[inaudible conversations] >> you're watching c-span2, your unfiltered view of government. created by america's cable television company as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. . >> the senate is about to return to consider more judicial nominations. there are votes on two nominees picked to serve on the u.s. district court in northern illinois. to date, the senate has confirmed 214 judges nominated by president trump to lifetime appointments. including 157 judges for u.s. district courts. and now, live to the senate floor. 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 makes us one, use our lawmakers today as agents of reconciliation. give them the wisdom to build bridges that will enable diverse people to accomplish your purposes on earth. lord, inspire our senators with such oneness of spirit and resolve that they will provide our nation with a model of cooperation. remind them of the wisdom of matthew 12:25,

which states that a house divided against itself cannot stand. lord, we thank you for giving senator grassley another birthday. we pray in your unifying 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 ask for one minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: first of all, i thank the chaplain for the happy birthday that was part of the prayer so they heard it in heaven as well as throughout the united states. before the 2016 election, democrats speculated very freeferrishly -- feverishly would donald trump accept the results of the election of 2016, then he won and it was the democrats who refused to accept the result. they sought to delegitimize the

election, citing russia's meddling and questioning our election system. on inauguration day, you know that a famous "washington post" headline said it all, quote, the campaign to impeach president trump has begun. he was president about one hour at that time. in fact, we now know that efforts to fabricate a russian collusion narrative was well under way well after the president was inaugurated. the same people argued that president trump might not somehow accept the election results if he loses, and, of course under our constitution, no president has any -- any option but to accept those results because the term ends on

january 20. but can't we also ask the alternative? what if president trump does win? well, this was the advice from hillary clinton to the former vice president biden. quote that biden should not concede under any circumstances. end of quote. so will the democrats respect the election results this time? i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: snroo

quorum call:

quorum call:

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, madam president, this morning, i was planning to address a number of topics, but the president held a press conference yesterday afternoon that was so callous, so uninformed, so ego maniacal, so divisive that i am compelled to respond to it this morning. we are in the middle of a global pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 americans, far more than the number of americans who died in world war i. more than any other nation on god's green earth, more than countries with larger population s and more than countries with mere fractions of our wealth and power. and here's how the president spoke about the number of american deaths yesterday at his press conference.

quote, if you take the blue states out, we're at a level that anyone in the world would be at, if you take the blue states out, we're at a really very low level. yes, mr. president, if you don't count the total number of americans who have died, you might think it's not so bad. if you close your eyes and pretend that half of the country doesn't exist, maybe some might think you didn't do such a spectacularly awful job. what kind of person looks at the number of dead citizens in the country he is supposed to lead and in an attempt to glamourize himself dismisses every american who died in a state that didn't support the president politically? what a disgrace. it's monstrous. not a shred of empathy. not an ounce of sorrow. what kind of president do we

have? the president just wants you to see a graph about how its catastrophic failure to fight covid-19 could have been worse. i suggest president trump spend some time reading the stories of the men and women across the country who have passed away from this terrible virus. this isn't about a number. oh, no. it's about the people that families and communities have lost, whether they be in red states or blue states. many of these families have been unable to hold funeral services to properly mourn their loved ones for fear of spreading covid to another member of their family. that's why these remarks by the president are so horrific. what does the outcome of an election determine if these lives should be counted? isn't that awful? why does the outcome of an election determine if these

lives should be counted? does he mean that the loss of americans who lived in states with democratic governors shouldn't count? if that's the case, president trump is saying that the deaths of david pittman of summerset, kentucky, and patrick manamy of yips slant -- yips -- yipilanti, michigan, don't count. how about ralph davis, the basketball coach in wisconsin w. did his life not count because he lived in a state with a democratic governor? what kind of demented person would say that those american lives don't count? the president also said, but some of those states, they were blue states and blue state managed. i suppose that means that the life of dennis wilson shouldn't

count because he was an educator in linexa, kansas. if only mr. wilson had lived 17 miles east in the hickman hills neighborhood of kansas city, missouri, maybe the president would think his life should have counted. how about captain doug hickock? if if he lived, i don't know, in cheyenne, wyoming, i suppose the president might have valued his life. unfortunately for captain hickock, he lived 1,700 miles east in bangor, pennsylvania, so president trump says his life isn't worth counting. maybe i'm giving the president too much credit. you never really know what the heck he means when he talks, so it's possible that his definition of blue states isn't limited to states with democratic governors. maybe his definition of blue states includes states with more democrats than republicans in their congressional delegations. that would mean val entina

blackhorse's life didn't count because she lived in caliente, california. nor would tie roan power who died of covid in california in june. what kind of demented person would make that calculation? president trump, that's who. of course, there is no bottom with president trump. he is so contemptuous of every virtue, so dishonorable, so dishonest that the vices parade themselves forward one after another. at the press conference after his disgusting comments about ignoring american lives from blue states, president trump lied once again about his support for americans with preexisting conditions. a lie he has told and retold while his administration is in court suing to eliminate those very protections. don't worry, though. president trump promised a

brand-new fantastic republican health care plan is just around the corner. you'll see it in two weeks. just like he told fox news in july when he said he would sign a health care plan in two weeks, a full and complete health care plan, and again in august, just two weeks away. just like his infrastructure bill, a new middle-class tax cut, lower prescription drug costs, a new stimulus package, a report on covid-19's impact on minorities and new covid tests, all of which the president said would be two weeks away but, in fact, never materialized. not in two weeks. not ever. he must think the american people are chumps, that he can say anything he wants with no accountability, not do it, and then do it again and again and again. for centuries, american presidents have faced challenges

with honor, with courage. they have stepped up to the podium and used their bully pulpit to give honor to american lives, but when this president, president trump stands at that great podium, he reveals his cowardice, his callousness, his selfishness, his ignorance, and most of all, his insistence on dividing us. his inability and unwillingness to unite a grieving nation will be his legacy. when donald trump took the stage at the 2016 national republican convention, he painted a false portrait of a country in crisis and declared, quote, i alone can fix it. four years later, the country faces actual crises, the greatest economic crisis in 75 years. the greatest public health crisis in a century. and president trump now says it is what it is.

could you have done more to stop it? i don't think so, he says. if you take the blue states out, we're really at a very low level. i don't take any responsibility at all. it's going to disappear. a lot of people think the masks are no good. when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. then i see the disinfect tants where it knocks it out in a minute. is there a way we can do something like that by injection? i'm not a doctor but i'm like a person that has a good you know what. this man who said all these ridiculous, harmful things is leading the country through the worst public health crisis in a century. americans don't have to ask themselves as reagan once asked if they're better off now than four years ago. president trump has told everyone exactly what the score

is. when donald trump said he was running for office, he said i alone can fix it. when donald trump is running the country during the worst pandemic in the century, he says, it is what it is. five words. both times five words. five words that sum up an approach to government and leadership that is completely antithetical to everything the word leadership means. promise big, deliver zero, dislifer small. -- deliver small. that's president trump's view of government. but when you don't have any responsibility, boast when you don't have any responsibility. shrink from it when you do. that's president trump's view of public service. it has diminished our institutions and our democracy. he has cost our country its moral standing in the world. he has threatened the future of

our plan net, and he has cost americans their health care, their jobs, and their lives. but it's not so bad if you don't count the numbers. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. 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. mr. mcconnell: our democratic colleagues have sought to spend this week discussing election security. well, they really have sought to discuss absolutely anything besides pandemic relief. since their leaders are still blocking bipartisan negotiations that could actually get a

result. so our friends across the aisle have tried to change the subject to election security or immigration from venezuela or anything besides the hundreds of billions of dollars in relief they've been filibustering. but the integrity of our democracy is a crucial issue. we are fewer than 50 days from november 3. every voter deserves to know their state and local authorities are as well equipped as possible to oversee fair, safe, and secure elections. so let's discuss the progress made since back in 2016. the threats are still before us and how poisonous it is when this nonpartisan issue gets hijacked, literally hijacked for partisan point scoring. here's how the democratic vice chair of the intelligence committee described our

vulnerability to foreign influence in 2016 during the obama-biden administration. this is the democrat vice chairman of the intelligence committee. about 2016. he said, we were caught flat footed. we were caught flat footed. that administration's relationship with state governments were dysfunctional. information sharing was weak. cross sector partnerships hardly existed. and eight years of weak foreign policy had emboldened putin to push the envelope. now for the last four years thanks to actions of this senate and leadership of the current administration, a huge number of dedicated experts have worked hard to improve our defenses and regain america's trust. in 2016 the department of homeland security was on an

island but under this administration d.h.s. officials have built partnerships with state and local officials who run our elections and stood up massive intelligence sharing efforts that connect them with federal authorities, the intelligence community, as well as the private sector. in 2016 the outgoing administration hid their limited grasp of the threat from congress and the american people. the trump administration and intelligence experts have been far, far more transparent. in 2016 only 14, 14 state or local authorities had high-tech sensors to detect cyberattacks. now all 50 states, all of them have them. the trump administration has opposed real pain on russia, closing consulates, expelling spies, sanctioning oligarchs,

and agents of influence and equipping neighbors that are threatened by moscow to deter further aggression. here in the senate multiple committees have become major players in this effort. our colleagues on the intelligence committee spent literally years producing their five-part 1,300-plus page report on what happened back in 2016. some of their bipartisan recommendations are already taking effect. and then there's funding. the senate has led the efforts to set aside more than a billion dollars in extra election assistance from foreign interference to covid-19. through the end of the primari primaries, more than 70% of the huge sum we provided in the cares act is still unspent. as recently as a few months ago, more than 60% of the first traunch we provided all the way back in fiscal 2018 was still

