mr. president. 43. i think president trump has demonstrated tremendous negotiating willingness over and over over this past year on this issue. but let's be clear what's going on. the flow of drugs and human trafficking at our border is completely unacceptable. everybody in this body agrees with that, demonstrated by the fact that 43 democrats actually voted for a $25 billion border security package earlier this year. there is no way you can avoid admitting that. this has to stop. the undampenned flow of illegal drugs has created a crisis in our country. the fact that we sit here and are more concerned about the political realities in washington than we are stopping human trafficking across our southern border is totally unacceptable, mr. president. an open border goes against the very ideas of why our country was founded. it totally undercuts american sovereignty. the american people know that, and they are fed up with the status quo, and i can tell you firsthand so is president donald trump. the dems a

mr. president, i yield the floor. >> mr. president. >> senator from illinois. >> mr. president, i want to thank the senator for kind words on this criminal justice reform bill pending before the united states sfat. senate. i know his personal from in the subject and i'm going to miss his friendship in the senate chamber and thank him for his many years of serving the people of florida and standing by me in many many causes. it's rare that one of these causes is so bipartisan and this one is. i heard the statement earlier by the senator from louisiana, senator kennedy. i count him as a friend. we've co-sponsored bills together, i like him. we disagree on some issues, but do it in a very positive way and the comments i'm about to make i want to be as positive as possible. he brought a chart to the floor and suggested there is no support by national law enforcement on the bill before us and said that most of local and state law enforcement groups were opposed to it as well. i beg to differ with him and i'd like to submit for the record that currently we have the support o

mr. president. we met once before. i am a lawyer and a law professor at georgetown, but i spent 11 years in federal prison before that. pres. trump: yes, i remember. mr. hopwood: and i've been given a lot of second chances. and what this bill does is give second chances to hundreds of thousands of people in federal prison. and i think you're going to be very surprised at what they do with that second chance. what i saw in prison was not evil people, it was people that, for whatever reason, made really bad choices and deserve to be punished, but who have the potential to turn it around. and this bill actually gives them the opportunity to do that, and i thank you for that. [applause] mr. koufos: my name is john koufos, and i have the blessing to be the national director of reentry initiatives at right on crime. alcoholism sent me to prison. i was in the throes of addiction years ago, and then i was able to find sobriety, get clean. ms. rollins gave me a job helping out in texas with reentry initiatives. jared and ivanka

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: reserving the right to object, today president trump announced that we have won the war against isis and syria. our troops are coming home. thank you, mr. president. the syrian civil war is largely over, but syria's a mess and desperately needs reconstruction. these sanctions will delay and possibly prevent reconstruction of syria and the beginning of a healing time. now is the time for diplomacy. there are many actors, including russia, iran, turkey, the u.s., and others, but this is the time for diplomacy, not for sanctions. so i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the senator from idaho. mr. risch: mr. president, if i could respond briefly, with all due respect to my friend and colleague from kentucky, i wouly urge that this is exactly what is needed to encourage the diplomacy that he wants, that i want, that all of us want. and as far as discouraging that, this resolution actually gives the president the authority to grant waivers when and if they finally get t

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. perdue: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, that is so ordered. mr. perdue: mr. president, we come to the close of the 115th congress. this will be my last speech in this congress. it's an honor to be in this body. it's a privilege that i take very seriously, as i know the presiding officer does as well. but today i come to talk about a topic that i told this body in my maiden speech was the reason i ran for the united states senate. and at the end of each year, i try to remind us all where we are on this topic. and that is, the financial crisis that the united states faces today. it's intertwined with the global security crisis that you just heard a speech on just a minute ago. and they're very much interrelatedded. today we have $21 trillion in debt. what makes that so important is that just this week, just recently, the federal reserve increased the fed fund rate one-quarter point. now, to most people, that really doesn't sound like a big dea

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cruz: for over a half century, the united states has been the global leader in space. in that time, we have watched as nasa has not only sent humans farther than they have ever gone before, but we have also witnessed a new and growing commercial space sector that has pushed the bounds of what we thought possible. as a nation, we can't simply rest on our laurels and take our leadership for granted. that's why i was proud to be joined by senators bill nelson and ed markey in introducing the space frontier act which passed out of the senate commerce committee by voice vote on august 1, thanks to the leadership of chairman john thune who helped make space issues a priority for the committee. the space frontier act builds upon the u.s. commercial space launch competitiveness act that i was proud to work hand in hand with senator nelson as well that was passed by congress and signed

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. roberts: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: it is so ordered. mr. roberts: thank you, mr. president. i rise today or this afternoon along with my distinguished colleague and the ranking member of the senate agriculture committee to discuss the farm bill conference report, the agriculture improvement act of 2018. i am grateful that my colleagues approved this measure with strong support. the vote was 87-13 earlier this week. i applaud members of the house for following suit with a similar strong vote yesterday, and we look forward to the president signing the conference report into law soon. the level of support is what happens when the congress works in a bipartisan and bicameral fashion. senator stabenow and i started by listening to producers in manhattan, kansas, and on to michigan, and continued to listen to stakeholders from all over the country. this is a good bill that accomplishes what producers ask us to do. first we listen, then t

mr. president, i yield the floor. we. sullivan: mr. president, have been debating for quite some time on the senate floor that yemen war powers resolution introduced by my colleagues, senator sanders and senator lee, which would cut off the saudi led war in yemen. of course, it began under president obama. surrounding this vote today, many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have expressed extreme frustration with the saudi crown prince, mohammad bin salman, especially regarding the death of jamal khashoggi, an american based saudi journalist murdered in turkey. theve a lot of respect for senators weighing in, making the arguments all day today. pautors young, lee, corker, l, rand, murphy, menendez, cardin -- many. do need to understand what is happening, what our intelligence, our government has surrounding this death. ton the cia director came brief members, but this debate has taken something of a much turn.omplex certainly the heinous murders need to be held accountable. there is no doubt about that. but what we have been di

mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, as i listened to senator heitkamp's farewell remarks to us today, i could not help but think of the fact that she used her final speech on the senate floor, not just to talk about her accomplishments, of which there are many, but to inspire us. it was a call to action. it was a call to the better angels of ourselves to work together in the interests of our country. mr. president, maine and north dakota are separated by a great distance, but the people of our two states have in common the qualities about of hard work -- the qualities of hard work, a respect for tradition balanced by a spirit of innovation hand a belief in -- and a belief in personal responsibility, always tempered by compassion. during her years in the senate, heidi heitkamp has demonstrated those qualities time and again. she is passionate, as we heard today. she is energetic, as we have seen in her work. and she is a committed public serva

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: mr. president, i am informed that it is necessary for me to insert into the record of proceedings, the resignation letter that i sent to governor doug ducey of arizona on december 12, 2018, and therefore, i ask unanimous consent that this letter be included in the record at this point. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: thank you. mr. president, the other thing i'd like to do this afternoon is to very briefly report to my colleagues and to constituents back home on some things that my predecessor, senator mccain, was working on at the time of his untimely death and which his staff and i have continued to work on, and in several cases have brought to successful conclusion. i want people to know about these items and what we have been able to accomplish. i first want to thank the members of his staff who wanted to stay in the service of the government of the state of arizona and were willing to take a position in my office, as a result of which we were able to really have a s

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. daines: mr. president, i want to share some comments on what we saw happen here tonight as it relates to this public lands package. we saw a glimpse here tonight of on one hand how this institution can really come together, years of bipartisan work, years of collaboration on the ground back in our respective states to come together, to put together a lands panel, and asking for a simple up-or-down vote tonight in the united states senate. and i'm very confident had we had the opportunity to have voted here tonight, you would have seen this lands package pass the united states senate by at least a 2-1 margin. it would have gone to the house. it would have passed. it would have gone to president trump's desk, and i'm confident he would have signed it. the reason we've been fighting for permanent reauthorization of the land and water conservation fund is because of what happened right here tonight. it is the uncertainty of this institution, where 98 senators can say let's move ahead for a vote, two s

mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to applaud my colleagues for coming together in a bipartisan fashion to pass the farm bill conference report. there is much to be excited about in the final version of this five-year reauthorization. first and foremost, the farm bill will bring much-needed certainty and predictability to farmers and ranchers over the next five years. this is especially important due to the intense pressure our agriculture producers are facing. if you look at the numbers across the nation, net farm income is approximately half of what it was when we passed the last farm bill. farm bankruptcies are up by 39% since 2014. financing has become more expensive. commodity prices have plummeted. input costs are rising. and the trade outlook is volatile and uncertain, to say the least. farmers across the country, regardless of where they call home or which crops that they grow, are hurting. the farm bill that congress approved last week delivers meaningful and real relief for our farmers

mr. president, thank you, again. [applause] president trump: congratulations. [inaudible] [laughter] mr. mccarthy: this bill involves [inaudible] yes, we believe in law. we all believe in second chances. we also believe in the individuals. we believe it doesn't matter where you're born or come from, you have opportunities. i do want to give you credit because a lot of the [inaudible] man i uld yield to any would yield to jared. he did not have a vote but -- [inaudible] the tenacity you kept and never getting down. and bringing people together. there's not many times that [inaudible] we are all excited. [inaudible] president trump: good. i like that. jared has worked so hard on his. [inaudible] he would be working so hard. nobody wouldn't understand. i would like to have you say a few words. mr. kushner: thank you very much. [inaudible] i have to say seeing this coalition, all of you who are with us today, there's a lot of people who aren't in the room day -- this really took an army. [inaudible] this was very important. a lot of people didn't think could happen.

mr. president. the presiding officer: -- mr. kennedy:mr. president, i know there has been some confusion about these amendments as one sort of bleeds into the other. so without repeating myself, i want to describe this amendment very quickly. this amendment would require --. the presiding officer: will the senator suspend, please. the senate will be in order. please take your conversations out of the chamber. the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: mr. president, this amendment would require the director of the bureau of prisons on a quarterly basis and without using the released inmate's name, so it would be anonymous, to publish, number one, the crime for which the inmate is imprisoned -- or rather was imprisoned. i'm talking now about the released inmate -- number one, the bureau has to publish the crime for which the released inmate was in prison. number two, prior crimes for which the inmate was imprisoned. some would call that his rap sheet. number three, whether the released inmate has been rearrested. and if he has, or she has, what

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. wicker: mr. president, i rise today for a long overdue floor speech to recognize a school in my home state of mississippi that continues to win national football championships. five, in fact, over the past ten years. i can assure my friends from alabama i'm not trying to steal the thunder from the crimson tide. i'm here to recognize the undefeated east mississippi community college lions who have become their own football dynasty and are the reigning national junior college athletic association champs. what makes the east mississippi community college football program so special is the grit and determination that fuels its success. some of these players are truly playing for their lives. they are the comeback kids, rising above adversity to get back into the game. the stories of these players are so inspirational that they won over the hearts of americans in the netflix documentary series "last chance u." in the fi

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: mr. president, i ask consent that no with withstanding previous house message today's motions and amendments remain in status quo and the earlier motion to concur in the motion to refer with instructions and amendments 1923 and 1924 be withdrawn. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, office of the director of national intelligence, joseph macguire of florida to be director of the national intelligence terrorism center. mr. inhofe: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: i further ask unanimous consent to complete my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: i ask also that at the conclusion of my remarks senator paul be recognized for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: mr. presid

mr. presid the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, several years ago after his 3-year-old daughter robin passed away from leukemia,

mr. president. mr. president, first i would ask unanimous consent that rhea mehta, and lindsey white, a detailee be granted floor privileges for the duration of the congress. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: i want to first thank our majority leader and democratic leader for their support to bring this bill to the senate floor for consideration. thanks to all of our agriculture committee members, including the distinguished presiding officer and conferees on both sides of the aisle for working to put this bipartisan farm bill together. and most importantly, i want to thank our distinguished chairman of the committee, my partner, my friend for working so hard. we worked together from the very beginning. weep promised each -- we promised each other we would deliver a strong, bipartisan farm bill. despite many obstacles along the way, we kept that promise. the farm bill is a hard-fought agreement to strengthen the diversity of agriculture and the 16 million jobs that it supports. we k

mr. president, i rise today to discuss s.j. res 54, appointed statement from the united states senate that the status quo in yemen is not tenable. that we will not stand idly by as the president lends our country's name to the calamitous military forays of another nation and our security partners across the world do not have a blank check.

mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: let me enter into the record the test-wyden effort to challenge dark money into our political campaigns. unanimous consent to enter this into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: secondly, i would like to enter into the record a tribute to my colleague and friend bill nelson of florida. he is leaving the senate after an amazing career. we served in the house for eight years, a quarter of a century in the senate. he is an extraordinary man who represented state of florida so well. served as one of the few congressional astronauts in 1986 when he was on the space shuttle columbia. he's a courageous hardworking man, his wife grace by his side. they have done so many great things. we went to haiti together. i respect his commitment to public service and his commitment to the people of florida. he will be missed. unanimous consent that -- i ask unanimous consent that my statement be entered into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. d

mr. president. i am here today thanking you in advance for funding and resources that you will direct to the urban and distressed communities like baltimore. the executive order you signed today will make it possible for us to work with your administration on a common goal of investing to restore people as we rebuild properties in neglected communities. as pastor of the southern baptist church, and throughout mary harvin transformation center, in partnership with other faith-based stakeholder institutions, developed the east baltimore revitalization plan, addressing the development needs of over 100 acres of, just north of johns hopkins hospital. and was recently approved and adopted by the city planning department of baltimore. our area has been federally designated as an opportunity zone and this bipartisan legislation can leverage public and private funding towards community revitalization. your influence on federal agencies and private entities through this executive order will enable distressed

mr. president, committed to his faith. in fact, a charm -- he raised the money to raise a chapel at camp david during his presidency. there had not been a chapel there before. a umin of presidents starting with franklin roosevelt had used camp david, but it was president bush who decided, well, the church services on sunday in the cafeteria could be in a better place. let's do what we can. so he raised the money privately to build the chapel that is there today. the missouri connection goes a little bit further. not only did missouri vote for president bush in 1988 and if my story was going to have any truth to it i'd have to point out voted for bill clinton in 1992 because we were still voting for the winner by pretty much the margin of whatever was the national average in the last 50 years of that 100-year saga. but after desert storm, president bush looked around to find a place to do the first 4th of july parade after desert storm and he came to marshfield, missouri in the county where itches born, in webster county --

mr. president, i yield my time and will not give up this fight. >> thank you, mr. president. i want to spend a few minutes, mr. president, talking about the so-called criminal justice bill that we will soon be voting on in the united states senate and i want to make it very clear that i don't believe there's a single solitary member of this body that would do anything intentionally to jeopardize public safety. i don't believe that for a moment. i do believe though that there will be some sharp divisions over the merits of this bill. i don't intend to vote for the bill, but i recognize that sometimes fair-minded people disagree. what i wanted to do today, mr. president, is just share with you my perspective on this

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. corker: i ask unanimous consent that sean taylor, a defense fellow in senator young 's office, be granted floor prills for the remainder of the week. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i ask unanimous consent to use an oversized floor display. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk about one of the great humanitarian crises facing our planet, and that is the horrific war in yemen. in march of 2015, under the leadership of mohammad bin mohan constitutional solomon, who was therein the saudi arabian defense minister and is now of course the crown prince, saudi arabia and the united air be a emirates intervened in the ongoing civil war. as a result of the saudi-u.a.e. intervention, yemen is now experiencing the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. according to the united nations, yemen is at risk of the most severe famine in

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cruz: mr. president, i rise today to honor the life and legacy of president george herbert walker bush. this week american hearts are heavy as we bid farewell to our 41st president. since we heard of news of his passing just a few days ago, there has been a ceaseless stream of communications and commemorations and testimonies to president bush's character from every corner of our nation, from the world of politics, philanthropy, entertainment, business the, the armed forces, and from our living ex-presidents. even those who were his rivals and critics during his public life have returned to praise that life so well and honorably lived. he will be remembered as a good and faithful servant to his country, whose great legacy of leadership and love of homeland became a family tradition.. earned him the admiration of countless americans and secured a special place in the memory of every t

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. esident, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. thune: on friday, george herbert walker bush, 41st president of the united states went to his eternal reward. his death marks the passing of an era. george h.w. bush was the last president to have served in world war ii. he enlisted on his 18th birthday, postponing college to serve his country and went on to become the youngest pilot in the navy. during his three years of service, he flew 58 combat missions and was awarded the distinguished flying cross and three air medals. throughout his life he exemplified the characteristics of the greatest generation: service, love of country, humility, honor. hayes cheessments in -- his achievements in public office were significant. as vice president, he helped ronald reagan turn the economy around and combat the evil empire. and as president he presided over the dissolution of the soviet union and helped bring order and stability to the world stage in its aftermath. but thr

mr. president thank you for having us. appreciate it very much. >> and the secretary of health and human services. we will spend a lot of time together and we pride ourselves on being great partners so open door, everybody. >> kevin smith newly-elected governor of a loma and excited to be here. it was wonderful getting a phonecall from you after primary. >> it was a great victory. great job. >> i'm the new governor elect - a big punctuation point. thank you very much. >> secretary of labor and mr. president we spent an hour chatting with the governor. >> governor elect united states virgin islands so thank you mr. president. i would really like to thank the administration for the support. i'm looking forward to a continued growing relationship with this administration moving

mr. president, provides the opportunity. in this oneays that war in yemen, this terrible war, that congress is prepared to act. and i hope very much that all of us will seize this opportunity. president, for the sake of , foring children in yemen the sake of what this country stands for in terms of democracy and human rights and not following the leadership of a despite, authoritarian regime. for the sake of the united states constitution and the fact that it is congress and not the president who has the authority to make, for all of these reasons and more, mr. president, i asked strong support for this important resolution. with that, i yield the floor. >> mr. president. >> senator from tennessee. >> i want to thank the senator for most of the comments he's made. i share many of the same concerns that the senator has. i have voted for the name of this committee because i feel like this discussion needed to take place. ie senator from vermont knows have concerns about using this vehicle to do it. debate tosing this take place

the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: later today the house is poised to send us a two-week continuing resolution which will give us time to work out the remainder of the appropriations process this year. i expect it will pass this chairmen -- this chamber later this afternoon. president trump and my republican colleagues now have to decide what they want to do after those two weeks are up and hopefully even sooner. as everybody knows, democrats have offered to pass the bipartisan d.h.s. appropriations bill agreed to six months ago, which includes $1.6 billion for border security. now, there's been some confusion about that figure. let meet be -- let me be clear, the $1.6 billion cannot be used to construct any part of president trump's 30-foot tall concrete border wall. it can only be used for fencing, using technology currently deployed at the border and only where the experts say fencing is appropri

mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, could i rise to speak for the last time on the senate floor as the majority whip. but the -- with the swearing in of our colleagues in january will come the changing of the guard in our elected leadership of which i've been proud to serve since 2006. as we all know, the whip is also known as the assistant majority leader, and i've been proud to assist our majority leader and all that we've worked together to accomplish in the senate. i often tell people that whip sounds a lot more coercive than it really is because in the senate you really can't make somebody do something that they don't want to do. we understand the term comes from the old country. it referred to the person in fox hunting that was responsible for keeping the dogs from straying during a chase, something i've never done and no doubt will never do. one of the fathers of modern conservatism, edmund burke, in the middle of a contentious debate in the british house of commons used the term as far back as 1769. wh

mr. president, what do you think what's happening in iran? what do you think about the changes? and just marveling what on earth am i doing in this boat crashing through the waves listening to president george herbert walker bush give me his thoughts on national security in the interest of the united states? we had, by the way, secret service agents in zodiak boats following as fast as they could and having trouble keeping up with the president. so i ended up having lunch with president bush and barbara. we went to a little restaurant where we had some maine lobster and ended up spending 4 1/2 hours with them. when i was getting ready to leave i walked to the door to thank him for spending so much time and he reached in his pocket and he pulled out a check, a check for $1,000 to my attorney general campaign. you could have knocked me over with a stick. i am not someone known for being at a loss for words. and i simply stared at him and stammered and barely got out the words thank you. i was so astonished and the check simply said from george and barbara bush. i went and got in th

mr. president. >> mr. president. >> senator from tennessee. >> i wonder if-- to the president i'd like to ask the senator from indiana, then what you're saying is, you're doing everything you possibly can to ensure that if your amendment passes, never in the future will your amendment be relied upon to say that if we're refueling, that means that we're involved in hostilities, is that correct? >> i think the chairman for clarification, so that i can further clarify for the record that this amendment only applies for purposes of this resolution and in the section i offered it. so let's say in mali, for example, our country in the future were involved in refueling operations of our partner or allies' aircraft. this wouldn't apply. this would establish absolutely no precedent. we've had national security legal counsel look at this. we've taken a belt and suspenders approach. no reasonable reading of this could construe this to establish any legal precedent that ought to cause concern to anyone concerned. >> mr

mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: earlier today, our 41st president george herbert walker bush departed the capitol rotunda and was memorialized at the national cathedral. now his remains are on the way back to houston for a funeral service at st. martin's episcopal church before he is laid to rest right next to barbara, his loving wife and partner of 73 years, and their daughter robin. it has been reported that some years ago, as the bush family discussed funeral plans and the subject of lying in state came up, that the former president joked in a self-deprecating way do you think anyone will come? well, mr. president, they sure did. dignitaries, world leaders, thousands of americans from all walks of life waited for hours and streamed through this capitol to pray for and pay tribute to the life and legacy of george bush. i might add that in addition to that, on the way up to national cathedral, there were citizens on both sides of the road all along the way with their iphones, taking photographs of this gr

mr. president, i yield the floor. we. sullivan: mr. president, have been debating for quite some time on the senate floor that yemen war powers resolution introduced by my colleagues, senator sanders and senator lee, which would cut off the saudi led war in yemen. of course, it began under president obama. surrounding this vote today, many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have expressed extreme frustration with the saudi crown prince, mohammad bin salman, especially regarding the death of jamal khashoggi, an american based saudi journalist murdered in turkey.

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are in the. mr. menendez: mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk about the u.s.-saudi arabia relationship in the broader context of america's interests in the middle. i want to begin by responding to an op-ed by secretary of state pompeo published by "the wall street journal" in which he called the united states saudi arabia partnership vital. that statement reflects a distorted view of the united states-saudi arabia relationship that has permeated the trump administration in which the united states is somehow dependent on the kingdom of saudi arabia for regional stability and security cooperation. it's a view perhaps best articulated by the president's own unhinged pre-thanksgiving statement in which he suggested selling weapons to the saudis was more important than america's enduring commitment to human rights, democratic values, and international norms. or the president and secretary pompeo's continued incredulo

mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up amendment 4123. >> is there objection? >> i reserving the right to object. >> i'd like to explain my registering my right to make a point before i object. this amendment is inconsistent with current federal law and would allow states the right to break existing law. if there is an attempt to legalize across the country, we should have that debate and let the congress decide to issue instead of creating a back door to legalization. furthermore, the amendment would allow financial institutions to bank marijuana distributors. this is inappropriate to consider in the context of a criminal justice reform bill. criminal justice is not a vehicle through which we create reform for banks to create more business. so the senator from colorado is very much an advocate for the people in his state. i understand that. i respect his position. he works hard on this and he may be ahead of the time when there will be a real debate on

mr. president, you honor us by being here tonight and we are very -- [applause] mr. baker: we are very appreciative and very grateful for your being here. we were having dinner and when ed was announcing all those big dollar numbers, i looked at the president and said, mr. president, 10% of that is yours. he said, the hell it is, i'm not letting you off that cheap. [laughter] i want the rolodex. mr. obama: jim still uses a rolodex, by the way. [laughter] [applause] mr. baker: john, what was it like. i think it is fair to say, considerably different than it is today. it was not, as you pointed out, a big kumbaya moment. i worked for a president who was considered to be an ideologue. he was considered such a hard-line conservative that he used to joke, he used to tell people, do you know, our administration is so conservative that the right wing never knows what the far right wing is doing. but we were able, he was able, to reach across the aisle. people forget this, but president reagan had a democratic house for his entire presidency. all eight years. tip o'neill was

mr. president. 43. i think president trump has demonstrated tremendous negotiating willingness over and over over this past year on this issue. but let's be clear what's going on. the flow of drugs and human trafficking at our border is completely unacceptable. everybody in this body agrees with that, demonstrated by the fact that 43 democrats actually voted for a $25 billion border security package earlier this year. there is no way you can avoid admitting that. this has to stop. the undampenned flow of illegal drugs has created a crisis in our country. the fact that we sit here and are more concerned about the political realities in washington than we are stopping human trafficking across our southern border is totally unacceptable, mr. president. an open border goes against the very ideas of why our country was founded. it totally undercuts american sovereignty. the american people know that, and they are fed up with the status quo, and i can tell you firsthand so is president donald trump. the dems a

percentage of kuwait should learn to see the use the thank you mr president of course i wish to thankthe special envoy of the secretary general mr martin griffiths i also wish to thank mr mark lowcock undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs for their informative briefings a delivered to this council i also thank mr dave at the command of him but the new permanent resident of yemen i will focus in my brigade briefing on two points first the consultations among the parties and second the development of humanitarian and economic it's so if you're going to situation yemeni regarding negotiations and we have listened with great interest to to the briefing of mr griffiths which of delivers a a a message of great hope put with a view to mitigating the scale of the crisis that has been taking the country since twenty fourteen and there have been consultations or where they get any parties and hosted by the government of sweden. and this constitutes a reflection of a the international community's commitment to to address in this crisis a crisis that has assumed staggering proportions o

