John Cornyn

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, the Senate is expected to vote this afternoon to confirm Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma to be the Administrator of NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. For more than 15 months, our national space agency has been without permanent leadership. This is far too long, especially considering the incredibly important work that NASA is undertaking on a daily basis. The agency is currently working with the commercial space industry, for example, to resume launches of American astronauts to the International Space Station, rather than have to rely on the Russians to transport American astronauts into space. Additionally, teams at NASA are developing the Space Launch System, or SLS, and the Orion capsule. These are components of a rocket system that is the most powerful one built since the Saturn V that sent Neil Armstrong to the Moon. It will pave the way, hopefully, to one day landing astronauts on Mars. Having a permanent Administrator in place is important not just so the agency itself can function but so NASA can have an impact on our entire country. Having appropriate leadership means NASA can continue to benefit Texans who work there, with jobs and opportunities to research, collaborate, and innovate across disciplines. The Administrator is charged with selecting the Directors of each of the agency's space centers around the country. This, too, is important. One reason is because at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Dr. Ellen Ochoa, the current director, is stepping down next month, after years of distinguished service. It is critical that we have a competent replacement for her and ensure seamless transition after she leaves. Part of the way we do that is by making sure that this nominee is confirmed today. We in Texas are, I believe, justifiably proud of the Johnson Space Center. The JSC heads the manned spaceflight program for NASA, which manages the U.S. presence at the International Space Station, among other operations. JSC employs roughly 10,000 people, and virtually all U.S. astronauts pass through it, at one time or another, to receive training. Currently, JSC is involved in developing the Orion capsule, which I spoke of a moment ago. One hundred sixty-nine companies are collaborating with NASA on its launch, creating nearly 800 jobs--not all of them in the Houston region. In fact, in multiple locations around the country, the commercial space industry is growing rapidly. In 2014, the Midland International Air and Space Port became the first federally licensed facility by the FAA for both airline flights and commercial space flights. That is just one of several examples. Meanwhile, in Washington, we have to continue to do our part supporting U.S. space exploration. Last year, I was proud to have my legislation, called the MANIFEST Act, signed into law as part of the NASA reauthorization, and I hope to collaborate on similar legislation in the future with colleagues. If we want to keep pushing toward the final frontier, our first step is to ensure that we have a strong Administrator at the helm, and that is why I intend to vote to support the nomination this afternoon.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I have 6 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate: Committee on Armed Services The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 9:30 a.m. to conduct a hearing. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 9:30 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Semiannual Testimony on the Federal Reserve's Supervision and Regulation of the Financial System.'' Committee on Energy and Natural Resources The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing. Committee on Finance The Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Tackling Opioid and Substance Use Disorders in Medicare, Medicaid, and Human Services Programs.'' Committee on the Judiciary The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing on bills S. 994 and S. 2644, then on the following nominations: John B. Nalbandian, of Kentucky, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit, Kari A. Dooley, to be United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut, Dominic W. Lanza, to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona, Michael Y. Scudder, of Illinois, and Amy J. St. Eve, of Illinois, both to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, Charles J. Williams, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa, and Joseph H. Hunt, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Attorney General, Steven L. Gladden, to be United States Marshal for the Middle District of North Carolina, Nicola T. Hanna, to be United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Brendan O. Heffner, to be United States Marshal for the Central District of Illinois, and Theodor G. Short, to be United States Marshal for the District of Maine, all of the Department of Justice. Select Committee on Intelligence The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 2 p.m. to conduct a closed hearing.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, it is with sadness that I come to the Senate floor to speak about former First Lady Barbara Bush on her passing yesterday. Of course, she was the wife of our 41st President and the mother of our 43rd President. My wife Sandy and I have wonderful memories of Mrs. Bush flying around the State of Texas with us during my campaign for attorney general. That the former First Lady of the United States was so willing to embark on this long day of campaigning speaks to her generosity and her devotion to causes she believed in. With her, we always felt like we were flying in first class. Many kind things have already been said about the First Lady's sharp wit and her sense of humor, her efforts to improve child literacy, and her faith and loyalty to family and friends; and all of those are true. I will not try to top those statements. I will simply say what all of us are feeling today: sad and a little bit emptier as a nation, missing her honor, dignity, and respectability.