unspent. so we have made sure money is not an obstacle. so, madam president, these threats are still with us and they have evolved not only russia but also china, iran, and other adversaries are looking constantly for ways to interfere in our politics, divide americans, and erode confidence in our institutions. that's a fact. the work goes on but we certainly aren't flat footed any longer. this progress should be cause for bipartisan celebration, but one side of the aisle seems to prefer pretending, pretending there hasn't been any progress at all. frankly, while a nonpartisan experts worked around the clock to fight our adversaries destabilizing efforts, too many democrats have been undermining america's confidence in our democracy to a degree that those

adversaries could only dream of. baseless, baseless accusations that the last election was stolen. casual assertions that this one, too, must be illegitimate if they don't win. on a monthly basis we've heard new historical pronouncements that our democracy was on death's door. even sensitive intelligence became grist with the partisan mill. this has not been universal. there has been good bipartisan work in some committees but the democratic leadership appear to make a conscious choice, a conscious choice instead of treating the election security like the unifying bipartisan issue it ought to be, they would use it as a partisan cudgel to hit the other side playing right into other adversaries' hands. this week the democratic leader has attacked republicans and basically questioned our patriotism because we did not rush to meet his latest demands for empty thee at ricks --

theatrics. he approached to crowd out four years of bipartisan work from actual committees by inventing, inventing a brand new senate committee and pull experts off the front lines during the home stretch for theatrical hearings here on capitol hill. he says we must allocate more money, never mind that millions and millions of dollars we already set aside remain unspent. he proposes that the administration pull experts off the front lines to continue briefing him, never mind that o.d.i. alone have supported security briefings to congress since 2018, 53 election security briefings to congress since 2018. i'm sure 54 will be the magic number that finally makes our colleague a reasonable voice on this issue. the truth is briefings are ongoing. the intelligence and armed services committees will be

briefed this week. all senators will have access to written intelligent analysis by career professionals if new developments arise since last month's all-senate briefings. democratic leader demands aren't solutions. these aren't what the experts say we need. they're just empty gestures concocted so the democratic leader can complain that republicans hate democracy and apple pie when we don't go along with him. so remember, madam president, fear and division reduce confidence in our democracy, americans divided against ourselves, that is exactly what russia wants, exactly. that's what china wants, too. that's just what our adversaries want to achieve. and it's exactly what the democratic leader helps them achieve when he turns a bipartisan national issue that should unite us into one more

pretext for partisan finger pointing. our colleague from new york said recently, quote, republicans are the enemy of the good. no, republicans and democrats are not enemies. no americans, no fellow americans are enemies. our people, our democracy have real enemies in some corners of the world. i expect they are absolutely thrilled to hear our own politicians talking that way. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, franklin ulyses

valderrama of illinois to be united states district judge for the northern district of illinois. mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. thune: madam president, south dakota veterans in the hot springs community are currently celebrating the v.a.'s announcement that it will rescind its order to close the hot springs facility. this is a hard-fought victory in a battle we weren't sure we would win. it started in 2011 when the obama administration announced it would realign and when i say realign, i mean reclose the hot

springs v.a. facility. i was well aware of what the hot springs v.a. facility to the entire community. i was determined there wasn't going to be a closure if i could help it. i knew it would mean putting it out of the reach of rural and tribal veterans. not only rural and tribal south dakota veterans, but rural veterans from neighboring wyoming and nebraska who depend on hot springs for care. traveling to fort meade for care, as the v.a. proposed, would be a real hardship, if not an impossibility of many of these veterans. i also strongly disagreed with not only moving medical care but the vital post-traumatic stress disorder program from hot springs. not only would this put the program out of reach of some veterans, i believe it was also a mistake to remove a tremendously effective program from a place it was so

successful and to try to reconstitute it elsewhere. so i got to work in congress, along with other members of the south dakota delegation. my first priority was simply to get hot springs veterans a hearing with the v.a. in 2016, after years of trying, we persuaded then-v.a. secretary bob mcdonald to visit hot springs. unfortunately the visit didn't work and soon after the secretary signed an order finalizing the decision to close the majority of the facility. madam president, the battle wasn't over. in 2014, i had succeeded in attaching a measure to an appropriations legislation prohibiting the closure of the hot springs facility until a national v.a. realignment strategy was proposed. and each year with appreciation to the appropriations committee i managed to renew that measure. after a new v.a. secretary, secretary robert wilkie took the helm, i repeatedly urged him to come to hot springs and to check

out our facility for himself. earlier this year the secretary announced that he would visit the facility in march. i organized a letter with the rest of the south dakota delegation strongly urging the secretary to make time to sit down with hot springs veterans and other stakeholders and to listen to their concerns about the planned closure it to our great gratitude the second agreed. early in secretary wilkie's visit to hot springs in march, i requested that he revisit the order to close the facility signed over three years ago. a bit to our surprise, and much to our relief, the secretary agreed, aassuring that us that the hot springs v.a. would remain open for our veterans. that meeting with veterans, madam president, was pivotal. i worked hard in congress, along with other members of the south dakota delegation to keep the hot springs facility open, but the campaign never would have succeeded without the passion of hot springs veterans and the hot springs community

which rallied in support of the facility and have proposed innovative ideas for the campus' future. a meeting with these veterans and other stakeholders and hearing their thoughts and stories played a major role in secretary wilke's decision. madam president, 2020 has been a tough year, but even in tough times, good things can happen. in last week's announcement that the v.a. has begun the formal process of rescinding it was tord to close the hot springs facility, expected to take 30 to 60 days have given a lot of us reason for gratitude. i'm thankful to secretary wilke for taking a real look at south dakota's veterans concerns and reversing the v.a.'s decision to close the facility, and i look forward to celebrating with south dakota veterans the next time i'm in hot intrings, -- sprins, or as a -- springs, or as a lot of us

know it, the veterans town. madam president, while most sectors of our economy were thriving before the coronavirus pandemic hit, farmers and ranchers were struggling, low prices, extended trade dispute and natural disasters had meant a lot of tough years for agricultural producers, even before the arrival of the coronavirus. yesterday i held virtual meetings with south dakota farmers and ranchers and heard first hand about the challenges they are facing because of the pandemic. madam president, agriculture is the lifeblood of my home state of south dakota, making sure our ag producers have what they need to keep feeding our nation and the world is one of my top priorities here in washington. during debate on the cares act, our largest coronavirus relief bill to the date, i fought to make sure that we included relief for farmers an ranchers. the final bill colluded $14 billion for the commodity credit corporation plus an additional $9.5 in additional

support to provide price support for farmers and ranchers. usda has put the resources to work to provide assistance to farmers in south dakota and across the country who are affected by the pandemic and they have been a lifeline to many farmers. but more needs to be done to support our nation's agriculture industry. and part of doing that is funding the commodity credit in the resolution hopefully congress will consider soon. the commodity credit corporation ensures that usda has the resources it needs to provide farm assistance including the programs included in the farm bill. the commodity programs like the agricultural risk coverage we call the art program, the price-loss coverage, what we call the plc program and marketing assistance loans. dairy programs like the dairy margin coverage program. disaster programs like the

livestock forage disaster program and the livestock indemnity program. madam president, these programs are a critical part of farmers and ranchers safety net and we need to ensure that they are fully funded. madam president, later this morning, my colleague, senator hoeven, from north dakota will be hosting a colloquy to get the usda to get the resources they need to help the agricultural producers to weather the crisis. i appreciate senator hoeven's work and i hope my colleagues will hear agricultural producers concerns. i see my colleague, the chairman of the agriculture committee, a committee on which i serve is here as well to talk about these issues and to point to the need to ensure that we do everything we can to support our nation's farmers and ranchers during time of incredible challenge many madam president, i look forward to working with the chairman of the ag committee and our other colleagues from agricultural states many of whom will be here

momentarily to talk about this issue to help our ranchers and farmers to face down the challenges in front of them. and i urge my democratic colleagues to work with republicans to make sure that usda has the resources that it needs to support our agricultural producers, madam president, the men and women who feed not only this country but the entire world. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. roberts: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. roberts: thank you, madam president. i want to thank senator thune for his very pertinent and cogent remarks. this is an important tame to make -- to make a decision that affects all of our farmers and growers during a time when we are going through very difficult times, weather, and everything else you can imagine. i see senator ernst other there who will be following me and i want to thank senator ernst for

reserving this time as other members of the agricultural committee come to speak an issue about something that we shouldn't be having an issue. i rise to engage in a colloquy on the importance of providing certainty and predictability. to our nation's farmers, ranchers, and growers, by replenishing the commodity credit corporation. this should not be an issue. first i would like to thank senator hoeven, whos have just arrived on the -- who has just arrived on the floor for his leadership in speaking to this issue, other senators, for their commitment to agriculture and their -- in their respective states and across the country. no matter what they grow or where they live, farmers, ranchers, growers have done their part to ensure the food and fiber food supply continues without disruption during these unprecedented times. i think everybody is familiar with the situation.

every five years congress passes legislation that sets the national agriculture nutrition conservation and forestry policy commonly referred to as the farm bill. that's our commitment, and we did that. these are folks on the front lines in the fields carrying for livestock, managing the lands day in and day out despite the weather problems we're having today. as chairman of this committee, the senate aging a commission -- agriculture commission, we were successful in passing the 2018 farm bill. everybody says we have to work together to get back to where we are bipartisan. we were, 8 # members of this chamber voted in favor of this legislation. did 87 members of this chamber voted in favor of this legislation. that vote demonstrated that the 2018 farm bill did provide much certainty and predictability to farmers and ranchers across all regions and all crops.

however, it is no secret that times remain to be tough in farm country, farmers and ranchers continue to experience low commodity prices, natural disaster and the effect of retaliatory tariffs. that is a terrible combination. the 2018 farm bill provides essential programs to producers that allows them to mitigate some of the risks that are outside their control. many of these programs are implemented through the authority and the annual funding -- through congress that congress provides to the commodity credit corporation or the c.c.c. the thing i want to stress to my colleagues is now is not the time for partisan gamemanship. if congress does not replenish the c.c.c., it could significantly harm or even halt these important programs. i can't imagine doing that. farmers, ranchers and others in farm country are counting on us to do our job. in fact, we've heard loud and

clear from over 40 different organizations representing farmers, ranchers, and other rural stakeholders across the country that the c.c.c. must be reimbursed before the end of the fiscal year. i want to say this and make this emphatically clear. failure to do so would result in delays of the 2018 farm bill program. we're talking about other programs. we're talking about because of covid-19 and the pandemic and all of that, but even during a global pandemic u.s. farmers and ranchers continue to hold up their end of the bargain by producing area that crops for the world's safest, most affordable food splief. the -- supply. the least we can do is to enyour. mr. schiff: the 2018 farm bill that received 87 votes here in the senate -- mr. roberts: the 20 farm bill that received 87 votes here in the senate can continue without

delay. i hope this business of holding up the c.c.c. funds, i understand what people have with regards to their own top things they want to get accomplished, but holding up the c.c.c. is not the answer. i look forward to working with my senate colleagues in a bipartisan way to ensure that we provide farmers and ranchers and predict ability from the 2018 -- predictability from the 2018 farm bill. i thank senator hoeven for asking for this time and i yield back the balance of my time. mr. hoeven: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: madam president, i want to thank our ag chairman. i want to thank him for being here today. i want to thank him for his many, many years of service in this body, and most of all what i want to thank him here today is his leadership on farm issues and ag issues and working on behalf of our farmers and ranchers in a bipartisan way.

that is what he is here doing. you heard from our whip, a senator from south dakota, an ag state, you heard from the chairman, from an ag state. you will hear from other members of the ag committee, you will hear from the senator from iowa, from senator fischer, nebraska, obviously a big farm and ranch state. the presiding officer i know would be right here speaking with us if he weren't presiding, again, an ag state. and, you know, what this is all about today is making sure that we support farmers and ranchers, and we're here in a very positive,encouraging way, and it is to make the point to get assistance out to our farmers and ranchers. we have about $14 billion secured in the cares act that is ready to go out. we've done a ton of work with

the ag committee. we want to thank sonny perdue, georgia, another ag state. he warkd -- worked hard and he worked hard with us. that needs to get out to the farmers and ranchers across the country. it touches just about every state. and then we need to replenish the c.c.c.c. i work with the ag appropriations every year and that's about $30 billion. this is not a new thing. this is something we do every year and we need to get that done now in the c.r. so that we can continue to provide that help and support for our farmers and our ranchers. because this is what funds the key farm programs, the counter cyclical safety net, p.l.c. are funded by the c.c.c. so i mean that's the heart and soul of the bipartisan farm

program we passed as our ag chairman just described, bipartisan strongly supported in our committee and strongly supported on the floor of this body as well as in the house. this so this is funding, as i say, the heart and soul of the farm program, and it also funds conservation programs and other things, but that safety net that our farmers and ranchers rely on every year is what's funded with the c.c.c. so that's why we are here today. and, again, as our ag chairman said, we have over 40 storm groups from across the country that have sent a letter to leadership and say okay, absolutely not only move forward with this aid that we're talking about, the $14 billion we have gotten in cares which i think we are very close to getting there again thanks to usda, i think we'll see that very soon, but then absolutely taking that step to replenish the c.c.c. so that we can continue to provide that, the safety net that our farm program that our farmers and ranchers depend on.

and remember, remember, this isn't just about our farmers and ranchers. this isn't just about good farm policy. in this country, we have the lowest cost, highest quality food supply in the world that benefits every single american every single day because of our farmers and ranchers, and that's how important this is. so let me turn next to my colleagues. i am going to turn to my colleague from nebraska. she is herself a cattle rancher. so who better to hear from than senator fischer next from nebraska, a cattle rancher herself. mrs. fischer: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: i want to thank my colleague from north dakota. it is so appropriate, madam president, that you are in the chair right now presiding because you are a cattle farmer from the great state of mississippi. we have many, many discussions on the importance of livestock,

on the importance of agriculture to our states. and nebraska is an ag state. in 2018, nebraska generated around $21.3 billion in agricultural cash receipts. agriculture and ag processing accounts for 9.4% of the state's g.d.p. the agriculture production complex accounts for approximately one quarter of our g.d.p. workforce. by these measures, agriculture plays a greater role in my state of nebraska than it does in the economy of any other state in the united states. so when agriculture suffers, madam president, nebraska suffers. and over the last several years, our farmers and ranchers have done their fair share of suffering. as my colleague mentioned,

usda's most recent farm income projections forecast that cash receipts will be at their lowest level in more than a decade. as a rancher, i know it's difficult to plan for the future when you are facing so many factors that are outside your control. whether it's low commodity prices or retaliatory tariffs or natural disasters that we have gone through, and also a global pandemic. nebraska's farmers and ranchers have maintained their patience in these tough times, but they deserve to know, without any kind of doubt, that amidst all of this unpredictability that they are experiencing, that we here in congress, that we are going to hold up our end of the bargain. for decades, the commodity

credit corporation has been routinely replenished to fund the programs that my friend from north dakota spoke about. those programs that are so important to the farm safety net. producers can count on programs like the agriculture risk coverage, price loss coverage, market assistance loans, the important conservation programs, and so much more. for p.l.c. alone, u.s. farmers are expected to receive $4.7 billion in october. out of that total, nebraska farmers are anticipating $180 million in program payments. without that immediate c.c.c. reimbursement, these payments and these programs are going to be significantly delayed, and that will jeopardize the nearly

46,000 farms and ranches in my state of nebraska. we've seen more than 40 agriculture and commodity groups who have stepped forward and wrote congressional leadership this week with a very, very clear message. blocking the inclusion of that c.c.c. reimbursement in a c.r., it will hurt farmers and ranchers, no question. so we need to come together. we need to come together and fund the programs that we as republicans and democrats alike have voted on in countless farm bills. our farmers and ranchers rely on them, and they rely on them now more than ever. so congress must keep its commitment to these hardworking men and women. i urge my colleagues in the

house and here in the senate not to allow politics to stand in the way of upholding our commitment to those hardworking men and women who get up every morning and work tirelessly day in and day out to put food on our table. our producers aren't just thinking of themselves. they are planning for future generations that will proudly carry on their life's work and continue feeding our world. so let's make sure that we continue to fund these programs so that we can ensure that they can do that. thank you, madam president. and my thanks to my fellow ag state colleagues who know the importance of agriculture, not just to the state that we represent, but to this country

as a whole. and thank you to my friend from north dakota for organizing us to come to the floor so that we as a group can stress that importance. thank you, madam president. mr. hoeven: madam president, i'd like to thank the good senator from nebraska and turn to the senator from iowa who has also been just an absolute champion on behalf of agriculture. senator ernst, thank you so much for being here. ms. ernst: thank you, senator hoeven and senator fischer as well. we have had so many of our great ag state friends here on the floor today to join in this colloquy. i did grow up on a small family farm in southwest iowa and grew up around hogs and we had row crops, of course, coming out of iowa, soybeans and corn, very, very important. but this is an important discussion today because our farmers need certainty. i hear it time and time again

from iowa's ag community whether it is trade, whether it's biofuels or the supports that are coming from usda. and just yesterday, i heard the message loud and clear as i was on a phone call with our farmers from the iowa farm bureau, and they said we need to make sure the c.c.c. is fully funded. and this isn't just because of covid aid payments that -- that is something different, and those have been helpful to most of our farmers, but this is because our farm bill programs depend on the c.c.c. being funded. important supports out there for dairy, for conservation, for young and beginning farmers. you maim it, it's the c.c.c. just a couple of weeks ago, usda

secretary perdue, he was in iowa, and we toured one of the many conservation sites across the state and saw firsthand the good work that's being done on our -- with our farmers through usda's conservation programs. they are working to improve their operations while also cleaning iowa's water, air, and keeping our soil healthy. without these conservation programs funded through the c.c.c., this work simply would not be happening. and, folks, since 1987, 1987, congress has replenished the c.c.c. back to $30 billion every year, and this is not the year to stop.

