pizzella's nomination. on another matter this week we've been discussing the stark difference between the obama administration's agenda and the policies that president trump and this republican congress have implemented. during the obama years, the overwhelming majority of all the limited new growth and new jobs went to the biggest and richest urban areas. times were good. if you happen to live in new york, san francisco, or a few other places. but if you were one of the millions of americans in our nation's towns, smaller cities, suburbs, or rural areas, not so good. according to one estimate, 73% of all the employment gains in the country between 2010 and 2016 went to metro areas with more than one million residents. practically everywhere else americans either treaded water or started sinking. this president and this republican congress were sent here to put this right and because the american people gave us a chance to do so, they now have leaders in washington who focus on cutting taxes instead of rais

today to work on two executive tomorrow nations at 9:30 confirmation vote on nomination of patrick pizzellato be deputy labor secretary and then vote to limit debate on the nomination of andrew wheeler to be deputy epa administrator. both approved by party line votes in the committees that held their confirmation hearings. judicial nominations on the schedule tomorrow and possibly into the week. live now to the senate floor for live coverage of today's session. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. most high god, our heavenly father, your loving kindness fills our hearts with gratitude. we are grateful for this oprt

pizzella's record has been consistent. from his years serving as the right hand to jack abramoff until now he has shown he's not going to fight for workers. he will fight against them. it would be irresponsible to put a man with such a strong track record of antiworker convictions, a tweet away from leading the department of labor. it is unconscionable that someone with mr. pizzella's background would be the number-two leader at the department of labor. it is unacceptable that he could be in line to serve as acting secretary should secretary costa leave the department. i strongly oppose his nomination. i will be voting against him, and i encourage our colleagues to do the same. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: thank you, mr. president. over the past couple of weeks senate had its work period. during that time we would go back to our states and travel listening to our constituents. i had the incredible opportunity to go

pizzella brought a sterling reputation and an impressive resume. it includes time at g.s.a., the small business administration, the department of education, the federal housing finance board, and o.p.m. even with eight years as the assistant secretary of labor for administration and management and four years as a senate-confirmed member of the federal labor relations authority, this dedicated public servant saw his confirmation process play out in a manner that's become all too familiar. months of waiting on the senate calendar. months of obstruction by our democratic colleagues. months of needless vacancy in this critical agency position. after this morning's vote, mr. pizzella can finally get to work, but the same story of obstruction applies to the next nomination on the slate as well. andrew wheeler, he is ready and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, to clock in as the deputy administrator of the e.p.a. his qualifications are beyond question. he has won the support of the american farm bureau federation and has won praise from both sides of the

pizzella, mr. ring, the department of labor and nllrb, we need someone in both of these jobs who wakes up every day thinking how do i help american workers? how do i help american workers have aive is aer workplace? how do i help american workers get paid fairly? how do we make sure companies do the right thing as they treat their workers? that's what they should wake up every day to do instead, trum has nominated -- president trump is hiring two people who have spent their careers trying to push those workers down. what these folks don't seem to understand, it's not corporations that drive the economy. it's workers. we grow -- there's a problem in this institution, mr. president, where the leaders in this institution, mr. mcconnell, the majority leader down the hall, they think you grow the economy from the top down. they think you give the richest people in the country tax breaks -- tax cuts. you give the largest corporations in the country tax breaks and it will trickle down and help workers. no

pizzella was its highest paid employee. the deputy secretary position should be filled by someone who's defended worker rights, not undermined them, someone who will make government work for the american people, not hamstring it for political purposes. mr. pizzella is the wrong man for this job. president trump talked a big game during his campaign about fighting for workers, but after a year of corporate tax cuts, rolling back commonsense protections for workplace safety, retirement security and more, we know that those promises have turned out not to be worth much of anything. the senate should send a clear message to this administration that we expect agencies like the nlrb and the labor department to stand up for working people, not to suck up to corporate lobbyists. rejecting these two nominees would be a good first step. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. quorum call: a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: i have seven requests for committees to meet during to

the clerk: department of labor, patrick pizzella of virginia to be deputy secretary. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today as we as americans continue to see the reminders, the regular reminders that the world is a very dangerous place. the horrendous reports out of syria over the weekend show us that there are leaders in the world who will test the rules that define civilized nations. they will exploit any crack that they see in our resolve. well, president trump has consistently responded to these kinds of challenges by showing that he is resolute and he is unshakeable. he has a foreign policy that always puts america first. to continue to do this, the president needs to have a full national security team on the job and working for america. the secretary of state, mr. president, is a very important part of that team. tomorrow the foreign relations committee is scheduled to meet to have a hearing on mike pompeo's nomination to do this very important job. mike pompeo