John Cornyn

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would ask the Senate's indulgence. I actually have three topics that I need to discuss here today. One topic involves the historic flooding that we have experienced in Texas and the consequences of that, also the President's signing the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, and lastly, the bill that is before us on the floor today, which is another tool in the toolbox of the national security apparatus in this country to help keep Americans safe. Texas Floods First, Mr. President, let me talk about the flooding and storm damage that has affected Texas this last week or so. Over the course of a month, Texas has faced a deluge of storms and rain, and according to Texas A&M climatologists, May was the wettest month on record. Texas has been in a drought for a number of years now, and we are glad to get the rain, but we just wish that Mother Nature had spread it out over a longer period of time. The National Weather Service reported yesterday that in May Texas skies shed 37.3 trillion gallons of water, which translates into almost 8 inches of water covering the entire State--a state more than 268,000 square miles large. Unfortunately, this historic volume of water quickly turned into tragedy and massive destruction. Many Texans have experienced great loss. Some have lost their homes as the rivers came down without any warning and washed their houses from their foundation. But, of course, losing your home does not compare to the heartbreak of losing a loved one, and tragically, at least 24 people have lost their lives in the floods. As usual, despite the direst of circumstances, the Texas spirit remains alive, and we see many volunteers continuing to dedicate their time and efforts to lend a helping hand. In Wimberley, in central Texas, a town hit particularly hard by flooding and the overflowing Blanco River, a group of students and adults helped to organize a makeshift market in the high school gym. This same group helped consolidate and coordinate donations to give to those most in need. Locals in the town of about 2,500 people have come to refer to this as the ``Wimberley Walmart.'' Fortunately, stories such as these of Texans helping one another are not isolated--far from it, in fact. Communities across the State are organizing donation drives to help those who have lost all their material possessions, and many individuals have selflessly risked their own lives to help rescue strangers from the floodwaters and the rubble. To these volunteers, and to the many first responders who are working tirelessly, we all thank you from the bottom of our heart. During these hard times, you not only provided relief but you also provided perhaps something more important, and that is hope. I spoke to several local officials over the last couple of days, including Nim Kidd, who is chief of the Texas Department of Emergency Management. Nim is doing a terrific job in this very difficult position, and he is performing like the experienced public servant that you would come to expect, particularly in dealing with disasters such as this. Nim has said there is a lot of work to be done. He told me that the rivers may not actually be within their banks for 2 more weeks, assuming that we don't get more rain. This weekend, with recovery efforts in full swing and Texans beginning the painstakingly slow process of answering the painful question of what now, several Texas rivers remain at flood stage in more than 100 different locations. So as we start to recover, we are reminded that we need to remain vigilant. I was encouraged to hear Nim's report that the assistance of FEMA and other Federal agencies has been making a big difference. He was highly complimentary of their contributions. FEMA, as just one example, has rapidly deployed resources to help assess the damage done in local communities, and we were both glad to see the President quickly grant Governor Abbott's request for a major disaster declaration on Friday night, which will help Texans get the resources they need. I promised Nim and others I spoke to that I would continue to work with Governor Abbott and our State's congressional delegation to make sure that the Federal Government provides all the help Texans deserve during this difficult time. So, to those suffering today, I want to offer my deepest condolences and prayers. We will continue to do everything we can here in Washington, in Austin, and in local communities that have been so severely affected, to give Texans the help they need. We have no time to lose in getting these communities back on their feet. I know the people of Texas will continue to help their neighbors across the State during their time of need to ensure that each affected community will make the fullest and fastest recovery possible. Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act Mr. President, on the second topic, on Friday, the President signed into law the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. I know I speak for all those involved in the long journey on which this legislation has led us when I say that I am thrilled that we are able to mark this milestone. This is a perfect example of Congress working together in a bipartisan way along with the President to try to do something to help the most vulnerable people in our society--the victims of human trafficking. This is an important day, as it shows to both the victims of human trafficking as well as to the predators who exploit them that Congress, on both sides of the Capitol and on both sides of the aisle, takes this issue seriously. I want to express my gratitude to the organizations and the people who have helped get this done, lending countless hours and endless expertise to this cause. Without their advocacy and their determination, this would not have been possible. I thank in particular groups such as Rights4Girls, Shared Hope International, the National Association to Protect Children, the Coalition Against Trafficking Women, and End Child Prostitution and Trafficking. It is also important to remember whom this bill is for, and of course, it is for the victims--typically, a young girl between the ages of 12 and 14 who may have left home expecting some adventure or something else other than what they ultimately experienced. Many of them find themselves victims of modern day slavery and victims of habitual sexual abuse. This is for women such as Melissa Woodward, whom I have met. She is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. At just 12 years old, Melissa was sold into the sex trade by a family member--as hard as that is to conceive of. Her life became a prison. She was chained to a bed in a warehouse and endured regular beatings and was raped. She was forced to sexually serve between 5 and 30 men every day. Melissa said that at one point she wished she was dead. As heartbreaking as her story is--and it is heartbreaking--it is good to know that strong people such as Melissa--along with the help we can give and others who care for them can give and with those who can help them from living a life of victimhood--can be transformed by their experience and regain a new and productive life. So with this law we begin to provide for people such as Melissa the help they need to heal, and, importantly, to treat her and others as the victims they are and not as criminals. While I am thankful for what will be accomplished through this legislation, my hope is that we continue to fight the scourge of human trafficking using this law as the first step of many. Mr. President, I want to speak about the effort to reauthorize the critical provisions of the PATRIOT Act that expired at midnight last night. As others have observed, there has been a lot of misleading rhetoric and downright demagoguery about this topic. The issue is pretty straightforward and simple. This is about how we use all of the tools available to us to keep