iowa farmers in particular have been suffering through covid-19, because we had a deratio and a drought. the last thing we need is to take away something they have come to depend on. 2020 has been hard on everyone, and there is no time to play games with our farmers' futures. i hope our friends on the other side of the aisle join us in supporting the replenishment of the c.c.c. in the up coming funding bill. and with that, senator hoeven, the great senator from north dakota, i will turn it back over to you. again, my thanks to you and all of our farm state participants today for joining in the colloquy. thank you. mr. hoeven: i'd like to thank the senator from iowa. again, she directly brings that experience from the farm, growing up in agriculture. and somebody else that not only is here representing the state

of mississippi, so you can see we're going from north dakota to mississippi to iowa to nebraska. i mean, this is the whole country we're talking about, but also somebody who has a long background in agriculture. i'd like to turn to the good senator from mississippi. mrs. hyde-smith: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mrs. hyde-smith: as the former commissioner of agriculture in mississippi, this is so vital and so important. in mississippi, agriculture is the number one industry. one in every four jobs is related to agriculture, so this is very vital for my state. with the end of the fiscal year fast approaching, we must act to ensure important agriculture and conservation programs administered by the department of agriculture do not come to a screeching halt on october 1. the 2018 farm bill which was supported by 87 members of the senate authorized important safety net programs to protect

producers against sharp price and revenue declines, provide short-term loans and interim financing to help producers meet farm bill flow needs, assist dairy producers affected by low milk prices and high feed costs, compensate landowners for taking fragile land out of production and implementing conservation improvements to help the environment, and assist producers when natural disasters destroy feed for livestock, calls above average livestock mortality and damage orchards and fruit trees. current law requires many of these program payments to be made annually after october 1, which highlights the importance of this matter on this day. as congress discusses measures to keep the government open and federal programs operating beyond the current fiscal year, it is essential for any continuing resolution to include a provision allowing usda commodity credit corporation to

continue financing these programs. failure to include such a provision would pose a serious risk to american farmers and ranchers in these already challenging times. it would cause harmful delays in programs funding and benefits at a time when many producers across the country simply cannot afford to wait months to recover from these losses. mr. president, this issue is not just about supporting american agriculture, it is about congress living up to its promises. more than 1.7 million producers signed contracts for the agriculture risk, coverage, and price loss coverage programs. millions of private landowners have signed conservation contracts to take their land out of production. these are contracts, and the terms of those contracts must be met. i remind my colleagues that this is not a situation to be taken

lightly. in recent years, america's farmers and ranchers have experienced unfair foreign tariffs, depressed prices, catastrophic flooding, and other natural disasters marking this -- making market disruptions, and now covid-19. i applaud any fellow republican colleagues on the appropriations committee and senate agriculture committee for raising awareness on this issue. it is our job to feed this country. we need to be allowed to do that. thank you. a senator: mr. president, again i'd like to thank the gentlewoman from mississippi, senator hyde-smith. not only is she a strong advocate for our farmers and ranchers but as i say, all of these people you're hearing from this morning have a background in agriculture. mr. hoeven: they know what they're talking about as does this next senator, somebody who

himself has raised cattle. the senator from the good state of arkansas again demonstrating ag touches every region of the country and that the people you're hearing from have that strong ag background. when they talk about this issue, they know how important it is and they know this help is very much needed at this time. so i would turn to the good senator from arkansas, senator boozman. mr. boozman: thank you, mr. president. and thank you, senator hoeven. you and senator roberts for organizing this and getting us down here to talk about a topic that is so, so very important. i'm not going to say anything new. i'm going to be saying that we need toll include reimburse -- to ininclude reimbursement to usda credit corporation in the upcoming continuing resolution. the c.c.c. is the funding mechanism for the bulk of our agriculture and conservation programs that are authorized with broad bipartisan support in

the farm bill. in order for these programs to work as intended, the c.c.c. must be reimbursed by congress on an annual basis. for decades the c.c.c. is being reimbursed by congress without fanfare. and i'm hopeful this year will be a continuation. earlier this year the senate voted unanimously to allow usda to use $14 billion from c.c.c. to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus. this provision was included in the cares act. as our farmers and ranchers are facing the most challenging year in recent history, we have an obligation to advance this provision so the important farm and conservation program payments are made on time and in full to our farmers and ranchers. earlier this week over 40

agriculture organizations representing farmers and ranchers across the country sent a letter to the appropriations committee urging this provision to be included in the continuing resolution. preventing a c.c.c. reimbursement would only exacerbate the tremendous hardship and challenges facing our farmers and our ranchers. so i'm here with so many other members of the senate ag committee and members who represent rural states to urge the senate to help farmers and ranchers and prevent the uncertainty that would come from not including this important provision. and with that i yield back to senator hoeven. mr. hoeven: mr. president, i would like to thank senator boozman for his strong leadership on ag. you said it very well, very clearly, very simply we've heard from more than 40 ag groups from across the country, including the presiding officer's state.

last i checked you have tremendous agriculture in your state of florida, whether it's the cattle you raise in central florida or those wonderful oranges that we all enjoy all year round. just one more example of how agriculture touches everybody's life every day in the most important way. our farmers and ranchers feed the country. they feed the world. what could be more important. and look at the challenges they've faced. they came into this cycle with very low commodity prices. they've had years of low commodity prices. tough trade agreements where countries like china and others have targeted us on trade. and then you put covid on top of that. now, in the midst of all that, they've continued to provide the food supply that feeds every american every single day. what could be more important? right? and as we've said, that food supply is the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world in the history of the

world. you know what else? it's safe. it's safe. and they've never missed a beat. what we're talking about today, make no mistake, is making sure that we fund the heart and soul of the farm program, a bill passed on a bipartisan vote in this body with about 87 votes, okay. that's what we're talking about funding the c.r., vitally important we do t. i want to thank the members of the ag committee for making that point so clearly and so well. and wrap up and actually we're pretty close to on time which is fairly remarkable as seven senators who have just gone through this colloquy process. so i want to thank them all. but remember, what we're talking about here is that food supply that benefits every single american every single day. thank you, mr. president.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, the election is only weeks away. voting has already begun in some places. i know that folks at home in oregon where some of our communities are literally reduced to ashes are already thinking about how they're going to vote. they have a lot on their minds when they fill out their ballot obviously. and i hope all americans fill out their ballots early. and a raging pandemic, catastrophic fires in oregon and across the west have all taken a huge toll on our communities. what i want to do this morning -- and i'm going to use public records -- is sound an alarm about another issue that isn't getting nearly the attention it

deserves, not even close. a medicare crisis is headed our way and fast. whoever wins the next presidential election will be in charge during the biggest crisis medicare has ever faced. and based on these public records, i want to warn the public, particularly seniors, to something i believe they already know. you cannot trust donald trump to protect medicare so you have to protect medicare from donald trump. donald trump has proposed extreme budget cuts to medicare for three straight years. in 2018 he proposed cutting $500 billion. in 2019 more than $800 billion. in 2020 donald trump proposed

cutting $450 billion from medicare. democrats blocked him from making those cuts. but in another presidential term, he could undermine medicare on his own. now here's how the situation comes to be. our economy melted down earlier this year because the president downplayed the coronavirus. millions were out of work. businesses shuttered. whole sectors of our economy mothballed. the economic collapse. and again i base this on public records. it's been devastating to medicare's finances. according to the nonpartisan experts in charge of medicare's books, the medicare trust fund is going to be insolvent in just over four years. these funds are essential to medicare as we know it. they pay for basic services that millions of seniors need each

day. treatment for heart attacks and strokes, care for a broken bone or a bout with the flu that lands an older person in the emergency room, access to skilled nursing care. so once you reach insolvency, you're sending this country's seniors out into a no man's land where their medicare is going to continue to function the way it does today is a big unknown. these trump budgets -- and if donald trump is in a position to be in charge, these trump budgets are going to be the end of the medicare guarantee. ever since i was director of the oregon great panthers, we always looked at that medicare guarantee as sacred. it meant there would be defined secure, high quality health benefits for america's seniors. and they would be available under any type of medicare that

older people receive. older americans based on some of these trump budget proposals would have to figure out some other way to pay for their health care and their prescription drugs. that includes the millions and millions of seniors who have very modest incomes, many just scraping by on social security. and what we know based on the policies of trump's favoriteism for the insurance lobby, they could be at the mercy of insurance companies stuck with huge premiums and bills they can't afford to pay. and the reason i wanted to put this into the record today and sound this alarm is that this is not some far-off crisis that americans and particularly seniors can ignore and can afford to ignore. if you're on medicare now or if you plan on getting on medicare

any time soon, these are direct threats to your health care. whoever is sitting behind the desk in the oval office on january 21, they're going to be in charge when this crisis hits. everybody ought to understand the special interests who want to see medicare crumble have an advantage this time around. this isn't like repealing the affordable care act or medicaid, medicaid where trump can't act without congress. if he has his way and need, he won't need congress to especial him undermine medicare. he will just be able to sit back in front of the television, forget about his obligation to protect that sacred medicare guarantee and let medicare just drift into a crisis on its own. any attempt to fix it then would have to happen on his terms.

and for seniors, good luck with that. the trump administration has spent years doing the bidding in the health care special interests. in my view there's no question they'd seize on this medicare crisis as another way to let those special interests make a buck. and there would be no way for americans to know what kind of financial interest trump and his cronies have in undermining this program that tens of millions of american seniors rely on every day. now, if you were the president and you were to ask him, well, what about these comments that are being made, and you asked about the budget documents that i cited, the budget documents i've cited today that would unravel the medicare guarantee probably tell one of his boldfaced wompers, he would

probably say he is the only person who can fix the medicare challenges and mislead the public about the agenda of those of us on this side of the aisle who want to uphold and expand on the medicare guarantee, who want to make sure, for example, that there will be affordable medicine for senior citizens, that we're using the bargaining power of the federal government to get seniors a fair shake. and we're protecting medicaid that is a lifeline for millions. and we unravel the damage donald trump has done to the affordable care act such as trying to let the insurance companies again discriminate against those with preexisting conditions. but the fact is donald trump has not been straight with the seniors of this country about his medicare policies.

