sudden because they don't like what's being heard in the hearings, we need everything public. well, one way or the other i would like to see everything public, these documents. and the house has said that they will have public testimony. but the hypocrisy of our republican friends and of the president is glaring on these issues. secretary of state mike pompeo, usually very eager to state what he thinks boldly, he's ducking, he's running. he hasn't explained his brazen disregard for law and defiance of congressional oversight. where is secretary pompeo? the pattern of presidential misconduct alleged in the whistle-blower complaint runs straight through his department. it concerns the most sensitive diplomatic interests of the united states, our national

security, and the potential corruption of foreign policy. where is representative pompeo? we know that people have disagreed and had the guts to disagree with the president. general mattis is at the top of the list. we heard from brett mcgurk yesterday. he's there. probably john bolton is too, even though i don't agree with his views on a whole lot of stuff. we all know representative pompeo, when he was in the house would be incensed with this defiance of congressional prerogatives. when he ran the ben ga disi hearings -- the benghazi hearings many believe in an anunfair -- unfair way, now

he's hiding. we need representative pompeo here, the one who said things should be made public when it was a different administration. to make matters worse, not only is secretary pompeo ducking; but maybe he's complicit in all of this because his name has surfaced on multiple occasions in the tale of the administration's very questionable dealings with ukraine. for instance, ambassador taylor's written statement indicates that on august 29, at the suggestion of national security advisor john bolton, mr. taylor sent a first-person cable directly to secretary pompeo relaying his concerns about the delay in security aid. the state department stonewalling creates the appearance that the secretary is covering up not only for the president, but for himself. without question, the state

department documents described by mr. taylor must be provided to congress. the stonewalling of congress must end. secretary pompeo must explain himself. he has too many questions to answer about events that concern his department, his subordinates and his actions. if he has any, any regard for his own reputation, he would do these things. ideally, all members of the house and senate would agree on the need for congress to see the full records here, but yesterday, as we know, a rump group of house republicans,, quote-unquote, stormed the facility in the capitol, many with their cell phones in hand even though that's against the rules, in an attempt to highlight the purported secrecy of the process. some representatives reportedly asked -- let me repeat,

asked -- to be arrested. it's an obvious and outrageous breach of house rules and the security measures that exist to protect sensitive information from our adversaries. even more so, because it was so transparently a stunt, a purile, childish stunt, not the kind of thing that the house of representatives, any member of the house of representatives should stand for. according to reports -- and the hypecy of these to stormed the chamber is glaring. more than one-third of the house republicans who stormed the scif -- a secret place -- not secret, but the closed-off place that is secure -- more than one-third deficit members who stormed the secured facility are members who are already allowed in the closed hearing.

they're allowed to ask questions of witnesses, participate in the fact-finding. they know as well as i do that they'll be public -- that there'll be public hearings in the future once the evidence is gathered. so this is not about process. that is a diversion. this is because house republicans do not like the facts and want to suppress them. that is the reason they are storming, trying to create this childish, infantile fuss. they don't want to open the process up. they want to shut it down. if the white house and its congressional allies truly wanted an open and transparent process, the white house would provide the documents congress requested, it would defy subpoenas, it wouldn't forbid executive branch employees from testifying. you can't just flip a switch --

one day suppress evidence and the next argue for a transparent and open process. the hypo chrissie, the self-interested dealing is self-evident. rather than stomp their feet in a fit of staged political theater, house republicans -- all republicans -- should join in getting you all the facts. we're not prejudging the facts. we may be a jury, but we want the facts to come out, not some but all. that's our responsibility to get the facts out, all of us. matters as grave as the ones that form the basis of the house impeachment inquiry require us to put country over party. that's what democrats will do. that's what republicans must dozen as well. all the facts must come out, and those who are attempting to obstruct this fact-finding inquiry may regret the day when

they said, all they want to do is open up the process. our republican friends may get what they wished for. all the facts coming out. they will regret it because at least from reports, the facts are very, very troubling. now on syria, yesterday nona address to the white house, president trump announced he was canceling proposed sanctions against erdogan, this time after assad, erdogan, and putin got more than they could ever hoped ford out of president trump's abrupt decision to withdraw troops from northern syria. it was another nonsensical, counterproductive foreign policy decision by president trump. the notion that the united states should trust erdogan or assad or putin to secure isis fighters and sympathizers is not only delusion, a it's downright dangerous. president trump's weakness in the face of strongmen, his

reckless decision make something putting the lives of our partners and allies and americans at risk. has assad, erdogan, putin exert more influence on the regions, as the syrian kurds are driven from the region and killed, and as isis-connected detainees escape and regroup, many of them planning to hurt us here in our homeland again, president trump articulates no plan to fix what he has broken. his top official, secretary of state pompeo, secretary esper, have canceled two briefings with the senate during which they were supposed to update the senate on the administration's plan. i think they keep canceling and ducking because they don't have a plan and wouldn't know what to say. that's very, very disturbing. my republican colleagues, please stand up, speak out about the

obvious dangers to our national security that president trump has invited. some, to their credit, have done so. but others have gone so far as to excuse the president's decision, even if it results in ethnic cleansing of the kurds, our brave former partners in the fight against isis. that is not right. democrats and republicans must continue to press the president to correct course in northern syria and quickly develop a plan of action to contain isis and secure its enduring defeat. and finally, on one last issue -- judges -- today the senate will consider the nomination of justin walker of kentucky to serve a lifetime appointment on the federal bench. mr. walker is less than ten years out of law school, has never tried a case, has never served as cocounsel, and it's

not clear how much of his ten years has even been spent practicing law. unsurprisingly, mr. walker earned a rare not-qualified rating by the american bar association. very few are called not qualified, but he's one of them. it seems the only reason mr. walker has been nominated for an austere judgmentship is his membership in the federalist society and his far right-wing views on executive power. unfortunately, walker is part of the well-established pattern of republicans stacking the federal bench with manifestly unqualified judges. another brazen example is steven minoshi, who is slated to be considered in committee today before, thank god, it was delayed. mr. minoshi's record of extreme views is well-documented. he pushed betsy devos'

antistudent agenda to the department of education, worked closely with stephen miller at the white house on policies that harm immigrants. his past writings show scorn for lgbtq willing men and women. his conduct before the judiciary committee was insulting. his contempt for the senate reprehensible. his refusal to be forthcoming about his record should be outright disqualifying and senators graham and kennedy in the committee noted that, in tht his refusal to answer questions was troubling. folks like mr. walker and mr. menashi have not earned the privilege of an appointment to the bench. republicans should follow suit on his nomination and on mr. walker's vote today. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. no, i don't note the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 12:00 stands in recess until 12:00

[background sounds] >> congressman cummings general and memorial service this morning. you can watch on c-span. some senate committees are conducting scheduled hearing this morning. the senate finance committee holding a hearing on substance

abuse. the u.s. surgeon general is among those testifying. live coverage here on c-span2. >> what percent involve the case where a patient was the perpetrator of such broad? >> thank you for the question. we are different than the ig. we don't do the investigation of the case. that would be a better question perhaps for others. however, we did look at, took a sample selection if i that we found all five states had reported fraud and then we went in and spoke with various actors involved in that including the medicaid fraud unit. and to our knowledge, again we don't go into the case but, for example, in florida they unknowingly brokered and sent to other places without their knowledge. >> i want to ask you and you can respond to that, too. based on your work, is it your