John Cornyn

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, for better or worse, history repeats itself--sometimes much sooner than we would like. We now know that Florida officials, as well as those up the east coast of the United States, have begun ordering evacuations as Hurricane Irma has intensified into a category 5 storm which could make landfall this weekend. It is my sincere hope that all residents of Florida will be safe, as well as those in other States affected by Irma, and that they take proper precautions. If there is one thing we learned from Hurricane Harvey, it is the importance of listening to local officials and leaders when it comes to evacuations and precautionary measures. But whatever happens, we are going to stand by the people of Florida and the Carolinas and others affected, just as they have stood by us in Texas and Louisiana as a result of Hurricane Harvey. In the meantime, we pray that Irma's trajectory changes. Down in Texas, of course, we are still thinking about another hurricane, and that is, of course, Hurricane Harvey. It is hard to believe, but not even 2 weeks have passed since the storm first tore through our towns, great and small. Of course, communities are still reeling from the devastation. One I visited earlier this week is the Meyerland neighborhood in Houston. It has been flooded three times in 3 years. On Monday, I visited the home of a single mom who survived several recent storms unscathed, but this time, Harvey found her home and destroyed it. There is a pile of debris on her front lawn, ready to be picked up by dump trucks. As a matter of fact, as you drive down the street, house after house after house, there are piles of furniture, clothing, drywall, and other debris that has been pulled up and discarded and is ready to be picked up by the dump trucks. Throughout the region, there are piles like that stacked up in Rockport, Aransas Pass, Lake Jackson, and West Columbia. As recently as this week, let's remember, some of these places were still under mandatory evacuation orders as the rivers crested and higher waters moved downstream. But here is my main point: As the rubble piles up and up and up, it is sometimes hard to see past the wreckage of the past weeks. Sometimes it is hard to see beyond what is right in front of you. That is why some simple words by historian David McCullough are good to keep in mind at times like this, as we continue to deal with Harvey's aftermath and worry what might follow with Irma. McCullough said: We think we live in difficult, uncertain times. We think we have worries. We think our leaders face difficult decisions. But so it has nearly always been. He is right. We have been through tough times before. We certainly have been through tough times in storms like Harvey in Texas before. As a matter of fact, back almost a little over a century ago, on September 8, 1900, a hurricane like Harvey--a category 4 hurricane--slammed into the city of Galveston, with winds surpassing 135 miles per hour. Two- thirds of the city was destroyed, and approximately 10,000 people lost their lives--10,000 people. By comparison, so far the death toll of Harvey is 70. So we can be grateful the death toll that was experienced in Galveston was not repeated. Like Galveston, the city of Houston and the surrounding area will recover. Of course, back in 1900, it took a couple of days for the world to find out what had happened because communication was not what it is now, but when word finally spread, America noticed. One little girl in Chicago sent 10 cents to help because that was all she had--10 cents. Well, that was probably worth a lot more back then than it is now, but it certainly is a lot for a little child. Her story reminds me of a 5- year-old boy in Philadelphia I heard about last week who set up a lemonade stand. Wearing a ``Houston Texans'' hat, he raised more than $400 for victims of Hurricane Harvey. How remarkable. What has changed since Galveston? Quite a bit. One crucial difference is that we have gotten a lot better at disaster prediction and response. As a matter of fact, my State--from the Governor on down to our local officials--plans for disasters like these and anticipates them, and it is that planning which has reduced the loss of life and gotten people out of harm's way. Houston's $503 billion economy will hopefully bounce back quickly, and with our help, it should. The fourth largest city in the country is known for energy, and that is what we here in Washington must devote to ensuring that aid relief is expedited. Supplemental funding to aid the Harvey recovery needs to be voted on promptly. Our friends in the House did it yesterday, and now it will be our turn this afternoon. The Senate will soon consider legislation that will keep the government's lights on until December 8 and increase the Nation's borrowing capacity. This is important because without lifting the debt limit, we couldn't vote for and send aid to the victims of Harvey because we would be bumping up against the debt ceiling. More importantly, this afternoon we will consider $15 billion in new emergency funds. These will be available to Texas families who, like the woman I met in Meyerland, are removing their rugs and furniture and rebuilding the very walls of their homes. These funds include $7.4 billion to FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, as well as $7.4 billion to HUD's Community Development Block Grant Program and $450 million for the Small Business Administration Disaster Loan Program. As large as these numbers are, with more than 100,000 people who have actually lost their homes, this is a downpayment, unfortunately, on what will be additional costs that Congress will have to vote on. As a matter of fact, after Hurricane Katrina, Congress voted on seven separate supplemental appropriations before the job was done. As I said, these are large numbers but not in the context of this unprecedented hurricane which dropped 50 inches of rain in 5 days on the city of Houston and the surrounding area. I hope my colleagues will keep in mind the scope of this catastrophe and deliver this funding to those whom Harvey has cost much more than just dollars. Getting back to the Texas economy, which I mentioned just a second ago, I want to talk about how important it is to get my State back up and running, because it is so important to the U.S. economy. As columnist Brett Stephens wrote last week, ``Economic growth isn't just a matter of parking lots paving over paradise.'' Companies oftentimes do real, tangible good. What matters for us today is that they underwrite safety standards and fund scientific research, and they develop new technologies to warn us of impending storms and engineer new materials that make buildings more secure. That is probably one of the biggest reasons why the damage from Hurricane Harvey didn't compare to the damage from the Galveston hurricane of 1900--because of building standards, building codes, and new materials that have been devised to help make buildings more secure. That is why Harvey wasn't like Galveston in 1900, and in the days and weeks ahead, we need to remember how far we have come. That is not to say we still don't have a long way to go. While the strong Texas economy is crucial to recovery efforts, education will be too. Thousands of Texas schoolchildren have been displaced by Hurricane Harvey, and many public school children are still wondering when their classrooms will be opened, if at all, or whether they will simply be transferred to other schools because their schools literally do not exist anymore. Yesterday, I spoke with Mike Morath, commissioner of Texas public education, who told me about the many challenges schools in Texas are now facing. For example, an entire school district in Rockport, TX, is closed indefinitely, leaving more than 3,000 students without friends and teachers to go to school with. In the Houston Independent School District, more than 200 schools were affected by the flooding, with at least 50 suffering extensive damage. Our healthcare facilities are also dealing with other concerns. Bill McKeon, president of the Texas Medical Center--one of the largest medical centers in the world--told us that his employees had problems getting to work due to road closures, debris, and families without homes and vehicles. When your office is in the world's biggest medical complex and employs more than 100,000 people, that is a big problem. It is a big problem, but we are going to deal with it. Like Galveston in 1900, like New Orleans after Katrina, these storms humble us but provide us the way to show the human spirit and ingenuity that so routinely follows as we rebuild and recover. Once again, David McCullough's words are useful. He said: ``A sense of history is an antidote to self-pity and self-importance.'' Colleagues, let's keep in mind those wise words of David McCullough as we weather this storm and brace ourselves for the next. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) and the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Sullivan).