he hasn't told the truth about them, and i intend in the days ahead to make sure that that truth gets out and that seniors really understand what is on the line in the weeks ahead. mr. president, i yield the floor. i would -- i believe we have a speaker.

mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, as families have been quarantined at home over the last months, their lives have been filled with a whole new set of stressors, loss of income,

isolation, anxiety about their own health, and the stress of teaching children at home contest even the -- can test even the healthiest of families and relationships. but it also puts children at higher risk of child abuse and neglect. in april this year a nationwide reports of abuse or neglect dropped by about 40% compared to the same time last year. that doesn't mean there's fewer instances of abuse, probably far from it, just fewer reports. one of the things about children attending school is that their teachers and counselors can monitor them for signs of sexual assault, sexual bawf and -- abuse and report that to the authorities. in 2018, two-thirds of child abuse was reported by people who come in contact as part of their jobs, police officers, lawyers,

social services, and teachers, as i said. teachers, education and other support staff at school, like bus drivers are responsible for more than half of the child abuse reports. but with children at home during the pandemic, out of sight from the teachers and others who would otherwise see them on a routine basis, abuse is becoming more difficult to identify and report. child sexual abuse is a crisis -- was a crisis before the pandemic with more than 42 million adult survivors in america. as the stresses of the pandemic and lack of reporting have taken a violent toll across the country, there is an urgent need for congress to act. over the years i've listened to courageous victims in texas who shared their stories and advocated for reforms to prevent

more children from experiencing this tragic abuse. one of those inspirational individuals is jenna quinn, a child abuse survivor and fierce advocate for children who are often suffering in silence. she was the driving force behind what is now known as jenna's law in texas, which requires training for teachers, caregivers and other adults to know how to prevent and report child sexual abuse. child sexual abuse is unique from other forms of child abuse and recognizing these signs is integral. after it passed in 2009, a study found that educators reported that child sexual abuse at a rate almost four times greater after the training they had received than before they had received that training. it was one of the first child

sexual abuse prevention laws in the united states to mandate this training and now more than half of our states have adopted some form of jenna's law. the kicker is that in many states, including texas, they don't provide funding for the training, for the program. that's what senator hassan, the senator from new hampshire and i want to change. last year we introduced the jenna quinn law, which would take the successful reforms in texas and other states and make them a reality for children across the country. this bill would allow current grant funds to be used for specialized training for students, teachers, and other caregivers to learn how to identify, safely report and hopefully prevent future child sexual abuse. this legislation also encourages the states, without similar laws, to implement innovative programs to address such abuse. again, i want to express my

appreciation to senators hassan and braun who will join me in this bipartisan effort and i hope we can get this bill to the president's desk soon. no child should experience abuse or neglect and the jenna quinn law will bring us closer to identifying and stopping abuse in its traction. mr. president -- tracks. mr. president, i came to the floor initially with the thought of offering a unanimous consent request to pass the jenna quinn law, jenna's law, and it's clear on our side there's some discussion going forward between our democratic colleagues and us about pairing this with another piece of legislation which like jenna's law is not controversial. and based on the commitment that this will be passed as part of the wrap-up this evening, i will not offer that unanimous consent request at this time. but i will depend on that

commitment we've gotten that it will be passed in wrap-up today. so i want to express, again, my appreciation to senator hassan, senator braun for working with us on this. so often the best of intentions go awry because there's no funding mechanism to help facilitate and pay for the training and that's where the money that we appropriate that goes to the department of defense -- excuse me, justice, their grant programs for various law enforcement initiatives is so valuable and those are the funds that are already appropriated that we want to tap into for this type of essential training. so, with that, mr. president, i would yield to my friend from new hampshire. ms. hassan: well, thank, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. hassan: well, thank you, mr. president. and i want to thank senator cornyn for his partnership and support his call and urge my colleagues to support our

legislation, the jenna quinn law, and i too look forward to it being passed as part of wrap-up this evening. mr. president, every child has the fundamental right to be safe, to be treated with dignity, to be cared for, and to have the opportunity to seize their vast potential. sexual abuse robs children of those rights. too often these horrific climbs go unrecognized or unreported and children are left in dangerous situations without access to safety and justice. during my time as governor of new hampshire, i worked with republicans and democrats to sign into law a bill that mandated that child abuse prevention be taught as a part of the health education curriculum, and i am proud to work with senator cornyn to strengthen these efforts on a national effort -- level. the jenna quinn law would better protect children from sexual abuse by helping ensure that teachers, caregivers, and other

adults working with children are equipped with the tools and knowledge to prevent, recognize and report sexual abuse and exploitation. it would also ensure that children receive age-appropriate education on how to recognize and report these heinous acts. mr. president, by encouraging states to provide training and education on child sexual abuse recognition and prevention, we can help keep our young people safe, but we know that there is much more work ahead of us. the covid-19 pandemic is exacerbating challenges that many vulnerable people face, including children who are abused. and as reporting abuse has gone down during this pandemic, experts have made clear that it is because many children have been out of view of the people who often provide support and make reports, including teachers and school officials.

so as we work to pass the jenna quinn law today, we also have to focus on passing a broader bipartisan reauthorization of the child abuse prevention and treatment act to provide even more tools to support children and families who are struggling. mr. president, it's our duty to nurture and protect all of our country's children and the jenna quinn law is a strong step to help move us forward in meeting that responsibility. i urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation and to work together on additional bipartisan measures to protect the safety and well-being of children across the country. and, again, i thank my friend from texas for his leadership in moving this important bill forward and i look forward to continue to working with him on these issues. thank you, mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote on calendar 816, the nomination of franklin ulyses valderama, be withdrawn and that the senate proceed to vote on the nomination under the previous order at 11:45 a.m. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, it is so ordered.

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: mr. president, i rise to talk about what we need to be doing certainly to support the farmers across our country. i know republican colleagues spoke just a while ago about the need to -- to refill what we call the c.c.c. to make sure that we're providing the funding for the october paimghts for the -- payments for the farm bill and as one of the authors of the farm bill, i certainly know we have to make those payments. and the good news is that there is enough money there now to do that, although we certainly also want to be providing emergency support, disaster support, for

growers who have been hit and have losses as a result of the trump chaotic trade policies, as a rul of what has -- as a result of what has happened under covid-19. our farmers have been hit every which way including what has happened with climate change and the weather prices and everything else. and we certainly want to make sure they have what they need. and i want to raise two points today. one is that in order to do that the usda should be focusing on a g.a.o. report that was released on monday that indicated and actually reaffirmed a report that i released with our senate democratic colleagues on the agriculture committee that, in fact, the payments going out to farmers have not been fair. they've been picking winners and losers. they have been picking regions in the south, big farms in the south, not over the midwest,

over our smaller farmers and over those, frankly, many of whom had the biggest losses. when i hear my colleagues talk about the fact that we need to support our farmers and that the farm bill payments go out, absolutely agree. the money is in there right now to do that if we are going to add other money, i think we ought to be paying attention to what the g.a.o. has now affirmed which is we should be maiging sure we are -- making sure we are funding those are los angeles, those who need -- losses, those who need the help the most. something came up today that is even more alarming to me. that is related to what the trump administration appears to be considering right now, which is to take at least $300 million in funds, cash aid, and give it to u.s. oil refineries out of the funds that we're talking about that my colleagues just talked about that are supposed to be going to farmers.

now, we have had three and a half years of this administration siding with big oil companies over our ethanol producers. and by the way, ethanol's biofuels, it's about jobs, it's about clean energy, it's about supporting small towns and rural communities. and then just this week, at the very last minute, it's an election year, they announced they are going to make a decision that will help ethanol and be able to deal with some of the waivers that they have been doing for the oil companies. they announced that earlier this week, and then guess what? through the back door, they are going to take, if this is accurate in reuters, $300 million away from our farmers to give it back to big oil. every time we turn around, they are deciding to support big oil over farmers and our rural communities. so i want to know from colleagues, i had hoped to get to the floor to ask that question directly, and i'm

certainly going to ask it to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who i know support ethanol and biofuels. when they are advocating for more money in the c.c.c., are they advocating for $300 million going to oil companies, because, oh, we couldn't really side with ethanol. if we are really siding with ethanol, they wouldn't be worried about the oil companies who have been fighting this every step of the way, fighting the efforts to support ethanol and biofuels, fighting the efforts that are critical for jobs and rural communities, in my state and all across the country. if they really meant it, they wouldn't be trying through the back door to find some way to go back and get hundreds of millions of dollars for the oil companies so they wouldn't be upset. so i find this pretty outrageous today. we are certainly going to dig deep and certainly are in the process right now of putting

together a letter to the usda, but the reality is that over and over again, there is a lot of lip service for farmers and a lot of money going to big oil. and there is a lot of lip service to small and medium-sized farmers across michigan and across the country while 95% of these payments that are being done are going to big operations with plilt friends in the south. and it's not fair. it is not fair. it is creating a situation where too many family farms are barely making it or in fact not making it and having to put the farm up for sale. that's wrong. ipts not good for america. it's not good for diversity of agriculture. we don't need just a few huge farms in america. we need to make sure that we are supporting our small farmers, medium farmers. this is the foundation of so

