mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, i'm -- i understand the senate is in a quorum call. the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that it 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 proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, federal communications commission, nathan a. simington of virginia to be a member. mr. thune: madam president, i rise today to recognize and pay tribute to two senators whom i had hoped to serve with longer. cory gardner and martha mcsally. madam president, one of the first things that became clear about cory gardner when he became to the senate is that he is an incredibly hard worker. he is tireless. cory has not only a great sense of humor, i remember back d

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. president, the senate is going to to miss lamar alexander, and listening to his farewell address just now made the fact that he's leaving all too real. i don't like to think of a united states senate without lamar. he's a senate institution and a national leader and his leaving is a loss for this body and the american people. mr. president, any tribute to lamar has to mention his incredible career, which a lot t has been alluded to already. his walk across the state of tennessee. his eight years as tennessee governor, his time as secretary of education under president george h.w. bush, his stint as president of the university of tennessee system and his time as a professor at harvard. and then of course his 18 years in the u.s. senate marked by significant legislative accomplishments on everything from education to opioids. all that, and he makes a plaid shirt look good. although these days he's switched to a plaid fiscal mask. mr. president -- a plaid face mask. i first met lamar whe

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, yesterday was a hopeful day as the first covid vaccines were distributed to the health care workers and there will be an emergency use authorization for moderna's vaccine, meaning we could have a second coronavirus authorized vaccine before christmas. if all goes well, we could have 100 million americans vaccinated by march. madam president, that is an amazing statistic when you consider a year ago we didn't even know about the virus. and it's a tribute to the innovative power of the private sector and the efforts of congress and the trump administration to ex expedite vaccine development. it's been a long, hard year, but the light at the end of the tunnel is coming. but while yesterday was an encouraging day, we have

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: mr. president is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is not. mr. thune: mr. president, i am, like many of my colleagues, very pleased that we have reached an agreement on a final covid relief package, and none too soon. last week we celebrated in what will be a turning point in the covid fight, the first coronavirus vaccinations, we ought to build on that momentum and makes sure the vaccination goes as smoothly as possible. the covid-19 relief package will provide important funding for vaccine distribution, and it will help americans weather the rest of the pandemic, including a second round of paycheck protection program for the hardest-hit small businesses, money to help schools reopen and safely operate so our kids aren't left behind and more money for coronavirus treatment and other front line medical priorities. i'm very pleased, mr. president, the final package includes my paycheck protection prog

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. hune: thank you. i first met pat roberts when i was running for the u.s. house of representatives for the very first time. i had a friend who worked for pat and he got me a meeting with him, which at the time was a pretty big deal because he was the chairman of the house ag committee and i was in a republican primary where i was over 50 points behind. so the prospects weren't real bright that i was ever going to be somebody that would make it through and end up serving there, but nobody could have been more encouraging or kind. had a great meeting with him. we talked about agriculture and i'm grateful that i have had the opportunity to get to know him pretty well during my time in the senate. and one of the reasons we have so much common ground is that we both come from states where agriculture is incredibly important. it's the number one industry in south dakota and i've had the privilege of serving on the ag committee with pat now for more than a decade. i call him my chairman since

mr. trump is trying to punish mitch mcconnell the majority leader and john thune because they have recognizedion. with two georgia senate runoffs looming january 5th, mr. trump seems intent on hurting gop chances while blaming senators in advance if incumbents lose. never mind he's put republicans on spot by siding with democrats on the $2,000 checks. we'll see how this plays out in georgia. but the fault here isn't mitch mcconnell. the political damage comes from donald trump who is lashing out to all in asundry defeat. joining us political director for the daily beast sam stein. sam, it's great to see you grnggood morning. >> thanks. >> "the wall street journal" had pretty tough words for president trump. they went along with many of the things that the trump administration did over the course of his presidency, but he raised a good point that the president went along with policies that the journal has always basically supported. but he's kind of thrown that overboard here in the last couple of weeks. >> yeah. this is the second murdoch enterprise this week to editorialize against trump, th

mr. pluoffe, republicans in the senate so quickly forget right now they would be down eight seats without my backing them in the last election. republican in name only john thune, mitch's boy, should just let it play out. south dakota doesn't like weakness. he will be primaried in 2022, political career over. what did john thune do or say to deserve that? he said that any attempt to challenge the electors would go down in the senate like a shot dog. david, i use the word nihilism earlier. so much has been written and said about a cultural democrat from new york city deciding to be a republican. the republicans deciding they want to be with him, and now this is where we are. republican versus republican, and these big names in the party are going to go home by dent of their four-year association with this guy and get primaried in their quest for re-election? >> yeah, well, loyalty only goes one way with donald trump. he demands and doesn't give it back. he doesn't care one whit about june thune or governor kemp or the republican party because he might be the biggest narcissist ever to walk the earth. so we have today threatening republicans who simply say joe b

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. than you thune mauck -- mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserve. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the presiding officer: nomination, federal election commission, allen dickerson, of the district of columbia to be a member. mr. thune: mr. president, i'm hoping that we will be able to pass a covid relief bill before christmas. as the leader has said earlier, we don't need to resolve all of our differences to pass a bill. we can pass targeted legislation that focuses on the priorities that we all agree need to be addressed. as the leader pointed out earlier this morning on the floor, mr. president, republicans here in the senate have tried repeatedly going back to last summer to move leg

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i am encouraged that we are making progress on coronavirus relieve legislation, but we need to finish up and get this bill out the door. the virus is surging around the country, and we need to get help to struggling americans as soon as possible. the time for debate is over. let's get this done. madam president, we started this week out with a tremendously hopeful moment in our covid fight, the first vaccinations against this virus. it's incredible that barely a year since we first learned about the virus we have a vaccine, with more vaccines likely on the way. and i've been thinking a lot this week about the people who volunteered for vaccine trials. we gained a new appreciation this year for a l

mr. thune: mr.president, i was pleased that the senate unanimously agreed yesterday to proceed to conference on the 2021 national defense authorization act. the ndaa is one of the most important pieces of legislation that we pass here every year. it's the bill that authorizes funding for our troops and lays out our defense priorities. like the last two ndaa's, this year's bill focuses on restoring military readiness and ensuring that our nation is ready to face threats posed by powers like russia and china. the national defense strategy commission release add report warning that our readiness had eroded to the point that we might struggle to win a war against a major power like russia or china. the commission noted that we would be especially vulnerable if we were ever called on to fight a war on two fronts. over the past two years we have made real progress in restoring military readiness but we still have more work to do and this year's national defense authorization act continues our investment i

mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent 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 proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, katherine a. kritser, of tennessee, to be united states district judge for the eastern district of tennessee. mr. thune: mr. president, yesterday afternoon the commerce committee on technology and the internet held our final hearing of the 116th congress. the title of yesterday's hearing was betting on the rest, expanding american entrepreneurship outside traditional hubs and it focused on examining where venture capital is being invested. and how to expand in other parts of the country. oaf the past 50 years -- over the past 50 yea

mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the senior senator from south dakota and the senior senator from kansas and the senior senator from missouri be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills from december 21, 2020 through january 3, 2021. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call:

mr. thune: madam president, yesterday drugmaker moderna filed for emergency use authorization from the f.d.a. for its covids vaccine. the f.d.a.'s vaccine advisory committee is scheduled to discuss pfizer's covid vaccine next week and expected to review moderna shortly thereafter. that means it is entirely possible that by the end of december the f.d.a. will have authorized not one, but two covid vaccines that have so far shown more than 90% effectiveness in preventing the disease. this is very hopeful news. and it's a tribute to the innovative power of the private sector and the efforts of congress and the trump administration to expedite the development of covid vaccines. the light at the end of the tunnel looks like it's on the way. at the same time, madam president, it's essential that we not minimize what's happening with covid right now. cases are surging and are likely to surge further. and doctors and hospitals are struggling. it's essential that we maintain key safety measures until th

mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invok cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: , the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisns of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, dhereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination o kyl hauptmann of maine to be a member of the national credit union administrati board, signed by 17enators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of kyl hauptmann of maine to be a member of the national credit union administration board should be brought it the a close. -- to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. te: s vote: are there any senators wishing to vote or change their vote? seeing none, the yeas are 56, the nays are 37. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, nional credit

mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the committee-reported substitute amendment be withdrawn, the thune amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconne: i ask unanimous consent the committee on commerce be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 4704, and the senate proceed to its immediate consiration thpresiding offir: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 4704, an act to direct the director of the national science foundation to support multidisciplinary research on the science of suicide, and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the wicker amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask