of our 40 year commitment the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. senators are excited to expect to continue debate on the next energy secretary replacing rick. period confirmation vote expected at 5:30 p.m. live senate coverages here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, who transforms common days into transfiguring and redemptive moments, continue to guide our lawmakers with your might.

lord, make our senators brave enough for these momentous times, as they seek to live worthy of your great name. may they not trust in their wisdom or power but rely on you to keep them secure. guide them around life's pitfalls, bring them through the darkness to a haven. lord, cleanse the fountains of their hearts from that which defiles, so that they may be fit vessels to be used for your glory. let your peace be within them, as your spirit inspires them to

glorify your holy name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance 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 ask to address the senate for one minute in morning business.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: i've come to the floor many times to speak with my colleagues about the u.s.-mexico trade agreement. i recently spoke with my colleagues in the house of representatives and also officials within the administration about the same subject. by all accounts, the deal is close on the united states-mexico trade agreement. i urge house democrats to act quickly and be reasonable so that we can finally deliver certainty on this issue to the american people. it has now been more than a year since the leaders of canada, mexico, and the united states signed the agreement. so americans have waited a year for what can happen now to happen.

this modernized trade agreement will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and help americans grow wages for our workers. the end of this year's legislative session is rapidly approaching, as we all know. if a deal cannot be reached by the end of this week, i do not see how the usmca can be ratified in the year we're in. as it is, the window of opportunity for stwient -- for 2019 is extremely tight. now is the time for the democrat-controlled house of representatives to act so we can act now in the united states senate. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of energy, dan r. brouillette of texas to be secretary. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i

would ask unanimous consent that ken surletta, hannah kitsmiller, colleen o'connell, matthew sartur and maria faschia, interns of mine, be granted floor privileges on tuesday, december 3. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that jason maynard, a defense fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i had a wonderful thanksgiving break, and i trust the presiding officer did, too, and i hope everyone enjoyed time with their family and friends last week. it was my pleasure to be back home in texas and able to spend time with some incredible people and some organizations that are doing a lot of good in their communities. for example, i volunteered at the central texas food bank which has a service area twice the size of massachusetts and

has been fighting hunger for nearly four decades. i joined them to help distribute some of the food that they had collected to low-income families as they prepared for thanksgiving and had the chance to speak with dozens of constituents there in the austin area. then i got in my car and went south about 70 miles to san antonio, my hometown, where i volunteered with preparations for the 40th annual raul jimenez thanksgiving dinner. this dinner has been, as i said, going on for 40 years and serves 25,000 people each year in the san antonio area that might otherwise go hungry. the numbers are immense. i spent a little bit of time volunteering with a number of folks, picking the turkeys apart and breaking them up into small bite-sized pieces, but they told me that they serve 9,400 pounds of turkey during this 40th

anniversary dinner. it's really one of my favorite events each year, and it was made even more special since they dedicated this year's dinner to raul's wife mary who sadly passed away earlier this year. then i traveled up to wichita falls where i was able to spend a little bit of time with the families of deployed airmen at shepard air force base. i think it's really important that we remember particularly during the holidays that having a loved one in the military service who is deployed and separated from the rest of the family involves a lot of sacrifice, not only on the part of the service member but the ones who are left behind, and that hole in your heart feels a little bit bigger during the holidays. now, fortunately, my dad served 31 years in the united states air force, but by the time i came along, his long-term deployments why long over. still, every time i meet a young family whose loved one is

deployed overseas while they wait behind, it can't help but tug at your heartstrings. so we thank not only those who wear the uniform of the united states military but for those family members as well who i believe also serve. we have an all-volunteer military. no one makes you join the military anymore in america, so we should thank all of them for their service in different ways. it was encouraging to me, though, to meet with these patriots and thank them for their sacrifices and help distribute a little bit of thanksgiving love and food ahead of the holiday. so i came back here to washington refreshed, having spent time that with constituents and anytime -- and family and friends and i'm eager to get back to work. we know the countdown to christmas is on and we have a long to-do list before we are through. one of our top priorities,

strange as it may sound, is to actually pass appropriations bills to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year. i believe that the single most important function of the federal government, something that none of us can do individually, nor the states collectively, is to provide for the common defense. the way we do that is by funding our military and making sure they have the training and the leadership and the material they need in order to fight and win our nation's wars or ideally to not have to fight our nation's wars because nobody will dare mess with the united states military. that's why it's particularly sad to see that we find ourselves balled up in this appropriations process even this late in the year because over the summer we came to a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to guide the appropriations process and to hopefully eliminate this uncertainty going into the