our Nation safe amidst pervasive and growing threats, while at the same time preserving our essential liberties. This is not about trading one for the other. This is about how we achieve the correct balance. Despite our efforts last night, this Chamber was unable to come up with even a short-term solution to ensure that the key provisions-- including section 215--of the PATRIOT Act did not expire. We know that any single Senator could object to this extension that would allow us to continue our work without allowing this program to expire. Unfortunately, three of our colleagues chose to object to the commonsense unanimous consent request to allow those temporary extensions while the Senate and the House continued their work. It is important to remember that these provisions of the law were created after September 11 and were designed to equip those investigating terrorism with the basic tools used by ordinary law enforcement. Why in the world would we want to deny law enforcement the investigatory tools they need to keep America safe from terrorist attacks? That is what section 215 did and does and will do again once we resurrect it. Before it expired at midnight, these provisions helped our intelligence and law enforcement officials keep the country safe. As I think about this, and in discussing it with Chairman Burr and others who are very concerned about the safety and security of our country and who are determined to protect the country by making sure that our counterterrorism efforts maintain every available legal tool consistent with our civil liberties, I think what has happened is we have fallen victim again to the pre-9/11 mentality of considering counterterrorism efforts to be a law enforcement matter alone. Of course, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, was designed primarily in a criminal law enforcement context to make sure that American citizens' privacy was protected. But what many of those who object to using these provisions fail to acknowledge is that our intelligence community has to be able to investigate and detect threats to the American homeland before they occur. After 9/11, where almost 3,000 people lost their lives, there was plenty of time to do a criminal investigation and law enforcement action, but we had failed in our most essential obligation, which is to detect these threats ahead of time and to prevent them from ever occurring. Importantly, as we discussed the week before last, section 215 in particular included vigorous oversight measures. It is important for people to understand that the executive branch--in other words, the White House--and the legislative branch, which is both Houses of Congress, and the courts are all very much engaged in the vigorous oversight of these tools used to protect the American people. By taking this tool away from those investigating the constant threat stream to American citizens, we have unfortunately given terrorists an advantage right here in our own backyard. As we have reiterated over and over that these threats to our homeland are real and they are growing. Why in the world would we take time to gamble with our national security? Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said that our country has entered ``a new phase in the global terrorism threat'' as the so-called Islamic State or ISIL continues to encourage people right here at home to take up the cause of global jihad. Perhaps, to me, the best and most concrete examples are events such as what happened in Garland, TX, just a few weeks ago, when two people who had been communicating overseas with representatives of the Islamic State were incited to take up arms against their fellow citizens here in the United States of America. Why in the world would we want to deny our law enforcement and intelligence authorities lawful tools available to them to be able to identify people plotting threats against the homeland and to prevent those threats from actually being carried out? Thank goodness, due to the vigilance of local police and other law enforcement authorities, what could have been a bloodbath in Garland, TX, was averted. Why in the world would we want to take away a tool available to our intelligence and law enforcement authorities and raise the risk that an attack here in the homeland be successful rather than thwarted? This is not just something that happened in Garland. A few weeks ago, FBI Director James Comey described the widespread nature of the threats--so widespread, in fact, that he said all 56 field divisions of the FBI have opened inquiries regarding suspected cases of homegrown terrorism. So let me repeat. Every FBI field division in the country is currently investigating at least one suspected case of homegrown terrorism. As my colleagues must know, we do not have to go very far to find other examples like the one I mentioned that manifested itself in Garland. We read about examples regularly. Just 2 weeks ago, also in my home State of Texas, the FBI arrested a man who had reportedly pledged his allegiance to the leader of ISIL. According to the FBI, he is but one of hundreds of ISIL sympathizers here in the United States, which ought to alarm all of us, ought to be a call to vigilance and to make sure we maintain every available legal tool consistent with civil liberties to protect our citizens. So I think it is obvious that section 215 and the two noncontroversial national security provisions at issue should not have been allowed to expire, but unfortunately they were, and now it is our responsibility to fill that gap by passing this legislation and taking up the important amendments, which will actually strengthen the House bill. We know our country and our people are the target of terrorists again, and we need to do everything we can to stop them. Well, my initial preference was to extend these portions of the PATRIOT Act for a short period of time so we could begin the debate and discuss the next best move to address these issues without giving the terrorist any advantage by handicapping the men and women committed to protecting our homeland. At a time when the threats to our country are increasing, we should be enabling our intelligence officials and law enforcement with the tools they need and not stripping them of the authorities they require in order to protect us. Clearly a full extension of section 215, which was easily extended in 2011, is not possible at this time. But the last thing any one of us should do is allow this program to continue to remain dark. I encourage our colleagues to join me in quickly working together to reauthorize these critical provisions. Every day we allow these authorities to remain expired, our intelligence officials are forced to act with one hand tied behind their back. We plan to make minor improvements to the House-passed bill, and I think they make a lot of sense, things such as actually getting a certification by the Director of National Intelligence and this plan to let the telecoms continue to hold this information and then, after a court order is provided, allow that search. But certainly we should want to know whether this actually will work in a way that is consistent with our national security. So, essentially, the House provisions are the base bill here, but I think Chairman Burr and others on the Intelligence Committee have recommended some very positive, commonsense improvements which will make this bill better. Working together, the Senate and the House, I think we can make sure these necessary authorities are restored. As elected representatives of the American people, it is our duty to make sure the balance between physical safety and civil liberties is struck. We will do that again. We can do that responsibly by extending these authorities and coming together to find a long-term solution that keeps these invaluable tools in place. I yield the floor.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, regular order.

