mr. inhofe: thank you. mr. president, i'm not the first guy to stand up here and make this observation, but i've got serious concerns with how the nominee confirmation process has been going this congress. there is a blatant lack of respect to the senate nomination process and an unprecedented level of obstructionism. you know, i've been here for a number of years, so i've -- i know what to compare it with. i've never seen it so -- so many people being delayed in confirmation knowing they're ultimately going to be confirmed and they're well qualified civil servants. the democrats are forcing cloture votes on nominees when we have well over 60 votes in support. last week we held a cloture vote on scott palk. scott palk is from oklahoma. he's a guy that everybody likes. he doesn't have any enemies out there. in fact, he was actually nominated by president obama. he wasn't even nominated by this president. and he ended up getting 79 votes. but still the stall was there and we had to wait and wait and wait. meanwhi

mr. inhofe: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call process be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: mr. president, for 20 years now, i have viewed the development and deployment of a layered ballistic missile defense shield as vital to our national security. the experience that we had yesterday, that we witnessed yesterday is something that we have been talking about for a long time that was -- that was -- that was going to happen. sometimes our d.i.a., the defense intelligence, has said it's going to happen five years from now, then four years from now. but the question is when will north korea have the capability of a weapon and delivery system that would reach washington, d.c., or any of the united states states. the adversaries like north korea are developing ballistic missiles with increasing range and accuracy. it's important for us here in the senate to communicate to the american people the credible grave and immediate threat that we face. today the w

mr. carl inhofe arguing on behalf of the northwest lab. thank you for hosting us and the secretary earlier this year and for all the impressive work that you do. cybersecurity is the one issue that keeps me up at night worrying about how foreign entities and actors might attack us in the next provocation of national international effort. we used to think of it as a plane that might fly into airspace or sub that might cross international waters. now, what we have to worry about is provocations from actual grid attacks. if we don't make necessary investments to prevent and defend against these impacts our enemies can succeed in widespread blackouts or devastating economy or threatening to bring millions of americans to the point without power being in great disarray. as i referenced earlier, the trump administration proposed budget cuts that the cyber put us at risk. i sent letters and spent a lot of time this summer hoping they would see the impacts here to our budget and what they would do. since our committee's last cybersecurity hearing

mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent i be recognized as if in morning business for such time as i shall consume. mr. president, this week, after three years of planning and construction, we now will be dedicating tomorrow officially opening the museum of the bible. it is led by steve green of hobby lobby. you all remember hobby lobby. that's in oklahoma. he's been a friend of mine, his parents have been friends of mine for a long period of time. he's the chairman of the board of directors for this long awaited museum and will allow visitors from all over, not just the country here, but all over the world. they'll be coming here for that purpose to see what is -- what really it's all about and how this plays the pivotal role in our country's, in our country's history. there is no better place than washington, d.c. to be our nation's capital to remind us of the scope of the bible, the impact on our history and our narrative. it's been a long-awaited. indeed, one of our founding fathers, p