christmas season. last august we had an agreement that provided a road map for negotiations this fall, and we all promised to work together in good faith to stay away from poison pill policy riders and other things that might derail this appropriations process. well, obviously things did not work the way we had planned. unfortunately, our democratic colleagues went back on their promise because of a disagreement over .3% of the federal budget. you heard that correctly. .3%, a disagreement over domestic spending involving .3% of the federal government derailed all of the appropriations process and leaves us in our current state of dysfunction. so rather than passing appropriations bills on time as we were on track to do, we passed two short-term funding bills and we're working day and not to avoid needing another one

when the current continuing resolution expires on december 20. i know chairman shellly and our colleagues -- shelby and our colleagues and their staff on the appropriations committees have been trying to build consensus on the funding bills and i can only hope and pray that we can reach an agreement soon. because, you know what, mr. president, there are a lot of things we can and should be doing. we started off with a government shutdown and we can't afford to make that an annual affair. but this roller coaster ride involving short-term spending bills puts us in a bad position particularly for our military and other areas of the government that needs certainty and to be able to make plans. as our troops are around the globe to keep us safe, we need to do everything in our power here at home to give them the stability to succeed. our commanders and military

leaders have repeatedly told us how difficult it is to plan for a future without a predictable budget and the constantly evolving landscape threatens that need. in addition we need to finish up the national defense authorization act and get it to the president's desk. every year since 1961, congress has passed a national defense authorization act without delay, and now is not the time to get bogged down in partisan fights in congress and fail to do what we have done each year since 1961. unfortunately, our democratic colleagues in the house are trying to use this must-pass piece of legislation to leverage some of their liberal wish list. the version of this legislation passed by the house earlier this year is so partisan it didn't get a single republican vote, not one. putting our national security on

the -- on the line in order to pander radical factions in the opposing party is absolutely shameful. there are some things that should rise above politics, rise above partisanship, and providing for our military is first on that list. i appreciate our colleagues on the armed services committee, led by chairman inhofe who have been fighting to get these poison pills out of this legislation so we can pass the national defense authorization act without any additional delay. it's critical we get these bills moving before everyone heads home for the holidays and there's one other piece of legislation that i would hope we could deliver before we leave. over the last few weeks i've been hearing rumors, which i hope is true, that a deal on the usmca is very close. the in usmca -- the usmca is, of course, the united states-mexico-canada agreement, which is the successor to nafta,

the north american free trade agreement. nafta is reported to support, according to the u.s. chamber of commerce about 13 million jobs in america, eight million with our binational trade with canada, five million with mexico. the usmca comes after nearly a year of motions -- negotiations with the white house and speaker pelosi and i'm cautiously optimistic we will see an agreement soon. we have been anxious to get an agreement so the house can process it and get it over here so we can review in the senate finance committee. the experts told us this agreement would lead to increased wealth for the united states and more than 176,000 new jobs so it's time to get it ratified. but with the house continuing its single-minded obsession to

impeach the president, i hope this trade agreement doesn't fall victim to impeachment mania. whether i'm meeting with farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, small businesses or just average texans, one of the questions i get at home is when is the usmca going to pass? i heard it last week -- i heard last week it was one of the top priorities for the central texas food bank. i'd like to be able to head home for christmas in a few weeks with great news for my constituents back home. with impeachment using up most of the oxygen in washington, i'm afraid that our ability to get bipartisan work done is getting smaller and smaller. if the impeachment circus makes its way to this side of the capitol, that may completely go away. if we stick to the timeline of the clinton impeachment, that would mean the articles of impeachment would be voted on in late december and then literally

for the first five or six weeks of 2020, the senate would be required to sit as a jury in impeachment proceedings, during which nothing else can be done. so we need to check these critical items off of congress's to-do list in the next few weeks that the things that we can and should get done before the christmas holidays and i'm eager to get to work and to do my part. our hope is that our friends on the other side of the aisle will join us in the same commitment. mr. president, i yield the floor and i would note 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, allow me to begin on a topic that doesn't currently concern legislation or nominees here on the floor. but one that does concern our national security and the privacy of the american people. bless you. over the summer, i requested a review of the potential risks posed by fasup, a widely used russian-based application. very reentszly, the f.b.i. responded to my request in writing warning that the f.b.i., quote, considers any mobile application or similar product developed in russia such as fasup to be a potential

counterintelligence threat based on the data the product collects, its privacy in terms of use policies, and the legal mechanisms available to the government of russia that permit access to data within russia's borders. let me repeat these. these are the f.b.i.'s words in a letter sent to me just in the last few hours, that the f.b.i. considers -- their boreds -- any mobile application or similar product developed in russia such as fasup to be a counterintelligence threat. the letter went on to say that the f.b.i. is prepared to address foreign influence operations involving fasup against elected officials, candidate, political campaigns, and political parties. in light of the f.b.i.'s warning, i strongly urge all americans to consider deleting apps like fasup immediately and

to proceed with extreme caution when downloading apps developed in foreign countries that are known adversaries. the personal data it collects from a user's device could end up in the hands of russian intelligence services. it's simply not worth the risk. americans should be aware of the risks posed by certain mobile appss, particularly those developed in foreign countries that are known adversaries before they download them. the f.b.i. didn't name other countries but i'd certainly name not only russia but china, iran and there are others. so please, americans, be careful and let all of our intelligence agencies pursue this potential danger to america and ensure that it doesn't endanger our national security. now, the ndaa. the issue of fasup is a microcosm of a larger problem

about cybersecurity and our foreign adversaries. there is no doubt that russia and vladimir putin continue to meddle in our democracy and interfere in our elections. we should be doing everything in our power to stop it and prevent that from happening. from hardening our election infrastructure to ensuring our military has the cyber authority needed to respond to attacks to passing tough new sanctions to deter any foreign power from interfering in our elections. so it's incomprehensible to me that at the moment leader mcconnell and senate republicans are opposing the election security measures that we wish to include in the annual defense bill. it's amazing. there is bipartisan support for these, but leader mcconnell is once again saying that we're not going to do all we can to prevent russia from interfering in our elections.

that's right. the annual defense bill which passed the senate months ago remains in confront -- conference in part because leader mcconnell and senate republicans renoose to include -- refuse to include important election security legislation. there is bipartisan legislation on this issue, the deter act that would trigger sanctions on any government that tried to interfere with american elections. and i don't care what your party is, democrat, republican, or any other, no good american wants russia to be able to interfere in our elections, wants any foreign power to be able to interfere in our elections. it's what the founding fathers -- one of the things they were most worried about. so how can our republican leader sit blithely by as this -- as a bipartisan group wishes to prevent russia if interfering and do what we can to stop it and he is holding up the ndaa

bill in part because of this provision. why the republican leader and the republican committee chairs are blocking this legislation is beyond me. some have said that the trump administration is ready to act without these sanctions, even though it's failed to implement these sanctions targeted at putin's russia that are already on the books. so have expressed concern about the impact of sanctions on our allies and partners while they know full well that these issues can be addressed. when those arguments flail, they hide behind process complaints. no objection they have holds any water. the ndaa, the defense authorization act, might be one of the last chances to enact legislation -- election security legislation before the upcoming presidential election next year. including senator van hollen's

proposal and other targeted sanctions authored by senator menendez, both of which enjoy bipartisan support is paramount. but inexplicitly, inexplicably, leader mcconnell has yet again refused to allow these kinds of measures to go forward, refuse to allow nearly any election security legislation from being considered in the senate at all, and has repeatedly downplayed the threat of foreign interference in our elections. our country's top national security officials have warned repeatedly that our adversaries, north korea, iran, china, and of course russia, are considering or working on new ways to meddle in our elections and that we have not done enough to prepare ourselves. we need now, not later, now to take commonsense steps to protect the wellspring, the

vital wellspring of our elections, free and fair elections unimpeded by outside interference. i urge leader mcconnell, i urge senate republicans to stand down and work with democrats to secure our democracy. and if there are republican senators who agree with us and don't want to say anything publicly, please go over to leader mcconnell privately and urge him to stand down. now on impeachment. on wednesday the house judiciary committee will hold its first hearing as a part of the impeachment inquiry during which the constitutional history of impeachment will be examined and discussed with legal scholars. it's another example of how the house impeachment inquiry is proceeding in a deliberate, studio, and sober-minded manner. and it stands in stark contrast to some of the recent statements by republicans on this side of the capitol. while the house investigation continues in search of the