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I come to the floor to offer some remarks on the decision of the President of the United States to order precision missile strikes on three facilities in Syria last Friday night. This action demonstrates American leadership in the face of gross human rights violations and, as we all recall, President Obama's redline, which was not enforced, which indeed is a provocation in and of itself. I am glad this President has seen fit now, not just once but on two occasions, to punish the Syrian regime for such gross human rights violations. These actions are consistent with our values and legal authorities provided to the President under the Constitution. They are similar to decisions made by Presidents Clinton and Obama in Kosovo and Libya. While not unprecedented, clearly what occurred is very serious. So I want to take just a few moments to explain why I think the strikes were justified and were the appropriate course of action taken against the Assad regime. What we now know is, the Syrian government, on April 7, attacked civilians in the city of Duma, killing at least 70 and injuring 500 more. To carry out the attack, the regime used chlorine and sarin gas against its own people. We know this because credible medical personnel--including the World Health Organization--reported physical symptoms that indicated these substances had been used. People were convulsing in the streets, their nervous systems were attacked, their pupils were constricted, all telltale signs of these chemicals. When civilians suffer in this way, there is nothing normal or acceptable about it--even in a country grappling with a brutal civil war. That Bashar al-Assad inflicted these crimes on his own people makes them even darker and more insidious. Chemical weapons have long been the kind of redline in the realm of armed, international conflict. After World War I, the 1925 Geneva Protocol banned chemical and biological weapons because they are different in kind from guns, sabers, and bombs. One reason they are different is because of the suffering they inflict on their victims. Another reason is because of their indiscriminate nature. Gases, by their very nature, are impossible to control. They spread in the atmosphere. You can't quarantine gas inside of a defined battlefield, which means civilians can't and will not be spared. In other words, there is nothing surgical or targeted about these weapons. The use of them can't be tailored to avoid harming children and innocent bystanders. They are instruments of terror, short and simple, and their brutality and lethality are stunning. A third reason these weapons are so atrocious is because of the slippery slope they provide. If gas attacks are tolerated in the international community, what comes next--biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons? That is not an unreasonable question. The free world must therefore stand unified against the use of chemical weapons. The failure to do so sends a signal of idleness or even complicity to the dictators of the world. The Geneva Protocol that eventually led to the Chemical Weapons Convention has been ratified by more than 190 nations. This means there is a near global consensus that the kinds of gas attacks perpetrated by Bashar al-Assad are completely out of bounds, even in war zones. As I stand here today, I want to offer my support for both the mission that was carried out and the underlying objective, which was to degrade Syria's capability to research, develop, and deploy chemical weapons--ones that have clearly done tremendous amounts of harm. The targets of our Syrian missile strikes were a research center and two storage facilities used in the production and testing of chemical and biological weapons. We hope that now that these facilities are destroyed, Assad will be perhaps persuaded not to use chemical weapons once and for all. There is reason to be skeptical, as we know, since he has before. We all remember last year when we struck Syrian airfields after similar provocations. Bashar al-Assad ignored our warning, gassed his own people, and has now paid a higher price. Will it be enough? Who can know, but I hope so. The consequences of his cruel and repressive tactics were swift and circumscribed airstrikes ordered by the President of the United States. They protected against the loss of innocent life and avoided sparking a larger regional conflict. We are grateful to our allies, Great Britain and France, which played a pivotal role in the mission. We are also grateful to our uniformed military for their meticulous planning, flawless execution, and courageous leadership.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, for the information of our colleagues, I know the leader plans to make a motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 57, the auto lending CRA, at 2:15 p.m., and we will have a rollcall vote on that motion.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, if applicable, at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18, the Senate resume consideration of the Muniz nomination, with 1 hour of debate remaining, equally divided between Senator Gillibrand or her designee and Senator Alexander or his designee, on the nomination; further, that following the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate vote on the nomination as under the previous order; finally, that the Senate now proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I have 6 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate: Committee on Armed Services The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at 9:30 a.m. to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Admiral Philip S. Davidson, USN, for reappointment to the grade of admiral and to be Commander, United States Pacific Command, and General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, USAF, for reappointment to the grade of general and to be Commander, United States Northern Command, and Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command, both of the Department of Defense. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at 10 a.m to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Thelma Drake, of Virginia, to be Federal Transit Administrator, Department of Transportation, Jeffrey Nadaner, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce, and Seth Daniel Appleton, of Missouri, to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing on the nomination of Karl L. Schultz, to be Admiral and to be Commandant of the Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing. Committee on Foreign Relations The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``U.S. Policy in Yemen.'' Subcommitee on Seapower The Subcommitee on Seapower of the Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at 2:30 p.m. to conduct a hearing.