mr. lankford: mr. president, i'd like to speak to the issue that was just brought up dealing with deficit spending and specifically the choice program. three years ago, congress put into place a response to what was happening in v.a. centers all over the country.. for any of us that are in congressional offices we were aware and pushing on this issue and had pushed on this issue for awhile. but the media exposed what we all saw, and that was the long secret waiting list for veterans so that the v.a. centers could keep their positive numbers up and look better. months of waiting for things that would take days across the street. as i dealt with the v.a. center in my own city, it would take six months at times to tkpwept tkpwept -- get a knee replacement center when the great hospital directly across the street they could get that same surgery within two days. hearing aids that would take months and months to actually go through the process to get it at our v.a. centers. cancer care that should be diagno

mr. lankford: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, i'd like for -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. lankford: i would like it ask the quorum call be eviscerated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: mr. president, i'd like to ask this body for just a moment to remember something that there are probably many people have never heard of the first time, because for whatever reason a bit of america's past seems to just disappear from memory as soon as it occurred. so let me take us back almost 100 years for a moment. in the summer of 1919, that summer was commonly referred to after the fact, "the red summer." the red summer included race riots all over america. white-on-black riots, specifically. there were white individuals moving into black neighborhoods and devastating those communities. it happened in charleston, south carolina, longview, texas, bisbee, arizona, norfolk, virginia, chicago, in washington, d.c., happened in elaine, arkansas, knoxville, tennessee, omaha, nebraska, an

mr. lankford: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: i've listened to debate about zika and it's been entertaining to me but it's also to hear the series of numbers being it thrown around as if it's apples to apples comparison. let me try to break down a few things with an apples to apples comparison about zika and the funding. the president has asked for $1.9 billion for zika. the senate has now responded back to say we'll do the $500 millions president's already moved over from ebola funding and add to it $1.1 billion and come up with about $1.6 billion, almost $1.7 billion, about $200 million short which is being compared as grossly inadequate to be that .2 short from what the president had asked for. there is also being thrown around about the house proposal saying the house proposal is grossly inadequate to be able to cover what's being discussed there. a little over $600 million. the president wants $1.9 billion. the house is offering $600 million. but what's not being stated is what the senate has done and what the presi

mr. lankford: i would like to ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: i want to spend a few moments talking about the zika virus and our response to it from congress. there has been a lot of conversation about the zika virus, both in the media, multiple of our committees. for months, actually. this is not a new issue that has been brought up. this is an existing issue. the spread of the zika virus is moving across our hemisphere and it's rapidly spreading to multiple countries to the south of us. it's moving to the united states. as most of you know, the zika virus is carried by a mosquito, a particular type of mosquito. not all mosquitoes can transmit the zika virus, but they pick uf mosquito can carry the virus from one person that the zika virus is in their blood, it gets in the mosquito, the mosquito bites someone else and transfers it. the interesting thing i think most people don't realize is that the zika virus for most individuals is not all that difficult or painful to be able to work thro