the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, britt cagle grant of georgia to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit. mr. wicker: thank you, madam president. i intend to speak for a few moments as if in morning business concerning the national flood insurance program which is set to expire tomorrow night at midnight, july 31, and which certainly this body will not allow to expire. we will undoubtedly reauthorize the program and not leave millions of americans without flood protection at the height of the atlantic hurricane season. the house insists legislation that provides for a clean reauthorization, temporary as it may be, and it will leave the program going without any reforms or changes, and it reassures homeowners, property owners across the country who rely on this program that it will still be there, that they can count on it. we're not bathing ourselves in glory by doing this. i think we would all acknowledge passing this reauthorization right before the deadline does not -- does not entitle us to pat ourselves on the back. instead, madam president, it should motivate m

the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, britt cagle grant of gentleman to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit. mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, the senate is approaching the end of the debate on a significant piece of spending legislation that includes funding for the internal revenue service. that is why i've come to the floor this morning to discuss one of my amendments to this legislation which is based on a bill that i have authored entitled the presidential tax transparency act. it is long past time for the president's tax returns to be released to the american people. this president has in effect thrown in the trash can a bipartisan 40-year pro-transparency tradition by refusing to release his tax returns in the course of the 2016 election. this was a tradition accepted by all liberals, conservatives across the political spectrum that dates back to the post-watergate era. the president ended it for reasons as flimsy as you can get. a made up story about the president's claim that you can't release yo