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Sasse).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi). The ACTING OFFICER pro tempore. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. I, too, thank Senator Brown for his remarks and for his interest and support for this legislation. I agree with Senator Leahy that the important goals of this bill are not intended to impede regulatory agencies' oversight and supervisory responsibilities, nor are they meant to hinder communication between financial regulators and the institutions that they regulate. I agree that it is important to ensure that our financial regulators are able to do the work required to maintain the safety and soundness of our financial system. I will also work with the chair and ranking member of the banking committee and the financial regulatory agencies to address any remaining concerns on this issue as we advance this very important piece of legislation.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi).

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, on rollcall vote No. 190, I voted nay and intended to vote yea. Since it will not change the outcome of the vote, I ask unanimous consent that I be recorded as voting yea.

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, regular order.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I as unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, at 10:30 a.m., in room SR- 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight of the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, at 9:30 a.m., in room SD-406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Oversight of Scientific Advisory Panels and Processes at the Environmental Protection Agency.''

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``21st Century Ideas for the 20th Century Federal Civil Service.''

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, at 2:30 p.m., in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Taking Sexual Assault Seriously: The Rape Kit Backlog and Human Rights.''

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, in room SD-562 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 2:15 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Challenging the Status Quo: Solutions to the Hospital Observation Stay Crisis.''

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, at 10 a.m., in room SH-216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, in room SD-628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 2;15 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Addressing the Needs of Native Communities Through Indian Water Rights Settlements.''

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I as unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, at 10 a.m., in room SD-430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled ``Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Exploring Institutional Risk- sharing.''

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I as unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Nominations.''

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I as unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 20, 2015, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``U.S. Cuban Relations--The Way Forward.''