mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i rise this afternoon to speak on s. 2943, which is the national defense authorization act that we recently invoked cloture on the motion to proceed. i guess we are going to be on this bill, and i'm glad we are. in particular, i want to address section 578 of this act. section 578 is simply designed to protect our service members' children when they're at school, to -- specifically to protect them from convicted pedophiles and other dangerous felons who are trying to infiltrate our nation's schools when they can to find more victims. this is a cause i have been working on, well, for at least two and a half years here in the senate, mr. president. we have -- we have a serious problem, and we've made some progress but we have got a long way to go. for me, this campaign, this effort to address this began with a terrible, terrible story of a child named jeremy bell, and the story begins in my home state of pennsylvania, in delaware county, pennsylvania. a schoolteacher had molested severa

mr. toomey: mr. president, i just have to say with all due respect to my friend and colleague from rhode island, this is exactly what americans are so fed up with. there is a real problem out there, a real problem with public safety. they know it. this is a ridiculous and indefensible policy. but i'm willing to have debate about it. i did not ask for unanimous consent that my amendment be adopted. i asked for consent that we debate it and have a vote. and if a majority of senators disagrees with me, then i don't know why they can't come down here and cast a vote and let us know. it's germane. it's in order. it complies with all the rules. and the status quo means dangerous criminals are being released onto our streets. that's a fact. i can tell you -- i'll tell you what's going on here. we have colleagues who are afraid to cast a vote. they are afraid of having to make a choice. they're afraid if they vote with me to put pressure on cities to end sing ware cities, it's going to offend some cities. th

mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to address the issue of vacancies on the federal bench in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. you know, mr. president, through the five and a half years that i have been in the senate, i have sought to find common ground with my colleagues on both sides of this aisle, with considerable success and sometimes we continue to search for that success. but whether it's legislation to prevent pedophiles from infiltrating our classrooms or working to fight this terrible scourge of opioid abuse and overdoses in pennsylvania to trying to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerously mentally ill. but one of the accomplishments about which i am most proud is the work that i have done with senator casey to fill vacancies as they have occurred on the federal bench in pennsylvania. senator casey and i have developed a fairly elaborate process. we are blessed to have very talented men and women who have volunteered their time and energy and expertise to help us identify and vet