mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. president, yesterday we confirmed robert luck, a florida supreme court justice to be a u.s. circuit judge for the 11th circuit court of appeals. with justice luck's confirmation, the senate has now confirmed 47 appellate court judges during this administration and 163 article 3 judges overall. that's more appellate court judges than have been confirmed at this point in any of the previous five presidential administrations. it's a particularly outstanding number when you consider the fact that democrats have made confirming these judges as difficult as they possibly can. from day one of this administration, democrats were determined to obstruct anything this president did in his nominations in particular. again and again and again, they've attempted to block nominees for no other reason than the fact that they were nominated by this president. democrats have subjected roughly 75% of the administration's judicial nominees to the time-consuming cloture process. compare that to the treatm

quorum call: mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? i would ask unanimous consent it be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, last friday was an exciting day. i was home at sue falls, south dakota, to mark a huge milestone for the city and for south dakota. the unveiling of sue falls' first 5g small cells. by the end of this month, sioux falls will have a limited albeit working 5g network, one of the first cities in the entire country to have one. most people take internet access for granted these days. we assume anywhere we go we will be able to access our g.p.s., check facebook, or text message, but the truth is there are still areas of the united states where it can be difficult to get reliable internet access. some of those areas are in south dakota. and that's why expanding access to broadband internet in rural communities has been a priority of mine since i came to the united states senate. while it can be nice to turn off our phones and to take a break,

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, let me ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, let me just begin by echoing what the leader said earlier about the importance of passing the defense appropriations bill. i just came from a meeting with -- with members of our defense department where we talked about how important it is that the appropriations process move forward, that the defense authorization bill, the broader bill that sets the priorities for military spending, that also is stalled out here. that's something that in 58 years, both sides have agreed to, how we're going to make sure that we take care of our men and women in uniform, that they have the equipment, the weaponry, the training that they need to do their jobs and to keep america safe. that's the authorization bill. that's stalled out right now. that's the priorities bill. the appropriations bi

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. 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 proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. robert j. luck of florida to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, our most fundamental responsibility as members of congress is to provide for our nation's defense. and a big part of that is ensuring our men and women in uniform have the resources that they need to defend our country. that means of course that we have to ensure that our military receives adequate funding to meet today's priorities and to prepare for the threats of tomorrow. it also means that

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, i'd like to comment on the hong kong legislation that we passed this week. tuesday night, the senate unanimously passed the hong kong human rights and democracy act. led by senators rubio and cardin, foreign relations chairman risch and ranking member menendez, and a supporting cast of colleagues, this bill is intended to spur hong kong officials and pro-beijing constituencies to protect hong kong's autonomy and its special relationship with the united states and to hold those committing human rights violations in hong kong accountable. it builds off of the 1992 united states-hong kong policy act which asserts that the united states has a strong interest in the continued vitality, prosperity, and stability of hong kong. i'm grateful for the leadership of the senators who worked to advance this bill. madam president, the issue at hand is hong kong's right to an independent judicial system and its unique status in a one-country, two-system construct. the bill that

mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, november is national adoption month. later this morning i will be spending time with a family that i nominated to receive an angles in adoption program. it is designed to bring recognition to individuals who are making extraordinary contributions to adoption, permanency, and child welfare. angles in adoption is a program that each year members of congress invite an individual family to receive an award. i've been making these nominations for more than a decade now. it has been a privilege and indiana expiration to meet south dakota families who have opened their hearts and homes to children in need. this year i nominated mike and kim adams, fellow residents of sioux falls, south dakota. mike and kim have a tremendous heart for children. they have fight biological children, but as they learn more about the plight of children in poverty, they were drawn to adoption. god put the country of ethiopia on their hearts in a particular way and in 2008 they adopt add daug

mr. thune: madam president, it's now been 13 months since the administration concluded negotiations on the united states-mexico-canada free trade agreement, 13 months of uncertainty for u.s. farmers and ranchers, manufacturers, small businesses, digital firms, financial institutions, and many others. 13 months of wondering what the rules of the road on trade are going to look like going forward. madam president, we should have passed the united states-mexico-canada agreement months ago. republicans in the senate have been ready to take up this agreement for a long time. but trade agreements have to be considered by the house of representatives first, and the house of representatives is controlled by the democrat party who is far more interested in partisan pursuits than in actually doing any meaningful legislating. house democrats are happy to consider far-left messaging bills that have no chance of going anywhere. they have no interest in working with republicans to actually get something sign

mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that with respect to the hunsaker nomination, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection u -- without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i have seven 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. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i come to the floor today to express my concern and disappointment over the decision by the president to formally withdraw the united states from the paris climate agreement. though the president announced this decision over two years ago, this past monday marked the first day his administration could send a letter to the united nations formalizing the year-long withdrawal process. and of course we know that they did that. american leadership on climate action is being ceded to other c

mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: mr. president, on tuesday morning, i visited with secretary of defense mark esper. we talked about the military's needs and national security priorities, and we talked about the fact that more than a month into the new fiscal year, congress still hasn't funtsed -- funded the military for fiscal 2020. we shouldn't have needed to talk about that, mr. president. we should have passed the defense appropriations bill for 2020 weeks ago. but democrats won't let us. last week democrats blocked consideration of the 2020 defense appropriations bill for the second time. apparently, they have every intention of continuing to block military funding. mr. president, this is politics at its worst. make no mistake, this is politics. a couple of months ago democrats and republicans got together and agreed on defense and nondefense funding levels for 2020 and 2021. the idea was to pave the way for passage of appropriation bills in a timely fashion. it seemed for a moment that despite democrats' fixation on