mr. schumer: now, mr. president, after speaker pelosi decided to open a formal impeachment inquiry on tuesday evening, there have been several developments. yesterday the president released a memorandum of conversation of his july 25 call with president zelensky of ukraine. in plain text, plain text, no ifs,ands,or buts, the president pressured the leader of ukraine to investigate one of his leading political rivals confirming public reports. yesterday as well the house and senate intelligence committees received the official whistle-blower complaint that precipitated this series of events. i read the complaint yesterday afternoon and came away more concerned, even more concerned than when i had read the memorandum of the president's conversation. this morning the house intelligence committee made public the declassified portion of the complaint and the intelligence community's inspector general's cover letter. that was the correct decision. the american people have a right to read the whistle-blower's com

mr. schumer: madam president. >> without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: madam president. just three brief points. first, this resolution is not aimed at the senate intelligence committees. senators burr and warner do do a diligent job in trying to figure out what's going on. it is aimed at a thus far recalcitrant executive branch which has blocked the ability for the committees to see the complaint, even though law requires it. d second, it is welcome that we can join together to do our job of oversight. and i want to thank the majority leader for not blocking this request, because i think every one of us in this chamber realizes the importance of oversight and the need to prevent an overreaching executive from going that far. getting the transcript is a good step. but it is the complaint we need. that is the gravaman of this resolution. it is the whistleblower's complaint, not the transcript, that we need and are asking for in this resolution. and so so i further ask that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to be reconsidered be considered

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now there are two possible paths when it comes to the appropriations process here in the congress. i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you for informing me of the rules. i appreciate that very much. there are two possible paths when it comes to the appropriations process here in congress. there's the bipartisan path where both parties work together in good faith to pass all 12 appropriations bills. then there is the partisan path where one party breaks faith with the other and we end up traveling down a road of brinkmanship, continuing resolutions become the order of the day, and the risk of a government shutdown increases. we all know the bipartisan path is far preferable. it both avoids the possibility of another damaging government shutdown and when we legislate the appropriations bills, we can intelligently allocate our resources for the future. continuing resolutions, on the other hand, are

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: just three brief points. first, this resolution is not aimed at the senate intelligence committee. senator burr and warner dodo an intelligent job at figuring out what is going on. it is thus far aimed at a recalcitrant executive branch, which has blocked the ability for the committees to see the complaint, even though law requires it. and, second, it is welcome that we can join together to do our job of oversight, and i want to thank the majority leader for not blocking this request because i think every one of us in this chamber realizes the importance of oversight and the need to prevent an overreaching executive from going that far. getting the transcript is a good step, but it is the complaint we need. that is the graviman of this resolution. this is the complaint, not the transcript, that ware asking for in this resolution. i further ask that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or

mr. schumer was a leader in the house when this legislation was passed in the 90's. the rest of us were his lieutenants will run around trying to get votes, but he took the lead on passing very progressive legislation at that time. as he indicated, since about time, i have been ways to evade some of the background checks, some predictable and some not. the online sales are a new phenomenon. just to be clear, this is a simple bill, a bill h.r. 8, so , named because it was eight years from the time gabby giffords' town meeting was assaulted by gun violence. this bill, under the leadership of mike thompson, the chair of our task force on gun violence prevention, put this bill together in a bipartisan way. he sent it, passed it and sent it to the senate as a companion bill to h.r. 1211, which modifies the timetable. but just think, it is very simple. online sales, person-to-person sales, which is how one of the most recent gun violence episodes took place, someone somebody bought it from a person. person-to-person, online and gun shows. again, as was indicated, whose pur

mr. schumer: now, mr. president, over the weekend, details emerged about president trump's conduct with the ukrainian president. specifically, the president's phone call with the ukrainian leader were the subject of an official whistle-blower complaint by a member of the intelligence community. the intelligence community inspector general, a trump appointee, determined that this whistle-blower's

mr. schumer was a leader in the house when this legislation was passed in the '90s. the rest of us were his lieutenants who ran around trying to get votes, but he took the lead on passing very progressive legislation at that time, and as he indicated since that time, there is been ways to evade the background check, and some predictable, and some not, and the online sales are a new phenomenon. and this is a simple bill, hr-8, and it is so named because it is eight year from the time that gabby gaf bby giffords' townhal assaulted, and so this tier put this bill together in a bipartisan way, and passed it and sent it to the senate. it is a companion bill hr-211 to modify the timetable. and very simple online sales, person-to-person sales which is how one of the most recent gun violence episodes took place because somebody bought it from a person, person-to-person, online and gun shows. again, as indicated whose purpose was something different at the time. it is not radical, but an expansion of what has been successful already. when we passed the bill, and these inciden