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

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 ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, it has been 1 week since Hurricane Harvey hit the State of Texas, and although the rain has now stopped, the damage continues, as much of the water that has moved through Houston is now moving downstream to rivers and bayous and areas south of Houston. People's lives are still being disrupted, and unfortunately more and more bodies are being found, as the water has receded in places that have been flooded. Eight days ago, Harvey's wrath was still being felt. Of course, we are still counting the cost, and, as one lady in Houston told my staff, ``Normal is a long way off.'' It is more than just days we are counting, though. As families return to their homes and piece their lives back together, the numbers keep rolling in. Numbers are how we keep track, and I want to mention a number of numbers that I think will help all of us understand the magnitude of what has occurred and will help us wrap our heads around what this disaster has meant for not only Texas but for the country. The largest numbers are the toughest--not the toughest to swallow, and I will get to those in a moment, but simply to comprehend. They are the ones that make your jaw drop. Twenty-seven trillion--that is the number of gallons of rain that Harvey pummeled on Texas and Louisiana. Then there is 2.7 million--that is how many liters of water have been provided to Texas by FEMA as of last Friday. Don't forget that parts of the city of Beaumont are without drinking water or are subject to a boil notice for 7 more days. There is another number: 1 million. That is the number of cars reportedly destroyed by the storm--1 million cars. Forty thousand--that is the number of homes Harvey permanently wrecked. At least that many people are still, even today, in shelters, living off of cots at convention centers, inside government-funded motel rooms, or living with friends and family. Next come the middle batch of numbers, slightly smaller and more manageable sums. Some of these actually come as a relief. Some of them remind us why writer Walker Percy, a native of our neighbor Louisiana, used to say that hurricanes, as terrible and life-altering as they are, sometimes give us hope--because they draw people closer together as neighbor helps neighbor. Four thousand two hundred--that is the number of pounds of flour employees went through at El Bolillo restaurant in Southeast Houston. The bakers were trapped inside their kitchen for 2 days during the storm, so what did they do? They did what bakers always do: They baked. In this case, they baked up pan dulce--traditional Mexican pastries-- for flood victims. Their ovens were on all night for their neighbors. One young girl on Twitter praised the Bolillo bakers as ``angels.'' They gave people what they needed most, perhaps, during this storm, and that is a sense of normalcy. Two thousand seven hundred thirty-one--that is the number of cattle, horses, and sheep which various ranchers and helicopter pilots, like Ryan Ashcraft, have saved in places like Brazoria County and which are now inside makeshift stables in fairgrounds and parking lots. Animal rescue has been a crucial and difficult part of the equation in communities affected by the storm. Of course, in the shelters Senator Cruz and I visited, they had to make accommodation for pets because people wouldn't leave their cat or dog in the floods. They wouldn't leave unless they could bring their animal with them. They have had to make some accommodation--and they have--which made it easier for people to leave their flooded homes. Then there is another number: 200. That is the number of soaking-wet, stranded Houstonians Jim McIngvale and his staff rescued in their delivery trucks. Most of us from Texas, and especially from Houston, know Mr. McIngvale as ``Mattress Mack.'' He is in the furniture business, and he opened up his giant furniture showrooms as shelters. They provided portable showers and an inventory of brand-new beds and sofas for folks who had nowhere else to sleep. Getting rest couldn't have been easy, though, not when so many displaced people were still thinking about the storm and its consequences, still feeling the dampness in their clothes and remembering the pounding rain and wondering what they were going to do to get on with their lives. One hundred thirty-two--that number represents the speed in miles per hour of the most punishing wind gusts recorded in Port Aransas on August 25. It is hard to imagine the power of the wind attacking homes and structures--eight times faster than a charging bull. In the days ahead, we need to remember just how strong the storm really was. I brought a few charts to help remind us of that and the aftermath. This is a picture outside of Houston. I visited a synagogue in a place called Meyerland in the Houston area where they have literally been flooded 3 years in a row. This is one of the members of that congregation, and she invited me to come to her home so I could see all the damaged drywall, furniture, and other items on her front lawn which have now been pulled out of her house. Finally, we come to the last set of numbers, the smallest ones but in many ways the most painful, the hardest to forget, numbers like 45, which is the angle in degrees of bent electric poles I saw in Rockport when I toured the destruction after the storm last week. Other electrical poles lay on the ground. The town smelled of gasoline and even natural gas leaks, which we smelled in the Rockport area. Of course, the ground was littered with broken glass and strewn books and things like that. Boats in the marina had been tossed about and smashed, their sails ripped to shreds, as local residents had mostly fled. Here is another picture of that damage in Rockport, TX. Harder still, though, is the number 25, which is the years Andrew Pasek lived before he tragically stepped on a live electrical wire in ankle-deep water on August 29. A resident of Houston, Andrew was an animal lover, and he was trying to locate and save his older sister's cat when he stepped on this electrical wire and lost his life. We, of course, offer our condolences to all of those families who have lost loved ones, including Andrew's, in their time of grief, and we pledge to remember him and all of the flood victims in our prayers. Sadly, Andrew was joined by 59 others who lost their lives. As I said earlier, that number continues to grow each day as the waters recede and as we find people who did not leave their homes, perhaps because they were elderly and unable to get out, living alone, for example. So we expect that number to, sadly, get even higher. Six is the number of family members Samuel Saldivar lost when a van he was driving was tossed by a strong current into the bayou. As with Andrew's family, our thoughts and prayers go out to Samuel during what I am sure has been a dark and trying week, one nearly impossible to make sense of. But for each story of loss, each family that is hurting, there are many other reasons for hope as we embark on what is a long road to recovery. Consider five--the number of bed-ridden, elderly patients from Cypress Glen Nursing Home who required special boats to get them out, boats with generators that could power their life support assistance. We are grateful for Good Samaritans like Dan LeBlanc from Port Arthur, Doug Barles, Jr., and Robert Bode for managing this operation, which was no easy task. Here is a picture of those gentleman. Volunteers with no special expertise in search and rescue, these gentleman saved more than 100 patients. Finally, the number I will end with is zero. That is the amount of complaining done by a gentleman named Jim Rath who exemplifies the Texas spirit. His house was destroyed in a flood 2 years ago, and he had just finished rebuilding it when Harvey hit and destroyed it again. Was he shaken by this course of events? Well, sure, he was. But did he complain? No, he did not. Of all his lost possessions, Mr. Rath said, ``The main thing is: This is just stuff.'' Then, like other Texans are doing now, he rolled up his sleeves. With saws and jackhammers, they are already moving forward. Zero is also the amount of time we have to waste here in Congress. The Texans I know aren't just sitting around waiting for the government or for government aid, but that doesn't mean we should twiddle our thumbs here in Washington, DC. We have to act. That is why I am working with Senator Cruz and the entire Texas delegation in crafting an aid request that addresses flood relief but without imposing burdensome mandates or regulations. As Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal this week, this measure needs to be tight and specific. She said: There should be no larding up or loading it down with extraneous measures. This is an emergency. But that means we have to act and act with dispatch. I applaud the House of Representatives for moving quickly today to approve an initial $8 billion downpayment on disaster relief, and I urge my colleagues in this Chamber to follow the House's lead and expedite passage for this first tranche, this downpayment on what will surely be a more expensive list of costs. We are going to continue to work with Governor Abbott and the team back in the State to make sure the Federal, State, and local actors are all on the same page. But right now, let's quickly send Texas a downpayment. Let's show that we are actually serious. I was gratified by the outpouring of emails and texts--even the Presiding Officer reached out, and I appreciate that--from people expressing their concern about what was happening in Texas. I appreciate that very much. But now we need to demonstrate that those weren't just words and follow them up with concrete action. As we all process the numbers from the storm, I believe the important one today is zero--the amount of time we have to lose. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran) and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I just returned from Texas, where, as the world knows, Hurricane Harvey has devastated the gulf coast and now ranks among the costliest natural disasters in American history. Today I want to share with you what my State has experienced in the wake of this storm that has battered so many homes and broken so many hearts. The storm calamitously resulted in the loss of at least 60 lives, with probably more to come as the water recedes and as people's bodies are discovered. Of course, we mourn with those families who have lost loved ones. You have seen the pictures, but let me describe what my fellow Texans have experienced firsthand. It started when Harvey ran into a patch of warm water in the Gulf of Mexico the week before last. As Harvey rumbled toward Texas, the ocean churned and the storm grew in size and strength. By the time it made landfall in the Coastal Bend region south of Houston, the hurricane was a Goliath--Category 4. The rain fell, the wind howled, and the water rose in towns like Rockport, Port Lavaca, and Aransas Pass. Streets became swamps, and homes filled up like bathtubs. First were those smaller coastal communities that I just mentioned, but then one of the largest cities in the Nation, Houston, and nearby areas were hit. Third, let's not forget places like Port Arthur, Beaumont--where I was yesterday with Majority Leader McCarthy from the House of Representatives and my other colleagues--as well as other parts of Jefferson and surrounding counties that were hit when the storm barreled east and then finally abated. Five days and 50 inches of rainfall--every known record was shattered. The National Hurricane Center was awed by the storm that it called ``relentless.'' The Washington Post appropriately called it ``merciless'' because it was. Sunday, August 27, was the wettest day ever in Houston, where nearly a third of the yearly rainfall came in 24 hours. A third of our annual expected rainfall in Houston came in 24 hours. Not only that, we now know Harvey was the most extreme rain event in the history of the continental United States, a catastrophe so unheard of that it comes perhaps only once in 1,000 years. Let that sink in for a moment--a 1,000-year rain event. The storm's intensity easily could have overwhelmed first responders. Medical, law enforcement, and rescue personnel easily could have said: You know, I am exhausted. I haven't slept for days. I haven't been able to change my clothes. I can't do this anymore. They could have easily said all of those things, but instead they kept wading into the water--the Harris County sheriff's water rescue team, the Texas National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, people like Sergeant Steve Perez, a 34-year veteran of the Houston Police Department who drowned in his patrol car during the storm. His wife told him not to go to work on that day, but Sergeant Perez's response was ``We've got work to do.'' He drove for over 2 hours trying to find a safe route to allow him to report for duty and to protect the community he loved. I hope Sergeant Perez's sacrifice will serve as an example to the rest of us to strive to serve others indiscriminately, no matter the potential cost. Texas's neighbors could have easily stayed home too--after all, our friends in Louisiana learned tough lessons of their own from Hurricane Katrina--but they did not. They quickly mobilized. Calling themselves the Cajun Navy and the Cajun Coast Search and Rescue, they hitched their fishing boats to their pickup trucks and said: ``GTT,'' ``gone to Texas''--gone to Texas to join the other rescuers, both uniformed and volunteers. What did they all do? They saved people who were floating on air mattresses, the few belongings they could carry that were stuffed into garbage bags, and people who were stranded on rooftops. They navigated around submerged trees and stop signs and cars, working with little to no sleep, dripping wet with sweat pouring from their faces, and smelling like the murky water that surrounded them. It seems that I heard about these stories over and over and over again during my trips to Corpus Christi, Rockport, Austin, and all around the State. These are the stories I heard in Houston, Beaumont, and other cities--all of them devastated, but in none of them was their spirit destroyed. My State and our Nation have responded to this terrible natural disaster. As I did a small part in loading bags of ice and water and serving spaghetti to evacuees in Austin, I was struck by how many people--public officials, volunteers, businesses, and nonprofits, great and small--had offered and given their support, and I want to say that we are grateful to all of them. In particular, Governor Greg Abbott's leadership has been critical. He and his team of emergency management personnel, led by Chief Nim Kidd, were well prepared in advance, and they moved swiftly following the state of emergency being declared in more than 50 of the 254 Texas counties. Yet it was not just State and local officials who acted with such dispatch. The Federal Government stepped up, too, starting with the President of the United States, who personally, along with the First Lady, made two trips to the affected region. He brought members of his Cabinet, who had previously called me and my other colleagues from the Texas delegation over and over and over again, asking: What more can we do? I thank the President and the Vice President, who also came personally, clearing brush in Rockport, TX, in a demonstration of how to be a good neighbor and in his concern and commitment to the affected region. I want to say that FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also deserves recognition as part of this effort. Throughout the storm and in the days following, Administrator Brock Long has been a steady hand at the helm in his support of State and local teams with strategy, equipment, and personnel. Yet it was not just FEMA. It was the Small Business Administration, HUD, and the Department of Homeland Security. All of the heads of those agencies were there in person in Texas, asking over and over again: What more can we do? It is not just government and government officials. It is organizations like the Red Cross, which ran shelters around the State, faith-based organizations, and people who just wanted to be good neighbors, doing anything and everything they could to volunteer--to serve food, provide dry clothes, and a safe place to sleep. Now we know that FEMA's flood insurance programs, while they are being implemented, are about to run out of money by the end of this week. In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the inspections have begun, and recovery housing teams are on the ground. Countless others--local, State, and Federal actors--are working around the clock to aid rescue and recovery efforts. Yet, as I said in Texas last week, the road ahead is going to be long and winding. In many ways, once the TV cameras leave and the waters recede, as people are just now coming home, the depth of their losses will just be sinking in with their places of business gone, all of their possessions destroyed, their cars inoperable. People are hurting. Housing and food, water and electricity, and transportation are a few of the things people have lost that most of us take for granted but not those who suffered at the hands of Hurricane Harvey. This is why I am working with Senator Cruz and the entire Texas congressional delegation on an appropriations request for disaster recovery. The many communities that have been impacted by this massive storm will need our help and need it quickly. As I said, FEMA, literally, will run out of funds at the end of this week. Unless we act with dispatch to appropriate an emergency supplemental this week, as the House will do tomorrow, and unless we raise the debt ceiling, there will not be any way that Congress will be able to actually appropriate that emergency funding and get it to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to help those who are in so much need. But working together, we are going to deliver that help. As President Trump said last week, ``Texas can handle anything.'' I think the President is pretty much right. We have seen our share of catastrophes, and we have always bounced back. Texans are tough and resilient, and we always, always band together. A few years ago, after another tragedy in West Texas that took the lives of a number of first responders in a terrible explosion, I remember running into a county commissioner who said: Texas doesn't just describe where you are from; it describes who your family is. I know we all love our States, and we love our country, but I am particularly proud of how my State and Texans have stepped forward to help each other in this time of need. I know that all of my colleagues in this Chamber have spent time with their families and their friends this past weekend in honor of Labor Day. As the summer now draws to a close, let's remember that many in Texas were not celebrating that holiday. They are struggling in shelters, not knowing what is left of their homes that they have been forced to flee. With August now behind us, our work, like theirs, is just beginning. Tomorrow, as I said, the House will vote on a, roughly, $8 billion aid package--the first of several steps toward delivering relief to Texans. I appreciate House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who traveled with me yesterday to Houston and Beaumont to survey the damage in Texas. He had previously been with me and the Governor in Austin and talked about coordinating the Federal and State response. I look forward to working with Leader McCarthy and all of my colleagues in both Chambers of the Congress on addressing the needs caused by this terrible storm. By the way, I appreciate all of the texts, the phone calls, and the emails that I have received from colleagues on both sides of the aisle throughout this terrible storm, expressing their concerns and offering their prayers and their help. I appreciate it. My colleagues, I will just say this. Let's remember Sergeant Steve Perez, the police officer who died in Houston, whom I described earlier, the officer who could have stayed home. As his wife said: It is just too dangerous to go out there amidst the flood. Like him, let's do our duty and look for a way to work together. Friends, let's get to work and do our job, not only in providing relief for the victims of Hurricane Harvey, but there is so much more that we need to do, working together. I will close because I see the distinguished Democratic whip here, who I know has made the condition of the Dreamers--the children who came with their parents when they came to the United States in violation of our immigration laws. Of course, children are not responsible for what their parents have done. I actually believe that the President has given us an opportunity by what he did today. After all, what President Obama did, no matter how much we understand it, was essentially declared illegal by a Federal court. The President has no authority to do this unilaterally. That is what the Federal courts told President Obama, so President Trump has appropriately now said: Congress, you do your job. And we will. I look forward to the debate. I look forward to working on this important issue, but I dare say that just addressing DACA and the Dreamers by themselves is not acceptable. We are going to do as much as we can to address our broken immigration system, to restore public confidence in our border security and the enforcement of our laws, and, once again, become a nation that is, yes, a nation of immigrants but also a nation of laws. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. CORNYN

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

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Hoeven), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Hoeven), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Hoeven) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I congratulate the majority leader for securing these important confirmations of nominees who have been waiting, for no good reason, simply to get an up-or-down vote and get confirmed. This is a big day, with roughly 65 nominations confirmed just here in the last few minutes--things that should have been handled but for the obstruction and foot-dragging of our colleagues across the aisle. I want to focus for just a minute on things we have been able to do, notwithstanding the lack of cooperation of our colleagues across the aisle since this new administration came into office. I know the focus of the press--and, frankly, some of our own focus-- has been on the unfinished business, like healthcare reform. I can assure my colleagues that issue is not going away and gets more difficult to address as each day goes by. Perhaps one of the most significant things we have done in the last few months is confirm Neil Gorsuch as a Justice on the Supreme Court. It is undeniable that Judge Gorsuch is a qualified, high-caliber nominee, and he is already serving our Nation well on our highest Court. We have also worked together with the President to deliver legislation that is a priority for our veterans and police departments around the Nation. The American Law Enforcement Heroes Act, which I was proud to sponsor, will help our returning veterans continue to serve their country by creating incentives for police departments to hire them once they take off their military uniform and put on a new uniform as a member of local police departments. This legislation will help keep our communities safe while supporting those who have served our country. I am proud we were able to work together on a bipartisan basis to make it the law of the land. On this side of the aisle, we are absolutely committed to helping businesses and job creators do what they do best--innovate, create more jobs, and employ more people--and not waste time dealing with onerous rules and regulations. With a friend in the White House--somebody sympathetic to the needs to grow the economy, create more opportunities, and let people pursue the American dream--we have been able to finally deliver some relief to the American people. One of the ways we have done that is through one of the more obscure laws, perhaps--but one we have brought to life--the so-called Congressional Review Act. Until just this year, I think the Congressional Review Act had been used only one time to repeal the ergonomics rule years ago. The Congressional Review Act was created to give Congress an opportunity to do away with or repeal regulations which were put in place as the Obama administration was headed out the door. Using these Congressional Review Acts, and with an ally in the White House, we undid some of the thousands of burdensome rules and regulations created by the Obama administration--rules and regulations which added up to a hefty pricetag for our country and which have strangled our economic recovery since 2008 and the great recession. That is not all. We have also passed important bipartisan legislation imposing tough sanctions on Iran, Russia, and North Korea. In the case of Iran, the overwhelming vote was a strong message that the United States will not tolerate Iran's complicity in terror and is a clear indicator of just how important this legislation is. Now, most people listening to me would be surprised we did this because, frankly, there wasn't a whole lot of coverage about it because it was done with such broad and overwhelming bipartisan support, but it is important, and it is an important signal to our adversaries in other countries that we will not sit idly by and leave our Nation undefended and their acts undeterred. This week, we continue to build on these additional accomplishments for our veterans. I commend, in particular, the Senator from Georgia, Mr. Isakson, for his great work in getting these bills passed. Over the last several years, we have heard about VA facilities across the State of Texas and across the country which have been plagued by inefficiency, unaccountability, and quality of care issues. The VA has been hindered by unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles which have been incredibly frustrating and costly for our veterans. The Veterans Choice Program was created to fix that by ensuring veterans can receive timely appointments close to home. The VA Choice and Quality Employment Act, which we passed earlier this week, continues that program and guarantees veterans that they will continue to have access to care without interruption. Of course, we still have additional work to do before leaving for the August work period. There are still vacancies in the executive branch that need to be filled. In order for President Trump to do the job he was elected to do on November 8, he needs his team in place. While I am glad that today, just a few moments ago, roughly 65 of his Cabinet nominees and sub-Cabinet nominees were confirmed, I hope our colleagues across the aisle will stop their stall tactics so we can confirm the rest of the nominees of this administration. I congratulate the Senator from Tennessee, the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, for the work he did to see passage of the Food and Drug Administration User Fee Program. This is an incredibly important, although somewhat obscure, law that helps establish partnerships between the private and public sector which ensure patients have access to safe and effective drugs and medical devices, while also maintaining the position of the United States as a global leader in medical innovation. It is simple. Faster approvals mean treatments and cures reach patients sooner, and increased competition leads to lower cost, and that, in turn, leads to more lives saved. I also congratulate Senator Johnson from Wisconsin. He has been trying to get this bill called the Right to Try Act, which passed unanimously earlier today. This is designed to give dying individuals one last chance to try perhaps sometimes experimental medications to see if that will help them extend their quality of life and their longevity. I know he feels passionately about it, and I congratulate him for his leadership and perseverance. With these remaining items, it is clear we have been able to accomplish a lot in a short time for the American people. Again, we focus on our unfinished work--like the healthcare bill. I assure my colleagues, once again, that remains broken, people remain hurting, and we should not rest or give up until we are able to give them some relief, and we are determined to do that. Mr. President, I want to mention one other piece of legislation that was introduced today which we have been working on for a long time-- years, literally, but since the Trump administration came into office, and particularly with Secretary of Homeland Security General Kelly, who has now become the Chief of Staff for the White House. We have introduced something called the Building America's Trust Act, which is border security legislation that increases resources at our borders while boosting trade through ports of entry and strengthens enforcement of existing laws. Earlier this year, several of my colleagues and I went to my home State to tour our southern border, including the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, and Del Rio, TX. The reason I was so glad to welcome my colleagues to visit Texas with me and see the borders is because it is a unique part, not only of our State but a unique part of our Nation. Each mile along the border presents its own challenge in terms of what is needed to protect it. On this trip, we spoke most notably with Manny Padilla, chief of the Rio Grande Patrol Sector and commander of the Joint Task Force of the West and South Texas Corridor. Chief Padilla presides over the busiest Border Patrol sector in the United States. He said something then which stuck with me. He pointed out that any border security plan must include a combination of three things, and the way those three things come together may well vary, and will vary, depending on the particular location: The first is physical infrastructure. Here is an example of some of the fencing that exists along the border where the Border Patrol believes it is necessary in order to control the flow of people across the border in a way they can be allowed to do their job. The second is technology--things like this aerostat, with its radar capability. It is literally eyes in the sky, which can allow the Border Patrol to do their job better. Here is another example of some of the ground-based radar which is available. You can imagine, with a 1,200-mile border between Texas and Mexico alone, it is a huge job and a very complex environment. Of course, the third thing, in addition to physical infrastructure and technology, is things like personnel. Literally, we need to make sure we have an adequate number of Border Patrol available to deal with people who are coming across the border in violation of our immigration laws. I believe, until we secure the border and enforce the law, we will never be able to regain the public's confidence, which allows us to do other things we need to do to fix our broken immigration system. That is why we call this bill the Building America's Trust Act. It does these things--secures our borders with expanded resources, enhances ports of entry to increase trade--because it is important to separate the criminal activity from legitimate trade and commerce, which creates 5 million jobs in the United States alone. That is just by our national trade with Mexico. Of course, it strengthens enforcement of our immigration laws. That is why we have gotten support from the National Border Patrol Council, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the Southwestern Border Sheriff's Coalition, and the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition as well, and we have had supportive statements by the Fraternal Order of Police and others. I firmly believe that until we accomplish this goal--until we regain the public's confidence that we are actually serious about it and we have a plan to do it--we will not be permitted by our constituents to do the other things we know we need to do to fix our broken immigration system. I know the Presiding Officer was at the White House yesterday with the President, talking about his plan to try to make our legal immigration system more merit-based. This is something we have been trying to do for years now, and I congratulate the Presiding Officer for helping restart that discussion because we need to focus not only on border security and enforcing our laws, we need to think about and talk about what a 21st century immigration system for our country should look like. Should it be based strictly on family relationships or should it be based on some of the attributes of the immigrant which would benefit the United States--people with advanced degrees and capability, people who can come here and help make our country better, not just come here to become dependent on our country. The Building America's Trust Act is a chance for our Democratic colleagues who have said they actually believe in border security to demonstrate their support. In fact, we supported one of the toughest border security packages there is. I believe that is what this represents. It is clear the President has made obvious from the beginning that border security would be a top priority for him. I think it is one of the reasons he was elected on November 8 of last year--because the American people sensed, even if maybe they didn't know the details, that things had gotten out of control, our borders were in chaos, and thousands of people were coming across the border who had no legal right to be here in disregard of our laws. They sensed, in their core, that something was fundamentally wrong--that, yes, we are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws--and we have lost that. This is about regaining trust in government and keeping our commitment to the American people. Over these last few months, I have been working with colleagues, not only in the Senate and the House but with General Kelly in the Department of Homeland Security--now Chief of Staff of the White House--to come up with a strategic plan which addresses various facets of border security and interior enforcement as well. We know about 40 percent of illegal immigration is people who enter the country legally but who overstay their visa and simply melt into the great American landscape. For too long, those on the frontlines have not had the tools they need to get the job done. These are public servants, like our Border Patrol, who risk their lives to keep us safe, and we simply haven't lived up to our commitment to give them the tools and the political will necessary to support them. We know the borders are also cause for our local, State, and Federal officials to have to work together, and it makes sense for us to do more to help them do their job at the State and local level as well. Our bill authorizes additional resources for Border Patrol agents, Customs and Border Protection officers, for agricultural inspectors, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE officers. We also provide for additional immigration judges and Federal prosecutors for State and local law enforcement to aggressively fight drug trafficking, smuggling, and other crimes that, unfortunately, occur along our borders because the organizations--these transnational criminal organizations--really don't care about human life. We saw that recently when a number of immigrants died in the back of a tractor trailer in a parking lot at Walmart in San Antonio, TX. They are a commodity, a way to make money in the eyes of these cartels who care nothing about human life. Drugs, weapons, and other threats to our country are also part of what they move across the border, and that is why border security is so important. Our bill also focuses on criminals, gangs, and repeat offenders who return to the United States in defiance of our laws. We have zero tolerance for those criminals in this bill. We end catch-and-release, and we include Kate's Law, a bill recently passed by the House that increases penalties for those who repeatedly cross our borders illegally. The bill is named after Kate Steinle, who was so tragically murdered in San Francisco. We hold sanctuary cities accountable because no city should be able to defy cooperation with Federal law enforcement officials. We are not asking them to do the Federal Government's job, but they do have an obligation, as we all do as American citizens, to cooperate and work with our law enforcement officials. We impose tough penalties on Federal funds for jurisdictions that fail to comply with lawful Federal immigration enforcement requests. To curb the abuse of visas, our bill utilizes a biometric entry-exit system at ports of entry to identify visa overstays and cut off immigration benefits to those who exploit the system. We also make sure to invest in our ports of entry. These are the ways that people come into our country legally and engage in commerce and trade, which is mutually beneficial. We can't neglect our trading partnerships with our neighbors to the south because we depend on that trade to create and sustain 5 million jobs in the United States alone. The Building America's Trust Act will also help boost the flow of commerce through our ports so that legitimate trade can continue to flourish. This bill also includes a large investment of resources to improve our ports of entry, to help target and isolate illegal immigration and drug trafficking at ports while facilitating increased, legitimate trade and travel. Perhaps most importantly, this bill also requires that the Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement officials consult with local officials every step of the way. The people who live in our border communities know best how to help control illegal traffic and illegal activity, but it is the Federal Government's responsibility to step up and help them. They understand the benefits of legitimate travel and trade and traffic, all of which are important parts of a successful border security effort. Border security really is not a one-size-fits-all plan. As Chief Padilla said, it is always a combination of technology, personnel, and tactical infrastructure--wall systems, fences, and the like. We need an approach that will work for each unique area with input and stakeholder consultation at every step to ensure that the right solution is achieved for all involved. As I have said, I am happy to have support for this legislation from several law enforcement organizations. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues in both Chambers, as well as the administration, toward our goal of protecting our Nation and securing our borders. I firmly believe that border security, ultimately, is a matter of political will. This President has the political will, and this Congress should have the political will to get the job done. This was the commitment that he made and that we need to make to the American people and that, I think, informed their vote on November 8, 2016. With this legislation as a guide, we aren't just securing our borders for tomorrow. We are looking ahead and locking in a framework that will exist long after President Trump leaves office. With the Building America's Trust Act, I hope we can do just that and, again, finally regain the public's confidence by earning that confidence and restoring order and lawfulness to our broken immigration system. I yield the floor.

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 note in this morning's news that insurance companies that provide health insurance policies on the ObamaCare exchanges are projecting that insurance premiums will go up about 30 percent next year. Since 2013, we have seen the nationwide average of premiums go up 105 percent. That was before this latest announcement. We know that in 2017, the national average increase in premiums was 25 percent, and in Arizona, for example, it was 145 percent. So why did all of the Senate Democrats vote against making progress on a solution toward these runaway premiums I have talked about ad nauseam on the Senate floor? We have almost become numb to the pain people across this country are experiencing because of the skyrocketing rate of their insurance premiums, and we know that 28 million, roughly, have dropped out and are uninsured. In my State alone, because of the individual mandate, which is the penalty the government imposes for one's failing to buy a government-approved health insurance plan--as the Presiding Officer knows because I got the figures from him--more than 400,000 Texans who earn less than $25,000 a year paid the penalty because they could not afford to buy the insurance. All in all, about a million Texans paid the penalty because of the individual mandate. When we tried to do something about that last week, in working with our House colleagues, what was the response from the other side? It was crickets--silence. Unfortunately, the people who were hurt by ObamaCare are still being hurt by ObamaCare. Now, here is the narrative. I have already seen it on social media and have read about it in the paper and elsewhere. Some people are saying: Well, the reason insurance companies are saying that premiums are going to go up 30 percent next year is that President Trump will not commit to the subsidies for insurance companies, the so-called CSRs. That is utterly false. How do they explain the 105-percent increase from 2013 to currently? How do they explain last year's increase in insurance premiums, 25 percent, on average, and 145 percent in places like Arizona before President Trump even took office? It is a demonstrably false narrative, and I cannot tell you how disappointed I am that we were not able to make some progress toward a solution on behalf of the people whom I represent in my State but also on behalf of the people whom we all represent across the United States. I dare say, as we search for a path forward, we ought to get our facts straight, and the idea that premiums are going to go up 30 percent next year, unless something changes, is a product of the failure of ObamaCare. It is nothing that this administration has done or will do that has caused that. So let's get our facts straight because starting with the correct facts is absolutely essential to coming up with real solutions.

Mr. CORNYN

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

Mr. CORNYN

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

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, it is no secret that last week's vote on repealing and replacing the provisions of ObamaCare proved a disappointment to many of us. I have found, though, in my time here in the Senate that so often we agree on the goal we want to achieve, but we disagree on the means to achieve that goal. Some people see the private sector and competition and markets as the best place to regulate economic activity. Other people look at the government as the source of actions that do things like provide access to healthcare. The truth is, in our complicated healthcare delivery system, everybody plays a role one way or the other. We know that government plays an outsized role already, because we have Medicare, Medicaid, veterans health programs, and the like--the Children's Health Insurance Program, which we will have to take up and reauthorize before the end of September. But there does exist a very important private marketplace for health insurance, and, frankly, many times I think the government makes it harder, not easier, for the private marketplace to offer people a variety of products that they actually like, want to buy, and can afford. But it is evident that there is a lot of passion about this issue, and that is not going to go away. Certainly, what is not going to go away is the need that consumers across this country of ours have for lower premiums, increased access, and a marketplace that actually functions, where people can buy an insurance product they want to buy, and, of course, there is always the issue of quality of care. Some people think that maybe Medicaid is the ultimate answer. The fact of the matter is that Medicaid plays a very important role as a safety net for low-income Americans, but most of the medical studies that have been done indicate that medical outcomes under Medicaid are no better than those for those people who don't have insurance at all, and the number of people who go to the emergency room includes many people who have Medicaid but have a hard time finding a doctor who will treat them because Medicaid pays doctors at such a low rate that only about one-third of the doctors, especially in my State of Texas, will see a new Medicaid patient. As one of our colleagues has suggested, it is kind of like telling people: Here is a bus ticket. But there is no bus. There is no way to get there. That is hardly what I would call access to quality care. I know our work is not done. Now I and others turn to our colleagues across the aisle who fought us every step of the way in trying to achieve progress on healthcare reform and ask them what their suggestions are. Democrats need to be constructive rather than continuing to bury their heads in the sand about the fundamental problems with the Affordable Care Act. My firm belief is that these problems are structural in nature. They are not something that can be solved simply by throwing more money at the problem, particularly when insurance companies would love to have us do exactly that. That is the way they do business. They are profit- oriented companies. I don't begrudge them that. It is simply not in our best interest, I believe, to just throw billions of dollars at insurance companies in a bailout without reforming the fundamental structure by which healthcare is delivered. I don't think we can turn to the taxpayers and say that it is their obligation to bail out insurance companies, particularly when they have seen their premiums already triple under ObamaCare. We can't afford to do what the Senator from Vermont wants to do, which is enact a costly single-payer system, which would literally bankrupt our country. With every day that passes, ObamaCare keeps getting worse, but we have no choice but to keep working to find new ways forward. That will include discussions and efforts to keep our promise and fix the mess that has been left to us to face. There is a lot the American people expect of us. With fragile majorities in the Senate, we have seen that we are forced to work together to try to solve these problems. I think, frankly, bipartisan solutions tend to be more durable. As we move forward to that work and turn to legislative priorities such as breaking the blockade on nominations, tax reform, getting our economy growing again, getting people back to work--because the economy is growing and they get good, well-paying jobs--and doing things such as rebuilding our infrastructure, something we know is important to our economic future, we will continue this week focusing on something that, frankly, we should have done months ago, which is seeing that more of President Trump's nominees are confirmed. Of course, we know the approach of the Democratic leader from New York has been to obstruct, block, and slow down as many of these nominations as he can. For example, our Senate colleagues on the Democratic side have allowed only 10 percent of President Trump's confirmations to go by a voice vote, which is a customary courtesy when there is no controversy associated with the nomination. President Obama's confirmations went through with 90 percent of them by voice vote because they weren't truly controversial. What we have seen happen this year is to burn the clock and delay and obstruct and foot-drag as much as possible in order to deny the President his own team. I realize many people were disappointed on that side of the aisle when President Trump was elected. He was elected President of the United States, and he deserves to have his team in place--particularly when they are not controversial nominees--rather than to deny him the opportunities to staff up and do the job the American people elected him to do. This obstruction is felt particularly acutely at the Department of Defense. You would think that if there is one thing that is bipartisan or nonpartisan, it would be our national security. In fact, only seven of President Trump's nominations for the Pentagon have been confirmed. Two of the remaining nominees waiting for confirmation have been waiting for 2 months after they have been unanimously approved by the Armed Services Committee--2 months of delay for no purpose whatsoever with noncontroversial nominees. The minority leader is blocking these nominees, but his ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with all other Democrats on the Armed Services Committee, unanimously voted to approve the nominees and vote them out of committee. It should not take 2 months to fill these critical national security roles, especially for nominees who aren't controversial. Each day that our Democratic colleagues delay the process, they are hindering our readiness and putting American lives at risk. This comes at a time when we are engaged in fights around the globe, at a time the vast array of threats around the globe are more diverse and, frankly, more dangerous than they have been in a long, long time. All we need to do is to look at what is happening in North Korea. It is especially disgraceful for those men and women who put their lives in harm's way, who wake up every day and risk their lives to defend the country, and who proudly wear the uniform of the U.S. military. This is an offense against them. It is insulting. They deserve better than this from our Senate Democratic colleagues. I hope the Senator from New York, the Democratic leader, will stick to what he said last week and drop the needless blockade against the President's nominees. The President won the election and is expected to appoint a Cabinet of qualified individuals to guide our country and carry out his policies. Whether you voted for President Trump or against President Trump, he did win the election, and we should move forward with a fully staffed executive branch. Americans also deserve to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks in their pockets. We know that businesses, particularly small businesses that are the primary engine of job creation in the country, have been subjected to a tax code that is enormously complicated, confusing, and that discourages economic growth. Why in the world would we want to do that to ourselves? Why would we want to tolerate a tax code that is so complicated, that is anti- growth, and that discourages job creation? We shouldn't. With this new administration, we are committed to overhauling our outdated Tax Code to make it simpler and fairer, one that will encourage businesses to create jobs and bring profits back to our shore. Members of both Chambers--the House and Senate--have been hard at work on a solution that will provide that sort of relief and protect jobs and put Americans first, not government. I look forward to the debate and the fight for historic tax reform in the coming months. I want to particularly commend my friend and colleague in the House of Representatives, a fellow Texan, Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, for his great work in that body, together with our chairman in the Senate, Senator Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. That is the committee of jurisdiction where we are going to have hearings and a markup this fall. Finally, I wish to address another area where Congress ought to be able to work together on a bipartisan basis, and that is strengthening our Nation's infrastructure. It is absolutely imperative we build on the success of the FAST Act, the first multiyear surface transportation bill signed into law in more than a decade. While this piece of legislation was critical to providing States and communities with the certainty they need, we must continue to invest in our Nation's bridges, roadways, ports, and other critical infrastructure. I look forward to working with the administration and our colleagues in the Senate and in the House on legislation that will strengthen our Nation's infrastructure and do so in a fiscally responsible manner. Finally, I hope to pass the bipartisan legislation that I have introduced to combat domestic human trafficking with my Democratic colleague, the Senator from Minnesota, this week. This has long been a priority of mine. The Abolish Human Trafficking Act is focused on getting victims of this heinous crime the help they need to rebuild their lives. In fact, as you talk to faith-based organizations and other people who are trying to help the victims of human trafficking, many times they will tell you the single thing these victims need the most is simply a safe place to live and heal and recover. That is what the Abolish Human Trafficking Act is focused on. This bill reauthorizes the Justice Department's Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund, which was established in the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, a bill that I authored and that was signed into law last Congress. The Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund provides critical resources to connect victims with the services they need so they can recover and begin to heal. Part of that fund is financed through fines collected on the convicted traffickers themselves. It is a clear way we can use these fines for good. Last year, the fund provided about $5 million in victim services. By reauthorizing it, we can continue to serve even more people, more victims. This bill also empowers victims by permanently reauthorizing the Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, survivors who annually advise the government on ways to combat this crime and lend a hand to victims. While this bill certainly focuses on human trafficking victims, we recognize that these victims may not have survived this form of modern- day slavery without the dedication of law enforcement officials fighting for these survivors every day. That is why our legislation also supports local and State law enforcement agencies, so they are able to carry out not only the ability to track down the perpetrators and convict them but also to receive additional training to help equip them on how best to serve the victims. Ending this terrible crime is a cause every Member in this Chamber should be able to get behind. I look forward to passing the Abolish Human Trafficking Act with bipartisan support, hopefully, later this week. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.