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i come to the floor today to urge my colleagues to join us in supporting the first step act, bipartisan legislation that will make needed changes to federal sentencing rules and prison reforms. a number of us have been working on this issue for years, but i do want to thank chairman grassley, who's here with us today; and senator feinstein, for their leadership in getting it through the judiciary committee as well as senator durbin, who has been a longtime leader on this issue; senator booker, who has worked so hard on this as well; senator whitehouse, senator cornyn, who's here with us today; and many others who -- senator lee who has really made this and took on this cause at times when it wasn't as easy as it is right now at the end of the year. and i want to thank the administration for working with us on this bill as well. as a former chief prosecutor in minne

mr. president. mr. president, the presiding officer knows i spent a little time in the navy. i said to my father, my father enlisted in the navy right before world war ii. he was not 18. george herbert walker bush was i think 18 -- on his 18th birthday, just out of high school, and he enlisted in the navy as a seaman second class. about a year later, he was off to corpus christi naval station where i earned my wings as a naval flight officer a long time ago. he became an ensign at the age i think of 19 and became maybe the youngest navy pilot around that time that they had in the navy, if you can believe that. a year or so later in september of 1943, he was on a ship, u.s.s. -- and i think this is san jacinto. he flew avenger bombers with the third fleet and the fifth fleet. if you think about it, he must have been at that point in time 20 years old. flying as a pilot on a -- on avenger bombers. that's pretty amaze. when i was 20 years old, i was a sophomore or junior at ohio state. the idea of flying missions. we did stuff in the summers, went up to corpus christi, fly airpl

mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina is recognized. mr. graham: i ask unanimous consent to be recognized along with my colleague from new hampshire, senator shaheen relating to a colloquy on a resolution. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mrs. shaheen: i'm distressed to be on the floor of the senate today with my colleague, senator graham, to express our deep and profound disappointment in president trump's decision to withdraw u.s. troops from northeast syria. we had the opportunity to visit syria this summer, and we saw what a difference our troops made there in the fight against isis, in stabilizing northeast syria along the turkish border. we saw the response from the syrians we talked to, both the kurds and the arabs, as we drove along the road we saw children and people in the area flashing a victory sign at our troops. and you can see from this map the land that is controlled

mr. president, i yield my time mr. president? >> the senator from utah mr. president, all i'm asking is for the language that i've asked for, two words. the words or utah to be added to this legislation. i'm asking to be treated on equal footing as the language proposed by the senator from colorado, centered from alaska, the senate for washington, the senator from montana and others. equal footing. with equal representation in the senate. the one type of institutional amendment that is presumptively unconstitutional. you can't modify the equal representation of the senate. that's what makes this place unique. each state is represented equally as i will defend my state, the state of utah, to my dying breath of fungicide. breathing and holding e an election certificate i will defend it. now, my distinguished friend and colleague for whom ife have gret affection and respect has just pointed out that the people of colorado might be disappointed about this water measure that was in there, or this or that of the provision of colorado. do they havee reason to be con

mr. president? president trump: whatever it takes. we're going to have walls. we're going to have safety. we need safety for our country even from this standpoint. we have terrorists coming in through the southern border. we have the terrorists also coming in through the southern border. because you know what? it was always the easiest. now we made it very tough. but i won't put them on the spot but i guarantee you they would say you don't have a wall. you're not going to have -- folks are saying can we have some drones and can we have technology? technology is bells and whistles. you have to have a wall. you have to have protection. but we have in addition to drugs and in addition to human trafficking, in addition to mass numbers of illegals who are coming in, many of whom are criminals. you saw 618 so far that we found in some cases very serious criminals. in some cases murderers. it was on your cameras for everybody to see. we need a wall. so when you say how long is it going to take? when are they going to say we need border security? when are the democrats

mr. president. mr. leahy: i know i was supposed to speak next, but i know the distinguished senator from missouri has the unanimous consent request. i will yield to him. mr. blunt: i thank the senator from vermont. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 3749, introduced earlier today by senator klobuchar and myself. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 3749, a bill toll amend the congressional accountability act of 1995 to reform the procedures for the initiation, review, and resolution of claiming that offices of the legislative branch have violated the protections of their employees including protections against sexual harassment and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. blunt: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid u

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. flake: mr. president, i would like to begin today by noting that had the people of arizona and america been truly lucky, my mother or father would have served in the united states house of representatives and then in the senate. everything i know about what matters most in life i learned first at their dinner table, but for many reasons they were otherwise preoccupied raising and feeding 11 children, working the land, running cattle to keep the f-bar business going. serving their church and community daily. and in too many other ways to count, my parents were too meaningfully occupied in life to detour to something that can be so frivolous as politics. so you got their son instead. and i rise today to say that it has been the honor of my life to represent my home, arizona, in the united states senate and before that in the house of representatives. that is, it has been my honor in life after being deemed a son, cheryl's husband, and ryan, alexis, austin, tanner and dallin's father. through 18 yea

mr. president. >> so we're going to see. i'll tell you, the wall are get built, but we'll see what happens. it is not an easy situation, because the democrats have a different view, i think, than i can say the republicans. we have great republican support. we don't have democrat support. but we're going to talk about that now. we're going to see. one thing that i do have to say is tremendous amounts of wall have already been built and a lot of, a lot of wall, when you include the renovation of existing fences and walls, we've renovated a tremendous amount. and we've done a lot of work. in san diego, we're building new walls right now and right next to san diego, we've completed a major section of wall and it's really worked well. a lot of wall has been built. we don't talk about that, but we might as well start, because it's building -- it's being built right now. big sections of wall. and we will continue that. and one way or the other, it's going to get built. i would like not to see a government closing, a shutdown. we wi

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i'm pleased to be here this morning to join my colleagues in saluting the public service of our friend senator jeff flake. in his remarkable book "the conscience of a conservative ," senator jeff flake offered these words that applied to both sides of the aisle and across the political spectrum. rather than constantly pursuing partisan advantage, he wrote, the better path always is to break out of rigid, ideological thinking, to listen to the reasoned arguments on both sides, and to use your best judgment. mr. president, reason and courage have defined senator flake's 18 years in congress, 12 in the house of representatives, and six here in the senate. throughout these years of service, he has always been knowledgeable, insightful, and dedicated to america and its values. it has been a privilege to work closely with him on many vital issues. senator flake has always been willing to take on the most difficult challenges and offer constructive solutions as his work on immigrat

mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, of course the senior senator from florida can speak with experience, because he's been there. something no other senator currently serving has ever done. mr. president, i believe they're bringing a chair over. if not, i'll go get it. mr. leahy: on friday, december 21, coming up fairly soon, 11 days from today, the continuing resolution, or what we call the c.r., under which much of the government currently operates, is going to expire. if we don't pass the remaining seven appropriations bills, bills that i believe the senate is prepared to pass, the government will shutter the doors of nine federal departments. dozens of agencies and services the american people rely on are going to halt. coincidentally, three days before christmas. now there is absolutely no reason for the government to shut down. the senate and house appropriations committees have been negotiating for weeks, and i commend senators on both sides of the aisle. they worked with us and certainly our staffs in

mr. president, i call up my amendment. >> senator from indiana, mr. young, proposes amendment number four -- 4080. 21, addedur, line after the period. terms hostility's in-flight refueling of non-united states aircraft conducting missions as part of the ongoing civil war in yemen. >> mr. president, i asked consent that that has been taking care of. mr. president, i encourage my colleagues to support this amendment. i introduced this amendment this morning and i am proud to report that senator collins and kunz are now cosponsoring this important amendment. 4080 what it meant the term hostilities to include quote in-flight refueling of non-united states aircraft conducting missions as part of the ongoing civil war unquote. in other words, the amendment would prevent the reception of u.s. air refueling of saudi coalition aircraft in yemen, the very aircraft that come into many in his -- instances have been responsible for violations of human rights. that is all this amendment would accomplish. -- defineot discern the word hostilities or in any other inst