mr. schumer: it is carefully considered judgment it is now in the best interest of our country and our constitution to proceed with an impeachment inquiry. i strongly support speaker pelosi's decision. if we don't reckon with president trump's persistent transgressions, the very foundation of this great republic is at risk. the president kept pushing and pushing and pushing the constitutional envelope. finally the president's conduct made an impeachment inquiry unavoidable. the events of recent days have brought sharply into focus the question of whether president trump abused the powers of his office and betrayed the public trust for personal, political gain. in open defiance of the law, his administration has thus far sought to block the transmission of an official whistleblower complaint to congress. the nature of that whistleblower complaint has been deemed both credible and urgent by one of president trump's only senior level appointees. the inspector general of the intelligence community. according to public reports, this complaint may detail how the president of the united states conducted a

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i rise tonight to join the chorus of democratic senators in this chamber demanding action to address the american gun violence epidemic. we stand here tonight on behalf of the tens of millions of americans from one end of the country to the other who are crying out for change. every few months it seems our nation is rocked by another horrifying mass shooting. el paso and dayton are only the latest entries in our national register of tragedy, a list that stretches from parkland to pittsburgh, charleston to columbine, aurora to orlando, blacksburg to binghamton, san bernardino to sandy hook to las vegas. because that ever-growing list can sometimes seem abstract, let's not forget the specific places where these awful shootings occurred -- movie theaters and nightclubs, shopping malls and office parks, music festivals and traffic stops, churches, synagogues, mosques, colleges, high schools, and an elementary school. our hearts remain with the families of the victims and the survi

mr. schumer and speaker pelosi for trying to change the discussion. every year almost on a monthly basis money is repurposed for other things. it is a power that congress gave the president of the united states. when barack obama was president in his final year he spent more than $300 billion in one year on programs that were never authorized by congress. so don't -- they are feeding people a line hoping that they don't understand how this works. but the repurpose of dollars happens regularly and they have been as engaged in that as anybody. >> melissa: what about where the money is coming from. the idea he is taking it from other military spending that needed to be done. that seems to fly in the face of one of his major goals which is to rebuild the military and make us strong. >> jason: when you spend $4 trillion, 600 billion the -- building a wall can be justified as protecting the united states of america. and there is less specificity in that spending that gives the president the opportunity to then repurpose those dollars. they just send a in th

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: last night speaker nancy pelosi announced that the house of representatives would begin a formal impeachment inquiry of president trump. i have spoken to her many times over the past few days. i know she did not make this decision lightly and took no pleasure in making it. it is her carefully considered judgment that it is now in the best interest of our country and our constitution to proceed with an impeachment inquiry. i strongly support speaker pelosi's decision. if we don't reckon with president trump's persist entrance gregss, the -- transgressions, the very foundation of this great republic is at risk. the president kept pushing and pushing and pushing the constitutional envelope. finally the president's conduct made an impeachment inquiry unavoidable. the events of recent days have brought sharply into focus the question of whether president trump abused the powers of his office and betrayed the public trust for personal, political gain. in open defiance of the law, hi

mr. schumer and submitted earlier today. >> stipulating that our objective here is simple to conduct intelligence of bipartisan matters that the committee has successfully conducted in the past, i have no objection to the senator's request. >> joining us now is senator kamala harris. she is a member of both the senate judiciary committee and the senate intelligence committee. she is also now a democratic candidate for president. senator, thank you very much for joining us tonight. please explain to us what mitch mcconnell was up to there today, actually agreeing to unanimous consent with chuck schumer? >> well, lawrence, as you said, i serve on the senate intelligence committee, and i must tell you, there is something special, actually, about that committee in that specifically no televisions, no reporters, no cell phones, and what ends up happening in my experience is that members of the united states senate walk in that door and really do put country first. and understand, for the most part, what we all should appreciate, which is that on matters of national security, the approach should not ev

mr. schumer said the easy part is passing the stopgap bill known as a continuing resolution, but the hardart will be passing the full year spending bills for fiscal 2020, starting october 1. they have this gap period to craft the rest of those funding bills. richard shelby said if democrats cannot work out a deal with the president on border security, congress might have to pass a full year continuing resolution that would essentially keep funding at its current levels through next september saying that is not the outcome he is hoping for. that is what is going on with government funding. we want to hear from you about the story of the week we have been talking about and patty has been waiting in connecticut, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. are you there? host: yes, ma'am. caller: i called up because the whistleblower from the cia, i think it is a plant from brennan . they are going to try and accuse barr because he works with trump. if i remember correctly, fast and furious, eric holder stuck up for obama, fought with him, and was held in contempt. what do you call that?

