vote:

the presiding officer: does any senator wish to vote or change his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 74. the nays are 19. and the motion is agreed to. there are two minutes of debate for each side on the next -- before the next vote. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: mr. president, thank you for recognizing me.

the presiding officer: senator, would you suspend for one minute. the senate will come to order. the senate will please come to order. please take your conversations off the floor. the senate will come to order, please. the senator from delaware. mr. carper: thank you, mr. president. colleagues, i take no joy today in rising to urge you to join me in voting no on cloture on the nomination of aurelia skipwith to serve as director of u.s. fish and wildlife service. to my disappointment, my dismay, miss skipwith is not providing information pertaining to her activities at the interior department as requested by senate democrats during her nomination process. despite my repeated requests for this information, since august, since august, requests made twice in writing, twice in person during her nomination process, miss skipwith has

refused to produce information that's routinely provided by other nominees. she even -- she even suggested i file a fleet of information act for the basic information i'm seeking. colleagues, i worry that once confirmed, miss skipwith's forthrightness will only worsen severely in our ability to conduct oversight. miss skipwith's lack of -- questions that existed about her qualifications, her commitment to environmental conservation and if she can ethically lead the fish and wildlife service. i believe it's responsible to confirm a nominee given the serious issues, i urge my colleagues to vote no on cloture. thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: today i come to the senate floor considering as we are the nomination of a aurelia skipwith to be the director of the u.s. fish and wildlife service. the agency needs senate confirmed leadership in place.

she is well qualified for serve as director -- to serve as director. she has a degree in biology from howard university, a degree in molecular genetics if perdue and a law degree from the university of kentucky. for almost three years miss skipwith has served as the department of interior's deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. at her nominating hearing she was introduced by democratic congressman william lacey clay of missouri. he said miss skipwith was one of the most talented, hardest working and driven persons, he said, he had ever known. i encourage every senator to support her nomination. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. 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 aurelia skipwith of indiana to be director of the united states fish and wildlife

service 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 aurelia skipwith of indiana to be director of the united states fish and wildlife service shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

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the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change his or her vote? if not the yeas are 53, the

nays are 41 and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of interior, aurelia skipwith of indiana to be director of the united states fish and wildlife service. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: for the information of all senators, the senate will vote on confirmation of the skipwith and sullivan nominations at 11:45 tomorrow as well as the confirmation of the hahn nomination at 1:45. i ask unanimous consent that if any of the nominations listed are confirmed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent 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. mcconnell: i ask consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately at the desk as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. mcconnell: i understand there is a bill at the desk due a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 3009, a bill to provide for a period of continuing appropriations and so forth. mr. mcconnell: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceedings. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m., thursday, december 12.

further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour 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 skipwith nomination under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of senators carper and whitehouse. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from delaware. mr. carper: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise this evening with a very important reminder for many delawareans

and for all americans. before i do that, i just want to say today is december 11. december 11. four days ago it was december 7. a lot of people think of december 7 as pearl harbor day, and for many years of my life i did as well. it's also delaware day. it's also delaware day. senator chris coons and i are hosting a reception on capitol hill today. we call it the taste of delaware. we're inviting folks to join us if they'd like. but the reason why i mention delaware day, if you actually -- that's the day that we, delaware became the first state to ratify the constitution. we were for one whole week, the entire united states of america opened things up and let the other 49 states in. i think we've done pretty well most days since then. if you look at the prable of the constitution -- preamble of the constitution, it starts off with these words, we the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect union.

that's what it says. we the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect union. it doesn't say to form a perfect union. it says a more perfect union. and it goes on to talk about the public welfare and how we should be looking out for the good of all of our citizens. the constitution was ratified in a place cold the golden state tavern in dover delaware after three days of deliberation by about 25 or so delawareans. there is a fellow who used to be president of delaware. now we call him governor of delaware, a fellow named caesar rodney, who apparently literally rode his horse from dover, delaware, a few years earlier, past, very near to where the tavern stood for many years. he rode his horse by the golden fleece tavern on his way to philadelphia to break the tie