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) would have voted ``yea''.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I want to say a few words about the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI--our Nation's premier law enforcement agency--and to speak about the men and women who distinguish it. First, I want to refer to an opinion piece in the New York Times that talks about the former Director of the FBI, James Comey. As the article is entitled, ``The Tragedy of James Comey,'' the story has both positive things to say about Mr. Comey--well deserved--but also some criticism, which I would suggest is also well deserved. Perhaps all of us exhibit both positive and negative attributes. All of us make mistakes, and I don't mean to pick on Mr. Comey unnecessarily, but it sort of lays the foundation for what I want to say. In the April 8, 2018, New York Times article, the first line is, ``James Comey is about to be ubiquitous.'' In other words, he is going to be everywhere with his book, published next week. Of course, he will be on an ``epic publicity tour, including interviews with Stephen Colbert, David Remnick, Rachel Maddow, Mike Allen, George Stephanopoulos, and `The View.''' So he will be everywhere. Of course, we expect him to tell his story from his perspective. As a preface for what I want to say about the rank-and-file men and women in the FBI, let me just read a couple of paragraphs. The writer says: [Director Comey] was the F.B.I. director overseeing the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server. He and his team decided that she had not done anything that warranted criminal charges. And [Director Comey] knew that Republicans would blast him as a coward who was trying to curry favor with the likely future president. So he decided to go public with his explanation for not charging Clinton and to criticize her harshly. He then doubled down, releasing a public update on the investigation 11 days before the election, even as other Justice officials urged him not to. Department policy dictates that investigators aren't supposed to talk publicly about why they are not bringing charges. They especially don't do so when they could affect [the outcome of] an election. That, as people will recall, is one of the primary reasons why Rod Rosenstein, the current Deputy Attorney General of the United States, recommended to the President that he dismiss Mr. Comey--for violating Department of Justice guidelines when it comes to talking about an investigation, which should remain confidential, particularly when there is a decision not to charge the person being investigated, and usurping the role of the prosecutor, recognizing that the role of the FBI as a primary investigator is very different. When it comes to the charging decision, that is left to the Department of Justice, not to the FBI. But, as the article goes on to say: Comey, however, decided that he knew better than everyone else. He was the righteous Jim Comey, after all. He was going to speak truth to power. He was also, not incidentally, going to protect his own fearless image. He developed a series of rationales, suggesting that he really had no choice. They remain unpersuasive. When doing the right thing meant staying quiet and taking some lumps, Comey chose not to. As I said, the article has a lot of complimentary material and also some criticism, and I think it is a fair piece. I mention that because so much of what we have heard about the FBI and the Department of Justice recently has been caught up in the emotions and the drama here in Washington, DC, and while appropriate criticism and investigation of past actions at the Department of Justice should take place--former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and why she made the decision not to demand that Director Comey let the Department of Justice make the ultimate charging decision--there is a lot of room for criticism, and I suggest there will be additional information that will be forthcoming and should be produced to Congress as part of our oversight responsibilities. But I think the big mistake Mr. Comey made is assuming that he was a law unto himself and that the rules applied to everybody else but not to him and, as the article says, that he knew better than anyone else. But all of that I want to contrast with what I experienced recently, back home in Austin where my wife and I live. I was there during and after the series of five bombings that detonated in packages across the city, killing two people and wounding others. People were very much on edge. It reminds me of the sniper that was on the loose here in Washington, DC, for a while, and people were terrorized--not willing to go and put gasoline in their cars. There was a similar sort of effect with what happened with the bombings in Texas and in Austin. While the suspect was still at large, I spoke to Austin police chief Brian Manley, and he told me how thankful he was for the army of Federal agents, including FBI agents, who had supported the investigation. He told me that as many as 500 Federal agents, including from the FBI and other agencies, were on the ground while the suspect was on the loose. I am sure it was the agents' methodical investigative work, combined with the work of their State and local partners, that was the big reason why the alleged bomber didn't wreak even more havoc in the Texas capital. It is important to remember that the FBI's role during the Austin bombings is important to acknowledge in our current political climate, when the Bureau has come under criticism and become the target of so much drama and politics. Of course, that was mainly about the past and certainly not about the new leadership that has been installed at the FBI under the leadership of FBI Director Christopher Wray. Of course, the debate started during the tenure of Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder at the Department