into constitutional madness. >> again, we think the basis upon which this has moved forward is irregular to say the least. >> donald john trump president of the united states is not guilty as charged in the second article of impeachment. >> for the third time in u.s. history a president has been impeached and acquitted. from the house hearings to the senate trial, c-span has provided live comprehensive coverage of the impeachment of president trump. you can find all of our video and related resources at c-span.org/impeachment. c-span, your place for unfiltered coverage of congress. >> the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. judicial nominations are on the agenda today. lawmakers will continue work on the appointment of andrew brasher to be a judge on the 11th circuit and take a break for the party caucus lunches at 12:30 and return at 2:15 eastern to take a final vote on

the nomination, along with procedural votes on four other judicial nominees. now, live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. black, will open the senate with prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, unto whom all

hearts are open, all desires known, we put our trust in you. today abide with our lawmakers. teach them to speak the right words at the right time. make their speech like precious gold set in silver. may they seek to persuade with patient and gentle words. lord, give them the wisdom to be friends of that which is eternal and abiding. fill them with reverence for the transcendent, as you induce them

to ascribe all good things to you. we pray in your gracious 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: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i'd like to speak for one minute as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: yesterday our colleague, senator marathon it that mcsally -- martha mcsally from arizona, announced her support for the bipartisan prescription drug pricing reduction act. i like to refer to that as the grassley-wyden prescription drug bill, reducing prices. senator mcsally and i worked together on several parts of the bill. her arizonans should know that senator mcsally's leadership is making all the difference in moving this bill forward. i thank her for cosponsorship.

president trump, vice president pence and nearly a dozen senate republicans have so far endorsed this bill. several other senator republicans will soon announce their support as well. i expect to introduce an updated version in the coming weeks. i'm confident that if this bill were brought up for a vote, it would pass overwhelmingly. let's not miss an opportunity then to deliver real progress for americans. this always shows up -- in other words, drug pricing legislation always shows up as one of the three, four, or five top issues in the coming election. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. moim well, madam president -- mr. mcconnell: well, madam president, with the impeachment trial behind us, the senate can now get back to the business of the american people. as the president laid out in his bold speech last tuesday, the state of our union is strong. over the past three years a combination of major republican policy victories and important bipartisan achievements have helped create an historic economic moment for working americans and middle-class families. unemployment remains right around its lowest point in half a century. the percentage of americans age 25 to 54 who have jobs is the highest it's been in 20 years. the market for american workers is hot and it's pulling people

off the sidelines. as "the new york times" recently explained, employers are hiring candidates with disabilities, criminal records, and other barriers to employment, and are offering perks to attract workers. no wonder the percentage of americans who say they are financially better off now than they were a year ago just hit a 44-year high. we've finally seen a drop in opioid deaths. in my home state of kentucky we recently saw the largest decrease in fatal drug overdoses in a decade. we're rebuilding and modernizing the world's greatest military and we continue to renew our federal judiciary with thoroughly qualified men and women who understand that a judge's job is to interpret our laws and our constitution as they were actually written. there's plenty more for the senate to do to keep up this momentum for the american people, so we're glad to get back to business. we'll start this week by

confirming more of president trump's well-qualified nominees to lifetime judicial appointments. first up is you judge andrew brasher of alabama to serve on the 11th circuit. judge brasher serves on the u.s. district court for the middle district of alabama. he's a harvard law graduate who clerked on the 1 1th circuit, excelled in private practice and found his way into public service as solicitor general for his home state. in that role he was recognized by the senate association of attorneys general for his legal writing and his nomination earned a unanimous well-qualified rating from the a.b.a. so i look forward to confirming judge brasher for his next post this afternoon. now to another matter, this week we expect the senate will take up a war powers resolution by the junior senator from virginia that would severely limit the u.s. military's operational flexibility to defend itself against threats posed by iran. i will strongly oppose our

colleague's effort and urge the senate to defeat it. first let's discuss what prompted this. the president's successful decision to remove soleimani from the battlefield last month. this limited yet decisive precision strike eliminated the mastermind responsible for more american casualties than anyone else alive. this was not some reckless act. it was a calculated and limited response to a significant growing threat of attack against u.s. personnel in iraq by an emboldened adversaries. years ago soleimani concluded america was a paper tiger whose people he could kill with relatively impunity. it was a sign to stop an escalation cycle we knew was underway, to restore deterrence and reduce war. yet when his record was brought to an end some washington democrats immediately suggested president trump was leading us

into world war iii, while the middle east rejoiced at the death of the principal architect of iran's campaign of terror, washington's elites fretted. but thus far it appeared the soleimani strike has indeed had the intended effect. as i observed back in january, we appear to have restored a measure of deterrence in the middle east, so let's not screw it up. well, madam president, i'm afraid that's just what our colleagues' resolution would do, just as we have successfully sent iraq -- iran this strong signal of our strength and resolve, a blunt and clumsy war powers resolution would tie our own hands. with china and russia watching, is it really a good idea to suggest that we're willing to let a power like iran push us around? this self-flagellation and self-limitation would be

tantamount to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. for eight years president obama and senate democrats like my friend the democratic leader himself frequently said when it comes to iran, we should never take the military option off the table. but now that someone else is in the oval office, they seem to want to remove all options from the table. lest we forget, the fact is we're not conducting ongoing hostilities with iran. this was a one-off operation to disrupt and deter planned attacks, not a campaign, not a conflict, not a war. this discreet and limited exercise of american power pales in comparison to the ways in which past presidents of both parties routinely used presidential authorities to utilize military might without consent of congress. president clinton in kosovo, president obama in libya, and so on. to most of my distinguished -- do most of my democratic

colleagues agree with leading presidential candidates who is suggesting president trump made a mistake by taking this sort of executive action to eliminate this brutal terrorist? do my colleagues really agree with the prominent voices on their side who promised to exit the middle east altogether rather than continuing to work to support our local partners and defend our national security and national interests in this critical region? i've been trying to have this broader debate for more than a year now. i've repeatedly sought to give my democratic colleagues opportunity to go on record about their actual big-picture strategic vision for the middle east. are they willing to support a continued mitt -- continued mily presence in syria and iraq? do they believe we can magically support our partners like the kurds without a military presence? that we can counter iran and russia and their influence if we are nowhere to be found in the

region? do they believe israel will be safer in a region without american influence? the ill-conceived potshots at presidential authorities in the wake of a strike that succeeded using the blunt instrument of a war powers resolution is no substitute at all for answering these broader questions. i will oppose my colleague's resolution tomorrow and i would encourage our colleagues to do likewise. now, madam president, i understand there's a bill at the desk due a second reading. the presiding officer: the leader is correct. the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 5687 an act making emergency supplementations for the fiscal year ending 2030 and other purposes. mr. mcconnell: in order to place

the bill on the calendar, i would object to further proceedings. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, madam president, the 2020 primary elections are ongoing. the national election is only nine months away. if there is anything we can say for certain about our elections at this point, it's that foreign entities, putin, china, perhaps others, are already implementing their schemes to undermine the public confidence in the integrity of those elections, and to bend social media in favor of their chosen outcome. f.b.i. director wray, former d.n.i. coats, virtually every member of our national security and intelligence community has warned us, warned us of this danger. as we have heard over the past

weeks, the threat of foreign interference in our elections dates back to the founding days of the country. george washington warned foreign interference is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. adams wrote that as long as elections happen, the danger of foreign influence recurs. the warnings of our founders hold a new and startling relevance today. the current president of the united states, far from having the same fears about foreign interference as our founders, has been very public about his openness to foreign assistance and manipulation in support of his election. if a foreign power had dirt on one of his opponents, the president said oh, i think i'd be want to hear it. at different times, the president has invited russia, ukraine, and china to investigate his political opponents. of course, the president was just impeached over this issue, and the senate just concluded a trial in which it appeared a bipartisan majority of senators broadly accepted the fact that the president leveraged hundreds

of millions of dollars of military assistance to ukraine to compel its government to investigate one of his political rivals. the trial of president trump exposed in great detail the president's willingness to accept foreign help in the elections. it also revealed just how little senate republicans were willing to do about it. senate republicans wouldn't even barely examine the charges against the president by allowing witnesses and documents in his trial. the end of the president's impeachment trial does not mean the issue of election security is somehow over. far from it. we now have even a greater need to safeguard our elections than we had before. the president tried to cheat in our elections, and the senate majority of his party decided to look the other way. what do you think the president will conclude? he'll conclude that he can get away with anything. he could try to cheat again and ask china or north korea or

russia to investigate the democratic nominee, whoever it is. we know we can't trust this president to stand up to the integrity of our elections, so congress must. democrats are not going to stop fighting to put additional safeguards before the 2020 elections. later today, a group of my colleagues will come to the floor to ask unanimous consent to pass crucial election security legislation. much of this legislation is bipartisan. some of it is already passed out of committee. some of it has passed the house, but it has languished for years and years, because majority leader mcconnell has refused to bring any of these bills to the floor. senator warner and senator blumenthal have duty to report bills. commonsense measures to require presidential campaigns to report offers of foreign help to the f.b.i. senator wyden and senator klobuchar have the safe act, another commonsense measure to authorize funding to harden election infrastructure and protect voting machines from hacking and other intrusions.

