vo:

the presiding officer: adalberto jordan, the previous motion to recar is considered made a the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. mr. alexander: mr. president, i ask that at senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speaks therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: i ask consent for as long as i may require. the presiding officer: withou objection. madam president.hank you, independent, here is my view sesqui in the uned states. it is harded to get here, hard to stay here. while you are here, you might as well try to accomplish something good for the country. accomplishing something goodor the ited states senate in the united states senate means working with a superior staff. so tododay i want to pay tribute to the 2 men and women who have served on my staff since i

came to the senate in 2003. in my personal office, both here and in washington, d.c., and in six tennessee offices, in the senate health, education, pensions, and labor commiee, at the senate rules committee, the senate appropriations committee, and the senate republican conference. so started with me in 2003 and are still working together after 18 years. some have moved on to other opportunities, but each has played a major role in the senate. whether ty're helping to pass laws, serve our constituents, or swering the front office phone. we have some important traditions here in the senate, including the maiden speech, ich i delivered 17 years ago in my days, and the farewell speech, which i delivered yesterday, but for me something is missing. usually staff is acknowledged in the farewell address, which either mes the address way too long or least too little time

to prorly acknowledge their contributions. so i'm here today to make a salute to the staff speec and i know my colleagues agreehat their own accomplishments are the result of working with superior staffs, so perhaps if i may not be presumptuous, a salute to the staff speech might become an additional senate tradition. when iay superior staff, here's what i mean. howard baker used to call anor eloquent listener, that the constituent on the phone might be right or even the staffer in the other office might be right. superior in courtesy to tennesseans fowhom we work. superior in insight. superior in resolving complex issues and wrapping the result up in a nice package with a ribbon tied around it, ready to passe and signed into law

whenever the moment came that it could be passed, which would usually be surprise at an inconvenient time. superior in speaking and writing explain english in order to persuade at least half the people we're right. and superior in, woulding well together, something you're supposed to learn in kindergarten so we have a good time while we're working. unlike almost every other senate office at the sgestion of my chief of staff david cleary, we created a single team composed of personal office staff here and in washington, d.c., and the committee staff with did in charge of all of that. i original think thought that was a big mistake. in charge of all that.e could be but i was wrong about it because what it did was break down barriers, eliminate jealousy, improve communication, and create a much happier and working condition. the results have been exceptional.

for 18 years've gotten up every morning thinking i might be ablto do something to help our country and i've gone to bed most nights thinking that i have. that couldn't have happened without the privilege of working with an exceptional staff. now, the truth of the matter is, we all know this, that there's just no physical way for any united states senator to see every singlene of our constituents every time we want to see them or talk to them on the phone, although we all make our best efforts to do that. and you learn pretty quily that constituentsxpect and deserve to be treated not just with courtesy butromptly. for example, senator estes kefauver hold this site that i now hold when i was a high school student. one day maude from madisonville, his hometown, called senator kefauver's office and said you i want to speak to estes. th staffer said, i'm sorry, but

nator kefauver is tied up on the floor. there was a long silence. and maude said, well, go down an untie the son of a gun and get him up o the floor and tell him maude is on the phone and wants to speak with h. so our constituents spector to talk with us when they want to. my first visit to the senate, i was a junior in high school. it was part of t american leon boyce nation program and i was invited to visit senator kefauver. i was 17 years old. i w reluctant to do that because i was sure he had many more important people to see than a 17-year-old boy from maryville, tennessee. i was even more sure of that when i arrived at his office because his office was filled with he people who looked important and looked like they had come from all over the world to see him. but his assistant came out and swished me in through all the important people doing her best to make me feel comfortable.

kefauver had a reputation for being accessible. and it was because his staff made it appear that he always was. i remind my staff there are many people who want to see us suspect that we feel we are too important to see them. and we should do everything we can to help them understand that we know that they are the important ones. staff and i have done our best to try to do that with all of the senators with whom i've served from tennessee we have what we call tennessee tuesday, breakfast where any tennessean can come and visit with both senators, have a little breakfas and have a photograph made. in 18 years some 270 people have worked on my senate staff, as i ntioned, in jackson, nashville, tricities, chattanooga or in washington,d.c., with the persal staff or theelp, education, labor, and pension staff, or the rules committee or the appropriations cmittee or at the senate republican confence. it's a lot of places to have a

lotf sta. 153 women, 117 men. ou staff has also benited from the work of 433 interns. interns usually stay with us one to three months, and they have some real work experiees while they're here. and they're pretty good. in fact, 30 staff members, that's 11% of our staff, began their work in our office as interns. our staff has experienced some great personal joys. we've celebratethe birth or adoption of 30 babies over those 18 years. just as i met myife honey while we wereorking in the senate some of our staffs met their spouses while working on our staff. including mackensie burt and paul mckernan, virginia ppner and bobby mcmillin,

laura hef letter and john herzog. we have experienced profound sorrows. some lost parents, nursed seriously injured children, been through their own health emergencies. inovember of 2007, trey lefler, special staffer and friend, was involved in a serious car accident and died as a result of his injuries. many staff members have stayed. we've worked together for a long time. some have bn a part of our team, meaning we've worked together since i became a senator. patrick jaynes, my state director lindsey seidman, deputy staff director on the senate health, education, labor and pensions committee jane chedester, field representative in knoxville kay durham, constituent services representative in nashville charlotte jackson, senior cotituent services in nashville matt varino, field representative in jackson gina parkerson, constituent

services representative in the tri-cities ostephie chivers, a senior advisor in nashville it's the not so easy. everybody knows who you are. by people who need help, people who are hurting the it's easy to get bned out. it's hard to stay in a job like that for so long. patrick jaynes says the politics end whe you start the job. you've got to help everyone. our tennessee field representatives have traveled thousas of miles meeting with organizations across our 95 counties. case worke, they have handled about 20,000 cases over the years. disability benefits, helping a world war ii veteran get a medal, helping a family stranded overseas get home. for example, laura ray goodrich is a staffer in jackson. she heard of a single mother

having desperate issuesetting tax refund. the mother needed the money to help pay rent and the rest of her bills. laura ray goto work, reached out to the i.r.s. she discovered the mother's returns had been wrong for seral years and helped the thrilled single mother recover far more money than she was expecting. or keith abraham who works in the knoxvil office heard from a tennessee company about an employee with a grim cancer diagnosis. the employee's parents lived in china. they were not able to see the employee because of covid restrictions. long and short, keith worked it out so they could receive the apopriate paperwork and fly to be with their daughter. one story that i got to see in person was about wilbur hofman of l world war 2. mary asked if there was some way to be recognized for his world

war ii service. she discovered he was not only eligible for a purpl heart. he had been wounded on d-day in 1944. he had also earned the bronze starnd ranger tab awards. so in 2012 he was presented with these awards by our state's highest ranking military offir, general haston at a ceremony i attended. he died a year later. each fall kay durham works through about 150 tennessee applications to attend our nation's service academies. she's worked with over 2500 candidates applying for thosing academies. there's no better state directors than patrick jaynes. he has served as deputy chief of staff. i've traveled thousands of miles with patrick. he's not run into anybody, but we've been through a lot of flat

tires and some speeding tickets patrick and i have seen it all. he's full of insights. he's got energ for the next event and can always solve a problem. during my time in the senate the conference elected me three times as chairman of the senate republican conference that's a little bit of a political job. you're supposed to come up with someing that republicans can say to counter what democrats are sayg. it's he -- he is picial a challenge for -- he is picial challenging for kins to get them to talk on a single message. republican senators are he especially independent minded. republicans and democrats will often do things together as a caucus but we do it different than they do it. democrats will a hold hands and jump off the cliff together.

republicans will also all jump off the cliff at the same time, but one wil do a somersault, one will do back flip, one will do a dive, and so forth. the goal is to come up in the caucus with a catchy phrase. for example, on energy, find more, use less. or about obamacare, step by step instead of conservative. persuade senator to say the same thing, staff would record clips of them saying what i thought they should say and then we'd show that bk to them at lunch. i found that senators paid a lot more attention to watching themselves say things than they did to watching me suggest to them what to say. it wasn't me doing that. it was the staff dng it. they cam up with catch faces, made she we communicated them at the conference. on the rules committee i worked with senator schumer on that. were ranking. a little bit like this year, we

didn't know who would be the new president. so i had an opportunity to speak at president obama's inauguration. talked about the peaceful transfer or reaffirmation of power as a conspicuous symbol of our democracy. there is no possible way to organize a presidential nomination without a supior staff. mary jones and lindsey seidman were in charge of that for us. in 2012 on the senate help committee as the senior republican for two years and six years as chairman the staff grew a lot. senator ted kennedy used to say the help committee had about a third of the jurisdiction of the senate. it does a lot of work and needs a lot of talented staff members. during my eight years as the senior republin the staff helped organize 209 hearings, 752itnesses, mostly bipartisan, meaning that he agreed with senator harkin

first, senator murray the last six years on who the witnesses would be. and we produced 90 bills that it's a lot of work. weeks of work by the staff. securing each witness often with democrat committee staff. numerous phone calls with exerts. -- experts and every bl that takes law takes experts. from consultions from constituents and experts from the drafting to work with other members or outside groups to consulting to trying to soothe bruised feelings, work with other committee members, try to find an opportunity for it to be on the senate calendar and then build support and then remove holds there's a lot of work to do in passing a bill and making it law and staff do most of the work. senators do a lot but ty can't

do it all. here's some of the achievements worth highlighting. i mentioned many of them yeerday in my farewell address, so i won't go into great detail about them today. but, for example, the every student succeeds act, this was the bill to fix no child left behind. it affects 50 million children and 100,000 schools. presidentbama called it a christmas miracle. "the walstreet journal" said it was the biggest devolution of power from washington to the states in 25 years. i'll never forget what for me was a truly emotional moment when every senator on our committee -- now this is from rand paul to elizabeth warren warren -- voted to recommend the bill to the senate. this law was the the result of complicated work by peter openheim and david cleary. fafsa simplification. 20 million americans fill out this ridiculously complex form for federal aid for pell grants and student loans.

you've seen me hold it up on the senate floor. everyone agrees it can be 33 instead of 108 questions. and almost everyone agreest's the majorbstacle for low-income students getting federal aid to go to college because they're intimidated by it. bob moran, lauren davies and andrew have worked hard and we've gotten it half done. we'd like to get it across the finish line before the end of the year. head start in 2007 came up with the idea, sarah was the staffer for 200 centers of excellence for the head start program. in 2005 katrina came and rita came, two big hurricanes. and it was critical to legislation where we worked with senator kennedy, senator dodd, senator landrieu for voucher funding to assist education for public and nonpublic students in

grades k-12 displaced byhe hurricane. then reauthorizing the perkins act, a wershed moment, education week said it was. staffer jake baker worked on that. senator enzi did a lot of heavy work. i've been fortunate to have two extraordinary women r the team on the help committee. mary sumpter lapinski and grace graham. before they started melissa was instrumental in passing the premmie act in 2003 getting the bill written and signed into law to help working with the march of dimes to hp there be more healthy babies live long and healthy lives. once i became sior on the help committee we began to work on the 21st century cures a. senator mcconnell said it was the most important law of that

congress. it helped speed medical miracles to patients and doctors offices. margaret coulter, melissa pfaff spent countless hours getting readyor that. f.d.a. user fees, working es with senator murray's staff and house committees, a seamless effort to take these complicated fees and include significant new provisions to speed those drugs and devices into doctors offices. the most popular bill that never beca law w called alexander-murray. i even bought a case of scoh called alexander-murray to give passed but it never was pasd. efforts, the whole goal was to reduce, reduce the cost of health care premiums in the

individual insurance market. president trump worked well with us on that. virginia mcmillin and lizroe did countless work but we couldn't get it across the finish line. this year there was the shark tank. we will workedith francis collins at the natnal institutes of health to the create an initiative, $2.5 billio t produce 50 million more covidiagnostic tests a month than current technologies would do. grace graham, melissa pff on senator blunt's staff worked on at. duri -- during tha grass graham was in her third trimester. she was working on designs, being the traffic cop here in the house and today she and her husband stash have their first she's back at work.