much of the economy in small towns. like where i grew up in northern michigan. and what we have seen is an administration that has chosen to basically throw the farm bill out the window. my colleagues talk about the great bipartisan farm bill. i agree. as a marine with senator roberts putting that together, i agree it was a great bipartisan effort that the usda has basically torn up and thrown out the window. instead of creating markets for our farmers and supporting them with risk management, now it's back to big government payment and by the way, let's make sure they are focused on our friends. that's basically what the report from the g.a.o. has shown us. so, mr. president, i am very concerned that one more time a lot of lip service for farmers and we're going to see -- and

we're certainly going to try to stop this, by the way, $300.000000 going to oil companies out of our agriculture support fund. it's stunning to me. by the way, i could just conclude by saying the secretary of agriculture has said he didn't have the authority to help the ethanol producers, couldn't help our corn growers, couldn't help on biofuels and soybean growers, didn't have the authority, didn't have the authority to help our farmers, that somehow we have got the authority to dip into agriculture support funds to be able to fund $300 million to big oil. this is wrong. i hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who were here speaking earlier about the importance of supporting agriculture will join us in saying to the usda you do not have the authority to use

dollars for producers that have been hit so hard by the chaos of their trade policies and every other effort that's gone on in the real world that has lowered their prices and created havoc for our farmers. you don't have the right to take their funds and give it to big oil. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. ms. cortez masto: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to talk about what we're seeing in this country in the west with the horrific wildfires that are happening right now. i have to say so many of my colleagues have been speaking out and rightfully so.

my heart, along with all of theirs, goes out to everyone who has been affected by the fires ranging across -- raging across the west. and most of all to those who have lost members of their families or their homes. i'm thinking of the hundreds of thousands of people in oregon under evacuation orders, or the brave firefighters in california who are battling flames in the middle of a pandemic. of nevadans whose skies are blanketed with hazardous smoke. everyone in the west who is pooling all of their efforts and resources to support one another from washington to oregon to california to nevada, everywhere that we have seen. i also want to honor the efforts of two courageous pilots who died in a crash over caliente, nevada, in july while dropping

fire retardant on the bishop fire. david blake haynes and scott thomas lost their lives while protecting the people of nevada. and i join all nevadans in sharing my condolences with their families. americans are up against the brutal reality of the climate crisis. science tells us that climbing is making the west hotter and drier and contributing to wildfires. scientists have been sending a consistent message about climbing for the past 30 years, and the entire western united states, we have seen just some of the dire effects scientists have predicted. that's why we need federal action to slow the very clear effects of climbing. we have seen those effects in my home state of nevada where this year alone almost a quarter

million acres have burned so far. since i have been in the senate, over 2.5 million acres in nevada have burned in tragedies like the poville fire, the south sugar loaf fire, the range two fire, and the martin fire. which was the state's largest fire in our history. that's why the entire nevada delegation has worked so hard to get nevada the resources it needs to prepare for these fires, combat them when they occur, and rebuild afterwards. we've helped get funds to the university of nevada-reno for its alert wildfire program which uses state-of-the-art cameras to monitor the fires. we've requested that the air -- nevada air national guard gets the tools it needs to combat these fires, including c-130-j aircraft that could fight fires all over the west. and yet, inexpubliccably,

this -- inexplicably, this why was turned down earlier in the year. along with my colleagues in the senate, we have worked to pass a bill to get a for-service account so that federal agencies aren't left empty-handed when they need the money the most. last fire i convened the first of its kind wildfire summit in nevada. i was honored to join our firefighters, our ranchers, our conservationists, our scientists, our power companies and representatives of government agencies in thinking through new ways to coordinate and to elaborate around how to address these wildfires. there is so much we can do working together, from developing innovative digital platforms to monitor the fire to defending research to restoring native lands to helping neighborhoods plan to adapt to fire seasons. we need to make our farms and landscapes more resilient. we need to preserve our national treasures and improve the health and well-being of those who live in our cities and rural areas alike, because the truth is that

it's not getting cooler. anyone in los angeles, which saw temperatures of 120 degrees fahrenheit this month, or in las vegas, which hit 113 degrees in july, can tell you that. taking climate seriously shouldn't be a partisan issue. this is about safeguarding property, protecting local economies, and saving lives. lives of first responders who have too much to do with too few resources. lives of civilians throughout nevada and the west frightened by what they are seeing literally in their back yards. so i plan to listen to what the scientists are telling us. i'm listening to nevadans in places like winnemuka and elko where ranchers and local officials have lived through these fires. i am listening to nevada's tribal leaders whose people have been stewards of the land for millennia and to other communities of color who are among the hardest hit when disaster strikes. and, yes, i'm listening to my

colleagues who have devastating stories of what's happening to their own constituents in their states right now. the climate crisis is all around us, from the wildfires we're seeing in the west to the hurricanes that we're seeing right now in the south. it is time for us to take bipartisan action, address the climate crisis, and make sure we are doing what we do best, funding short-term and long-term policies and goals to address these issues. and i look forward to working with my colleagues around this base. so thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent the vote that has been scheduled for 11:45 begin immediately. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection.

the question is on the nomination. the yeas and nays. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? seeing none, the ayes are 68. the nays are 28. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the

judiciary. iain d. johnston of illinois to be united states district judge for the northern district of illinois.

mrs. blackburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. i don't think anyone would disagree if i said that 2020 has truly been a difficult year. no one could ever have expected what we have faced this year, and it's been a tough one for tennesseans. we hear about it regularly. we know it is a tough one for constituents and for our citizens all across the country. the months of lockdowns will constitute a defining moment more multiple generations of americans. my kids and i were talking about how we think that in years to come our grandkids are going to talk about what they did during

the covid summer, how they went to school during the covid pandemic. now, unfortunately, congressional democrats have decided not to let the opportunity that moment presents go to waste. democrats are taking advantage of the american people's uncertainty and pain in an attempt to force them to lose faith in their government, in their fellow countrymen, and in themselves. and we're hearing from people that this causes them concern because what do they want to see in they want to see us work together. they want to see us address these issues that are causing heartache together. and i have to tell you, i think it was so unfortunate that last

week, that some of our friends across the aisle blocked yet another targeted relief package that would have brought billions of dollars in support to the american people. and, you know, madam president, i think we have to realize, this was not a vote on final passage; this was a vote to end cloture, to begin the debate on that package. so, basically, what our friends across the aisle said to the american people last week is, we don't want to talk about this. we don't want to discuss it. we don't want to debate it. that's unfortunate. if you look at the bill that the senate republicans proposed and brought forward on a cloture

vote last week, it is hard to tease out exactly what the problem was with it. it included another around of paycheck protection program. a lot of our entertainment venues, a the although of our restaurants -- a lot of our restaurants need this. they need that consideration to stay afloat. there was funding for vaccine development. is there anybody that does not think we need a vaccine for coronavirus? i haven't met people that think we don't need to be working on that. everybody is saying, let's get this to market as safely and quickly as is possible. there was support for health care workers. there was support for students and teachers, who are still

trying to adapt to online learning. i was just doing a virtual town hall with one of our counties in tennessee. one of their issues -- when will there be additional funding to help us with technology, because 30% of our students elected an e-learning format. you know what, madam president? there was even money for the post office. now, back in august our friends across the aisle thought that was a crisis. but i guess it was their drama of the day, because what did they do? they voted against all of this funding. they voted for weakening the economy, i guess, and they voted

against the prospects of american workers. but what they were doing is strengthening that false premise that they are the only ones capable of sparking an economic recovery. this, of course, is demonstrably false. this week the census bureau released its annual report -- and i will tell you, the numbers prove that the trump administration's pro-growth policies are working. the tax cuts and jobs act that we passed in 2017, it is working. it has spurred economic growth, it has spurred an economy like i've never seen in my lifetime. in 2019, incomes grew at the

highest pace ever recorded. last year the official poverty rate fell to an all-time record low of 10.5%. think about that. 10.5%. a decade ago, there were more people than ever on assistance. between 2018 and 2019 alone, more than four million americans rose out of poverty. think about those numbers. that's a good thing. it was the largest reduction in poverty in over 50 years. the black poverty rate fell below 20% for the first time in history, and child poverty also fell to a near 50-year low.

madam president, our record on this is very clear. the trump administration policies worked. the tax cut and jobs act worked. that is what the american people are wanting to get back to. and i encourage all of my colleagues in this chamber, read that report; look at these stats; and remind -- everyone should remind ourselves of the progress we have made as a nation on growing this economy over the last four years. now, politically, everybody talks about how this is a divided nation, but we have got to come together and work under an umbrella of policies that

will make life better for all americans. i cannot, for the life of me, fathom why my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would throw that opportunity away. our citizens want us to work on a relief package that is going to help them get back to work, help our children get back to school, and allow our communities, our schools, our governments, our businesses to safely operate with liability protections. madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: madam president, i come to the floor this afternoon to talk about the importance of aviation and

continuing to focus on the workforce employed in aviation. i want to speak about the importance of the thousands of workers, including pilots, flight attendants, gate agents, baggage handlers,mechanics, catering workers, and many who are feeling the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic. i believe we should continue to address the very important issues of the health aspects of the pandemic and the economic impact of the pandemic, but while we're working on developing a vaccine and developing better therapeutics and testing and stopping the spread of this virus, we also need to keep in mind that we do need transportation. prior to the pandemic, the aviation industry supported nearly 11 million american jobs and put $1.8 trillion to work in our economy and contributed about 5.2% of our g.d.p. in fact, civilian aviation is

the seth leading contributor of -- the sev ennth leading contribute irof jobs. maintaining our aviation sector is vital to the long-term economic success of our country. when the pandemic hit, we saw a 96% drop in air travel and instantly jeopardized thousands of jobs in the sector. and we worked very hard on the cares act to create the right balance of capital for the aviation sector to continue because it is essential we have workers who are delivered to their jobs and that we keep moving on solving these problems of the pandemic. the payroll support program created in the cares act with the department of treasury was designed to compensate aviation workers and preserve their jobs to help protect the essential aspects of aviation and airline services and the program continues to cover those costs of keeping people employed and

keeping this vital piece of transportation moving. this is critically important because just in a very short period of time, september 30, this program is going to expire. congress needs to act to extend the program. it's important that we provide through the p.s.p. program the importance of aviation workers who are so essential to continue to deliver these services. aviation not only helps people positive around the country for personal reasons, essential business reasons, it also delivers good medicine and essential mail services. the fact that most people probably have forgotten how important airline, are to delivering the u.s. mail but they're important. the cares act include requirements to ensure that small markets continue to receive air service and association benefits, and as you can see, many of the airlines in the uncertainty of what's happening with the cares act

extension are now cutting services to those communities. so doing another cares act bill would help us keep those services in these smaller communities. it was announced that as many as 50,000 airline jobs are at risk if we don't continue the payroll support program. so now is not the time to be uncertain. now is time to give the airline sector the importance that it deserves of having airline workers continue to do their job. every job loss means workers are earning less. it means the slowdown in the economy as a whole. it means that consumer spending which is a big engine of our economy slows down. and 70% of our g.d.p. comes from that consumer spending. so these programs are important. if the payroll program is not extended, the cost of workers who lose their job will be simply shifted to the states in the form of unemployment benefit. and since we aren't solving the

problems of the state, the safeties also add to g.d.p. so we're not helping g.d.p. by not coming to a resolution of the cares act. unemployment doesn't cost -- cover the cost of a full salary. each worker would have less to spend on gas and groceries, on mortgages, on medicine, and in the downturn of the economy that we have been facing, we can't afford more loss. our economy is showing some signs of modest recovery as the result of the economic stimulus of the cares act, but many of those benefits are expiring. and i can tell you as a member from the pacific northwest, i hear a lot from businesses who didn't get help and support in the p.p.p. program and wanted it to continue so they, too, can be on par with some of their friends and neighbors who have been able to succeed economically. so right now we are at a turning point, a turning point where we need the p.p.p. program to continue and to help give

certainty about transportation. we know nationally on average an aviation mechanic takes home about $1,600 per week in pay. but when these jobs are cut, the weekly income is cut. so let's look at a few states and a few examples. right now in north carolina, the weekly income for a mechanic is only $3,-- i'm sorry. let me start over. right now in north carolina the weekly income for a mechanic is only $350 a week in unemployment benefits. and is facing a 79% cut in weekly income. so what i'm asking our colleagues to consider here is as you think about shifting these transportation workers from this salary that they're getting now to unemployment benefit, you have to think about how dramatic these cuts are in some of these states. i'm proud that i come from a state where we have a pretty robust unemployment benefit.

i think our state and people who vote and support a robust unemployment benefit. but we are sending people home if we continue to not act on a cares act and p.p.p. to states with unemployment benefits much less robust than my state. so facing a 79% cut in weekly income right now i don't think is good for the aviation sector. when you look at a ramp agent in georgia, on average a weekly income for a ramp agent is about $850 per week. but now that any additional weekly benefits have run out, these workers now face a 57% income cut. and in state after state we see these cuts in these weekly income. this means, as i said, less money to spend on groceries, less money to spend on essentials at home. we know additionally, benefits in florida, pilots would see a

90% drop in income. flight attendants a 75% drop. mechanics an 83% drop. agents a 68% drop. in texas we'd see an 85% drop in income. flight attendants 52% drop. mechanics a 68% drop. in agents for ramp work a 48% drop. so my point here is to think about the need for us to continue this program. the need that not all states are going to be treated equally in how aviation workers will be affected and how we're going to keep that important air travel moving for our economy. without the extension, flight crews, flight attendants, and others will be impacted in another way. that is, that when you stop air transportation services, people have to after a period of time come back and be retrained and recertified. many times here i've been

participating in debates about tax credits or tax policy and often time we go past our deadline of december 31 and into the new year. and most people, even though we can't reach a conclusion, think well that's okay. we'll make it receipt toe active so going past our deadline doesn't impact anything. in this case it does impact something because once we hit the october 1 deadline and we start seeing these people in unemployment situations, the time starts ticking for the cost of recertifying them to be in that cockpit or be of service. for example, pief lots have to -- pilots have to meet certain flying requirements to maintain currency in their pilot license. so without an extension of p.p.p., flight crews and flight attendants would need to be retrained at the cost of starting up again. and a p.s.p. extension also means supporting their wage, and

making sure that they have available health care during this time period. i don't want to see one more american lose their health care benefits because of covid. we're in a covid crisis. we want people to be covered with health care so we can help fight this pandemic. so i know people here in the congress are looking at the very short time period that we have left before september 30. i'm calling on my colleagues to set aside our differences and come back to the table and make sure that we are addressing these issues before this major layoff. this is important because, as i said, this affects the g.d.p. of our country. we still have an opportunity to sustain 950,000 frontline aviation workers. and this is important to helping our economy recover. it's important because aviation helps, as i said, grow the opportunities for the future.

thome colleague senator scott and i will be announcing other aviation legislation that we, too, think will help the aviation sector. but for every 10% of travel that returns to aviation, it drives more than $1.5 billion into our economy. that's salary and wages and other aspects of this sector. that is, the economic impact we have by returning flight service. so the original premise around the covid bill was for us not to decimate the airline industry because of the covid impact so much that it wouldn't recover and that we wouldn't be there to retrain and take advantage of the upside as the public responds. we've now gone from that 95% loss of travel to right before the labor day weekend about 40%

of airline capacity and travel. so we want to continue to be ready, to serve the public that has to fly. we want to make sure it's safe for them to fly. and getting this extension of the covid bill done before september 30 still remains a key priority. on the point of aviation, i would say my colleagues besides the cantwell-scott bill we'll be dropping tomorrow to help focus on more aviation safety, my colleague senator wicker and i remain committed to working on aviation safety as it relates to certification legislation. and i hope all our colleagues on the commerce committee will continue to focus on that as well. now, madam president, i'd like to say a few words about another pressing issue in the state of washington, and that is the issue of fire. yesterday we heard from the deputy forest chief that we needed 5,000 firefighters in the united states to help fight

fires. it's clear that we don't have 5,000 firefighters helping as the covid has caused an impact on our ability to fight fire. so i'm calling on the president to help us reach out to the international community to help us getting more firefighters into the united states. while washington and oregon may see eventually wetter weather in october, we still have massive fires that we are going to see in california in the month of october. we need to get more firefighters into the united states to help us fight this incredible attack by mother nature on our communities. we can't leave them defenseless. we need to give them a front line in the defense, and that is calling on the president to help us get more international support for fighting fires in the united states of america. additionally, i will be supporting my colleague senator wyden's efforts today on

prescribed burn. that is, the ability to change our policies and do prescribed burns different times of the year. that is to say burning some of the fuel that we think could become fire breaks and stopping fires from becoming larger and larger and the fuel break helps create a line of defense. we supported this legislation several years ago. unfortunately, it didn't make it into the big fire fix bill when we stopped fire borrowing. but nonetheless, it remains a big priority. what we have come to learn now is that trying to do prescribed burns in the summer month when you have clearer air isn't really helps -- helping us now because we have large-scale fires that we're having these very unhealthy smoke events that last for days and days. now thanks to the new fire forecasting models that we have and the new fire forecasters that we put in the previous

bill, we are now seeing how unhealthy those conditions really are. they are so unhealthy, that they are causing major concerns by health officials across the whole west. so what do we need to do now? pass this proposal that i support along with my colleague senator wyden to move prescribed burns to other parts of the year. yes, may it create a few smoky days here or there and other parts of our year? yes. but it will help us better fight these fires when it comes to these very hot, dry climates that we are now seeing with greater frequency in the pacific northwest and throughout the west. so, madam president, it is time for us to take dramatic action in responding to these fires. we have taken action but now we need to use these tools right in front of us today. get more firefighters, get the prescribed burn policies, and move forward with protecting some of our most vulnerable

communities throughout the united states of america. i thank the president. i yield the floor. mr. sullivan: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: madam president, today i'm going to be talking about a bill of mine that i think is very appropriate, very timely, the protect our heroes act which will federalize certain violent crimes against public safety officers like police and first responders across the country to deter these kind of crimes and to show the men and women in our law enforcement community that we have their back. before i get into the details of my bill, i want to talk a little bit about a very moving event . i was back home last week in alaska. i was at the american legion post number 15 in palmer, alaska. and it was on the commemoration of september 11. and it was a wonderful

remembrance dinner. tons of veterans, patriots. my state is blessed with more vets per capita than any state in the country. but it was focused on law enforcement. we had the palmer police chief, we had members from the police department from anchorage there. we were focused on so many things that came out of that day, 9/11, but honoring our first responders was something that i think america learned. that we need to respect the men and women epitomized by the police and fire that went up the tower. many of them knew they were going to die. and they did that -- they did that to protect us. and there was this newfound respect for our first responders that came out of the tragedy of 9/11. now, in my remarks to my fellow