neither of these bills should be controversial. there is nothing partisan about them, nothing at all, but they have consistently been blocked by senate republicans and denied time and consideration on the floor by republican leader mcconnell. that doesn't mean democrats are going to stop trying. later today, we'll try again to pass these bipartisan noncontroversial bills. we'll see if our republican colleagues are willing to do what's necessary to protect our elections. now, on the nomination of andrew brasher for the 11th circuit. the nomination is truly a disgrace, a disgrace to our judiciary. i urge every single senator to reject it. mr. brasher is laughably inexperienced. he was confirmed as a district court judge only nine months ago. that is the sum total of his experience as a judge at any level, nine months. now leader mcconnell wants to elevate him to an appellate court. in leader mcconnell's desperate rush to pack the

courts with hard-right judges, his party is asking the senate to confirm judicial novices to the most austere and important seats on the federal bench. worse than this nominee's inexperience, though, are his views which are so far outside the american mainstream. in his five years of solicitor general in the state of alabama, brasher defended the indefensible on issues ranging from women's reproductive rights to marriage equality to gun safety. mr. brasher is also -- has also amassed a career's worth of experience undermining voting rights. brasher signed on to an amicus brief that argued in favor of gutting the voting rights act, arguably the most important piece of civil rights legislation in our nation's history. his arguments in defense of an arizona voter i.d. law were roundly rejected by the supreme court, including justice scalia. as a solicitor general for alabama, brasher defended the state's voter suppression efforts including state district lines that courts later

concluded were made explicitly to discriminate against african american voters. this is who the senate republicans want to put as a circuit court of appeals justice. whether it's covering up for president trump and cheating in our elections or confirming judges like mr. brasher, senate republicans are showing outright contempt for the very wellspring of our democracy, the right for american citizens to vote in our elections. mr. brasher clearly, obviously, and certainly does not belong on the eleventh circuit court courf appeals.

quorum call:

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, last tuesday the president delivered his state of the union address. he discussed some of our biggest accomplishments over the past three years and chief among those accomplishments is the economic progress we made. during the obama administration, our economy spent years in the doldrums, american families and workers worked to advance -- struggled to advance and some predicted the weaker economy would be the new normal. republicans didn't believe that, we should be resigning ourselves to that future. in fact, we knew the real strength of the american economy, american business and american workers was still there. but we also new that burdensome regulations and outdated tax code prevented our economy from thriving the way that it should. so we took action.

we cut burdensome regulations and passed an historic reform of our tax code. we doubled the child tax credit and nearly doubled the standard deduction and took aim at the part of the tax code that were holding back american workers and businesses. we cut the taxes for medium sized businesses and lowered the nation's corporate tax rate, the highest in the developed world. we expanded business owners ability to cover the costs in their business that frees up cash that they can reinvest in their operations and their workers. we brought the united states international tax system into the 21st century sew american businesses are not operating at a competitive disadvantage next to their foreign counterparts many madam president, tax reform is working. unemployment is near its lowest level in 50 years. 50 years. think about that. for the past 12 months

unemployment has been below 4%, a record last achieved in the 1960's. african americans, hispanic americans, and asian americans all saw record low unemployment in 2019. strong economic growth is has given discouraged workers to come off the sidelines and join the workforce. currently the labor force participation rate is at the highest level in seven years. last month the economy created 225,000 jobs. all told, the economy has created an average of 171,000 jobs per month over the past 12 months, a strong number. wages are growing. for the past 18 months, wage growth has been at or above 3%. and as the president said in his state of the union address, this is a blue collar boom. in contrast to the obama administration and this economy, it's blue collar workers who are

seeing the strongest wage growth. gains in the stock market has meant good news for 401(k)s and pensions. while our economy as a whole has triefd our nation -- thrived, farmers have been discouraged. the one of the most important things we can do to help the farm economy is negotiate trade deals that expand markets for american agricultural protects and give our farmers and ranchers certainty about what markets will look like going forward. that's why i pushed for the passage of the united states-mexico-canada agreement, which the president signed last month. this agreement will maintain and expand farmers and ranchers access to the biggest markets for american agricultural products and provide certainty about what these markets will look like for the foreseeable future.