our committee leadership positionsre often considered the plum positions, but you can do a who lot with a talented personal staff. ours put in long hours, for example, on the great american outdoors act, this is a bill good people had literally been trying to pass since the eisenhower years. it's the most important piece of outdoor legislation in that period of te and then the music modernization act we worked with senator hatch and his staff. lindsey garcia and paul mckernin made sure it was law. an it passed with, i think, more than 60 cosponsors to improve our competitive position inhe world.

matt so nnesyn and david cleary on the america competes act, the bill wouldn't have passed if it dn't been for environmeal groups who supported the bill and encouraged senators to cast crucial votes. matt sonnesyn worked with the iraq study group, recommendations we made during the george bush years. aaron reef was an expert on foreign ashares poiptions. we've had five straight years in a row. hopefully we'll have six on funding the office of science which suprts our 17 national laboratories. we also stepped up funding for waterways like chickamauga lock

and super computing to keep us first in the world. tom craig, tyler, owens,en armstrong and adam della i found energy and environme interesting during my time as a senator and weid a lot of work on that both in the appropriations committeend with other senators. meeting with that energy policy staff helped get the america competes act passed, stop the road to nowhere in the smokies, pushed back big wind and resulted in funding for water development, sharon segner, jessica holay, conrad schatte and lindsey ga sea worked with those teams. we tried to get the message

right. words matter. we spent a lot of time on headlis so we could cony what we're trying to do and the individuals who led our communications unit, included alexia poe, harvey valentine, lee pitts, gym jeffries, bryan brya margaret atkinson, liz wolgemuth, ashton dies and taylor haulsee. we are misty marshal who came to us from the white house where she was director of correspond for laura bush. one of the toughest jobs in the sena office, peoe outside the senate don't appreciate this as much is the job of scheduler. it requires constan changes, great discrion, enormous promptness and attention to detail. every day is a mismatch of meetings and calls. there is no schedule in the united states senate, y keep

up with what's going on and put it down on a piece of paper and suddenly rg can be wiped out -- suddenly everything can be wiped out. the legislative director conduction the office orchestra, i've been fortunate that allon martin was our conductor, she worked for bill frist, she's a west tennessean, but the whole state is what she cares about as well as the country. if you'd be looking for somebody with her skillnd talent, you'd be looking for a very long time. dave cleary, matt sonnesynnd morgan stern were also legislative directors. on thing i know is that i wouldn't be ver good without a chief of sff. i needed a good chief of sta to do some things that i don't do as well. my first oneas tom ingraham who i have known since 1966 when

he was a tennessean reporter and i was working for howard baker his second campaign. we've been frien ever since. he was my campaign manager and chief of staff asovernor. did the same here. he is really responsible for much of my success in poll particulars. david morguenstern joine in twief -- 2005. matt was one of the few republican students in the harvard kennedy school of government so he was well trained in defending his views. ryan loskererved as chief of has been the chief for the past seven years. you can see him somewhere in an outrageous red and black suit on the sate floor. david and i worked together for almost 15 years.

first he served as staff direor, he used to work for john boehner in the house, 2014, after becoming the ranking member of the help committee, he suested that he be chief staff and staff director of the committee. at first i thought that was a bad idea but it was one of the best ideas suggested to me because it made our staff work better. it was the key to our success and i do not know of a more effective chief of staff than david cleary. he led our efforts to fixo child left behind, reauthorizing perkins. i appreciate how much time his wife marcy and their dauter maria have given to our team. to close, i'd like t thank all 270 sff members who have given time and energy to our office. one of those, raynard graham has been my administrative right

hand man. he is a minister on weekends. ere isn't time to recognize the accomplishments of eac one by name but there are many and i'm grateful to every single individual. it's been a tremendous gift to work with a skill and dedicated staff. each person should be proud of what we accomplished. i'veeen so fortunate to be on the same team with each of you in the last 18 years. in a farewell address, i said i wake up every day thinking i might be able to do something good for my cntry and go to bed thinking that i have. it's been a great privilege to be a u.s. senator and it's been a great privilege to work with such an exceptional staff. madam psident, i ask connt that a list of the names of my staff be printed in the record and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: without objectio

ms. klobuchar:ms. stabenow: -- ms. stabenow: madam president, let me wish my distingshed friend andenator from tennessee best wishes and tha you to senator alexander for incredible leadership and working across the aisle, so many of the things you talked about so meaningful to all of us. i appreciate the way you conducted yourself with the committee and with members. i enjoyed the opportunity of working. electric vehicles didn't quite get across the line this year what we want to do in terms of the tax credits, but appreciated the chance to partner with you and ceainly wish you best in your next steps and working as you end the year with your family and -- and whatever you do, i know you will be very

successful. madam predent, it might be ha to believe it's actually december. in normal times a lot of familiesn michigan would be focused on getting ready for the holidays and while michigan children might still be counting down the days until santa arrives, their parents have a lot bigger issues weighing on their minds. a michigan dad has been out of work for months. he is wondering how long his family can keep scraping by in the new year after his unemoyment runs out. a michigan single mom whose hours have been cut and has been unable to pay the rent for months is wondering just how long it will be until her family is out in the street. the owner of a michigan small business is wondering if he'll see enough of a holiday boost to keep the doors open and his

three employees on a payroll. a michigan retiree who's struggling to buy enough groceries is wondering if it's safe to wait in a long line at her local food bank or if that's where shel get sick. seen almost 9,300 of theirhav grandparents and neighbors and uncles and cousins and friends and community leaders get sick d die from this horrible virus are rund d wondering -- are wonderinwho is going to be next. the truth is we're not just facing a health crisis rht now, we're facing an economic crisis, we're facing a housing crisis and we're facing a hunger crisis all at the same

time. coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deathseep rising and we haven't even seen the effects of thanksgiving gatherings yet. we'reeeing unemployment claims tick up and that's expected to get worse after seasonal jobs cut in january. some studies have estimated that about 40 million -- 40 million renters in the united states are at risk of losing their homes. already 10,000 eviction actions have been filed in a number of states. that's 10,000 families who need to find a new place to live right now in the winter in the middle of a health pandemic. and we've all seen the massive line of cars at food banks across the country. in a normal year the food bank of eastern michigan helps about