casting vote in the deck -- declaration of liberty. the words included these, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. it's hard to have life, liberty and hur suit of happiness without good health. that goes back to the founding of our country. the declaration of independence and the constitution itself, particularly the prable of -- preamble of the constitution. we make it clear we ought to be looking out for the welfare of our people. i stand before us today reminding us if we don't have good health, don't have access to health care, it's pretty hard to be happy, at least for a lifetime. i say that as sort of a preface, mr. president, to what i want to say now, not everybody who is eligible for health care, who needs health care is covered. we've got a lot of people who get their health care from employer-provided plans. we've got 300 million people who get health care in this country half from employer provided

plans, about 25% from medicaid, 15% from medicare. there is about another 10% that, in some cases don't have any coverage. there's about 20 million people who have no coverage. we have a lot people now who get their coverage from the exchanges. every state has their own marketplace. a lot of people are getting their health care there. a bunch of people used fairly qualified health centers in states on the east coast, midwest and across america, whether you have ten cents or $10,000, you can get health care at these places and that's good. a lot of people who could sign up and get their health care in the marketplaces in each state don't know about them. there is an opportunity to enroll in the marketplaces and get their health care coverage by midnight on this coming sunday, on december 15. i just want to spend a couple of minutes reminding people to do that, who don't have coverage and tell them why it's a good deal for them and for their families.

there's some good news here. the good news is that all across our country folks have four more days to sign up. there's also some more good news, and that is that after going up, up, up, up for years the cost of premiums and exchanges in the marketplaces actually have dropped this year. most marketplaces, i think the average reduction is down about 4%. and for the next year in more than a half dozen states premiums are coming down by double-digit rates of inflation. delaware, the cost of health care in our marketplace starting for coverage beginning january 1 is down by 19%. what's happened here is after a number of years where health care providers -- health care insurers were dropping out of the business of offering, they're back in the market again. 23 insurers offer coverage in

places they hadn't. in january i think there is about 45 more. that means we're going to have some competition for customers, for folks who need insurance. and that competition will help create what i call virtuous or virtuous cycle and help bring costs down even more. more choices, more competition, that is had a good thing for our consumers -- that is a good thing for our consumers and states across america. but wait, there's more. this year three out of four customers can find a plan for less than -- are you ready for this -- 75 bucks a month. think about that. three out of four customers can find a plan in the exchanges for less than $75 a month. some people might be wondering if the affordable care act, if the marketplace is the right choice for you or your loved ones. that's a good question to ask. the marketplaces provide quality, affordable health care, coverage for americans who don't receive affordable

health insurance through their employer. for instance, last friday -- i will mention a couple of people i have been talking to in my state in the last week or so about health care coverage. last friday i was down at a place called lewis, delaware, first cole -- colonized by the dutch hundreds of years ago. an artist there is g.w. thompson. his life was forever changed by the affordable care act when he was able to find affordable and comprehensive health insurance. for folks that are waiting to start a business and need health care insurance, i would encourage you to do this, visit healthcare.gov. i'll say that again. healthcare.gov today. find a plan that works for you. you have plenty of choices. earlier this year, i met a widow in delaware. her name is marie. she was with a preexisting condition. as it turns out, there are tens of millions of people in this country who live with preexisting conditions. for many, many years, they

didn't have access to health care because they had a preexisting condition. that's not the case anymore. the folks who do have a preexisting condition, they can get access to health care. thanks to the excellent staff at a place called westside family health care, that's one of the federally qualified community health centers. they have a great, a great place in dover, but anyway, marie was able to go there and go on an a.c.a. plan that covers her preexisting condition and helps to keep her happy. let me just say to the folks across the country, if you are one of 133 million americans living with a preexisting condition, i urge you to visit again healthcare.gov, healthcare.gov to find a plan that works for you. if you are a young person who has just turned 26 and can no longer stay on your parents' health plan, visit healthcare.gov today and find a plan that works for you. if you or your family have tried

to enroll in medicaid but did not qualify, visit healthcare.gov today and find a plan that works for you. and don't forget, nearly nine out of ten customers are eligible for financial help, which could mean a big savings for you and your family. but to that line, i will say this again. maybe a couple of times. the deadline to enroll in the marketplace is this sunday, sunday at midnight. so you have four days. and depending on which time zone you live in, maybe close to six hours in order to sign up. don't wait another day, though. sign up today. go to healthcare.gov now through this sunday, december 15, to shop for a plan that will give you and your family coverage through 2020. if you sign up, sign up before the -- by midnight this sunday, and you have coverage beginning january 1 through december 31 of next year. i know there are a lot of things

that always have to get done before the end of the year. this is one i think that is too important to miss, too important to miss. so one more time, visit healthcare.gov today to find health care coverage that works for your family's needs and your budget, regardless of what state you live in if you have no coverage. and, mr. president, i want to end this by saying since the affordable care act was enacted, we've seen some -- not all, but some of our republican friends here in this body and across the country do their dead level best to undermine the affordable care act. those efforts ramped up considerably under the current administration. when the president and 18 republicans attorneys general have gone so far as to file a lawsuit that intends to scrap the health care law in its entirety. that lawsuit is working its way through the courts now, but it's important for everyone to know, despite these efforts to sabotage our nation's health care law, the affordable care act is still the law of the land. if you want to sign up for coverage for next year, you can still do that until midnight on

sunday. so i don't think there is a reason not to sign up, and i would urge anybody who is out there listening, watching, if you don't have coverage, let's do it. do it today, and you will be glad you did. and the idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness will be a little bit closer to being realized for you. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i rise once again to call this chamber to wake up to the threat of climate change, and in this particular case to say about the paris agreement and to say in chorus with literally millions of americans we're still in. and in truth, america is still in the paris agreement. when you look at the states that are still in and will honor their commitments, when you look at the cities that are still in and will honor their

commitments, when you look at the companies and the universities that are still in, it is the vast majority of the entire american economy. despite trump's fossil fuel nonsense, we really are still in. last week, i traveled to madrid with speaker pelosi and a delegation of house committee chairs and climate leaders for the u.n. conference of the parties. it was called the cop, to support the paris agreement climate goals. the mood in spain was optimistic. there was a somber confidence. the trump administration, of course, has begun the process of withdrawing the united states from the paris climate accord. that is an abandonment of our american tradition of international leadership and adherence to higher ideals. it is abandonment of our own national security imperative and

economic well-being. this abandonment demeans the nation that has from john winthrop to ronald reagan called itself a city on a hill. our military well understands the national security imperative back in 2013, admiral samuel locklear, the commander of the united states forces in the pacific, warned that upheaval related to climate change -- and i'm quoting him here -- is probably the most likely thing that is going to happen that will cripple the security environment. the most likely thing. he added -- and i'm quoting again here -- you have the real potential here in the not-too-distant future of nations displaced by rising sea levels. if it goes bad, you've got hundreds of thousands or

millions of people displaced, and then security will start to crumble pretty quickly, end quote. and that command is still concerned about preparing for these risks was a center piece senate briefing that i attended at headquarters in hawaii. to understand the threat to our economy, we need only ask our government-backed mortgage institutions, freddie mac. freddie mac predicts that rising sea levels will prompt a crash in coastal property values greater than the housing crash that caused the 2008 financial crisis. that warning by freddie mac is echoed by the biggest, most important financial institutions in the world, both in the united states and the federal reserve system and abroad. the bank of england, bank of

france, bank of canada, european central bank are all warning of systemic, systemic economic risks from climate change. systemic. that is central banker speak for something that poses a risk to the entire economy. perhaps from stranded fossil fuel assets for when the market for fossil fuel dries up, perhaps from a coastal property values crash when flood risk becomes uninsurable and properties unmortgagable. so against this national security imperative and this economic threat, the trump administration leaving the paris climate accord is a historically dumb and destructive move, particularly, particularly from

a guy, trump, who one decade ago called climate change scientifically irrefutable. that's a quote. scientifically irrefutable. and its consequences catastrophic and irreversible. that is a quote as well. the pelosi delegation -- here we are at the cop 25 -- included powerful house chairmen like chairman pallone and chairman helva and chairman johnson, and, of course, the most senior and influential democrat in america, house speaker nancy pelosi. speaker pelosi's presence at the cop resounded, not only because of her clout and standing, but because it signaled the broad true consensus of the united states of america in favor of climate action.

at the state level, at the city level, across the public, and in much of corporate america, we are indeed still in. indeed, at the madrid conference right now, right now as i give this speech, are represented thousands of american businesses. investors managing trillions of dollars. hundreds of american municipalities and counties. top american colleges and universities. dozens of american faith groups. america's largest health care organizations. and 20 american states and tribes. again, all told, it's the vast bulk of the american economy, and it's still in. america, unfortunately, at least in congress, has to fight our way through a persistent

blockade paid for by the fossil fuel industry. don't believe their happy talk about acting on climate. there is a slogan that one of their trade groups has come up with. you see it at national airport. you see it on billboards. it's popping up everywhere. the slogan is we're on it. no, they're not. they're not even close to on it. in fact, they're the opposite. they're on the wrong side. and they're funding false science denial and ridiculous amounts of simple political obstruction. they're paying for that. the statements from their lips do not match the expenditure of their funds. the expenditure of their funds is still dedicated to their

political apparatus of denial and obstruction. ultimately, however, mr. president, we will prevail. the america that the international community knows and counts on, the america of leadership, the america of progress, the america of confidence, the america of clean and green energy and innovation, that america will be back and will prevail. our commitment to take action on the climate crisis is ironclad, said speaker pelosi in madrid. it is, and soon enough, that commitment will topple the castle of fossil fuel-funded climate denial and obstruction that surrounds us today here in

congress. i thank the presiding officer. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until stands adjourned until members also voted to limit today, on the nominations for fda commissioner. in the u.s. ambassador to russia you can follow the senate live here in cspan2 two. join they return. as students move ahead with two articles of impeachment against president trump. they're charging him with abuse of power and instruction of congress. read the text from the articles of impeachment now on website

cspan.org/impeachment. and today at 7:00 p.m. eastern, members of the digester a committee will convene for the final language pretty much cspan2 throughout the market process. debated amendments, and boats to movie and payment in baseman proceedings and has four. follow the process live. in cspan2 online@cspan.org, or is 11 the freight cspan2 radio app. >> sunday night on q&a, doctor raza, professor of medicine at columbia university talks about iraq the first cell, and the human cost of pursuing cancer to the less. >> victory from the rooftops right now. we have gone from basically having universal debt and to curing 68 percent of cancers today. in only 32 percent of people die

in both groups. the treatable and the non- treatable ones. i ask a very fundamental question. the people we are caring, 68 percent, my frustration is why we still using these fail approaches of/poison and burn. we have $200 billion of research gone. where are we not finding better ways of treating cancer. see next sunday night at east eastern cspan2 q&a. ♪ they also be in order. for 40 years cspan2 up and providing a market with unfiltered coverage of congress. the white house, supreme court, and policy events from washington dc and around the country. you can make up your own mind pretty created by cable in 1979, cspan2 is brought to you bag of

local cable or satellite provider. cspan2, her unfiltered view of government. [background sounds] in right now and capitol hill, that the house you she'll committee, writing the final language against president company articles on abusive power, and obstruction of congress. in about 30 minutes we will be carrying opening statements from the chair of the committee, jerrold nadler, the ranking member doug collins as well as are thereth members of the committee. most debate in any votes on amendments are likely to be held in morrow and the committee meets again starting at 9:00 a.m. eastern and will have

that for you live in cspan2 three. on c-span 3. [background sounds]

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>> just waiting for the house judiciary committee waiting to hold the impeachment statements for president trump. ranking member doug collins and are there members of the committee, and then tomorrow members will consider the articles of a patient with a potential vault from the full committee by the end of this erweek. this would send the articles to the full house for a full vote likely as next week. [background sounds]

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>> expect the house judiciary committee to begin moving forward with writing the final language for articles of impeachment against president trump. they're looking at abusive power and obstruction off congress, tonight news meeting will consist of openingmp statements. there are 41 members on the committee which could mean a late night if every the opportunity to speak. one member will not be president this evening we hear that. california according to a staff,

is recovering from a medical procedure. but he is expected to return next week. in this meeting with the house judiciary committee should be again shortly. you can follow the entire impeachment process for a webpage cspan.org,/impeachment we have access to past hearings and are there related documents. [background sounds]

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