i'm particularly pleased about the improvement it makes for the dairy industry which is a growing industry in my state of south dakota. madam president, we need to conclude more strong trade agreements going forward that will expand markets for american agricultural products. the president also mentioned the trade agreement we're negotiating with china. the president recently signed phase one of the agreement which includes a pledge from china to increase imports of american agricultural products that. is slenlt news for farmers and ranchers, but we need to make sure china lives up to its commitments. china doesn't have the best record in this regard and it's important that the united states make clear that any agreements must be honored. madam president, we've made a lot of progress for the american people over the past three years, but as i said, there is more work to be done, and i hope to work with my colleagues in both parties this year to continue to build on the economic progress we made and to

create even more opportunities for american workers and i will continue to make the needs of our nation's farmers and ranchers one of my top priorities. i'm committed to seeing our nation's farm economy catch up to our economy as a whole. i'm proud that republican economic policies have made life better for american workers. and i will continue, madam president, to work to ensure that every american has access to the benefits of our strong economy. madam president, i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the plerk will call the roll. -- the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas is recognized. mr. cotton: i ask unanimous consent to end the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cotton: our nation functions thanks to the extraordinary devotion and patriotism of the american people.

but every city, every county, every state, every party has a few patriots who go above and beyond, dedicating their whole lives to making sure that our system works and that our way of life is preserved. so that we can pass on our republic as a precious inheritance to our children and our grandchildren. billy sue havard was just such a patriot who devoted her life to her fellow citizens in jonesboro in northeast arkansas. billy sue went home to be with the lord on sunday at age 76. billy sue loved america. she loved arkansas. she loved the republican party with all of her heart. and she devoted all of her energy to making it great. as a young child, sadly, billy sue knew the meaning of sacrifice. her adopted father was killed in action during the battle of the

bulge in world war ii. although they had not met, he kept her baby photo in his wallet. no doubt, he was proud to know the baby girl he adopted grew up to carry on his legacy of service to others. i bet he told her that on sunday when they reunited. billy worked as a teacher in northeast arkansas for decades, helping young people to grow up to become better citizens, but her career as an educator was just one part of her commitment to public service. she also served as a justice of the peace in the republican party -- an the republican party committee chair for her county where she brought energy and joy and a little bit of feistiness to every meeting and every local gathering. billy sue was also a republican well ahead of the pack.

back in the day when many counties didn't even have committees and some counties could probably meet in a telephone booth, her energy and commitment were instrumental in helping our party win the trust and support of arkansasans in jonesboro and craighead county and northeast arkansas and all around our state. it's thanks in no small part to her efforts that rick crawford now represents east arkansas in the house of representatives, the first republican to hold that seat since reconstruction. i met billy sue shortly after my election to the house. she encouraged me to run for the senate, and she promised to deliver craighead county if i did. and i could tell you she kept that promise and then some, as she always did. but, of course, billy sue was most committed of all to her family. her four children, seven grandchildren, and three great grandchildren were the loves of

her life. and in a fitting turn of fate, billy sue, the adopted daughter of a service member, served herself as guardian to two of her young granddaughters in her later years. she was in her 70's when she raised those two young girls, but in an act of love, she stepped up for her family in its hour of need. billy sue's health declined over the last year of her life. we all know how the battles of illness can rob people we love of their vitality in their final days, but while cancer could ravage her body, it could never dampen billy sue's spirit. when i called her over this last year to check on her, i always heard the same energy, passion, and, yes, feistiness as she wanted to skip over quickly how she was doing, talk about the latest legislative battles here in congress, political campaigns

in arkansas. now billy sue has gone back to be with the lord, but she is not forgotten. arkansans will remember her as a local leader and a patriot who made her community and our state better through decades of tireless service. may she rest in peace. madam president, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

p p quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. warner: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: i'd ask that the proceedings of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. 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: ?om nation -- nomination, the judiciary, andrew lynn brasher of alabama to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit.

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum, mr. president? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. schumer: so, mr. president, the 2020 primary elections are already under way and the national election is only nine months away. we know that foreign entities, putin, china, perhaps others are already scheming to undermine

the public confidence in our elections. the threat to our next elections is real and growing nearer each day. last week the senate concluded an impeachment trial of a president who is accused of abusing the powers of his office to solicit the help of a foreign power in his reelection, solicit the help. didn't just happen. he was soliciting it. my republican senate friends refuse to hold the president accountable for his misconduct, renoose to even hold a fair -- refuse to even hold a fair trial. now what do we think the president will conclude after the senate republican majority let him off the hook for trying to cheat in our elections? he'll conclude that he can try to do it again. anyone who knows him knows that's what he will do. because senate republicans chose to look the other way, the need for election security legislation is greater now than ever before. we cannot trust this president

to stand up for the integrity of our elections so congress must stand up in his stead. in a few moments my colleagues, senator warner, senator wyden, and senator blumenthal will ask for unanimous consent to pass crucial election security legislation. they will talk about what their legislation will do but know this. protecting our elections should not be partisan. it should not be controversial. it should earn the unanimous support of every member. the very well spring of our democracy is the principle of free and fair elections. will our republican colleagues stand up for free and fair elections today or will they once again block commonsense legislation to defend our democracy? i yield to the senator from virginia. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, i thank the democratic leader.

i'm here today because i think as we all know our elections remain vulnerable to foreign election interference. russia attacked our democracy in 2016 with the goal of undermining confidence in our system, a system of free and fair elections. literally the bedrock of our democracy. their cyberattacks and disinformation efforts continue to this day and our own f.b.i. director, director wrai has reassured or potentially warned us that they will be back in full force this year. not only that, we'll have to contend with potential interference from china, iran, north korea, and others who basically copied the russian playbook. mr. president, the threat is real. it is ongoing. and we are not doing enough to be ready. time and again we hear these same warnings from our intelligence community leadership, from companies like facebook, from the special

counsel, and many others. the truth is the alarm bells are going off and we're running out of time to actually do something about it. unfortunately, the white house and the united states senate seem to be the only ones not taking this threat seriously. since 2016 this body which we all have the honor to serve in has failed to vote on a single piece of standalone election security legislation. three times last year i came to the floor in an attempt to pass bipartisan election security legislation by unanimous consent. and each time these efforts were blocked by some of my republican colleagues. blocked and they actually earned applause from the president on twitter for their actions. well, mr. president, i'm back again today because the security of our elections cannot wait.

in a moment i'll ask unanimous consent to pass my legislation known as the fire act. this bill would simply say to all presidential campaigns going forward if a foreign power reaches out to your campaign offering assistance or offering dirt on a political opponent, the appropriate response is not to say thank you. the appropriate response is to call the f.b.i. i introduced this bipartisan legislation months before the facts came to light about the president pressuring ukraine into announcing a politically motivated investigation into the bidens. now i'm not here to rehash the impeachment trial, but i do want to note one thing. a number of my republican colleagues justified their votes by saying that while not impeachable, it was wrong for the president to solicit foreign interference in our elections. i take my colleagues at their

word, that they believe foreign interference has no place in our elections. but if i take them at their word, you have to put your money where your mouth is. we're under attack from our adversaries who see this new era of cyber warfare and disinformation as a unique and golden opportunity to undermine american democracy. we cannot afford to have a system that allows any presidential candidate to welcome this kind of interference with open arms. if we can't trust the president of the united states and his campaign to do the right thing and report foreign interference, then we need to require it by law. so, mr. president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the rules committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 2242, the fire act, that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, that the bill be

considered read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. blackburn: mr. president, i reserve the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i would like to articulate the reason for the objection to the legislation brought forward by the minority. you would think that after spending weeks in this chamber, litigating the finer points of their disagreements with the president's foreign policy that our friends in the minority would be weary of picking another partisan fight. but here we go again. they are attempting to bypass this body's rules committee on behalf of various bills that will seize control over elections from the states and take it from the states and where do they want to put it?

they want it to rest in the hands of washington, d.c. bureaucrats. as i have said on this floor before, i served on a local election commission. i know how hard our friends and neighbors and our local election commissions and our state election commissions work to ensure the integrity of the ballot box. these bills that are going to be brought forward this morning, what would they do? they would centralize control over the vote. and what we have seen, big centralized out-of-control governments, we would end up having a less safe electoral process. it would be more vulnerable to attack. it is absolutely baffling to me that the minority would fight so

hard for such a disastrous vision. but as i said, here we go again. their actions show complete contempt for the progress that congress, the intelligence community, and state-level authorities have made to protect our elections without resorting to a federal power grab. since fiscal year 2018, congress has invested $805 million in protecting the vote. this is the largest investment in elections since 2002's help america vote act. and you know what? it is making a difference. it is making a difference. why then would the minority continue to demand changes that would redirect that investment to support groups like the iowa democratic party whose mishandling of their own caucus

ended in what has been termed by everyone as an unmitigated disaster. they know it's not necessary and yet time and again, they are trying to force this issue. they feel like only the bureaucrats in washington, d.c. can handle this. so in response to this gross hypocrisy today, i am filing my own bill directing the government accountability office to look into the debacle in iowa. i send a bill to the desk. i send a bill to the desk and i ask that it be appropriately referred. this is not an attack. this is a recognition that any complex process comes with the risk of mistakes or mismanagement. we're all vulnerable. we must recognize this.

we must investigate allegations of fraud and mismanagement and, of course, there should be lessons learned from the past. to ignore these problems is to resign ourselves to a fatally flawed democratic process. mr. president, on that note, i do object to the motion, and i ask my colleagues to remember that we have reached a bipartisan consensus on the importance of securing our elections. we are all against election interference. we are all against foreign interference in elections. we are all for free and fair elections. and we are all for protecting the ballot box. so i hope my democratic colleagues do not resort to

sending out more fund raising letters and saying the republicans are opposed to a secure election process because that is a falsehood. we are not. we are for a fair process. we do not believe federalizing that process and taking the power away from local governments and state governments is the way to do that. so let's focus on the bipartisan consensus and let's not throw that away in the name of having another partisan grudge match. i yield the floor. mr. warner: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, i appreciate my colleague's comments about state and local election security which i support. i see to members of the senate intelligence committee on the floor. and i'm extraordinarily proud of the bipartisan, unanimous work

that we've done to point out what happened in 2016 and lay out with a great deal of specificity what we need to do as a nation to protect ourselves in 2020. this legislation i'm proposing today is really kind of the simplest, lowest-hanging fruit that we all say that we don't want foreigners interfering in our elections. all this legislation says if a foreign government or foreign agents interfere to try to help or hurt any presidential candidate, we ought to make sure there's no ambiguity that the appropriate response is not to say thank you, but the appropriate response is call the f.b.i. that's the message we've heard from director wray. that's the message we've heard from the intelligence community. if we can't agree on that, where

are we? and other times we might not have needed this kind of legislation. it seems so patently obvious. but i'm disappointed with the objection. we will keep trying and with that i yield the floor to my colleague from oregon. the presiding officer: objection was heard. mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i want to thank the vice chair of the intelligence committee and pick up on his remarks, and for my colleagues, i believe they asked that i give my remarks before i offer my unanimous consent request, and that is what i will do. mr. president, america is 266 days away from the 2020 election, and majority leader mcconnell has yet to take any concrete steps to protect our

foreign elections from hacking or foreign interference. thanks to this legislative blockade, the united states senate has been totally derelict in its duty to stop foreign cyberattacks on our elections. and i want to give just one concrete example, having listened to my colleague from tennessee. mr. president, there is not one single nationwide election cybersecurity standard on the books. that means there's not even a prohibition on voting machines having an open connection to the internet. mr. president and colleagues, that is the equivalent of stashing our ballots in the kremlin.

there's no such cybersecurity prohibition. the election security debacle of 2016 was four years ago, but still this body has refused to act. we know russian hackers probed all 50 state election systems. they hacked at least one election vendor. russians penetrated two florida county election systems, according to florida's governor. that's just what we know about. despite all the ways foreign hackers have already made -- made it into our election infrastructure, the congress has refused to arm state and county officials with the knowledge and funding they need to secure their systems. i will tell you what i tell my constituents at town hall meetings at home, and i've got more of them scheduled this weekend. i believe, as of today, the 2020

election is going to make 2016 look like small potatoes. the list of threats and vulnerabilities ought to be a wake-up call, a wake-up call, a wake-up call for every member of this senate. there were the es and f voting machines that came with pre-installed software. there's a system that was hacked in the summer of 2016. v.r. system machines malfunctioned on election day that year, and one polling place had to shut down for hours. it took two and a half years before the department of homeland security even investigated what had happened, and they still have not adequately responded to questions that i and senator klobuchar have asked about this.

right now, many election officials across the country are buying election systems that they believe, in good faith, are high-tech, but they're vulnerable to hacking and can be out of the box the moment they come out of the box. they're out of date when they come out of the box. there is the spread of mobile voting apps, like votes, that haven't been vetted by top security experts is. and there's a reason why so many cybersecurity experts have been sounding the alarm for years, warning that putting computers between a voter and their ballot is a prescription for disaster. what happens when the, quote, glitch changes a candidate's vote total by just 2% or 5%

instead of 50%? what happens when a glitch shuts down machines in some precincts and not others, disenfranchising voters and skewing election results? five states still exclusively use hackable, paperless voting machines and nine other states still use paperless machines in some counties. these are serious problems, mr. president, but there are some clear solutions. i proposed a bill called the payback, three key priorities that are universally supported by people who are knowledgeable in the election field -- paper ballots, routine post election risk-limiting audits, and federal cybersecurity standards for election systems. last year the house passed a major election security bill called the safe act.