14% of the population in 22 counties get enough food to eat. this year they are helping 40% put food on the table. before covid-19, the south michigan food bank provided food tobout 80 families a week. now they are helping more than 500 families a week. this is an emergency. these families, businesses, community organizations, seniors can't just wait around hoping for a christmas miracle. they need help now and it's our responsibility to do it now. that's why i'm so pleased that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have been working to come together on additional help. there's still a lot of detail to work out, but i am hopeful being

part of that process on the workings on the details that we're going to be able to come together on an agreement that will help families and businesses and communities through these tough times. whatever agreement we reach won't be perfect, we know that. it won't be everything everybody wants, but we can't wait because time is quickly running out. on december 26, only 23 days from now, vital unemployment programs will expire, cutting off benefits that millions of workers need to provide for their families. if y are self-employed, if you're a contract worker, if you're a gig worker, suddenly you will haveero help -- zero. five days after that the emergency lending program ends.

that will cut off crucial credit that's keeping businesses open and helping state and local governments provide necessary services. also on december 31, the centers for disease control and preventions eviction moratorium expires. and the federal foreclore moratorium and some opportunities forbearance expire. imagine what it would be like to begin a new year with no roof over your head or your family's. no place for your children to sleep, and no place to stay clean in the middle of a raging pandemic. and on january 1, millions of stent loan borrowers will have to resume their paymes whether they can afford them or not. these programs have been literally a lifeline for

families,or communities, for businesses during the pandemic. and while that seems on the horizon and we're so happy to hear the progress, this pandemic is far from over. cutting off this vital help now would be like an ambulance driver stopping two miles short of the hospital and making the accident victim get out and walk the rest of the way to the emergency room. we need to face this health crisis, this economic crisis, this housing crisis, this hunger crisis where seriousness and boldness, people in michigan and across the country are crying out for help. it's time for this body to listen. it's time for congress to lead.

we should not goome until we have passed at least a short-term survival package to help americans through the next -- through the next few months. that'sur job. that is our job, and we should not go home until that job is done. we are the united states of america. the united states of america. nothing is holding us back from helping our citizens other than just pple's unwillingness to do it. nothing. we're the united states of america. there is no reason we are not coming together and shame on the congress and the white hou if we don't act now to help our citizens. there's nothing holding us back but the political will to do it. and it needs to get done. and there are many of us now on

both sides of the aisle working to do that and we need to make sure that people lean in together and get this done. thank you, mr. presint. i yield the floor. thpresiding officer: the senar from west virginia. mrs. capito: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to talk of one of west virginian's very own police officerassie johnson. officer johnson was a member of our hometown charleston police depament where she joined just two -- less than twohort years ag she was a dot devoted daughter,- loyal friend and lover of a animals. she had three dogs. she was formerly a humane

officer as well in our community. boy, did she have a bright future ahead of her. on tueay the charleston police department received a call about a traffic complaint. officer johnson answered that call and responded accordingly just as she would have any other call. shtly after arriving at that location, she was shot in the chest. the bullet hit her badge. it deflected into her neck where it eventually struck a main artery. she was rushed to the hospital and every effort was made t save her life. she's 28. she's8 years old. sadly we learned yesterday that the decision wa made to remove her from life support and she will not be able to pull through. we also learned that officer johnson is an organ donor which means she'll be able to share the gift of life with others. i had the opportunity t speak with officer johnson's mother

cheryl just this morni. and she express to me her daughter's commitment to organ donation. she said that her daughter felt very strongly about giving this gift to others in the event that something like thi could happen, was very clear about her and i think that's aestament to the kind of person that officer johnson was. as former charleston police department lieutenant paul perdue said and i quote him, the end of her life will be the second beginning for others, and that's just who she was. as you can imagine, mr. president, our community is hurting and our country and all of our law enforcement across the country is hting today for our community and officer johnson's family. but the outpouring of support has just been incredie to witness throughout this week west virginians he been honoring officer johnson life in so many ways.

reich in charlesn our beautiful civic center, coliseum and civic centeras been lit in blue in honor of her and our law enforcement. there's been a great money-raising effort to help offir johnson's family meet whats going to be a financial challee earlier and what do we do with her pets and there's been an effort to have her pet adopted. and i just read before i came in here that the go fund me page for officer johnson had already exceeded its goal and hopefully it will continue to grow. last night a candlelight vigil was held outdoors to honor her fe and legacy where the community leader spoke and officer johnson's mother cheryl spoke. that's a tough duty, a tough assignment for any mom. during the vigil, her mother spoke about officer johnson's love for her communi, about her desire to protect everyone that she was surrounded by.

you know, when i talked to her mother this morning, she echoed those same sentiments in the phone conversation we had and said hundreds of west virginians had reached out to her personally. many had stopped by t hospital wanting to say goodbye to officer johnson, and these gestures have just been so touching and i could tell it really helped heramily and in particul her mother cheryl. charlestonpolice chief tyk hunt told officer johnson's mother that she raised her right and that officerohnson was, quote, a good hearted soul who had to pay the ultimate sacrifice, end quote. you know, chief hunt is rig. it's a bitter pil and a local interview following her swearing in,fficer johnson said, and i quote, i am really happy to finally get -- getting to follow my dreams in joing the charleston police department. she continued by saying, i've

grown upnd lived in charleston myhole life. i just wanted to helpake my city a better place and be there and to be able to help the citizens of our city. this job was a dream come true for officer johnson. she loved her community and our community loved her back. but like all of our law enforcement, oicer johnson cared for us and was fiercely dedicated to protecting her communit and that's my cmunity. when i think of officer johnson, i think of her protectg my family and my neighbors and any counity, larger community of charleston. police officers like officer johnson selflsly put their lives on the line every day for the safety of our communities and they never know what's around the corner, they never know. she thought she was going for a parkin violation. it's a hard job and one that is

rarely appreciated enough. i ask if you've heard this today or if y've read about this at we take take a minute today and every day to thank our law enforcement and recognize t sacrifices that they make to ensure that our communities are safe and protected. i'd also ask you to keep the johnson family in your hearts and prayers. our chief, chief hunt, the -- of the charleston police department and all her brothers and sisters in the police department and the first responders, our mayor, marian e. goowin has done a wonderful job bringing the community together in a wonderful show of support for officer cassie johnson and her family and i thank her. the entire city of charleston is hurting. so please keep them in your hearts and prayers as well. with that very difficult time, i yield back my time and i thank you.

a senator: during today's session of the senate have been approved by both the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. cornyn: mr. president, the legislative year is quickly drawing to a close, but the lights on the 116th congress haven't gone out yet.

before the house and senate gavel out for the final time this congress, we still have a lot of work to do. headlines have focused on the large must-pass legislation which will require a good amount of debate and compromise in the coming days. things like government funding, the national defense authorization bill, and another covid-19 relief package. but there are actually countless other bills that have already passed the senate with broad bipartisan support and continue to linger in purgatory on the house's legislative calendar. after weeks, months, and in some cases more than a year of waiting, the speaker and the house leadership refuse to let these commonsense bipartisan bills have a vote on the house floor. just to give you an idea of the type of legislation they're holding up, let's start with the jenna quinn law. this legislation carries the

name of an inspiring young texan who is a survivor of child sexual abuse and who has made it her mission in life to end the cycle of abuse that harms our children in communities across the country. jenna was the driving force between a, behind a 2009 texas law requiring training for teachers and caregivers and other adults who work with children on how to prevent, recognize, and report child sexual abuse. you can imagine the teachers in particular who spend, at least before covid day after day after day with their children, they're actually in the best position sometimes to identify symptoms of sexual abuse if properly trained. but since 2009, a number of other states have passed similar laws, but the training often lacks adequate funding, and that's where our federal legislation comes in. i introduced this bipartisan bill with senator hassan of new

hampshire to finally back that training with federal funding through grants from the department of health and human services. at a time when the experts believe that abuse is on the rise, as families are isolated at home due to covid-19 mitigation efforts, this legislation could not be more urgent. despite the fact that this bill will deliver real change for the most vulnerable in our communities and that it passed the senate with unanimous support, the house refuses to even vote on it. house democrats have chosen to hold this lifesaving legislation hostage in order to advance a partisan bill that they know has no chance of becoming law. unfortunately, those types of games we've sadly become accustomed to those when it comes to house democrats. but as i said, this is only one of a long list of bills that they're sitting on.

over the summer the senate passed legislation to take aim at another crisis harming our children which is e-cigarettes. prior to covid, headlines were dominated by stories about mysterious vaping-related illnesses and healthy teenagers being admitted to the emergency room with symptoms usually associated only with decades-long smokers. well, to state the obvious, the most effective way to prevent children from becoming addicted to these devices is to stop them from getting their hands on them in the first place. if the 16-year-old went to a gas station or convenience store and attempted to buy an e-cigarette they would be turned away because that sale could not take place without a proper i.d. but those same age verification requirements don't apply to online purchases. devices can be ordered and delivered without any proof of age or an i.d. senator feinstein, the senior

senator from california, and i introduced legislation to change that and ensure that online purchases are subject to the same age verification requirements as those made in person. once again this legislation passed the senate unanimously, but the house has refused to take any action. and here's another one. last month we passed a bill to provide mental health care to those transitioning out of the criminal justice system. more than half of the individuals in the criminal justice system have experienced a mental health issue and our justice system too often fails to provide adequate diagnosis and treatment. but even when these individuals do receive treatment while incarcerated, they're rarely given the tools they need to succeed upon release. approximately 80% of the people are uninsured after being released, making it nearly

impossible for them to continue mental health treatment without additional safety net provisions. senator blumenthal, our colleague from connecticut, and i introduced legislation to support those who have become part of our criminal justice system, who have decided to turn their lives around, and to provide them stable treatment if they suffer from a mental illness as they transition out of incarceration. that's not only in their best interest, it's in the best interest of the larger community because these people, rather than being a danger to the community, they can contribute to the community. this legislation passed the senate with unanimous support, but once again no movement in the house. and the list goes on and on and on. we unanimously approved legislation to provide justice to families in human smuggling victims and assistance to local communities battling the problem.

to help state and local strengthen their cybersecurity and safeguard their elections. to increase cross-border economic and educational partnerships with mexico. those half dozen bills i just named are only a handful of the ones i introduced that have passed the senate but are collecting dust on the house calendar. add to the long list of bills held by our republican and democratic -- led bid our republican and democratic colleagues, and we have a major legislative logjam in the house. as i understand it, next week is set to be the house's last workweek of the 116th congress. that means unless speaker pelosi and house democratic leadership allow movement on these compromise, commonsense bipartisan bills, we're going to have to start from square one. we're going to have to start all over again in the next cock. -- in the next congress.

