mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask permission to speak in morning business for one minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: in recent years, the opioid epidemic has resulted in steadily climbing numbers of kids entering foster care. however, in 2018, the number of children in foster care declined for the first time since 2011. this is evidence that prevention programs are working. it is important this renewed focus on prevention continues as states -- all 50 states -- work to implement the family first prevention services act. when child welfare agencies have more tools, which they will have through this new legislation, to help families before children must be removed, outcomes are better for communities, better for parents, and, more importantly, better for the children we're trying to protect. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority le

mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask to address the senate for one minute in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: probably a lot of my colleagues know i've had a quarter century interest in legislation dealing with foster care and the foster care system. so this is national adoption month. while recent data from the department of health and human services show improvement for kids in foster care, it is clear that there is still work to be done. in 2018, the average length of stay in foster care increased over 19 months. we need to take that statistic as movement in the wrong direction. less than half of the kids who exit foster care were united with their parents, and our goal ought to be to unite with parents when it isn't harmful to the kids. but also what i learned from talking to kids that are in foster care over the last 25 years shunted from home to home in the same school year. i've heard from them, i'd like to have a mom and dad, and i'd like to have a permanent

mr. grassley: oh, boy. i have to scratch my head about hearing some criticism of the finance committee's prescription drug reduction act from supposedly fiscally conservative and pro-taxpayer organizations, to mention a couple, like freedom works and america's for tax reform. the grassley-wyden bipartisan bill should have a lot of support. it will save taxpayers $100 million. you would think that fiscally conservative organizations would want to back that. of course some of these fiscally conservative organizations receive substantial funding from big pharma. i can't think of a better opportunity to enact bipartisan entitlement reform that would significantly lower the debt and help rein in entitlement spending bill, and this bill happens to be judged by the congressional budget office, a nonpartisan group working for the congress as a whole saying it would save a little over $ 100 billion. so i think reining in entitlement spending is a goal that i campaigned on and nearly won every one of my republican co

mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask to speak in morning business for 30 seconds. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: veterans, meaning our veterans of war, our veterans who are in uniform that have not been in war environment, veterans have a big impact on the american economy. there are 2.5 million veteran-owned businesses in the united states that account for more than $1.1 trillion in revenue. in iowa, there are 26,119 veteran-owned businesses that employ 51,801 people and bring in $10.9 million. iowa is working hard to attract veterans and help them start and expand their businesses. i honor these hardworking entrepreneurs who have served our country by joining my colleagues in recognizing this week the week of november 4 as national veterans small business week. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: leadership time is reserved. mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: this week the senate will continue its work in the pennell b

mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i'd ask for one minute in morning business, please. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: a five-year decline in farm income, retaliatory tariffs on u.s. ag commodities disrupted renewable biofuel policies, devastating natural disasters, and now shortages of lp gas needed to drive harvested grain add to the growing burdens weighing heavily on the minds of iowa and american farmers. mounting pressure to pay bills, to get the crops out and make ends meet can be overwhelming. we have expressed lately lots of worries and pressures that come from increasing farm bankruptcies or increase in rural and farm suicides. there are many uncertainties in farming that are beyond human control but there are other areas where congress can help. as a farmer and as a senator representing the number one agricultural state, i'm fighting to build mental health resources as an example, the grassle grassley-tester bill to help preempt suicides. uphold the r.f.s. by fighting with th

mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the president pro tempore. mr. grassley: i would like to address the senate for one minute in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: last week a whole bunch of us midwest beautiful senators sent a -- biofuel senators sent a cover letter to president with regard to the powerful rules that are out for comment. the president has been a supporter of biofuels, and the e.p.a. shouldn't undercut president trump's support of r.f.s. i urge the e.p.a. and administrator wheeler to adjust the proposed supplemental rule to account for an actual waive gallons using our data from past practices to send an unambiguous signal to the marketplace. i'm glad to have the opportunity to comment, and i encourage all farmers, biofuel producers, and anybody else interested in supporting the r.f.s. to make their comments. those comments should be along the lines of what was agreed to in the oval office on september 12 that the e.p.a. regulations don't reflect properly to state to the e.p.a. that you want the

mr. grassley: madam president, i'd like to -- madam president? the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. grassley: i ask permission to speak in morning business for three minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: i come to the floor today to recognize the accomplishments of an organization that has done great service to communities and veterans across the united states. this month marks 100 years since the american legion received its charter from congress and formally adopted its constitution. when it was established in paris in march of 1919, the american legion stated its aims in part, quote, to perpetuate the opinion pells of justice -- the principles of justice, freedom, and democracy for which we fought. end of quote. the accomplishments of the american legion since that time are numerous and profound. they include successfully lobbying for the creation of what was then called the veterans bureau which we later became the v.a., the department of veterans affairs. the american legion also conducted pioneeri

mr. grassley: i ask to speak for one minute as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: november is national adoption month. this year we have very good ne news. in 2018 over 63,000 young people were adopted from foster care. that's an increase of 4,000 from the previous year. however, the number of children waiting for adoption also increased. that number rose to 125,000. unfortunately, teenagers, sibling groups, and those with medical challenges often wait much longer to be adopted. every child deserves a safe, permanent, loving home. so i want to commend all those who have chosen to adopt children in foster care. if you wonder where i get the opinion that it's unfortunate that people want a permanent, safe, and loving home, all you have to do is listen to the kids in the foster care system and you'll always get this response. what i'd like to have is a mom and dad and i'd like to have a home. in other words, they get tired of being shuffled around from one foster home to another foster home to another foster home

mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i've got a couple of issues i want to speak on. one would be trade and section 232 issue. that would be my second one. the first one, i want to speak about commonsense entitlement reform. in the past year we've seen a flurry of drug pricing proposals. i'm encouraged by efforts from my colleagues here in the senate, especially ranking member wyden, colleagues in the house that agree -- in the house of representatives who agree with this effort to reduce drug prices and the president of the united states who has already been involved for a year and a half in lowering drug prices. all have made lowering prescription drug costs one of the core principles of our efforts and particularly a core principle for this administration. i've paid attention to each of the pieces of legislation that have been proposed and looked at their pros and cons closely. however, so far there's only one bipartisan proposal that cuts prescription drug prices, protects innovation, lowers what senior citi

mr. grassley: the financial crisis facing the private sector multiemployer pension system calls for comprehensive reform and get it done soon. the crisis is severe and growing worse every day. would you believe, about 125 multiemployer plans are in so-called critical and declining financial status, and these plans report that they will become insolvent over the next two decades. it's a lot of people without a retirement plan, if we don't act. several large plans, including the united mine workers pension fund and the large central states pension fund, predict these plans will become insolvent in the next few years. not a very comfortable environment for those retirees. this will leave more than 1.3 million participants without the pension benefits that they've been promised and, of course, worked for -- probably throughout their whole life. in just my state of iowa, the benefits of close to 10,000 participants of multiemployer plans are at risk if the system fails. so 10,000 iowans being affected by what we do or don't do obviously gets my attention. and that figure of 10,000 would represent over

grassley: -- mr. wiegmann: we don't think changes are necessary. we think the authorities are appropriate as they stand. sen. grassley: i yield back. sen. graham: including the cdr? sen. grassley: -- mr. wiegmann: i will let nsa address the cdr program. sen. graham: i do not have a list. >> i would like to thank the chair and ranking member and witnesses. this is a critical opportunity to discuss the best way to balance our responsibility for keeping americans safe while protecting the core protections of our constitution our civil liberties that are fundamental to our democracy. ms. morgan, in your testimony you emphasized that the nsa decision to discontinue the cdr program is based on, and i think i'm quoting " balancing the intelligence program value, with compliance and data integrity concerns." what metrics did the nsa used to determine the intelligence value, broadly? there are a number of factors we take into consideration when we look at the value of a program. be, are we issuing foreign intelligence reports that contain information from th

mr. president. i yield to my colleague, senator grassley. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: first of all, it is a pleasure to work with senator shaheen on this bill. i'm very happy to work together. we have the same goals in mind. and for the cynical people outside of washington, d.c. that say there's never any republican or democrat cooperation, there's kind of a rule around here that senator shaheen and i are examples of. but it applies to all 100 senators. if you really want to get something done, you have to seek bipartisanship in this body. and i can quantify that this way. there's 53 republicans. there are 47 democrat. but -- democrats. but if there were 53 democrats and 47 republicans, the same rule would apply. about 99% of the legislation that gets done around here has to have 60 votes to stop debate before you can even vote on the bill. so obviously even if all 53 republicans were voting together and that doesn't happen very often, you still wouldn't get to 60 votes to pass a piece of legislation. so that's why almost every major piece of legislation that

mr. chair, i want to submit for the record senator grassley's letter to the department of justice dated july 20th, 2017. i read a portion of that into the record during my opening statement. >> without objection. >> ambassador, i congratulate you, you've been down in the secret deposition meeting rooms, you've graduated to your performance today. later this afternoon i should note that for the public that we will be back down in the basement of the capital, doing more of these secret depositions. ambassador, i don't really have very many questions for you. you admitted in your opening statement that, uh, you don't have any firsthand knowledge of the issues that we're looking into. but i do want to talk a little bit about senator grassley very briefly. i assume that you know who senator grassley is. >> yes, sir, i do. >> do you believe that senator grassley is a serious and credible elected official? >> i have no reason to think otherwise. >> were you involved in the july 25th trump/zelensky phone call or preparations for the call? >> no, i was not. >> were you involved in the deliberations a

mr. chair, i want to for the record senator grassley is letter to the department of justice dated july 20, 2017. i read a portion of that into the record during opening statement. >> without objection. >> ambassador, congratulate you. you've been down in the secret deposition meeting rooms. you have graduated for your performance today. later this afternoon i should note for the public we will be back down in the basement of the capital doing more of these secret depositions. ambassador, i don't really have very many questions for you. you admitted in your opening statement that you don't have any first-hand knowledge of the issues that we are looking into but i do want to talk a little bit about senator grassley very briefly. i assume that you know who store grassley is. >> yes, sir, i do. >> do you believe senator grassley is a serious and credible elected official? >> i have no reason to think otherwise. >> we are involved in the july5 trump-zelensky phone call or preparations for the call? >> no, i was not. >> were you involved in the deliberations about the possible military sales to

mr news you recognize for 45 minutes along with minority counsel. first chair i want to submit for the record senator grassley his letter to the department of justice dated july 20th 2017 i read a portion of that into the record during my opening statement without objection. basser i congratulate you you've been down in the secret deposition meeting rooms you've graduated for your performance today. later this afternoon i should note that the public that we will be back down in the basement of the capitol doing more of these secret depositions. bastardize have a i don't really have very many questions for you you have made it in your opening statement that. you don't have any 1st hand knowledge of the issues that we're looking into. but i do want to talk a little bit about senator grassley very briefly i assume that you know who senator grassley is. yes sir. do you believe that senator grassley is a serious and credible elected official i have never even to think otherwise were you involved in the july 25th trip selenski phone call or preparations for the call you know it was not were you involved in the deli

mr. nunes, your recognize for 40 minutes along with minority counsel. >> i want to submit for the record senator grassley's letter to the department of justice, stated july 20th, 2017. i read a portion of that into the record during my opening statement. >> without objection. >> ambassador, to congratulate you, you've been down in the secret deposition meeting rooms. you've graduated for your performance today. later this afternoon, i should note to the public that we will be back down in the basement of the capital, doing more of the secret depositions. ambassador, i don't really have very many questions for you. you admitted in your opening statement that you don't have any firsthand knowledge of the issues that we are looking into. but i do want to talk a little bit about senator grassley very briefly. i assume that you know who senator grassley is? >> yes, sir, i do. >> do you believe that senator grassley is a serious and credible elected official? >> i have no reason to think otherwise. >> were you involved in the july phone call, or preparations for the call? >> no, i was not. >> were you involved a

mr. scott. i have a question for ms. bailey, i will start with you. acthousing opportunities that senator grassley, senator raid, and i -- senator reid, and i are working on. walk-through, again, what this young peoplen for aging out, why it makes their lives better. housing, -- ell, know, aey: well, as we formal housing allows people to life,school, work, live a and having the low wages just make the affordability gap figure for them. without this housing, they could have years spent homeless or even worse, maybe in jail or prison, and other outcomes that we know happen when people are a risk of homelessness. so this bill would give youth able tost step in being have a safe, stable place to live, so that they can build their future. sen. brown: you had mentioned the challenges facing lgbtq young people and people of color. this bill -- how will this help them overcome some of the immense challenges they face? bailey: housing will play a fuse role in being able to make those first steps as they enter into adulthood. lgbtq youth, black youth, , who are allh overrepresented in the foster care system

mr. chair, i want to submit for the record senator grassley's letter to the department of justice dated julyrtion of that into the record during my opening statement. >> without objection. >> ambassador, i congratulate you. you've been down in the secret deposition meeting rooms. you've graduated for your performance today. later this afternoon, i should note that -- for the public that we will be back down in the basement of the capitol doing more of these secret depositions. ambassador, i just have -- i don't really have very many questions for you. you admitted in your opening statement that you don't have any firsthand knowledge of the issues that we're looking into. but i do want to talk a little bit about senator grassley very briefly. i assume that you know who senator grassley is? >> yes, sir, i do. >> do you believe that senator grassley is a serious and credibl credibl credible elected official? >> i have no reason to think otherwise. >> were you involved in the july or preparations for the call?l - >> no, i was not. >> were you involved in the pause in military aid to ukraine as p

mr. chair, i want to for the record senator grassley is letter to the department of justice dated july 20, 2017. i read a portion of that into the record during opening statement. >> without objection. >> ambassador, congratulate you. you've been down in the secret deposition meeting rooms. you have graduated for your performance today. later this afternoon i should note for the public we will be back down in the basement of the capital doing more of these secret depositions. ambassador, i don't really have very many questions for you. you admitted in your opening statement that you don't have any first-hand knowledge of the issues that we are looking into but i do want to talk a little bit about senator grassley very briefly. i assume that you know who store grassley is. >> yes, sir, i do. >> do you believe senator grassley is a serious and credible elected official? >> i have no reason to think otherwise. >> we are involved in the july5 trump-zelensky phone call or preparations for the call? >> no, i was not. >> were you involved in the deliberations about the possible military sales to

but at any rate, senator grassley, do you have anything to say because if you're duties are elsewhere? >> since i didn't think you'd call on me, i've taken care of it by going to mr. seavers and a very important constituent of mine that in about five minutes i'm leaving to open the senate and then i'm going to the senate judiciary committee to make a quorum to get more judges out, and hopefully you'll still be on the program and i can ask him some questions, but i'm glad that the senator from kansas has decided to get the, per te expe the state of iowa and invite mr. seefe seavers in. thank you for doing that. [ laughter ] >> is it surprising i didn't yell at you? >> yeah. are you going to depart immediately or are we going have you here for five minutes and then you're going to come back? >> i'm going to stay for five minutes. >> i see. >> but i've already been here 15 minutes. >> i understand that. you were right on time. we appreciate that. as a matter of fact, i noted the fact that i couldn't see betty brand because you were leaning forward, but that's okay. you might want to be like coop who just left here and lean back. there you go. thank you. now let's ge

mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i'd like to address the senate for one minute in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: the minority leader is so committed to his campaign rhetoric, calling the senate a political graveyard, that he's killing the house-passed appropriations package that funds our national defense, pays our troops. now, leader mcconnell has twice moved to take up the house bill that funds the pentagon as well as the department of state, health and human services, energy, education, and others. but the majority leader has been constantly blocked by the democrats. the minority leader claims to be shocked and outraged that the senate isn't taking up partisan messaging bills from the house when it's very normal for both the house to not take up every bill passed by the other chamber. but that doesn't apply to appropriations, because one thing is very certain -- we've got to fund the government, and those bills absolutely have to come up and be passed by both hou

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i'd like to speak in morning businessor one minute. the presiding officer: -- for one minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: this year on veterans day i will join all americans in honoring our armed forces. as a nation, we owe those who have served a debt of gratitude for the sacrificings they have made to protect our country, our way of life and the principles of liberty and natural rights. and too often we forget to thank the families who are left behind while they are in service. they deserve our consideration as well. the least we can do in return is wrork to ensure -- is work to ensure that all veterans have the health care and benefits that they have earned. we owe it to veterans to ensure that they are never forsaken or forgotten. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: this week the senate will continue to confirm president trump's well-qualified judicial nominees. this presid