mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, the most important words of our constitution are the first three, we the people, three words written in big, bold, beautiful script conveying the mission of our constitution. we are a nation as abraham lincoln opined of the people, by the people, and for the people. that was the mission. but our

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, the most important words of our constitution are the first three, we the people, three words written in big, bold, beautiful script conveying the mission of our constitution. we are a nation as abraham lincoln opined of the people, by the people, and for the people. that was the mission. but our constitution also lays out how our founding fathers intended to be a nation by and for the people, to be governed by coequal branches with the branch carrying the weight of policy development being congress, the house and the senate. the executive to have quite a different role in executing the laws. judiciary with yet another role in weighing whether the laws are in accordance with the parameters of the constitution, the principles of the constitution. so there we are, the branch of government, the senate and the house, with the power of the purse, with the responsibility for laying out the governing vision rules for our nation, and yet a quarter of our government goes unfunded for

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: i also ask unanimous consent for my intern, saline wolf, to have privileges of the the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you. mr. president, i was just over in the russell house office building appeared a group of freshman from the -- fresh m.e.p. from the house intercepted me and handed me this piece of paper, this document, and asked that it be made part of the record of the senate. and i have come to do that. met me explain -- let me explain that these freshmen house members want to see the senate engaged in debate on how to end this shutdown of our government. they see in their home districts across this country tremendous damage occurring in all kinds of fashion, damage to security, damage to the economy, damage to families tryin

mr. merkley. mr. muran, ms. murkowski, mr. murphy, mrs. murray, mr. paul, mr. perdue, mr. peters, mr. coordinateman. mr. reed, mr. risch, mr. roberts, mr. romney, mrs. rosen, mrs. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders, mr. sasse, mr. schumer mr. scott, mrs. shaheen, mr. shelby, ms. cinema, mr. smith, ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan mr. chester, mr. mr. mr. toomey, mr. you doll, mr. van hollen, mr. warner, ms. warren, mr. white house, mr. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. young -- >> mr. pence: senate will be in order. a quorum is present under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved and the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak their -- for up to ten minutes each. t >> sen. mcconnell: i ask if we. >> the presiding officer: with s-res. 1. >> informing the president of the united states that a quorum of each house is assembled. >> is there an objection to the measure? >> the senate will. >> the presiding officer: to the measure. >> the resolution be agreed to, and laid upon there the table with

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, the most important words of our constitution are the first three, we the people, three words written in big, bold, beautiful script conveying the mission of our constitution. we are a nation as abraham lincoln opined of the people, by the people, and for the people. that was the mission. but our constitution also lays out how our founding fathers intended to be a nation by and for the people, to be governed by coequal branches with the branch carrying the weight of policy development being congress, the house and the senate. the executive to have quite a different role in executing the laws. judiciary with yet another role in weighing whether the laws are in accordance with the parameters of the constitution, the principles of the constitution. so there we are, the branch of government, the senate and the house, with the power of the purse, with the responsibility for laying out the governing vision rules for our nation, and yet a quarter of our government goes unfunded for

mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, the most important words in our constitution are the first three -- we the people. with these three simple words our founders laid out the mission for our government. that is, a government tephras a form of legislation -- to produce a form of legislation that reflects the will of the american people. or, as lincoln summarized it, a government of, by, and for the people. but that mission is being corrupted and damaged in a significant and extensive fashion. it's being damaged with a goal of converting this vision of we the people to a government by and for the powerful and the privileged. that corruption, that fundamental corruption of our government, comes in many forms, but it certainly includes gerrymandering, voter suppression and voter intimidation, and dark money in our campaigns flooding our system with unidentified resources to serve the powerful and the privileged rather than the people. so we here in this chamber, having taken an oath of allegiance to our constit

mr. merkley: i come to the floor tonight to talk about hostages. seven hostages, seven spending bills, bills that have come through this republican-led chamber, bills that the house is ready to move forward, taken hostage ironically by the republican leadership of the senate and the president of the united states. now those seven hostages, those spending bills the house has said, well, mr. president, we have a difference of opinion that has to be worked out. it affects homeland security. so let's continue that debate while setting the other six free. freedom for six bills passed by the republican-led senate so we can put america back to work. it sounds like a pretty good idea. but good ideas and common sense seem to be victims, victims of this presidential temper tantrum over a symbol on the southern border. so while it shut down nine cabinet departments: agriculture, commerce, justice, homeland security, housing, interior, state, transportation, and treasury, affecting all kinds of everyday functions for americans. the local school keeps functioni

mr. merkley: i come to the floor tonight to talk about hostages. seven hostages, seven spending bills, bills that have come through this republican-led chamber, bills that the house is ready to move forward, taken hostage ironically by the republican leadership of the senate and the president of the united states. now those seven hostages, those spending bills the house has said, well, mr. president, we have a difference of opinion that has to be worked out. it affects homeland security. so let's continue that debate while setting the other six free. freedom for six bills passed by the republican-led senate so we can put america back to work. it sounds like a pretty good idea. but good ideas and common sense seem to be victims, victims of this presidential temper tantrum over a symbol on the southern border. so while it shut down nine cabinet departments: agriculture, commerce, justice, homeland security, housing, interior, state, transportation, and treasury, affecting all kinds of everyday functions for americans. the local school keeps functioni

merkley. >> thank you, mr. wheeler.yesterday when we talked, i laid out all the things affecting oregon through climate chaos, affecting our formests, our farming, our fishing, and i asked you how concerned are you about these impacts on my constituents, the people of the united states and you shifted to saying, my job is to follow rules and work to obey lawsuits. so i came back to you again and i said again, these are tremendous impacts that we're seeing, hugely damaging. how concerned are you? and you shifted to saying you're looking forward to going to africa to talk about clean drinking water for africans. i'm going to give you a third chance here to answer this question. the calamities we're seeing are enormous across this country. more powerful hurricanes, more devastating forest fires, more in the shell fish industry. pine beetles eating our forests. on a scale of one to ten, ten being you stay awake at night worrying about it, and one being it occasionally crosses your mind. how concerned are you about this deva