now, i know it's not unusual for a member of congress to take legislative hostages to advance their own agenda, but this is not a time to play those kinds of politics, particularly on these kinds of subjects. these aren't controversial bills. we're talking about grants to stop child sexual abuse, a lifeline for hope folks who suffer from mental illness who are transitioning from our criminal justice system and so much more. as i said, these bills are just one step away from heading to the president's desk for his significant. so it's time for speaker pelosi and the leadership of the house to quit playing games and allow the house to vote on these life-changing bills. mr. president, on another matter. we know we have a lot of lawyers in congress and we have some

former businessmen. we even have people who are lawyers and businessmen who serve in our -- in our midst. there are doctors, educators, we've got a few farmers, but we only have two accountants to my knowledge, one of which is our friend mike enzi. for those of us who fought to rein in spending, mike's contribution has been invaluable. we're sad to say farewell to such an incredible colleague. before he was an accountant, he joined his family shoe business. cleverly named n-z news. that's capital n, capital z shoes. it wasn't long before he was lured into a life of public service and elected mayor of

gillette, wyoming. he would was the head of the department of interior, to the state house and eventually to the united states senate. but senator enzi still holds on to the lessons he learned in those early days selling shoes. a few years ago he said legislating is like selling shoes. you have to know your market, what they want and who's willing to buy what you're selling. well, i don't know how effective mike was as a shoe salesman, but i can tell you he's been a master broker here in the senate. i still remember when i came to the senate, the liberal lion of the senate, ted kennedy, was serving with mike enzi on the health, education, labor and pension committee. and they were enormously productive, one of the most conservative members, one of the most liberal members of the

united states senate. so i asked mike, our friend senator enzi, i said, how do you do it? and he said it's simple. it's the 80-20 rule. you take the 80% that you can agree on, the common ground and you get it done and you leave the 20% that you can't agree on to another day and another fight. that's the kind of common sense we need more of here in the united states senate when it comes to solving our nation's problems. when there are big debates on policy or high-stakes negotiations, senator enzi is not one to share his opinions with reporters in the hallways or, thankfully, to air his grievances on national television, but he does work behind the scenes settling disagreements with private phone calls and meetings rather than fiery press releases and there's

no question he's had to settle a lot of disagreements during his 24 years in the senate. especially, as i said, during his time on the help committee and as chairman of the budget committee. we have 100 individuals in the senate from all across this big and diverse nation of ours who have very different ideas about what should be done and opinions on how to get it done. but part of what makes him so successful is settling those differences. in settling those differences to look past the areas we disagree and look at common ground. well, besides the 80-20 rule that has forever stuck in my mind as a great formula for solving problems and getting things done, mike has got a great attitude about life. one that i find very positive and inspiring even.

he says, you've got to have an attitude of gratitude. that's another thing i'll remember about mike enzi, always grateful for his ability to serve his fellow wyoming citizens, for his family, his wonderful family, and for this great country that we live in. i know he's eager to spend more time enjoying the great outdoors and mike has said he wants to actually go fishing in all 50 states. i don't know how many states he's not yet fished in, but after he leaves the united states senate, hopefully he will accomplish his goal of going fishing in all 50 states of the union. we'll miss him here in the senate. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i note the absence o a quorum. the presidg officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. monnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be disnsed with. the presiding officer: witho

objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 649. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, stephen sidney sparts of vginia to -- schwartz of united states court of claims. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisns of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby mo to bring to a close debate on the nomination o steph sidney schwartz of virginia to be a judge of the united states court of federal claims signed by 17 senators as folws. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to have

proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 911. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination. federal communications commission nathan a. simington of virgia to be a member. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cture mion, we, the undersigned senators in accordce with the provisions of the senate do hereby move tes bring to a close debate on the nomination of nathan a. simington of virginia to be a member of e federal communications commission signed

by 17 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: i ask csent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding ofcer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. he. a senator: mr. president, e we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes,sir. a senator: i move we suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: mr. president, you and i are here today, and we've been meeting here today in

washington at really a groundbreaking moment as we continue this battle for our health, for our economy, and against the virus. and what makes this such a critical moment is the developments we've seen in the last ten days regarding a vaccine. in a public health -- public health experts around the world have agreed almost from day one that the way to really find the end of this pandemic, the ultimate weapon would be a vaccine and a vaccine that worked. in less than a year ago, january and february, we were hearing that two years would set a record to develop a vaccine, that sometimes a vaccine developed on a new disease like this has taken three and five and even ten years or more. and here we are less than a year from the discovery of covid-19, with not just one vaccine, but

two vaccines that have already applied for their use permit, both of which have shown effectiveness of more than 90%. and a third vaccine with similar responses about to come to the place that they too can apply for use. and these are incredible numbers. it hasn't been that many months ago that health care experts were saying if we get a vaccine that was effective 50% of the time or more, that the government should consider accepting that vaccine and making it available to people. but here we are at a 90% effective vaccine. i had the measles. my kids had the measles shot that would pretty much seem to eliminate measles, that was 90% effective. this is the kind of vaccine that's been among the most

effective vaccines we've ever had. pfizer and moderna have both come forward and asked for their emergency use authorization. mr. president, the emergency use doesn't really mean that they cut any corners. the only thing we fail to do is watch the 30,000 or so people that were in both of these trials for another two or three years. that's why we can't say with certainty that this vaccine will last for a lifetime or this vaccine is a three-year vaccine or even a one-year vaccine. what we can say with certainty is that about 95% of the time it prevents you from getting the disease. and of course if people are prevented from getting the disease, they can't spread the disease. and that's why a 90% effective vaccine like the measles vaccine was basically 100% effective as long as people were taking it. so we need to step back really,

i think, and look at the unconventional way we got here. how did we get from three to five to maybe ten years to less than a year from discovering a virus for the very first time to having a vaccine? the way that researchers have been able to move forward with this, the way that congress and the trump administration have responded to this pandemic has been extraordinary. in our country, operation warp speed accelerated the development of this new vaccine through a fasttrack process that could be described really in one word -- unprecedented. normally vaccines that would take years, researchers have to go out and secure funding. they have to get approvals. they have to study results step by step to get to where we are today. only then would a vaccine be

determined safe and effective, and only then does manufacturing begin. normally with a vaccine, the day the vaccine is approved is the day you start manufacturing. we know that's not what's happening here. i'm going to mention in just a few minutes the head of distribution says the day the vaccine is approved, we'll start shipping millions of copies of that vaccine all over the country. this all really started with congress deciding as we put these packages together, the covid relief packages together, from the very first couple of packages, when it came to a cure, we weren't going to let funding stand in the way, nor were we going to let it stand in the way that we might invest some money somewhere that it just simply doesn't work because by investing money where it didn't work, it allowed us to

invest money where it did work. congress appropriated $18 billion for vaccines and testing. about $12.5 billion of those dollars have gob into the vaccine -- have gone into the vaccine side. most of the rest have gone into testing with some going into therapy. but this is a decision congress made. we're going to become partners in developing how we fight back to this vaccine. there was a risk that some of the vaccine candidates we supported wouldn't make it, but there was never a risk that the vaccine candidates that did make it wouldn't be as safe as any vaccines have ever been. in fact, many of these vaccines have had more people involved in the study than ever before because of the virulence of the virus, they were, frankly, the people in the studies were more likely than not to be

exposed to covid. and a bunch of them were more likely than not to catch it. and of course that's the moment when you decide was the group that caught the virus, was the group that had the virus, were they the group that had the vaccine in these studies? are they the group that didn't have the vaccine? and what we found out was 95% of the time they were the group that didn't have the vaccine, which is where you get that 95% number. congress provided that, we would take some risk. we always, we so often hear that failure is not an option. in this case if you didn't fail, you weren't trying hard enough. if you didn't invest, when you're looking, okay, which of these are more likely than not to be approved? if all you wound up with were things that got approved, you probably left some things on the table that you should have

tried. you're a great businessman, mr. president, and you know that if you're in a business that's growing, you're going to have some failures. if you never have failures in your is about, you didn't try anything new, which meant you probably didn't grow. so we have failures not in a vaccine that we give to people, but this appears like it's got a good chance of being approved. let's put in in the group of vaccines that we're working on. president trump and warp speed stepped up and decided they were going to move at a faster pace than ever before, but with more safety than we've had in most vaccine developments in the history of the country. so we decided to support several vaccines that, again, we thought had a better chance of being approved than not. you take some risk in that because all the vaccines won't be approved. but you take no risk that you're going to support a vaccine

that's approved that's not safe. that's not what happened at all. you just put a lot of horses in the race. the dean of the national school of tropical medicine at mayo university says if you're racing to get a vaccine quickly, one way to do that is to put as many horses in the race as you can, and that's exactly what we've done. we've invested in several potential vaccines, and i think three different paths to a vaccine, which means that all the vaccines that are approved will not be exactly the same. in how you have to store them, how you have to transport them, whether you have to have one shot or two to have the full vaccine. and we've signed contracts with six leading candidates already. we've invested $2.5 billion to help develop and purchase 100 million doses of the vaccine

being developed by moderna. that was jointly developed by the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases and the company. we've dedicated $2 billion in a different pattern to purchase 100 million doses of the pfizer vaccine. and we've done that with that investment in a way that allows us to shorten the processing time, combining various study phases and clinical trials going on at the same time and moving forward in a way that also allowed us to be manufacturing vaccines while we were still studying and moving toward final approval by the f.d.a. so we've got two vaccines standing in ready now for final

approval, another one to join them soon, another one to join them quickly after that. but all of them are already in the stage of manufacturing. so, mr. president, what's the worst thing that could have happened to taxpayers? we invest in a vaccine that turns out not to work and at that point we step in, lead our commitment, in essence, buy the vaccine that doesn't work, be sure that it's effectively destroyed and realize that was a risk -- that was a chance we took that didn't produce a result. but the other vaccines that did work had a result and had vaccine available as soon as they were approved. in fact, general perna, the general warp speed chief operating offer, said that they would begin vaccines within 24 hours after a vaccine secures f.d.a. approval. in the past i'd say you'd be

closer to saying it would be 12 or 24 months after approval before the first vaccine is ready to go to the first person. but now we're saying 24 hours, and we're on the edge of that 24 hours. i talked today with the governor of my state, the governor of missouri, mike parson, and the head of the department of health an senior services, dr. randall williams about what they were doing. i submitted a plan earlier and i think it was mid-august when the centers for disease control told all the governors we want to have a plans by the -- a plan by the end of october about how you're going to distribute the vaccine. i said if we failed to get the vaccine effectively distributed after the effort we made to get it, it would be one of the great

government failures of all time. governor parson, dr. williams, others who have are worked hard on this in our state, put a plan in, put it in pretty early and now are ready to execute that plan as soon as they have the vaccine available. about 2% of the population of the country lives in missouri, and so about 2% of every distribution will go to missouri as vaccines are ready. i think roughly pfizer will have about 25 million vaccines to distribute almost immediately. moderna will have about 20 million to distribute almost immediately. and we know others are standing right behind them. another thing that congress asked the centers for disease control to do was come up with a recommendation on how the vaccine -- who the vaccine should be given to. and just this week the c.d.c.

advisory committee made their recommendation to the centers for disease control, either today or sometime soon after today, the c.d.c. in all likelihood will adopt those recommendations as they had in the past and the recommendations go something like this. first, you want to prioritize health care workers and people most likely to have the worst result if they catch the vaccine. and so if you take all the health care workers in america and all the people in a -- in a senior living kind of condition in america, you're talking about around 15% of the population. somewhere in there, either in that group or the next group, you include all the first responders and police officers in the country that come into situations so often that they have no control over and then

you go to the other essential employees in america, the child care center worker, the school teacher, the bus driver, the grocery store clerk, the food processing person that's out there making this happen. i think there's been some decision made on the health care workers that we should include clergy in the health care workers because they are so often present in hospitals and with people in -- in circumstances where they would like to see someone from their faith present, but that person also is a health care provider in the health care network just like others working in the hospital can be a able -- can be able to get that early vaccines. let's go back -- vaccination. let's go back to the essential workforce -- the essential workforce of the groups we

talked about and others that come into lots of contact with people often least able to make arrangements in their own time to even get a vaccine, even if it's for free, they are going to be a big priority. and when i go to the grocery store, and i ask someone for help, which i often need to do to find the one thing on my list i don't know how to find or when i go by to check out with the grocery store clerk, if the grocery store clerk, no matter how big the shield is between them and me, if they couldn't possibly get it from the person who checked out two days earlier otherrier that day, they -- earlier or earlier that day, they can't possibly give it to me. so every step of the way the whole country becomes safer until hopefully by the end of april or so we're in a place where everybody has access to a vaccine. by the way, by the time you do

the 15% of the population that is most likely to have a bad result if they get the vaccine and health care workers and add that to the 35% of the population that's the essential workforce, that's 50% of the population that could have had the vaccine if they chose to have it and i think most people think we're there in our state and other places by sometime in april. in fact, dr. fauci said that americans determined to be at the highest risk, health care workers, frondline -- frontline workers, seniors, those with underlying conditions could be vaccinated by the end of the year. certain if there's a second shot involved, it might be by the end of january. you get 15% of the whole population vaccinated by the end of january or sometime in january and another 35% would

have vaccine available to them by sometime in april and then we look, mr. president, at the rest of the population. but in each step of the way, let me say again, every time you take somebody off the playing field of the -- where contact with the virus could successfully occur, everybody else gets safer too. if a person who has been vaccinated is where the germs happen to land instead of the person standing beside them that weren't vaccinated, that life of that particular germ is gone and eventually that's how you emerge from a pandemic. there just aren't enough people left for this to land on that either haven't had it or haven't had the vaccine to prevent it. it's a critical time. it's an important time. i think we've written two new chapters in the pandemic response, both in testing and in

vaccines. operation warp speed has done in months what typically can take ten to 15 years and even in an expedited way can take two to three to five years given the urgent need to beat this virus, i think operation warp speed with the great scientific community -- a lot of this is built on research that was funded by n.i.h., one of the priorities of the congress for the past five years had been to increase n.i.h. funding in a time when we know more about -- about genetics, about two of these vaccines are basically based on the monecular code that is sort of the software for genetics, it is the way that vaccines would have been developed before and would not have been developed without government-encouraged research.

having a diverse selection of vaccines, one means more are producing different vaccines at the same time in different places and we'll have a more likely quick and fair distribution of f.d.a. authorized vaccines. certainly i've been frus traitd, as -- frustrated, as many of us have to think that we've not been able to reach an agreement on what money we might need to finish this vaccine effort, the distribution effort. hopefully we can come to the next round of covid relief sooner rather than later. as i said earlier this week, a targeted funding package now will have a lot more impact than a much bigger impact would have four or five months from now. there's no reason that we shouldn't be able to find common ground. this is a time when we can make that effort to finish the job.

the pandemic is affecting americans every day. i've talked to a lot of people who have seen greater moments of drug dependency, huge declines in mental health because that support network is gone and the isolation has taken over or worry about family, finances, health have become a big part of that. let's show the people we work for that we're going to be able to continue this job and let's praise the great researchers in our country, others who stepped forward in incredible ways to do things that just nine months ago nobody thought could possibly be accomplished in the time frame we're working on right now.

mr. blunt: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. plunt plunt mr. president, i ask unanimous consent -- mr. blunt: mr. president, i ask that the senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the following nomination, executive calendar 568. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, office of

service mining reclamati and forcement, lanny erdos, of ohio, to be director. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that the senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, the president be immedtely notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection, the question is on confirmation. those in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without jection. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on homeland security and government

affairs be discharged and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills en bloc, h.r. 2247, h.r. 4279, -- want to go back? mr. blunt: mr. president, let me repeat those numbers again. i got one wrong. the bills that we would proceed to for immediate consideration en bloc would be h.r. 2246, h.r. 4279, s. 4409, h.r. 2969, h.r. 3275, h.r. 3847, h.r. 3870,

h.r. 4034, h.r. 4200, h.r. 4672, h.r. 4785, h.r. 4975, h.r. 5062, h.r. 5317, s. 4684, h.r. 2454, h.r. 3005, h.r. 3680, h.r. 4725, h.r. 4875, h.r. 4971, h.r. 5307, h.r. 5954. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measures en bloc? without objection, the committee

is discharged and the senate will proceed to the bills en bloc. mr. blunt: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bills en bloc be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table all en bloc. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on energy be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 473 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 473, an act to authore the every word we utter monumento establish a commem tif work in the district of columbia and its environs and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will

proceed. the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of house conresolution 125 which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 125 directing the clerk of the house of representative to make a correction in the enrollment of h.r. 1830. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s.

resolution 791 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 791 designatg november 2020 as national college application month. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. blunt: i know of no further debate on this measure. the presiding officer: is there further debate? hearing none, the question is on the adoption of the resolution. all those in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the resolution is agreed to. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to and the motions to reconsider and -- be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res.92

submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 792 to authize reputation by the senate legal counsel in the ce of chad michael frane v. dianne feinstein. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 793 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk willeport. the clerk: senate resution 793 remembering the december 6, 2019 terrorist attk at naval air station pensacola and commemorating those who lost eir lives and those who were injured in the line of duty.

the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection.

mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 3:00 p.m. monday, december 7. further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the

journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. further, following leader remarks, the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration on the schwartz nomination. finally, notwithstanding rule 22, i ask that the cloture motions filed during today's session of the senate ripen at 5:30 p.m. on monday. the presidinofficer: without objeion.

mr. blunt: with regards to s. res. 792, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that motions to reconsider

the table with no interveningn action o debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: if there's no further business to me before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until ♪

occurs but president 2008, but country responded by voter suppression laws and butter i.d. laws, the tea party that they draw the tea party and that we elected to the throne. we are at a crossroads. at the heart of it all has always been this one question, who do we take ourselves to be?

c good afternoon everyone. welcome to the u.s. chamber of commerce path forward. we