lankford: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 37, s. 188. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 37, s. 188, a bill to prohibit the use of federal funds for the costs of painting portraits of officers and employees of the federal government. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent 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: without objection. mr.

senator johnson: senator lankford. senator lankford: for the testimony you are bringing. ms. duke, thank you for stepping up. you were with general kelly and he ran to another job. thank you for stepping up and be able to take that. i know we have a visit scheduled in my office to go through several of the details. i'll skip through some of those. let me ask you some specific questions first about puerto rico. there was a waiver was requested for the jones act waiver for puerto rico. that was denied. that waiver was given to houston, was given to florida. obviously the virgin islands, they're waived from the jones act entirely all the time so they constantly have ships coming back and forth. puerto rico in good times thinks that the jones act cost them about $1.5 billion in economic activity a year, but they especially need it now in just getting vessels in. can you help me understand why and where the conversation is on the jones act for puerto rico? secretary duke: first of all, we don't know of fuel shortages on the island of puerto rico. the challenge is getting it distri

lankford: yes. this could be in place by the time daca expires and the president says he's not going renew it at that moment. it could be in place but it's not a stand-alone. we have to resolve the other aspects. we have to continue to build the coalition around this and say this is a solution that we believe can actually pass and get into law. the president was very outspoken. when i walked him through the details of it, he said, that's exactly the kind of solution that i think would work. and will be a good option to be able to accomplish. so obviously he's not seeing the bill text because when we talked about it three weeks ago we were finalizing a lot of bill text. i was talking through the consents of it. but wanted to let him know, this is where we are and the direction we want to go. his statement was very clear as well. the samea as mine and senator till ills. this has to be a part of a larger package. it can't be a stand-alone. reporter: just a question about your colleagues on the house si

senators harris and lankford have been working with senator graham and myself and i really appreciate their work on this issue. senator schumer has mentioned this bill in his remarks yesterday. he said securing our election infrastructure is a top priority, and i'm thankful that he is a champion for this amendment. as i mentioned chairman mccain and ranking member reed who are the two top senators on the armed services committee. that should matter. i appreciate their work for our nation's defense and their work on the ndaa and the fact that the legislation today includes an important provision championed by senator mccain. that provision says that it is the policy of the united states to defend against and respond to cyber threats to our democratic system, to our system of democracy. senator mccain understands that election security is national security. they are forever intertwined. if the people of this country do not have the freedom to have their say who should be elected, democratic, republican, independent, then we have a breach to our national security. and that is why we have

senator lankford pointing out that the russians aren't just working to do u.s. also every day discourse of american public. talked about how russian trolls are flooding still social media with hash tags related to nfl national anthem debate, working to raise, as he puts it, quote, the noise level. so of course a lot of people turn to social media to educate themselves on issue. but the senator today warning, be aware out there what you see and read, since it may actually be the russian prob began da machine at work on your computer. >> no question we all have to be smarter about this. the new fbi director who replaced james comey also testified today. did he detail what's being done to prevent this attack, especially with the next election coming so soon? >> yeah, he said full scale effort by the fbi. first time he testified before congress as fbi direct tor. he does say that his agencies are closely monitoring russian election meddling efforts, not just here in the u.s. but all over the world, and sharing information with other countries devoting vast resources

senator lankford, thank you very much.e you sir. >> always good to see you as well. thanks. >> martha: there is yet another hurricane on the march tonight. it's a cat 5. we are live in san juan where impact is just hours away. plus, a former trump campaign advisor has had enough of the russian investigation. >> i don't think they are really looking that much to believe me. i think they are looking for reasons to extend this as long as they can. >> martha: michael caputo is here next to tell us how the collateral damage from the russia probe is hurting his family's future. and torched police cars after police shot and killed an armed georgia tech student. could all of this have been prevented? mark fuhrman breaks down that video straight ahead. >> come on, drop the knife. >> come on, drop it. >> drop it. >> shoot me. >> no. drop the knife. just turn on cars.coms on tprice dropswant? and get real-time notifications that could help save you money. use cars.com and save. i enjoy the fresher things in life.o. fresh towels. fres

. >> james lankford, says russian trolls have been busy tweeting on both sides of the issue. he says they're trying to raise the noise level and push divisiveness in our country. >> president trump responded to the issue tweeting facebook was always anti-trump. and mark zuckerberg responded, trump says facebook is against him, liberals say we helped trump. both sides are upset about ide and content they don't like. that's what running a platform for all ideas looks like. >> and zuckerberg saying we'll keep working to ensure fair and f free elections around the world. but it's not just facebook. twitter, apparently, had plenty of ads or fake accounts that were posting some things that supposedly the russians were behind. and that was supposedly even bigger than the facebook infiltration. >> we have fake news, fake ads. it comes down to the onus is on us, as the media to put out information that is true that people can trust and us as conzo sume consumers. >>> the big warning for anyone thinking of buying a puppy online. >> speaking of fake ads. those ads tugging at your hearts

on capitol hill today, senator james lankford, member of the senate intelligence committee sails russian trolls have been tweeting on both sides of the issue, trying to raise the noise level, he said, and push divisiveness in the country. by the way, this morning, president trump tweeted that he considers facebook to be ant anti-trump. >> brian ross with us tonight. brian, thank you. >>> next tonight, to a major new fallout from the scandal rocking college basketball. famed louisville head coach rick pitino placed on unpaid leave. the highest paid coach in the ncaa. his attorney says pitino has been, in effect, been fired. abc's linsey davis tonight on why. >> reporter: tonight, legendary coach rick pitino, out at the university of louisville. >> effective immediately, coach pitino has been placed on an unpaid administrative leave. >> reporter: it comes just one day after college basketball was ensnared in a sweeping bribery and corruption case, announced by the fbi. >> these defendants conspired to secretly funnel six-figure payments to the families of three high school players. >> repo

brian: senator james lankford taking action when a lot of people are waiting for action.d, listen to, this taliban launching a major rocket offensive overnight. their target defense secretary james mattis. jeff sessions will join us live. how does he feel about judge moore getting closer to replacing him in his senate seat? ♪ i want to ride it all night long ♪ you're going my way . . . . ♪ can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪ whatever they went through, they went through together. welcome guys. life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. >> the taliban claimed responsibility for a massive rocket attack at kabul's international airport less than two hours after defense secretary jim mattis arrived. steve: take you down to alabama. that man on the horse is the big winner. there he is judge roy moore. >> this is not a referendum on donald trump. this is referendum on mitch mcconnell and the swamp king. >> the people disrespect that by kneeling during the playing of our national anthem i think it is disgraceful. >> nfl playe

as i mentioned, senators graham, lankford and harris are also pushing for the senate to do its job and include this provision. representative meadows, the leader of the house freedom caucus, and democratic congressman jim langevin introduced companion legislation in the house. again, why is the freedom caucus strongly behind this bill? well, they are behind this bill because they want to preserve states' elections. they want to preserve the rights of states to have their own elections. they are concerned enough because they have looked at the intelligence reports that this next election could blow it all up. are we going to look back at it again, people who hold this up, peoples whose names will be revealed? will they say oops, i guess we made a mistake. it's going to be on their hands. it's going to be on their hands. this is the moment to do it. i repeat. reneed to get the authorization in place so we can get the grant money out to the states so that they can upgrade their election equipment. dozens of former republican national security officials are pushing for the senate to pass t

we must stand with our dreamers and the oklahoma senator lankford put out a statement criticizing the president. right to be consequences for those who intentionally entered this country illegally, however we as americans do not hold children legally accountable for actions of their parents. let me welcome in now colorado republican congressman mike coffman, who is currently prepares his own legislative maneuver to protect these young immigrants in his state. congressman, the president said late last week he loves the dreamers, that he wants to treat this issue with heart. but ending daca with a six-month delay. does that sound like heart to you? >> well, i think the president's backed into a corner by the attorney general from texas who is threatening by tomorrow, if the president doesn't suspend the program, to go to federal district court. the same attorney general able to strike down the dapa program as unconstitutional. i think that the president's in a bad position. i hope the president says tomorrow is that he supports the policy of the daca program and wants congress to pass i

i would also say on the social media thing, listen to what senator lankford said.e was talking about russian troll farms doing it again. they take people's pictures from the internet, make fake accounts and then the either #takeaknee or #boycottthenfl. they want to sell chaos. >> jesse: the russians again. call mueller. >> dana: if you feel like there is pure pressure on a certain issue, know that half of that is probably fake people, robots and russia, trying to do that to cause chaos. >> kimberly: russian robots. >> greg: everything put together. juan, i think you are misinterpreting me. i am not against the protest. i am saying it's a failed protest when people are confused by it. i think people are confused by what it is because they found the wrong symbol to kneel in front of. you can protest all you want. bosses have a right to be upset if it's on the clock. that makes sense to me. life goes on. we are making this into some hysterical soap opera because, i don't know why, because of identity politics. there's no way out of it. once you get in it, you are stuc

. >> senator lankford. >> thank you for being here. and testimony that you're bringing. thank you for stepping up you came to be able to serve with general kelly and he ran off to a different job. thank you for stepping up and taking that. i know we have a busy schedule. i'll skip through those. let me ask you about puerto rico. there was a waiver was requested for the jones act waiver for puerto rico. that was denied. that waiver was given to houston, was given to florida. obviously the virgin islands they are waived from the jones act entirely. they have ships coming back and forth. puerto rico in good times thinks the jones act cost them a billion and a half dollars in economic activity a year. they especially need it now. just getting vessels in. can you help me understand why and where the conversation is on jones act for puerto rico? >> first of all we don't know a fuel shortages on the island. the challenge for us today is getting it distributed. in terms of the jones act whaifr we have researched this. we have no known jones act waiver request. we received a cong

lankford:--- s/'s 717. the council is ready to proceed to the volts -- to the votes. draft to thehe vote now. will those in favor of the draft resolution contend in document hand. please raise their the result of the voting is as followed. the draft resolution received 15 votes in favor. the draft resolution has been adopted unanimously. and now give the floor to those who wants the council to make -- to the vote. i give the floor to the representative of the u.s. >> thank you mr. president, and thank you for calling this meeting and allowing us to have this vote. images from space of northeast asia of night show brightness and prosperity, surrounding a dark, lonely space that is north korea. those images are a good illustration of where the north korean regime is today. it is alone. it is dark, and it is getting darker. neighbors, its trading partners, and the entire international community are united against its dangerous and illegal actions. today's resolution builds on what were already the deepest cutting sanctions ever leveled against north korea. we have been d

and james lankford said while some nfl players wiere protesting, trolls were pushing out. >> they were trying to raise the noise level in america very meanwhile facebook founder mark zuckerberg pushed bay against a tweet by the president in which mr. trump said facebook was always anti-trump. zuckerberg said both sides were upset about ideas and content they don't like. >> a lot more pressure on the social media sites. thank you. >>> meantime the federal bribery into the game of basketball may have cost a head coach his job. pitino was placed on administrative unpaid leave. his lawyer said he was effectively fired. >> reporter: good morning. rick pitino has not been charged with any crimes but cbs has learned he is referred to as coach 2, someone who may have had a role in providing payments to a highly prized recruits family. rick pitino led the louisville cardinals to more than 400 wins including 2013 ncaa championship, but on wednesday he left the campus in disgrace, the program he led to a power house. >> it is vital for this university to strictly adhere to ncaa rules and, of cour

brian: senator lankford, congressman -- we had congressman this morning i forgot.unds like tall guy? short guy? brian: we know speaker ryan and majority leader kevin mccarthy all come out and said yeah we should think of a way forward to keep the dreamers here, fine. think of it and give it back to the president and say how did this end up in my lap? i'm sitting here having to kick out, for example, if you have an 11th grader that was born somewhere else, and he has a ninth grade brother that was born here, the 11th grader goes and the ninth grader stays? i was getting calls to my radio show from these dreamers and i think there is 800,000. less than 1% have committed any type of crime to violate the dream act. so there has not gott to be a way forward here. abby: it's emotional. legal angle and emotional angle. have you 800,000 dreamers in this country. even the president has come out and we have seen him talk about the children in this country and what that means now giving it to congress. the question is what are they going to do? we heard over the weekend or la

bills out of congressman evan jenkins on the house side and our colleague from oklahoma, senator lankford on our side, that purport to prohibit the federal government from using the social cost of carbon in rule makings and in regulatory processes. of course you can't do that, and those laws aren't going anywhere. why? because they violate a very basic principle both in courts and in administrative agencies. that very basic principle is at the heart of rule of law and it is that facts have to be factual and that conclusions have to be logical. any decision that fails this standard, that is to use the administrative law terms arbitrary and capricious or not based on substantial evidence, fails as a matter of law. although congress of course is bound and gagged by the polluters and their front groups , it's going to be hard for those polluters to try to stop the social cost of carbon in courts and administrative agencies. despite the efforts of exxonmobil and the koch brothers to make america their fossil fuel banana republic, we still are a rule of law country, and those rule of law princi

712, mccain 874, johnson 879, rawb crow 927, flake 945, more rain 1006, tillis 1031, strange 1034, lankford 1038, scott 1050, pittman 1055, tillis 1063, sullivan 1073, strange 1086, graham 1096, isakson 1032. mr. mccain: mr. president, i ask to add durbin 1100. i intentionally omitted him the first time around in hopes it wouldn't be noticed. the presiding officer: the senator's request is modified. mr. mccain: i ask consent that the numbers at the desk be reflected in the list. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator's request is modified. is there objection to the modified request? without objection. mr. mccain: mr. president, i yield back. i yield back the -- my remaining time. the presiding officer: all postcloture time is expired. the clerk will read the bill for the third time. the clerk: calendar 175, h.r. 2810, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for military activities of the department of defense and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the question now appears on passage of the bill as amended. is there a sufficient second? the