veterans in palmer at the american legion post last friday, i did mention that, you know, one of the elements of what's happening in our country, unfortunately, is that these memories are fading. they are fading, and in some ways the respect for the police is not just fading, it's being reversed. you see these movements, these national movements of defunding our police. a horrible thing in my view. we need more law enforcement, not less. we see on social media, tv channels, there are criminals who are focused on harming the police, killing the police, attacking the police, even taking glee and the violence of law enforcement. so, madam president, we've all seen in the past few years a dramatic increase in killings and ambushes, iowa, new york,

massachusetts, texas, california, colorado, pebs pens, georgia -- pennsylvania, georgia. this has been happening. it certainly hit home in my state. in anchorage in 2016, we had a brave police officer, art sallow who was the victim of an afternoon bush. thank -- ambush. thankfully he survived. as a result of the arrest of the individual who tried to kill him, he ended up being a serial killer. but this brave police officer found him and stopped him and almost lost his life. another police officer in the same year, 2016, wasn't so fortunate. october 16, 2016, sergeant allen brant of the fairbanks police

department, pulling over a suspect was shot five times and eventually sue coupled -- succumbed to the injuries. i went to the memorial service. hundreds of alaskans, young family, young wife. it was brutal to watch this. these are selfless men and women in my state where every day getting up to risk their lives, ware the uniform -- wear the uniform in the line of duty. all of this, madam president, inspired me to put together my protect our heroes act, which will enhance federal penalties for the killing or assaulting of public safety officers and first responders, especially increasing penalties for criminals who ambush or lure law enforcement officers for the purpose of committing crimes against them, dramatically enhancing penalties. this is something that i think the vast majority of us in the

senate agree with. now i -- i take the opportunity to go running most mornings when i'm here or back home, and when you go running on capitol hill, what i see every morning, and i saw it this morning, police officers, no matter the time of day, capitol police sitting in their vehicles or on patrol. their sole purpose is to protect this institution and the members. and this morning, as i usually do when i ran past them, sitting in their cars, i gave them a thumb's up. thank you. thank you. we respect you. and we certainly have your back. so, madam president, -- or mr. president, that's why i'm offering this legislation today. i hope my senate colleagues can come together to support this.

i think it would be inconceivable to vote against this bill, especially now when we're seeing these kind of heinous activities like we saw in compton, california. but we also want to send a message to our first responders and law enforcement. we're watching. we are going to pass laws to disincentivize this kind of heinous action against you, and we have your back and the back of family members who are probably worried when you go out on your duty every day. so, mr. president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of senate 1135 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further that the sullivan substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered

read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president, for the recognition. and, mr. president, i reserve my right to object. as a former assistant u.s. attorney in new -- and new mexico attorney general, i worked hard to prosecute violent crimes, including those committed against law enforcement. the recent shootings of two law enforcement officers in california was heinous. my deepest condolences and prayers go out to the officers and their families. the perpetrator must be brought to justice. all such violence is appalling. however, this bill is both

unnecessary and potentially a problematic expansion of federal criminal law. it is already a federal crime to kill or attempt to kill an officer or employee of the united states. most, if not all states, already make killing a police officer a specific crime. and, of course, murder and assault are crimes in all 50 states and territories. so it is unclear that this bill will increase deterrence. and the bill is very broad, covering not only murder, attempted murder, but also any assault against hundreds of thousands of or perhaps millions of people. one new crime created by the bill is deaf eligible, raising historic concerns about executing the innocent and the death penalty being arbitrarily applied.

this bill has not gone through the regular order, with no hearings on such a sweeping change on such a change in the balance of state and federal criminal law. for many years the heritage foundation, the hoover institution, the federalist society, and congressional republicans have always spoken out against the expansion of federal criminal law. it is not just conservatives, there's bipartisan support for that view and broad consensus among criminal law experts in the federal judiciary itself. the u.s. courts judicial conference has testified to congress against the overcriminallization of federal law, citing the burdens they already face. and former reagan attorney general ed meese wrote for the hoover institution over 20 years ago, in 1999, highlighting the

following problems with overcriminallization of federal law. he warned about an unwise allocation of scarce resources needed to meet the genuine issues of crime, an unhealthy concentration of policing power at the national level, an adversed impact on the -- an verse impact on the federal judicial system. inappropriately disparate results for similarly situated defense depending on whether similar conduct is selected for federal or state prosecution, a diversion of congressional attention from criminal activity that only federal investigation and prosecution can address. the potential for duplicative prosecutions at the state and federal levels for the same course of conduct in violation of the spirit of the constitution's double jeopardy protection. i think the senate should

consider those warnings and should not rush to approve such a measure without hearing testimony and a long and careful study. therefore, mr. president, i object. i would also like to take this opportunity -- thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. president. i'd like to take this opportunity to call attention to key legislation that addresses violence and should -- and this piece of legislation should come to the floor, and that's the violence against women reauthorization act. vawaa reauthorization -- vawa reauthorization expired over a year and a half ago on january january 15, 2019, but key committees are being delayed and

key improvements are being delayed by lack of reauthorization. violence against women act of 2019 is supported by all 47 democratic senators. the house passed the bill 263-158. 33 house republicans voted yes on that bill. the bill would extend vawa for five years through 2024 while making key improvements. as the vice chairman of the senate indian affairs committee, i know how critical vawa reauthorization is to indian country. data from the u.s. department of justice indicates that native women face murder rates that are more than ten times -- ten times the national average murder rate. there are more than 5,000 cases of missing american indian and alaska native women, and that 55% of native women have

experienced domestic violence. more than four in five in american indian and alaska native women experience violence in their lifetime. without the enactment of a vawa reauthorization, these tribes will lack the jurisdictional tools they need to keep their communities safe. the house-passed bill strengthens tribal sovereignty, provides important protections for lgbt people and bars dating partners convicted of domestic violence from having handguns. the bill would make a real difference in preventing violent crimes against women and making native american communities safer and i ask the senate take up its consideration immediately. as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 2843, the

violence against women act, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. toomey: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for pennsylvania. mr. toomey: mr. president, reserving the right to object. i have to say this sounds a lot like yet another attempt to just change the subject and off -- the senator from alaska is just -- has just spoken about his goal here. both of us -- slightly different approaches to try to achieve the same thing, which is discourage these attacks on law enforcement officials. it seems that almost every day we read about some horrific attack on men and women across

the country just because they are police. it's absolutely appalling. and we're trying to do everything we can to discourage that, to create disincentives, to make sure that violent criminals know they'll pay a very steep price if they commit the appalling kinds of acts that we've seen. and the senator from alaska, i commend him for an approach to this, and yet again our democratic colleagues refuse to support this effort and instead said, let's change the subject to vawa. well, let's talk a little bit about vawa. look, there's a very real problem with violence against women. i don't know anyone that would dispute that. and vawa can be the legislation has a number of programs, some of which are very constructive. i voted in favor of the last reauthorization of vawa because i do think it's that important. and i've led the effort in this body to ensure that crime

victims very much, including women, get the resources they are supposed to get from the crime victims fund, which they have historically not gotten. but the fact is it's a big bill, a complicated bill. there are multiple programs and some of it is controversial. so the way we've actually gotten an outcome and achieved something with vawa is through a bipartisan process. and that's what we've done in the past. and that effort has been under way. senator erns urnst working with senator feinstein have tried to find the common ground. they're not quite there yet but this legislation is not that bill, it is not that effort. this is a bill that our democratic colleagues have declared has no chance of actually passing. so rather than change the subject and putting forward a bill that everybody knows can't pass, i would wish that our democratic colleagues would join me and my colleague from alaska

in doing something we can do, something modest but constructive that would help to diminish the risks that our law enforcement folks take every single day. so, mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. sullivan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator for alaska. mr. sullivan: i just want to thank my colleague from pennsylvania. i know that he and i both share a passion of this -- on this issue. i think the vast majority of the senators share a passion on this issue that we should be standing here in the u.s. senate to make sure our law enforcement know that we have their back. as senator toomey just mentioned, this is happening all across the country that the men and women who put on the uniform to protect us are being targeted simply because they wear the uniform to protect us.

if there's not an issue that cries out for some kind of action, some kind of discussion to prevent this and tell these brave men and women whether in alaska or pennsylvania or new mexico that we have their back, i don't know what that topic is. i don't know what that issue is. and so unfortunately, senator toomey tried to move his legislation the last couple of days. it was thwarted. and now my legislation to send a message that we're not going to let criminals get away with these kind of heinous crimes, that the u.s. senate is watching, and that we have the backs of law enforcement and their families. that's a really important message to send right now. so i'm disappointed in my colleague for objecting. we will continue to work on this issue and as senator toomey

mentioned, the vawa issue which is a hugely important issue in my state, for my constituents. but right now, mr. president, i think we should be actin actinge issue that we're seeing -- acting on the issue that we're seeing and that issue is that there's a movement across the country that's really focused on perpetrating violence against the men and women who are sworn to protect this. and i can't believe that anyone here thinks that's a good movement. but it's happening in america right now. and we need to send a message it's unacceptable and we're going to do everything in our power to stop it. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from -- a senator: mr. president, i would ask the vote which is scheduled for 1:30 be allowed to start at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the johnson nomination -- johnston nomination. all in favor say aye. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote: