mr. cornyn: madam president, now ask unanimous consenthat session and resume consideration of the johnson nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coyn: and finally, madam president, i wld ask unanimous consent that t mandatory quorum call with respect to the johnson nomination be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: observers of the united states senate might take note that their senators just passed a host of bills and cleared a host of items from the calendar, representing bipartisan accomplishments on behalf of the leadership of the senate, republican leadership and democratic leadership, a great deal of work by chairs and ranking members of committees and subcommittees, and i salute both sides of the aisle, madam president, for these accomplishments. in the same vein, we will vote in a few moments on a cloture motion for the judicial nomination of kristi haskins johnson, and i would think that this would be another opportunity for a strong bipartisan vote. we pas

cornyn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. dorsey, in recent hearings beforee the senate commerce thi committee, you said, i think, that twitter has a policy olicy against this information relating to civic integrity.gri. president trump and his allies have tweeted hundreds of false al claims about the 2020 election. trump has falsely claimed victory and alleged widespread voter fraud. so, here's the question. does misinformation about the results of an election and voter fraud relate to civic integrityr why or why not? >> yes, it does. and we label those tweets. when the election has not been t called yet or multiple sources have called it differently.calld >> i'm sorry. i didn't understand that.i di did you say you have been able y to tweet? >> no.tweet? we have labeled the tweets that would indicate a different result in the election, called e by multiple sources.in the >> i see. at what point was that done? the >> throughout the period.th up i october 11th up till today. >> so, when the tweet was initially came in, how lon

mr. chairman. >> senator cornyn. >> mr. mccabe, i revere the department of justice. i revere the fbi, but what's happened over the last four years has revealed an fbi gone rogue, that has interfered with not just one candidate, but with two candidates for president of the united states. starting with hillary clinton. and then, of course, the investigation of the current president donald trump. how is it that the fbi decided to interfere in the election of not just one but two candidates for president of the united states? >> well, senator, i don't agree with your characterization of our work as having gone rogue. and i would also say that at no time while i was in the fbi did we make a decision to interfere in any presidential election. we -- >> did you -- did you participate in the discussions leading up to the july 5, 2016 press conference that director comey held on the email investigation? did you agree with that and did you support his decision to go public with that announcement? >> senator, i was a part of those decisions at the time. i supported it at the tim

mr. chairman. >> senator cornyn. >> mr. mccabe, i revere the department of justice, i revere the f.b.i. an f.b.i. gone rogue. that it's interfered with not just one candidate but with two candidates for president of the united states starting with hillary clinton and then, of course, investigation of the current president, donald trump. how is it that the f.b.i. decided to interfere in the election of not just one, but two candidates for president of the united states? >> well, senator, i don't agree with your characterization of our work as having gone rogue. and i would also say that at no time while i was in the f.b.i. did we make a decision to interfere in any presidential election. >> did you participate in the discussions leading up to the july 5th, 2016 press conference that director comey held on the email investigation? did you agree with that and did you support his decision to go public with that announcement? >> senator, i was a part of those decisions at the time. i supported it at the time. i feel very differently about it now. i'm happy to go into detail about that if you

mr. chairman. >> senator cornyn. >> mr. mccabe, i revere the department of justice. i revere the fbi, but what's happened over the last four years has revealed an fbi gone rogue, that has interfered with not just one candidate, but with two candidates for president of the united states. starting with hillary clinton. and then, of course, the investigation of the current president donald trump. how is it that the fbi decided to interfere in the election of not just one but two candidates for president of the united states? >> well, senator, i don't agree with your characterization of our work as having gone rogue. and i would also say that at no time while i was in the fbi did we make a decision to interfere in any presidential election. we -- >> did you -- did you participate in the discussions leading up to the july 5, 2016 press conference that director comey held on the email investigation? did you agree with that and did you support his decision to go public with that announcement? >> senator, i was a part of those decisions at the time. i supported it at the tim

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator collins. senator cornyn. >> good morning, chairn blunt, ranking member klobuchar. it's been great to be here with all of you, including our good friend senator collins, and the rest of the members of this committee. as a proud texan and the senator from a border state i have been fortunate to experience firsthand the tremendous influence of latinos on our country and culture throughout my life. from learning the stories of the great soldiers who fought in the texas revolution, to experiencing the vast influence of the hispanic culture on my home town of san antonio, i'm incredibly proud and appreciative of the latino influence on texas and american life. unfortunately for many americans the contributions generations of latinos are largely unknown, and i hope this committee will soon take action to right this wrong by advancing legislation to establish a national museum of the american latino. this effort has been underway for both in 25 years. i note senator collins talk about the long journey of women's mus

cornyn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> well, i'm glad to hear both of our witnesses today say section 230 they're open to reform because i think it's fair to say the internet has outgrown section 230. while we've made some modifications when it comes to terrorism and when it comes to child exploitation, i think there's more to do. but i think the question is going to be how this regulation is going to come to pass. i know there's some, including on this committee, who suggest maybe we ought to create a private right of action so individuals can sue over claims of violated rights on your platforms. i think that's one form of regulation. it's called regulation by litigation, but it's certainly not my first choice and it's not optimal. and i don't think it's something we ought to be embracing in the first instance. but i do think it's critical that each of you and your counterparts work with us to try to come up with something that will address the concerns. and the basic concern i have is it's hard to know exact

cornyn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. witnesses today say that section 230 they're open to reform. because i think it's fair to say the internet has outgrown section 230. while we've made some modifications when it comes to terrorism and when it comes to child exploitation, i think there is more to do. but i think the question is going to be how this regulation is going to come to pass. i know there are some, including on this committee, who suggest that maybe we ought to create a private right of action so that individuals can sue over claims of violated rights on your platforms. i think that's one form of regulation. it is called the regulation by litigation but it is certainly not my first choice and it is not optimal. and i don't think it is something we ought to be embracing in the first instance. but i do think it is critical that each of you and your counterparts work with us to try to come up with something that will address the concerns. and the basic concern i have is it's hard to know exactly how to classify yo

cornyn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> well, i'm glad to hear both of our witnesses today say section 230 they're open to reform because i think it's fair to say the internet has outgrown section 230. while we've made some modifications when it comes to terrorism and when it comes to child exploitation, i think there's more to do. but i think the question is going to be how this regulation is going to come to pass. i know there's some, including on this committee, who suggest maybe we ought to create a private right of action so individuals can sue over claims of violated rights on your platforms. i think that's one form of regulation. it's called regulation by litigation, but it's certainly not my first choice and it's not optimal. and i don't think it's something we ought to be embracing in the first instance. but i do think it's critical that each of you and your counterparts work with us to try to come up with something that will address the concerns. and the basic concern i have is it's hard to know exact

mr. trump's firing of chris krebs, the homeland security top security official, cybersecurity official, saying it is the president's prerogative, but it adds to confusion and chaos. senator john cornynf texas, a member of the gop leadership team. milton, a democratic caller. good morning to you. caller: how are you doing this morning? well.i'm doing do you have confident in the congressional leadership? ofler: i have a lot confidence in congressional leadership. the congress and the senate -- they both are bickering toward each other. everybody. and i vietnam veteran, cannot believe that i volunteered to protect this nation and the people of this nation to see this country go down like this. it is sad. this is pathetic. this is really, really outrageous. i cannot believe the president we have did what he has done here. i just cannot believe this. and he's still doing what he's doing. i cannot understand how the american people can put up with this. what is wrong with our people? it seems like overnight we have lost our minds. milton, what about the congressional leadership? -- pardon me?bout the: what about congressional leadership? speaker pelosi, i am proud of this woman, to stand

mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i'd asunanimous consent that the quorum calle dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, here it is november the 18th. seems like the election was a few years ago. time is flying by. but there's stale lot of work to be done here -- but there's still a lot of work to be done here in the 116th congress. i hope that our friend across the aisle will reconsider their objections to working with us on another covid-19 relief bill. i know back home in texas, many small businesses that received p.p.p. loans are uncertain, for example, what the tax consequences are going to be associated with that. and for many of whom for which that was a lifeline are running out of the lifeline due to the passage of the time. we also know we need to pass an appropriations bill before the december 11 deadline to both avoid a government shutdown, give our government agencies the ability to plan and operate with certainty and, of course, perhaps most significa

mr. cornyn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, the world is celebrating major developments in the global race for a vaccine. all year since this pandemic hit, our greatest scientific minds have been working around the clock to develop a vaccine that will finally bring the pandemic and the crisis associated with it to an end. researchers are testing dozens of vaccines in the hope of finding at least one that can stop the spread of the virus which has claimed more than 1.2 million lives worldwide and nearly 240,000 here in the united states alone. early data from pfizer's vaccine trial gives us a lot of reasons to be hopeful. the company announced on monday that their vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing the disease. for reference, standard flu vaccines for seasonal flu typically are 40% to 60% effective. so 90% is a big deal. this breakthrough is a testament to the ingenuity and the near universal commitment to try to find a vaccine that will eliminate the threat of this pandemic and it's a sign

mr. cornyn: mr. president, let me say while he's still here on the floor, i agree with the senator fromempt have. if you don't want to -- i agree with the senator from vermont. if you don't want to vote, you probably ought to look for another line of work. coming to congress is a bad place to come if you don't want to actually vote and be on record. well, mr. president, as america waits for the results of the 2020 election to be certified in a couple of weeks, former vice president joe biden has begun to announce his picks for cabinet and other high-ranking positions. some of these nominees have close ties to investment and other consulting firms whose clients are largely unknown, or maybe even the subject of a nondisclosure agreement. the truth is, these individuals could be working on behalf of a feel-good nonprofit, a malicious foreign actor, or a large company with business before the government. the truth of the matter is, we have simply no idea what kind of business or financial relationships t

mr. cornyn: mr. president, i had to look at my watch today to remind itself it's been a week since the november 3 general election. i must say it seems like it's been much longer than that. just as every four years throughout our nation's history the american people voted for our next commander in chief. in the months leading up to election day, we'd know that the atmosphere was tense, the days following it has been as well. but i have full faith that our constitutional republic is working just exactly the way it should. a record-setting 150 million people, and counting, count a ballot this election. in my state there were 10.9 million voters, almost 11 million. the last time i was on the ballot, there were 4.7 million. so we've seen a huge influx of people and increased participation in the electoral process, and i think both of those are good things. the reasons people come to texas is because we are still a land of opportunity where people can come and work hard, start out with little, building is

mr. cornyn: mr. president, i was listening to our friend, the democratic whip, and his advice to president trump to capitulate before the recounts, before the litigation that's been filed and has finally been decided. i know they would like to have him do so but he is completely within his rights toe use the existing procedures in the states and at the local jurisdictions where these elections were conducted to review the results, to see if there are discrepancies. i know they'd like to say it's just about president trump. more candidates other than president trump were on the ballot. we ought to be in the position of trying to preserve every legal vote for every candidate and take make sure that there are no mistakes and there is a process in place to make that happen. i don't know what the ultimate outcome will be. i sort of have a sneaking suspicion about what the trend line looks like but 72 million-plus people voted for president trump and vice president pence. out of respect for them at least,