smith and you mr. thune. senator smith you detailed the history of stellar and how congress always meant for it to expire at some point in the future. i know that mr. wall, a member of the committee has said it's an open question as to whether we should be authorizing it as well. senator smith we all know your colleague phil graham very well. he would say it's easier to kill a vampire than a bad government program. my question is, if we decide that stellar is a bad government program that should be allowed to expire, how does that impact local tv during a time of crisis? >> i would remind the committee -- thank you for question, congressman. broadcasters have every incentive to be viewed on as many platforms as possible. we don't want disruptions. we're there in good faith. we never have been found to be otherwise. your question perfectly points out how vital a life line my members are in times when my wonderful at&t apple phone crashes and the only thing you can get is your local television or radio. so as yo

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i have five requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. thune: mr. president, we received more good economic news on friday with the announcement that the economy created 224,000 jobs in june. unemployment remained near its lowest level in half a century. june marked the 16th month unemployment has been at or below 4%. that is a tremendous record. june also marked the 11th straight month that wage growth has been at or above 3%. before 2018, wage growth had not hit 3% in nearly a decade. friday's announcement was the latest piece of good news about the economy thanks to republican economic policies the economy has taken off during the trump administration. economic growth

quorum call: mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: majority whip. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i always find that at the end of the july work period here in washington, d.c. is a good time to take stock of the year so far. i'm looking forward to getting out of d.c. in the next few days and heading home to south dakota. i'm lucky enough to get to meet with south dakotans most weekends, but congressional recesses provide unbroken blocks of time to spend in the state and to hear about south dakotans' needs and priorities. it's been a busy year here in washington, d.c. so far. the last seven months, the senate has worked to confirm nearly 50 well-qualified judges, provided funding to address the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, give our military the resources it needs to defend the country, and much more. i'm proud that in may, the senate passed my bill to address illegal and abusive

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? 0. the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i would ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection, under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 1327, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 153, h.r. 1327, an act to extend authorization for the september 11 victim compensation fund of 2001 through fiscal year 2092, and for other purposes. mr. thune: madam president, later this morning we will be voting on the nomination of mark esper to be secretary of defense. dr. esper is an outstanding choice. i don't need to tell anyone how essential a position of the secretary of defense is to our national security. the secretary of defense is key to ensuring that our nation is prepared to meet and defeat any threat. dr. esper

mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senate majority whip. mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is not. mr. thune: mr. president, i -- i love the month of august, and i think i've always loved the month of august, going back to the time when i was a kid because obviously growing up in south dakota, august is a great month of the year. it's hot. there's a lot of activities. of course, it's the month before or in some cases the month of returning to school. but it's a time in which there are lots of things going on in my home state of south dakota. and especially since becoming a member of congress, i really love august. i head back home to south dakota almost every weekend to meet with south dakotans but august is wonderful and different for two reasons. one is august gives us an extended work period, a time when we get a chance to visit the furthest corners of our state, places that might be hard to visit on just a weekend. places like b

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, i request the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are requested. the presiding officer: all time has expired. the question is on the nomination. the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? seeing none, the yeas are 89, the nays are 1. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of shawn d. jordan of texas for united states district judge for the eastern district of te

mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the next two votes be ten-minute votes. the presiding officer: is there objection? with no objection, the question is on the paul amendment. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: is there any senator in the chamber wishing to vote or change his vote? is there any senator wishing to vote or change their vote? seeing none, on this vote the yeas are 22, the nays are 77. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. mrs. gillibrand: madam president , after this vote the people in the gallery above us -- i ask unanimous consent for one minute. the presiding officer: there is no debate in order at this time. mrs. gillibrand: i ask unanimous consent for one minute. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. gillibrand: madam president , after this vote, the people in the gallery above us, these brave men and women who have suffered unbelievably, will not have to come here ag

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent to be able to complete my remarks before the vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. thune: madam president, a number of my colleagues were down here just a few moments ago talking about trade and the impact of trade on agriculture. i've been down here a lot on the floor to talk about the ag economy in recent weeks. if you look at our overall economy as a whole, it's thriving, but our nation's farmers and ranchers are still having a tough time thamptions to years of commodity and livestock prices that are below production cost because of protracted trade disputes, and now on top of that natural disasters. madam president, one of the most important things that we can do to help our agricultural economy is to negotiate favorable trade agreements for u.s. producers. our nation's farmers and ranchers depend on trade. in my home state of south dakota we

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that at 11:00 a.m. on wednesday, july 10, the senate vote on confirmation of the following nominations in the order listed -- executive calendar 47, 52, and 51, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. i further ask that at 4:30 p.m., the senate vote on the pending cloture motions on the king and pallasch nominations, and that if cloture is invoked, the confirmation votes occur at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the democratic leader on thursday, july 11. finally, i ask that the cloture motion with respect to the wright nomination ripen following disposition of the pallasch nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period o

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, yesterday we confirmed with two more excellent judges here in the senate. despite democratic obstruction we continue moving forward on confirming nominees to the federal bench. some of our democratic colleagues criticized the amount of time the senate spends on judges. well, mr. president, we have spent a substantial amount of time on judges because we've had to. back in the day most of the judicial nominees we're considering would have been confirmed without the time-consuming cloture vote process. by this point in president obama's first time republicans required cloture votes on just three, three of president obama's judicial nominees. well, let's compare that to today. as of july 24, yesterday, democrat

quorum call: mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of transportation, stephen m. dickson of georgia to be administrator of the federal aviation administration. mr. thune: madam president, last week, senator cardin and i introduced our s. corporation modernization act. that brings the total of tax reform bills i've introduced so far this year to six. madam president, 2017 was obviously a banner year for tax reform. in december of 2017, we passed the tax cuts and jobs act, a historic, comprehensive reform of our tax code that put more money in american families' pockets and helped spur growth in american businesses. the tax cuts and jobs act has been a great success for our economy and for hardworking ameri

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: mr. president, after years of economic stagnation during the obama administration, we're experiencing an economic revival. thanks to republican economic policies, the economy has taken off during the trump administration. unemployment is near its lowest level in half a century. june marked the 16th month that unemployment has been at or below 4%. for 15 straight months, 15 straight months, we have had more job openings than americans looking for work. right now, there are roughly 1.6 million more job openings than americans looking for work. that's the largest margin ever recorded. june also marked the 11th straight month that wage growth has been at or above 3%. before 2018, wage growth had not hit 3% in nearly a decade. and importantly, the benefits of this economic growth are being spread far and wide. ordinary americans are seeing bigger paychecks, more jobs, and more opportunities. over the past three years, pay hikes for the lowest income workers have grown the fastest. huge numbers

quorum call: quorum call: mr. thune: madam president? i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, the democrat party's model this year might as well be free stuff. free health care, free college, free debt relief, free child care, free income. the problem, of course, is that the old add j, there's no such thing as a free lunch is 100% true. health care has to be paid for by someone. college has to be paid for by someone. democrats, of course, think they should all be paid for and often controlled by the government but what they don't like to talk about as much is that the government has to get its money from somewhere. and that somewhere is from the american people. now, if you asked democrats how they're going to pay for all of this free stuff, what they'll say is that they'll tax the rich. the problem is, madam president, there's simply aren't enough rich people to even come close to paying for the democrats' free programs and expansive policy propo