senator klobuchar and i, on behalf of colleagues on this side of the aisle, introduced the senate version of the safe act. the safe act has all three key elements recommended by our nation's top cybersecurity experts -- partner paper -- paper battles, audits, as well as the funding necessary to make sure states can live up to the new standards. the safe act, in my view, mr. president, represents the most comprehensive commonsense defense against foreign election hacking. i urge my colleagues -- i strongly urge my colleagues to reconsider their opposition to this vitally important legislation. and now, as if in legislative

session, i ask unanimous consent the rules committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 2238, the safe act, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, that the bill be read -- be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. blackburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: to just give a, you know, brief response, and i think it's unfortunate that my colleague isn't willing to even engage in this discussion with respect to this is i just want my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to think about their claims. they are saying, for example, well, they're sympathetic to the idea that there should be more

money for elected officials. the recent appropriations funding doesn't even have a requirement that it be spent on election security. states can buy brand-new, insecure, paperless voting machines that are pretty much useless when they come out of the box. they can even use the money to buy office chairs or a water cooler for the election office. and, again, i come back -- and i hope my colleague from tennessee will reflect on this because she is somebody who spends a lot of time on technology issues. the idea that this senate is willing to say, you know, we're not even going to do something. we're not even going to act, when you can have voting machines with an open connection to the internet, just like stashing our ballots in the

kremlin, something really is out of whack, and we ought to be coming together and passing the safe act. we at least ought to be talking about it and here what we have is a specific documented case for an important piece of legislation, and the majority juris says, that's the way it is, we're happy to say you can have voting machines with an open connection to the internet. we're not even going to talk about it. mr. president, i think it's very unfortunate. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the rules committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 1247, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. blackburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i really regret that there is objection, again, to this bill that we have been seeking floor consideration in this body to debate and pass. we've been asking for floor consideration of various election security bills in the last several months -- the payback, the hadn'test ads act, the shield act. but sadly, unfortunately for the country, the majority continues to stonewall us. our decisions are under attack -- our elections are under siege. and 2016 was only a dress rehearsal.

just yesterday, attorney general barr announced that trump's personal attorney -- attorney general barr -- trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, is going to be feeding the department of justice unverified dirt from ukraine on the president's political rivals. in effect, the department of justice will become a political tool for the president. he is weaponizing law enforcement for his personal political ends, and the attorney general of the united states is becoming an aider and abettor to that polarization and politicization of the department of justice. only last week, for the first time in our nation's history, we

saw bipartisan support for removing the president from office. the basis for that bipartisan vote was, in fact, president trump's illegal solicitation of election interference from a foreign government. as senator romney put it last week, trump's demands of ukraine constitute, quote, a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values, end quote. and noting also, quote, corrupting an election to keep one's self in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office i can imagine. he's right. we cannot allow this abuse to

become the new normal. and it is fast becoming normalized. my other republican colleagues are running out of time to be on the right side of history. others have conceded that what the president did was, quote, wrong, inappropriate, crossing the line -- those were senator alexander's words. senator murkowski stated that she believed, quote, the president's behavior was shameful and wrong. his personal interests do not take precedence over those of the nation, end quote. senator collins, who first claimed that trump learned his lesson, has since admitted that she, quote, may not be correct on that, end quote. after the president refused to

admit any wrongdoing. now that senate republicans have let president trump off the hook, there is no doubt that he will only be emboldened in his efforts to illegally enlist foreign governments in his reelection campaign. what's happening with rudy giuliani, senator graham has said, may be that he has been, quote, played by the russians, end quote. that, in fact, is likely what is happening. but the president's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, may be also playing the president. but the president most certainly will be playing the country if he uses the department of justice for his personal political ends and enlists foreign interference in our election.

and that is why this bill is so critically important. the duty to report act. my bill offers my republican colleagues the opportunity to start redeeming themselves for their votes last week. if they really believe the president's actions were wrong, they should support this legislation. it's a very simple idea. really so simple that a lot of people believe that it is already the law. if you see something, say something. if you see a violation of law with a foreign government interfering in our election, if you see an attempt to enlist that foreign government, if you see an acceptance of assistance, report it. the duty report act would require campaigns, candidates, and family members to

immediately report to the f.b.i. and the federal election commission any offers of foreign assistance. simple. it codifies into law what is already a moral duty, a patriotic duty, and basic common sense. it's already illegal to accept foreign assistance during a campaign. it's already illegal to police sit foreign assistance during a campaign. all this bill does is require campaigns and individuals to report what is already illegal to the f.b.i. so law enforcement can protect our great nation. this legislation would ensure that if the trump campaign or any campaign were offered assistance from a foreign hostile government in a future election, the f.b.i. would be informed and could act to

protect our country. let me repeat. 2016 was a dress rehearsal for what our intelligence community is already reporting as ongoing right now in election interference. and it is more than russia. it is other nations already -- other nations. already iran has proved to be an active and present disruptor and other nations will follow their lead. with the 2020 election looming, we need to stop this kind of foreign interference and ensure that it is the american people, not russia, china, iran, or any other nation that decides who our leaders will be and the direction of our democracy. and not just decide but also influence and impact in ways

that are opaque and concealed, pepernicious and insidious. we need to act to provide a duty to report. i regret the objection to our unanimous consent request. and i certainly, along with my colleagues on this side of the aisle, will continue this effort to fight to protect our nation against foreign interference. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that before we recess, i be allowed to finish my remarks here. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. shelby: mr. president, i rise today here in the u.s. senate in support of andrew brasher of montgomery, alabama, whom i recommended and was later nominated by president trump to sit on the u.s. court of appeals for the 11th circuit, a very

important post. i believe judge brasher to be an esteemed choice for this high honor, mr. president. formerly alabama's solicitor general and currently a u.s. district judge for the middle district of alabama, judge brasher is no stranger to the courtroom. i have the utmost regard for this vast -- for his vast legal ability and his commitment to the rule of law. and i believe, mr. president, he is well suited for this respected position. judge brasher excelled academically from a young age. he earned his bachelor of arts honor -- with honors from stanford university in birmingham, alabama where he graduated summa cum laude and met his wife julia there. he currently serves on the school's board of over sears. judge brasher went on to graduate cum laude from harvard law school and was the first of his family to receive his

injuries doctorate. while in law school at harvard, he was a member of the harvard law review and received the victor brudney prize. the presiding officer probably recalled this but this is a high honor at harvard granted annually at the law school to the best student paper on a subject associated with corporate governance. this is a very high honor. upon graduation, judge brasher served as a law clerk to judge william h. pryor of the u.s. court of appeals for the 11th circuit making him neither a stranger to the courtroom nor to the 11th circuit. following his clerkship with judge pryor, andrew brasher practiced law in birmingham, alabama, with the law firm bradley, ray, brant, and cummings. during his time, he worked in the firm's litigation and white collar criminal defense

practices groups. he eventually, mr. president, joined the alabama attorney general's office serving for several years as a deputy solicitor general and then went on to become the solicitor general for the state of alabama. judge brasher's experience speaks for itself. he has argued and won cases before the u.s. supreme court, the u.s. court of appeals for the 11th circuit, and the supreme court of alabama. and while serving as solicitor general of the state of alabama, judge brasher won two best brief award honors from the national association of attorneys general. this accomplishment, as the presiding officer knows, is no easy feat. he proved to be an exceptionally skilled attorney but his ambitions did not stop there. in 2018, the presiding officer will probably remember, i recommended and president trump nominated andrew brasher to serve on the u.s. district court

for the middle district of alabama. last year he was confirmed by the full senate to sit on the court as a federal district judge. since his confirmation, judge brasher has served the state of alabama and the nation with integrity and purpose. i'm confident that in his new capacity, he will continue to do so. i believe judge brasher is very worthy of this nomination. his judicial temperament and respect for the law as it is written will help him exhibit, i believe, impartiality and fairness with tact. president trump, i believe, mr. president, has made the right decision in selecting judge brasher for this important job. i believe he will be an asset to our judicial branch on the 11th circuit court of appeals. mr. president, i'm hopeful that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will vote to confirm andrew brasher without reservation later today. i remain confident, mr. president, that his dedication

to justice will contribute to the respected standards of our nation's judicial system. i wish judge brasher and his wife, julia, along with their two boys hank and drew all the best as they take on this new opportunity and responsibility. mr. president, with that i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senate stands in recess until senate stands in recess until >> and the senate taking a break now so lawmakers can attend the weekly party caucus lunches. when they returned it would take up the final vote to confirm andrew brasher to be a judge on the 11th circuit along with procedural votes on four other judicial nominees. live coverage when the senate returns right here on c-span2. take you live now to the briefing with democratic leaders chuck schumer and nancy pelosi