facts, certain senate republicans have made increasingly outlandish claims, including the assertion that ukraine might have been involved in interfering in the 2016 election. let me be clear. the charge that ukraine had something to do with election meddling in 2016 is a lie spread by vladimir putin to get things off his back. putin and russia intelligence services invented that lie to muddy the waters and distract from the fact that russia, not ukraine, interfered in our elections. and now disgracefully we have sitting u.s. senators helping spread that russian propaganda in an effort to defend the president. republicans must stop claiming that ukraine had anything to do with election interference in 2016. repeating these claims, even speculating about them, is doing

putin's job for him. i urge my republican colleagues -- they know who they are -- to stop spreading these lies which hurts our democracy. finally on appropriations, while the senate was away for the thanksgiving holiday, there was an important bit of progress in the appropriations process. house and senate appropriators have agreed to the allocations to the various committees known as 302b's and are now working to finalize the 12 appropriation bills. i want to applaud the appropriators on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the capitol, from clearing this major hurdle and potentially paving the way to finish appropriations by the end of this year 2019. now that we have an agreement on allocations in place, senate democrats want to ensure that the final

appropriations bills include several of our policies. and priorities. so let me say, this is what we senate democrats want to make sure is in these bills. significant resources to combat the opioid and gun violence epidemics. significant investment in infrastructure. significant investment in child care. funding for the violence against women act needs to be maintained or ideally increased. that is a democratic priority. and there must be, must be, funding to secure our elections in advance of next year's presidential election. of course, there is still the impediment of president trump's insistence on funding an expensive and ineffective border wall. senate democrats strongly oppose the president stealing money from our military families to pay for this border wall.

we have fought for provisions to stop this theft. we'll continue to do so. i hope my republican colleagues muster the courage to stand with the military families in their states whose funds have been robbed to build this vanity project of president trump's. so, again, i'm very pleased we have an agreement on 302(b)'s. we must now build on that momentum to make sure the final appropriation bills help the american people as much as possible. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. wyden: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i would ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: madam president, here is what the united states senate

and the american people need to know before the next vote coming up on the nominee to be the secretary of energy. first, mr. rick perry, who until yesterday was the energy secretary, has refused to comply with a subpoena to testify about his involvement in the trump ukraine scheme. second, acting secretary dan brouillette nominated to replace mr. perry has failed to provide substantive answers to key questions about mr. perry's dealings with the ukrainian state-owned energy company

naftgaz. since i have been raising questions on this, naftagaz have been coming forward to cooperate into a federal investigation into the ukraine scream. mr. perry -- scheme. mr. perry has skipped town leaving his job after insisting for months that he was determined to stay while the ukraine scheme is front and center in the house impeachment inquiry. madam president, now with the vote on mr. perry's replacement just minutes away, the senate is truly in the dark lacking answers to important questions. those questions include issues

pertaining to mr. perry's role in a campaign to change the leadership of naftagaz, questions about what mr. perry, his donors and certain crooked associates of rudolph giuliani stood to change with those changes. questions about mr. perry's role in the ukraine scheme which trump administration officials have admitted was about withholding critical military aid in a face-to-face meeting until the ukrainian president agreed to do donald trump what he described as a political favor. these are serious issues closely tied to ongoing investigations. this goes way, way beyond the well-documented waste that we

often see in the trump cabinet, private jets, soundproof booths, $30,000 desks. this is about the administration using its full might to push a foreign leader into helping donald trump's reelection campaign. madam president, the senate ought to know about rick perry's involvement, especially since he was described by mr. holmes and others as one of the three am igos who is right in the center of all of this. now, madam president, what exactly is the rush on confirming his replacement? this isn't the first week of a new administration. nothing is going to happen to the power plants or nuclear

facilities if the senate takes the time to get answers to these central questions. dan brouillette is already the acting secretary. no american interest suffers if the senate insists on getting answers that go right to the heart of the senate's oversight responsibilities. so i just briefly want to recall what this is all about. the three amigos, it said basically ceased control of the ukrainian ties under the president and his personal lawyer rudolph giuliani. secretary perry led the delegation that attended zelensky's nomination in may after the vice president was

told to stay home. the vice president and president zelensky held a private meeting. it's been reported that perry said to replace the board with mr. perry's own political donors. at a subsequent meeting with ukrainian government and energy sector officials, perry reportedly said that the entire board ought to be replaced. the associated press reported that at that meeting, and i'm just going to quote here -- the associated press said that one of those people who attended this meeting were per -- where perry was in attendance, quote, one of the attendees said he was floored by the american request because the person had always viewed the u.s. government as having a higher ethical standard. the changes mr. perry was seeking lined up with changes

sought by a pair of now indicted men who were apparently friends of mr. giuliani's. they too wanted different leadership at naftagaz. here's what the associated press had to say about that. as rudolph giuliani was pushing ukrainian officials last spring to investigate donald trump's main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and personal lawyer were also active in the former soviet republic. their aims were profit, not politics. the circle of businessmen and republican donors touted connections to mr. giuliani and president trump while trying to install new management at the top of ukraine's massive state-owned gas company. their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to allies

with trump with knowledge of their plans. unquote. now, federal prosecutors are investigating the role of mr. giuliani. at least one naftagaz official is reportedly cooperating in the investigation, and some of mr. perry's political donors did score a lucrative energy deal in ukraine after perry got involved there. perry admits he was in contact with giuliani about ukraine. it was also revealed in impeachment testimony that perry was seemingly made aware in july of the trump scheme and ukraine. unlike if i owna -- fiona hill, unlike lieutenant lyndeman, perry has refused to testify and share what he knows about the public. for nearly three weeks i have been trying to get answers.

at mr. brouillette's nomination hearing on november 14, i asked him really basic questions. i had plenty of time, to a great extent with the courtesy of my good friend, the ranking minority members, i had plenty of time i. asked basic questions. it came down to this, who did secretary perry meet regarding ukraine and naftagaz. he was one of the self-styled three amigos. what did they talk about? acting secretary brouillette only acknowledged, wasn't willing to say anything, this was a full-court stonewall. wasn't willing to say anything other than there were meetings. no other information, nothing substantive on the questions

that i asked. so i just kept asking him. who took part in the meetings with secretary perry on naftogaz? when and where did they take place? what materials were produced? i don't think secretary perry just went to those meetings all by his, you know, lonesome with maybe a bag lunch or something like that. my guess is that he had staff from the department of energy with materials produced by the department of energy. who outside the department did secretary perry speak with regarding changes in naftogaz and what was the substance of those communications? it's not like secretary perry would have paid his own way and freelanced a three amigos ukraine policy in secret. this is the head of the energy department.

and it looks like he was right in the center of the trump corruption scheme in ukraine. i'm just going to close this way, madam president. i don't understand the rush. mr. brouillette is at the department of energy now. he is the acting chief. western civilization is not going to end if the senate insists on getting some answers to the questions that i've presented this afternoon. we're still going to have our power plants running, nuclear facilities, all of the national security activities that go on at the department of energy. they still go forward. they go forward if the senate takes the time to require that

there be substantive answers to the questions that i have asked of this nominee. i believe it is malpractice for the united states senate to rush this debate before getting answers from this administration, mr. brouillette, secretary perry, and those who i believe could answer these questions if they didn't want in effect say to the united states senate we're just going to pass here. you might want to hold us accountable, but we've got a chance to just skip out, and we're going to take it. that's not the way the senate is supposed to work. that's why i can't support moving forward on this nominee. and i will be voting no this afternoon and, madam president, i also note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: mr. president, within a few minutes we'll be voting on the president's nomination for dan brouillette to become the new united states secretary of energy. i'm here to offer my support for

mr. brouillette and to say i hope my colleagues will vote for him. i'm confident that with his leadership, we'll continue to build on the progress that we made under secretary rick perry. secretary perry has been a very effective secretary of energy during his time here. he's used his executive and political skills which are considerable having been governor of texas longer than anybody and having been involved in politics for a while to take charge of this very important department and lead it in a very strong way. for example, one of the best kept secrets in washington, d.c. is that over the last five years we've had a record level of funding for super computing allowing the united states to be first in the world in our competition with china and japan and other countries. we've had significant increases in funding for national laboratories, 42% increase over

five years. that's record funding. and secretary perry has also worked well to try -- has helped save the taxpayer dollars in making sure the huge construction projects we have in some of the department of energy facilities have been brought under control. so mr. brouillette should he be approved by the senate tonight will be following a very distinguished secretary in rick perry. i look forward to working with mr. brouillette. senator feinstein of california and i are the chairman and ranking member of the energy subcommittee. we've worked very well together over the last nearly ten years in supporting the department both under the obama administration and under the trump administration. we've worked in a bipartisan way with strong support from our

colleagues. that's been made possible by excellent secretaries of energy. i believe mr. brouillette will be yet another one of those. he knows the department well. he's been the secretary -- deputy secretary since 2017. in my conversations with laboratory directors and others across the country, they feel like he knows them well. i know that's true in tennessee. for example, in the oak ridge national laboratory which is our largest science and energy laboratory located in tennessee, mr. brouillette has been crucial in the building of the world's fastest super computer frontier which is housed at oak ridge and he also has been crucial in making sure as senator feinstein and i have insisted that we stay on time, on budget on the building of the huge uranium processing facility at oak ridge

which is the largest federal construction project in our state since world war ii when the manhattan project was created there. mr. brouillette has visited the oak ridge national laboratory. he understands the important work being done there both at the laboratory and at the y12 uranium facility. he understands the importance of the environmental cleanup being done there and at other places. in short, i think we're very fortunate to have someone of his caliber and his experience nominated to head one of our most important departments, the department of energy. i look forward as chairman of his appropriations subcommittee, should he be confirmed, to working with him during this appropriations process, which we hope is about complete, and during the next one be, which will be coming up soon. so, mr. president, i'm here simply to say i support mr. brouillette. i'm glad the president nominated him.

i hope he gets a big vote in a few minutes. i look forward to working with him. i thank the president. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. the senator from west virginia is recognized. man are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. manchin: thank you. mr. president, i rise today to speak about our nominee and the vote for the secretary of energy, mr. brouillette. he came before our senate natural resource committee last week, about two weeks ago now. i found him to be really -- he's up to this enormous task. he's good m he has the credential. basically, if you start looking, he qaim out of our committee 16-4. that's pretty impressive in today's toxic world that we live in, sorry to say. he has a long history with energy, issues and with the department of energy. so he is not a stranger to this agency or to the workings of this agency. he has served as a staff

director of the house energy and commerce committee, so he understands the proceedings of this body and of the house's. at the department of energy, he served as an assistant secretary of energy during the bush administration and of course as a deputy secretary for the past two years under secretary perry. he knows the department, he knows congress and he knows the energy issues facing our nation. he has also demonstrated his managerial skills. he's been vice president of ford motor company and he has been a senior vice president of usaa, which i think we all snow the large insurance and financial services giant which serves the members of our military and their families. this senate has confirmed him twice before and we've gone in depth in looking into him, he has been forthcoming. he has not held anything back. i've asked him every question i possibly 00. i know some of my dear colleagues have some concerns about questions they want answered. i did get him some of those with

him. he assured me that his answers were accurate and correct. i basically come before you saying that we have a gentleman who i think is well-qualified, he is ready for the job, eases up to the job, and he understands the job. so if we could put politics aside, truly put politics aside and look to the qualifications of a person who's willing to serve and his family also a behind him 100%, wanting him to give that service, he's a former military person also. he and his wife will both former military people. i found him to be quite charming and delightful to talk to. the way we've worked with him in our committee, being a ranking member in energy, we worked with him and we've worked with him throughout the last two years. he's been very forthcoming and good to work with, so i would urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to please vote and consider voting

for this gentleman. because i think he is really the right person at the right time for this job. with that, i yield the floor. mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: are we in a

quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. alexander: i ask consent to start the vote at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: has any senator not voted? has any senator wish to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 70, the nays are 15. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is made and laid upon the table and the president will immediately be notified of the senate's action. 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, do hereby bring to a close debate on on the -- on the nomination of eric ross komitee,

of new york, to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york, 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 eric ross komitee, of new york, to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york 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: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 81, the nays are 5. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination.

the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, eric ross komitee of new york to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york. mr. boozman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the provisions of rule 22, the time postcloture on executive calendar 347 expire at 11:45 on tuesday, december 13. 3. further, if confidence, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified on the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. boozman: 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. boozman: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 171, h.r. 1138. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 1138, an a being to reauthorize the west valley demonstration project and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. boozman: 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. boozman: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 236, s. res. 318. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 236, senate resolution 318, to support the global fund to fight aids, tuberculosis, and malaria, and the replenishment.

the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. boozman: i ask unanimous consent the committee-reported amendments to the resolution be agreed to, the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. boozman: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 442, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 442 designationing november 2019 as national runaway prevention month. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. boozman: i know of no further debate on the measure. the presiding officer: if there's no further debate, the question is on the adoption of the resolution.

all those in favor, say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the resolution is agreed to. mr. boozman: i ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. boozman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tuesday, december 3. furthering that following 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 komitee nomination under the previous order.

finally that the senate recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. to allow for the conference meetings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. boozman: if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned until the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until