of Justice, but it continued through Director Comey's investigation, as I said, of Hillary Clinton, and it has not gotten any better. But it is important to distinguish between the rank-and-file professionals at the FBI and people who made mistakes and overstepped their bounds and, unfortunately, gave the rest of the organization--tainted their name. So I want to take a moment to do what Director Wray has done in the past, and that is to reintroduce people to the FBI. The American public needs to be reminded of what the FBI actually does and how pivotal that work is and how long it has been doing it. The FBI has been in existence since 1908, and I think ``relentless'' is the best way to describe it. The Bureau's investigations have helped solve crimes like cold- blooded murder, which happened in my home State in 1983. Just last year, the FBI added the suspect to its Ten Most Wanted list, and shortly thereafter the man turned himself in to FBI agents. It took more than three decades, but the FBI pursued all leads until, finally, it got its man. That is just one example of what happens every day at the FBI. Under the effective leadership of Director Wray, the agency has remained committed to doing things independently and by the book--which I think is perhaps the most important characteristic--for as long as it takes to close the cases. It is absolutely critical that law enforcement agencies do things by the book and follow the rules and the law. We have seen criticism directed toward Director Comey and former Attorneys General Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder because they did not appear to do things by the book but appeared to be unduly swayed by other considerations and, indeed, broke the rules in the book, so to speak. Sometimes the fierce independence and tightlipped process by which the FBI is supposed to operate can irk people. We are people with a need for immediate gratification who want to know the answer right now when, in fact, often law enforcement investigators have to do painstaking, time-consuming work, indeed, over years and decades. Critics say that investigations are taking too long or shouldn't be going on at all. But that is how the agency is supposed to operate--on its own, according to the standardized legal process, step by painstaking step. As Director Wray has said in the past, the FBI's means need to justify its ends, not the other way around. No rock should go unturned in an investigation because that is how crimes are solved and innocent people are exonerated. For the rank-and-file men and women who work at the FBI, I think it is important for us to send a clear and emphatic message here in the U.S. Senate: We appreciate everything you do to protect the public safety and secure the public trust. I want to particularly acknowledge the service of the special agent in charge of the FBI San Antonio Division, Christopher Combs, as well as the other men and women under his command. These agents have recently been working some pretty long days and nights, as we can imagine, supporting our local law enforcement during the Austin bombings and the tragic shooting at Sutherland Springs last fall. These days, it is important that our appreciation for the Bureau not get drowned out by the criticism, with people somehow mistakenly assuming that because a few people have misbehaved, it somehow reflects on the organization as a whole. It is important that we let the men and women of the FBI know we stand behind their detail-oriented approach to enforcing and upholding the law, that we support the FBI's doing the right thing in the right way, pursuing the facts and the evidence independently and objectively, wherever they lead. More than 37,000 men and women work at the FBI. That is a staggering number of diligent individuals, all of whom play some role in investigating crimes, executing search warrants, conducting interviews, and carrying out counterintelligence investigations across our country. Today, the FBI helps track down fugitives, terrorists, kidnappers, bank robbers, and more. It publishes its top Ten Most Wanted list, as I alluded to earlier, and tracks down thousands of other leads at the same time. It investigates terrorism, cybercrime, civil rights violations, public corruption, elder fraud, and even weapons of mass destruction. The FBI provides crisis intervention teams--including mental health professionals and even chaplains--after mass casualty events. It recently launched Operation Disarray, part of a broader Department of Justice initiative to disrupt the sale of opioids online. One special agent said the point of this new initiative `` `is to put drug traffickers on notice: Law enforcement is watching when people buy and sell drugs online. For those who think the Darknet provides anonymity,' [the special agent] explained, `you are mistaken.' '' To that FBI agent, I say: Amen, sir. Nice work. As his example shows, the very nature of crime itself is changing with advances in technology, and the FBI is busy innovating and adapting to the changed circumstances and ever-enterprising criminals. Recently, the FBI helped us indict online sex traffickers who used websites like backpage.com to coerce children into sexual servitude. The FBI also provided critical information that led to the thwarting of a terrorist plot to blow up part of the subway system in Manhattan. Let's not forget these countless examples as we continue to sort out issues related to Russian interference in our last election and what happened during the Hillary Clinton email server debacle. Let's leave politics to those who work in that realm and allow the men and women of the FBI to do their work. Let's not forget that in 1935, when the FBI adopted the official seal, the FBI was synonymous not only with the agency's name but with three traits--fidelity, bravery, and integrity-- which appear on the seal to this day and describe what truly motivates the overwhelming majority of FBI personnel. So I wanted to come to the floor to say thank you to the men and women at the FBI for all they do in protecting this country and pursuing justice. We are indebted to them and stand behind them in this unending quest. I yield the floor.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: The Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).