mr. schumer. >> the senate floor is a very useful place to get a lot done.to-face with everyone. it is a great place to do business. >> you have to go all over the floor. it is all done orally unlike the house where they put a card in. rollcall votes are a good time to talk to colleagues, to do business. a lot of it is done across the aisle. the origin of the majority leader position is murky but began to develop during woodrow wilson's administration. >> in 1913, woodrow wilson had a phd in history and political sciences when he became president. he had a lot of ideas on how government should be run. he suggested to the leaders of the democratic party they appoint a leader to be on the floor to represent him and his programs. they chose a junior member who is well-known nationally because he had run for vice president whose name was john wealth kearns. from indiana. he took that front row center seat where the majority leader has sat ever since. he occupied it as leader of his party. the official title of majority leader doesn't come until the 1920's, but h

what do you make of mr., senator schumer's response there. >> what is a slap in the face is the militaryr and obama oversaw during those eight years. so now they're pretending like they really care about the military. by the way in his tweet he talked about where the, he is so concerned about money going to a military school in new york state, i believe versus the wall that was part of the reallocation. guarranty if you poll the american people they care more about that military money going to protect our borders, national security, keep out drugs, keep out human traffickers all the bad things they're doing to children along the border. that is what people care about. stuart: the democrats have vowed, you're not going to build that wall. >> now they're acting like they like military hawks. stuart: military hawks. >> the other thing the wall is compassionate. i'm so sick of aoc and chuck schumer and nancy pelosi trying to claim this man tell of compassion when we know the children that, human traffickers are coming -- they actually like these policies that the democrats have which essenti

chuck schumer has called for the immediate publication of the whistleblower complaint that has led to impeachment proceedings against us president donald trump. mrmiddle of a run of really unsettled weather with no end in sight, really. rain at times coming our way over the next few days, with some fairly strong wind around at times as well. now, looking at the satellite picture, we‘ve got some shower clouds heading our way for today. this area of cloud, just to the north, is going to be bringing some rain across parts of the uk on friday, and then as i spin right the way across towards the other side of the atlantic, well, we‘ve got this juicy looking cloud, quite a deep area of low pressure that‘s going be bringing some wet and windy weather for some of us as we head into this weekend. so rain will continue to be blown our way. now at the moment we‘ve got some rain crossing the country. it will tend ease across the west with showers following. the winds continue to pick up as well. so it‘s becoming increasingly blustery, particularly around the coast and hills. it‘s a mild start of the day, with temperatures around 11—15 degrees. once the sun

minority leader chuck schumer addressed his concern following the confirmation on the senate floor yesterday. >> mrscalia's nomination is a slap to the face of labor. because mr. scalia's life work has been utterly opposed to the mission of the agency to which he is nominated. he has sided repeatedly with the large corporate interests against working people. if any working person doubts that president trump does not have their interests at heart, look at who he has nominated. >> coming up many republicans are still standing by president trump in the wake of the whistleblower complaint. but we're starting to see some fractures. we will show you one important moment when a gop lawmaker criticized the president yesterday. >> plus, a look at rudy giuliani's role in the ukraine scandal amid reporting that the u.s. envoy scrambled to contain giuliani's damage to national security. we will tell you about that when we come back in a moment. erica. that's why the nfl chose verizon. because they need the massive capacity of 5g with ultra wideband, so more screaming, streaming, posting fans... can experience

schumer, has called for the immediate release of the whistleblower complaint that's led to impeachment proceedings against president trump. the unnamed official raised concerns about a phone call between mrmp and ukraine's leader. mr trump asked his counterpart to set up a corruption investigation into the democratic presidential candidate, joe biden, and his son. mr biden urged lawmakers to hold the president to account for his alleged abuse of power. david willis reports from washington. it was a visibly wary donald trump who took to the stage at the united nations. his administration's effo rts nations. his administration's efforts please buy a row back home over an unusual telephone conversation. the goal between mr trump and the president of ukraine, volodymyr zelensky, injuly trump and the president of ukraine, volodymyr zelensky, in july this year is supposed to form the basis ofa year is supposed to form the basis of a whistleblower‘s report. it could lead to president trump's impeachment. i fully support transparency on this whistleblower information even though it was supposedly secondhand infestation, which is sort of interesting, and other things have come out about the whist

chuck schumer spoke with the president by phone and told him any proposal he endorses that doesn't include the background check legislation won't get the job done the leaders promised to join mrtrump in the rose garden for a signing ser mceremony if he gt through the senate. >>> now, nfl week two. it featured a quirk and a contentious return >>> first, to atlanta for the battle of the birds. falcons take flight in the fourth quarter fourth down pass soars into a long-game-winning touchdown. falcons clip the eagles' wings atlanta wins, 24-20. >>> new england patriots wide receiver antonio brown played in his first game since accused of sexual assault and rape in a lawsuit. as he awaits the decision on his future, he was the top receiver, pulling in a touchdown patriots shut out the dolphins >>> the end of an era in oakland as raiders move to las vegas next season. it is likely the last nfl game to be played with baseball in-field dirt. they share the current stadium with the a's, but the raiders likely won't play again at home until baseball season is over and the dirt will be gone. the raiders couldn't rise up to the occasion chiefs win it, 28-10 >>> let's look at fantasy foo

schumer. right after 9/11. i admire everything he did at that point. and it's said most new yorkers because you are ruining your reputation mr. mayor. it is time to take it back and stop going on like this. >> laura: well --st >> it makes me sad, it really does. >> he should be -- >> laura: talking about each other's reputations is not helpful. >> it is all new yorkers and they are sad. >> is there any chance he would stop interrupting people? can we get him under control? >> laura: rudy, go ahead.close . >> that man made a seriousaccuss totally false that i was deputized by the state department to get involved, on a political opponent. that is not all what the state department called me about. that is not what i did. what he said was totally false.o totallyth false things on this before. you may have respect for me, but i don't have respect for you. the simple fact is that joe biden committed some serious crimes. i'm going to tell you. >> laura: that has to be proved. >> we don't know that either. >> laura: go ahead, rudy. >> i probably know more of the evidence than any of you do. >> you probably don't, you've seen nothing. >> lau

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: just three brief points. first, this resolution is not aimed at the senate intelligence committee. senator burr and warner dodo an intelligent job at figuring out what is going on. it is thus far aimed at a recalcitrant executive branch, which has blocked the ability for the committees to see the complaint, even though law requires it. and, second, it is welcome that we can join together to do our job of oversight, and i want to thank the majority leader for not blocking this request because i think every one of us in this chamber realizes the importance of oversight and the need to prevent an overreaching executive from going that far. getting the transcript is a good step, but it is the complaint we need. that is the graviman of this resolution. this is the complaint, not the transcript, that ware asking for in this resolution. i further ask that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or

mr. schumer: mr. president, are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, before we vote, i'd like to take a moment to recognize a lifelong public servant, cindy hassack who will be retiring after 32 years in this chamber with the sergeant at arms and the senate door keepers. cindy came to the senate in the spring of 1 1987. in her time here she's seen hundreds of senators pass through these doors and when particular senators were nowhere to be found, she was usually the one who would have chased them down. there's also so much work in the senate that gets done behind the scenes. so much of it essential to our operations and all of it performed flawlessly, quietly, wonderfully by dedicated staffers who rarely get the recognition they deserve. truly, the senate would not function without the quiet dedication and steady excellence of folks like cindy. after days of chasing down senators come to a close, i wish her all the be

mr. schumer: now, mr. president, over the weekend, details emerged about president trump's conduct with the ukrainian president. specifically, the president's phone call with the ukrainian leader were the subject of an official whistle-blower complaint by a member of the intelligence community. the intelligence community inspector general, a trump appointee, determined that this whistle-blower's complaint is incredible and a matter of urgent concern whose subject matter, quote, not only falls within the d.n.i.'s jurisdiction but relates to one of the most significant and important of the d.n.i.'s responsibilities to the american people, unquote. by law, by law, a whistle-blower complaint labeled in this way must be transmitted to congress, not shall be transmitted to congress, must be. the trump administration has not allowed that to happen. so far in the face of this dire warning and the trump administration's effort to cover it up, the republican-led senate has remained silent and sub missive, shying awa

