mr. merkley: thank you mr. president. i rise tonight to urge congress to quit playing political games with our national security. it's time to have a clean homeland security funding bill here on the floor of the senate to be debated. now, we are only days away from a potential shutdown of the homeland security department and it's very clear that the reason why is that members of the house here on capitol hill have decided they want to make a clear statement about certain policy statements. they want to have a policy rider that says that young children who came to this country and know no other country need to be prioritized for deportation. well i happen to think that's just wrong. but if members of this body want to put that into a bill and want to put that on the floor of the house want to put it on the floor of the senate, i'm quite ready to have that debate. yet another policy rider says that the president must no longer prioritize the deportation of those with criminal backgrounds. now, i happen to think we should pr

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. the senate is in a quorum call. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to have the quorum call alleviated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you. i rise today to urge this body for our colleagues toly co- together quickly to passes a -- to come together quickly to pass a homeland security bill. we are just now 16 days away from a homeland security shutdown. the clock is ticking. and a shutdown would be wholly unnecessary and quite frankly completely dangerous. we know that we don't lack for security threats. it was less than two years ago that terrorists attacked the boston marathon. it was just weeks ago when we witnessed a horrific series of terror attacks on our friends in paris. and we know that the brutal destabilizing force known as islamic state or isil is determined to hurt our nation and our citizens. the world is a dangerous place. so at a time like this, we should be working together on a bipartisan basis to fund and strengthen homela

mr. merkley: thank you mr. president.from ohio and pennsylvania and remarks yet to be made by my colleague from rhode island. we're here on the floor together to raise fundamental issues that should be part of the discussion about a proposed trade deal or a fast-track to a trade deal. now, i love the concept of trade trade. the idea that our particular economy, based on our natural resources and based on our skills do certain things very, very well and we would like to be able to take and sell those products to the world and that other nations do other things very well and we can benefit by their expertise and import those products. that's a win-win on a level playing field between nations that have roughly the same structure of environmental laws roughly the same structure of labor laws, roughly the same level of wages. that's a win-win for both nations or multiple nations involved in an agreement. and, indeed, our trade agreements after world war ii were very much in that line as we expanded to the economies of europe w

senator shaheen senator merkley, senator gardner and senator blumenthal on this because, one i'm proud to have them as cosponsors, but i'm also proud that we're doing the right thing. mr. president, i would ask my full statement be made prior to the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: with that, i would yield the floor and suggest -- i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president yesterday, our friends across the aisle blocked -- filibustered really, a funding a $40 billion funding bill that would have paid the funds necessary to keep the department of homeland security up and running through the rest of this fiscal year. now, i understand that they had some differences over the content of the legislation that the house passed, but it's undenial that the house acted responsibly by passing a -- this appropriation bill, particularly in a time of heightened security concerns not only here at home but around the world. and of course the part that, i guess, confused me the most is our democratic friends said well we don't want to debate the bill, but what we want is a clean d.h

mr. mcconnell: if there's no further business to come before the senate i ask that it stand adjourned following the remarks of senators merkley and coons for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: