mr. cornyn: mr. president, i have four requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have been approved by the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to complete my remarks before the lunch recess. the presiding officer: without objection. kosh corn mr. president, -- mr. cornyn: mr. president, let me just say i join my friend from massachusetts in a desire to see us take up and pass another covid-19 relief bill. i would say that so far the house of representatives has taken a completely unrealistic approach, including many noncovid-19 relief provisions in the bill, including tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. they literally include in the covid-19 bill they call the heroes act a tax cut by removing the cap on deductibility on your federal income tax. when we did that in the tax cuts and jobs act, we felt it was improper to force states, like the presiding officer's and mine, subsidiz

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

mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with.the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: madam president, on friday evening, the nation learned the sad news that justice ruth bader ginsburg had passed away. from her time as one of the few women in the ivy league to being only the second woman ever appointed to the supreme court of the united states, justice ginsburg was and is an inspiration to generations of americans. throughout her remarkable life, justice ginsburg fought to secure equal rights and opportunities for all. she was a champion of women's rights in particular and broke down gender barriers throughout both her personal life and professional career. during this difficult and often divisive time, i think there is a lot we can learn from the way justice ginsburg interacted with those with whom she disagreed, especially her good friend, the late justice scalia. if you looked at a diagram outlining the ideologies of these two justices, these two would be at opposite poles. they shared very little in common in t

mr. cornyn: mr. president, as we all know, president trump will announce his nominee to fill the seat discriminated by the death of -- the seat vacated by the death of ruth bader ginsburg. the senate is prepared to examine the qualifications of that nominee and hold a vote here on a timely basis. this, of course, is set in line with the precedent set by presidents and senates that were elected long before we became members of this body or were even born. and we are prepared to follow suit. 29 times when there was a vacancy during the election year where the party occupying the white house and the majority of the senate were the same, 29 times there were confirmation processes, and it will be the same again this year. -- with the 30th. as always, we will be thorough. as a member of the judiciary committee, i've had the privilege of participating in a number of confirmation hearings for supreme court justices. i know every member of the committee takes this job very seriously. our role of advice and co

mr. cornyn: madam president, i just want to say how much i appreciate the senator from indiana's resolution. it reminds me of discussions i know all of us have had about the teaching of american history and civics in our schools, and frankly a collective concern that our children are being raised and educated without learning both about our founding principles and how unique we are as a nation. and i think, as modest a step as this may seem, i think it's an important one, and i congratulate our friend from indiana for taking it. madam president, in a letter to our democratic colleagues earlier this week, my friend, the chairman of the judiciary committee, pointed out the vastly different treatment of supreme court nominees by the respective political parties. he said compare the treatment of robert bork, clarence thomas, samuel alito, and brett kavanaugh to that of ruth bader ginsburg, sonya sotomayor, and elena kagan, and it's clear that there is one set of rules for a republican president and another set of rules for a democratic president. this double standard is not just fiction or our

and john cornyn of texas praising mr. trump, saying he's done a good a job as you can under the circumstances. but there are questions raised by the book, as to why mr. trump thought it was a good idea to tell the author about what sounds like a top secret nuclear weapons system. >> i have built a nuclear -- a weapons system that nobody has had in this country before, we have stuff that you haven't seen or heard about. we have stuff that putin and xi have never heard about before. there's nobody. what we have is incredible. >> reporter: now, all afternoon we have watched hundreds of trump supporters enter this airport hangar in michigan without any masks on. there are some using a mask but they are few and far between. as this hangar gets more crowded, it's almost packed right now, wolf, people are simply not practicing social distancing. it's as if they've been listening to the president downplay this virus all along. and wolf, i can just tell you, looking around this crowd right now, i'm seeing young trump supporters, e

mr. chairman, i may, after hearing the other questions during this hearing, i may have some questions for the record. >> absolutely, senator leahy. senator cornyn. >> director comey, is it appropriate for the federal bureau of investigate to influence a presidential election? >> the fbi should do everything it can to avoid having any impact on an election. >> are you aware of the allegation against you that your handling of the hillary clinton email investigation, your press conference on july 5th, the subsequence announcement based on anthony weiner's laptop investigation, you're reopening the investigation in the run-up to the election, are you aware of the allegation you were responsible for hillary clinton's defeat? >> yes, i'm aware of that allegation. >> does that concern you? >> it concerns me whenever anyone has questions about whether the fbi is conducting itself in a competent, honest, independent way. >> did you call the steele dossier salacious and unverified? >> i called a portion of it that related to alleged sexual activity, i think that's the term i used to refer to that. >> you did not refer to that as unverified? >> i think th

mr. buckley, my name is - and i'm from new york city . i am interested in whether you have read john cornynout hitler. and what you think of his major thesis that the church is growing more and also on the position during the second world war. william: i think that there's a certain amount of yes going on with the pope. there's accumulation of power. especially but this business that he had done but didn't do. [inaudible]. it's a vexing question. i rented over the weekend. the author is a senior at stanford and he took only references to the pope . in the new york times and that was it. between 1939 in 1948. he was extraordinarily good use to what in the situation in that situation, and thus now. whether he should've done a whole is more is very hard to say. host: chattanooga. guest: mr. buckley, in the late 70s or early 80s, you responded in the wall street journal with a brief letter about a reporter who had a family business. and he stated, he said that attorneys were handling things rated so you could not comment . last sentence was in case you were interested in the news over here, you

mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, over the last several months texans have found new and creative ways to connect with one another while following the necessary covid-19 precautions. things like drive-through birthday parties, live-streamed weddings, virtual family reunions and socially distanced barbecues. life looks a lot different today than it did at start of the year, but despite the challenges that we face, we know it's unrealistic to hit the pause button until this pandemic subsides. while covid-19 continues to be ever present in our daily lives, folks across my state are safely adapting the routines. that's certainly been my objective here in the senate. over the last few months i, like many of my colleagues, maybe all of my colleagues, have largely replaced in-person conversations with virtual ones. through more than 150 separate calls with groups across the state of texas, these virtual conversations continued over the august -- the month of august, along with a number of socially distanced events

mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, each year, during the month of august, i look forward to traveling across my state, my very big state, to spend time with my constituents. it's the best way to learn firsthand how the laws and programs that we enact here are working. and to receive the feedback on legislation being considered by the congress in the future, and what i can do to better help the folks back home. now, a typical state work period involves dozens of face-to-face events from every corner of my state, covering all ages, professions, and walks of life. last august, i spent time talking with my constituents about everything from the debbie smith act and g.i. benefits for student veterans to project safe neighborhood grants and the u.s.-mexico-canada trade agreement. but as we all know, 2020 has been anything but typical, and this august was no exception. these big in-person events have been replaced with virtual ones, face-to-face meetings which now involve wearing masks, social distanci

mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired. the cle is on the nomination. -- the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: have all senators voted? does any senators wish to change their vote? the yeas are 86, the nays are 10. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made made. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of david w. dugan of illinois to be united states district judge for the southern district of illinois, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the

mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the cornyn substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the help committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 1160, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1160, a bill to amend the child abuse prevention and treatment act to increase support for mental health. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged, and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the smith substitute at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amend be read a third time and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i understand there is a bill at the desk. i ask for its first reading. the pr