mr. schumer and submitted earlier today. >> the clerk will report. >> senate resolution 325, expressing the sense of the senate that the whistleblower complaint received on august 12, 2019 by the inspector general of the intelligence community should be transmitted immediately to the select committee on intelligence of the senate and the permanent select committee on intelligence of the house of representatives. >> is there objection proceeding to the measure? mr. mitchell: reserving the right to object. colleagues have a concern for protecting whistleblowers and use appropriate appropriate channels to raise legitimate concerns. the senate's is to treat allegations in a responsible and deliberate manner to avoid racing to judgment based on media leaks and not fuel media speculation -- host: we'll take you live to speaker pelosi. ms. pelosi: as the president of the united states has admitted that he spoke to the president of a foreign country, that would be ukraine, about something that would assist him in his political -- his election. that has changed everything. o now, because he -- the i

mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: the yeas and nays are ordered. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 80. the nays are 13. the nomination is confirmed. the clerk will report the next nomination. the clerk: the judiciary. steven d. grimberg of georgia to be united states district judge for the northern district of georgia. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. the yeas and nays are requested. is there a second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote:

mr. schumer: mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the quorumdispend with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and i ask consent to speak on leader time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, the appropriations process demands that republicans and democrats work together. if one party decides to go it alone, it can wreck the spirit of bipartisanship necessary to responsibly fund the government. unfortunately, republicans elected to depart from the bipartisan path early in the appropriations process this year. we had a bipartisan deal on the budget caps, the 302-a's, the defense, nondefense side. we were working on allocations to the 12 subcommittees when the republicans decided, without consulting any democrat, to divert funds from medical research, opioid treatment, and our military and their families so that they could appease the president's wish to spend up to $12 billion extra for a border wall. a wall, by the way, that the president promised mexico would pay for. leader mcconnell and chairman shel

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum, madam president? the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, madam president, i begin this morning with some news for my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. as stipulated by the national emergencies act, democrats will once again force a vote to terminate the president's national emergency declaration. the provisions of the national emergency act dictate that the resolution of disapproval be privileged and therefore must be voted upon. as everyone no doubt remembers, the trump administration declared a national emergency in february of this year after congress repeatedly denied the president funding for the construction of a border wall that he promised mexico would pay for. a few weeks ago, the administration released the list of military construction projects it's planned on canceling in order to steal money for the president's wall. the pr

mr. schumer and cemented earlier today. >> the clerk will report. 325,nate resolution expressing the sense of the senate, that the whistleblower complaint received on august 12, 2019, by the inspector general of the intelligence community, should be transmitted immediately to the select committee on intelligence of the senate and the permanent select committee on intelligence of the house of representatives. is their objection to proceeding to the measure? >> madam president, reserving the right to object. >> majority leader? a concernues share for protecting whistleblowers who use appropriate established channels to raise legitimate concerns. to senate's obligation is treat such allegations in a responsible, and deliberate manner, to avoid racing to ,udgment based on media leaks to not feel media speculation with breathless accusations, there's much we do not know about the complaint lodged with the intelligence communities inspector general. including whether the complaint involves intelligence activities at all. before the democratic leader elected to go to the media yesterday, the chai

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, yesterday the senate failed -- yesterday the senate failed to advance a motion to proceed to a package of appropriations bills, demonstrating something that leader mcconnell already knew, there are not enough votes in the senate for the president's wall. the senate refuses to fund a border wall that president -- that the president promised mexico would pay for, especially not at the expense of our troops and their families and important public health programs like child care and head start. just yesterday the pentagon warned of dire outcomes if the money to fund the military is not provided. read today's "washington post", our military people are upset with this. now, their chair of command, they are not going to publicly say it, pu we -- but we know it. over 120 military projects stand to lose funding and we're not talking about fixing parking lot

mr. schumer: and this isn't just a question of fairness. it's a question of which nation will lead the world in these industries in the coming decades, creating jobs and wealth. i want america to lead. our businesses need to be able to compete equally and fairly. i'm confident if there were a level playing field, america would prevail and we'd stay the leading economy in the world. but if we continue to let china take advantage of us while we sit there with our hands folded, woe is us -- and particularly our children and grandchildren. so i'd conclude by reminding the trump administration that in the ongoing trade negotiations with beijing, where the president has been tougher on china than either of the previous two administrations -- and that's a good thing -- but the topic of reciprocity and fair market access should be front and center, and we shouldn't give in until we are treated fairly. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: the p

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: as negotiations continue on a continuing resolution to keep the government open past next week, we should be laying the groundwork to process the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2020n an ideal world, republicans on the appropriations committee would be negotiating with democrats on the appropriations committee in good faith to determine allocations and the content of those bills. but republicans, unfortunately, have not chosen to do this. they're acting in a totally partisan way. republicans have chosen to back the president's demand for an additional $12 billion in funding for his border wall, taken from other sources including medical research, opioid treatment, and funding intended for our military, their families, their kids. mexico, oddly, isn't chipping in a penny. this was all done totally on the republic

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, over the weekend, details emerged about president trump's conduct with the ukrainian president. specifically, the president's phone call with the ukrainian leader were the subject of an official whistle-blower complaint by a member of the intelligence community. the intelligence community inspector general, a trump appointee, determined that this whistle-blower's complaint is incredible and a matter of urgent concern whose subject matter, quote, not only falls within the d.n.i.'s jurisdiction but relates to one of the most significant and important of the d.n.i.'s responsibilities to the american people, unquote. by law, by law, a whistle-blower complaint labeled in this way must be transmitted to congress, not shall be transmitted to congress, must be. the trump administration has not allowed that to happen. so far in the face of this dire warning a

mr. schumer: now, mr. president, 18 years ago today, on a cloudless tuesday morning, my city, our country, our world changed forever. in the span of a few hours, the twin towers fell, the pentagon was hit, smoke rose from an empty field in pennsylvania. more than 3,000 souls were taken from us that day. i knew some of them, a guy i played basketball with in high school, a businessman who helped me on my way up, a firefighter i did blood drives with. it was one of the bloodiest days on american soil since the civil war. each year we pause to remember that awful day. we mourn those we lost. but we also recognize that in the aftermath of september 11, the resiliency of the american people, the resiliency of new yorkers shone through one of the darkest hours in our country. looking back remains difficult, even after 18 years. i ride my bike through the city of new york. every fifth or sixth street is named after a firefighter or police officer who died in parts of brooklyn and places like that. i'll never forg

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the minority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. i join with my colleague the senator from arkansas in this bipartisan motion to instruct. huawei is a menace. it's a menace to our national security. it's a menace to our economic growth. it's a menace to the future of america in many ways. if we're not tough with huawei, who are we going to be tough with? if we're not tough with huawei, what are we going to do when china continues to take advantage of us in ways that are unfair, whether it be economic, national security, cyber, or whatever. this resolution will ensure that the conferees know that the senate is strongly in support of being tough with huawei on national security grounds, on economic grounds, and on basically ensuring that america stays number one in many of the leading technologies that are facing -- that we will need to create job growth, wealth, and prosperity in the future. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will ca

mr. schumer: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: first, let welcome my colleagues back from the august state work period. it was taunt to travel our states and meet with constituents, to hear from them about the issues that matter most in their lives. some of the things i heard -- middle-class families are struggling with costs that keep going up while wages barely budge, recent college graduates are saddled with crippling college debt and are worried about their future, their ability to buy a home and do the things they want for their children; families and seniors are worried about rising health care costs, particularly prescription drugs; and voters asked if we're doing enough to keep our elections safe from foreign interference. i spent time talking with educators in upstate new york about teacher short annals, with farmers about the production of agriculture, with homeowners about improving flood insurance

mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, we continue to read reports containing additional information about the nature of president trump's phone calls with the ukranian president and his administration's conduct in the weeks and months before and after those communications. ignoring for a moment that the -- ignoring the political reporting. we know someone inside the intelligence community found the president's conduct alarming enough to warrant an official whistle-blower complaint. the complaint was so alarming that the inspector general of the intelligence community appointed by president trump said that it was credible and urgent and a complaint that, by law, must be submitted to congress. this is not one of those discretionary moments. the law says this must be transmitted to congress. well, we still have not received the whistle-blower complaint and congress has been advised in writing by the inspector general of the intelligence community that th

mr. schumer: 18 years ago a cloudless tuesday morning, my city, our country, our world changed forever. in the span of a few hours, the twin towers fell, the pentagon was hit, smoke rose from an empty field in pennsylvania. more than 3,000 souls were taken from us that day. i knew some of them -- a guy i played basketball with in high school, a businessman who helped mae on the way up, a firefighter i'd go around the city doing blood drives with him. it was one of the bloodiest days on american soil since the civil war. and each year we correctly and appropriately pause to remember that awful day. we mourn those who we lost and think of them. the day after 9/11, i called for every american to wear the flag. i wear this flag every day. i've worn it every day since then in memory of those. and we also remember our resiliency, the resiliency of new yorkers, the brave firefighters, police officers, and ordinary citizens who rushed to the towers. the generosity -- i'll never forget a man who had a shoe store about two blocks north of the towers and just gave shoes to all the people. many of