Bob Corker

Mr. CORKER

Mr. CORKER. Madam President, I think Senator Capito is next to speak, but I do want to just mention that I appreciate the way that Senator Klobuchar has worked on the issue of the Ambassadors to Norway and Sweden, and I do think we are on the cusp in the next 24 hours of that being resolved. I thank Senator Klobuchar for her diligence and patience, and with that I yield the floor.

Mr. CORKER. Madam President, obviously I appreciate the comments of the distinguished ranking member. Our former chairman, Senator Menendez, is here; Senator Gardner, the two of them. We are way ahead in the Senate in many ways in addressing this issue prior to these last provocations by North Korea. I thank them for that. Again, as Senator Kaine mentioned, we are doing it in the best fashion of the United States. Where there are differences, we worked together to hammer those out and ended up, as Senator Cardin just mentioned, with a stronger piece of legislation. I also commend the House. They sent over a very good bill. They really did. It was strong. Senator Gardner and Senator Menendez, with all of us working together, were able to broaden it out and to deal with some other issues that were not dealt with in that piece of legislation. The fact is, things have occurred since that legislation passed that have caused people to want to put in place a much stronger, much bolder footprint as it relates to North Korea. What is amazing--and I appreciated your comments about Senator Kaine. I don't think we have a more thoughtful or more principled member on our committee, and I don't think there is any way the Iran review act would have occurred without him taking the steps that he did to break the logjam at that time. Let's face it, with some important constituents it mattered, and it allowed us to move ahead with it-- obviously, Senator Menendez on the front end and Senator Cardin as the new ranking member. What is amazing in many ways is that North Korea has gotten this far along. I mean, it has been through multiple administrations, differing parties. Over the last 20 years, they have just continued to move along. While I think our Nation did a very good job in focusing on the problems that Iran was creating, and Senator Menendez, who is sitting beside me, certainly led in putting sanctions in place with Senator Kirk and others. We moved swiftly to arrest that. Hopefully, while we had disagreements over the content of the actual agreement--and that is represented by differences in votes on the agreement itself--it did bring them to the table. What is amazing is that again they have progressed so far along, way beyond where Iran is. What is also amazing to me is that China--I am going to be having those conversations this weekend with our counterparts in Munich regarding this very issue. What is amazing to me is you have right on their border this country which is definitely, you have to say, a rogue country that is creating provocations in the region. We have all visited the DMZ and have seen that we have 28,500 troops who are there to keep peace. They have been there since 1953. So we are right there in the region. We have allies. Again, it is amazing that it has gone this far; that China has not been willing to take the steps; that, as Senator Kaine mentioned, their 90 percent trade partner could easily cause this to go in a different direction. But even more importantly, here we are taking action that I hope will lead to other members of the international community joining us in sanctions. But China--the very entity that could do something about this--is blocking the U.N. Security Council's action toward this being done on a multilateral basis on the front end. But this is what happens. In the past, the Senate has taken unilateral action. We know we are much better off with multilateral sanctions. A lot of times it starts this way. It started this way with Iran, and over time we were able to build worldwide support--or mostly worldwide support--toward isolating them and causing them to come to the table. Again, this country is much further along. Hopefully we will have the same success. But we have to realize, because of the 20 years of efforts that they have underway and especially the bold steps they have taken since 2003, as Senator Gardner so aptly outlined in an earlier discussion, we are going to have to do far more than this. We need to put this in place, but we also have to remain diligent and keep moving ahead. It may take additional actions down the road. It is certainly going to take tremendous oversight and involvement by the administration, and the administration to follow, and the administration after them. This is a great step, though, for the Senate. It is a great step for our country. Again, I thank our House colleagues. My guess is that we will send this bill back over this evening at about 5:45, some changes may be made, and it will go to the President. We will have spoken with one voice in the best way the Senate speaks, and in a strong way. We will be doing something that furthers the safety and security of our own citizens, which is what we are here about. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all time be yielded back.

Mr. CORKER. I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, while we are waiting on Senator Peters to be here, I wanted to go through some of the history relative to the North Korean program. I think sometimes there has been so much focus on other countries' programs--I know Senator Gardner alluded to some aspects of it in his comments--but North Korea's nuclear program actually dates back to the 1950s, when they pursued nuclear energy cooperation with the Soviet Union. In ensuing years, North Korea acquired a full nuclear fuel cycle, including plutonium, reprocessing, and uranium enrichment capabilities. So this goes back to the 1950s, but in 2003 North Korea announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and conducted four nuclear weapons tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2016. Experts believe the first two nuclear tests were plutonium based, and analysts assess the third nuclear test may have used highly enriched uranium. So they are on a two-track route. On January 6, 2016, North Korea announced that it successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. We don't have verification of that. We don't have intelligence back that would verify that was the type of test that took place. Today North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, a longstanding plutonium nuclear program at Yougbyon, and a uranium enrichment capability which it revealed in 2010 after years of denials. Open-source estimates of North Korea's nuclear arsenal vary from 10 devices to nearly 100 weapons, but most experts believe North Korea's nuclear arsenal is somewhere in the range of 10 to 20 devices that are made of both plutonium and highly enriched uranium. North Korea's weapons of mass destruction extend beyond its nuclear capabilities to include biological and chemical weapons programs. It also maintains an extensive long-range ballistic missile program which poses a direct threat to allies, U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific, and the United States. The Presiding Officer lives in a part of the world that is most directly certainly at threat. North Korea's nuclear program dates back to the 1970s. In 1984, North Korea conducted its first ballistic missile test of a Scud-B ballistic missile. North Korea's ballistic missile arsenal includes shorter range Scud missiles that can travel nearly 300 miles, No Dong missiles that can travel upward of 800 miles, and several longer range missiles that can travel from 4,000 upward to 6,000 miles. In April 2012, North Korea displayed at a military parade a new long- range missile variant known as KN-08. The missile was displayed on a Chinese-made transporter erector launcher. In the fall of 2015, North Korea again displayed, at a military parade, the same missile on a Chinese TEL. In December 2012, North Korea successfully launched the Unha-3 launch vehicle, placed a satellite into orbit, representing a significant advancement in North Korea's missile technology capabilities. On February 7, 2016, North Korea announced it had successfully launched another satellite into orbit using the Unha-3 launch vehicle. Although the KN-08 missile has not been tested, it is believed that the space launch vehicle technology has some similar technological features of an ICBM. The head of the U.S. Northern Command, ADM William Gortney, has stated our government assesses that North Korea could miniaturize a nuclear weapon and place it on the KN-08, which would reach the U.S. homeland. Pretty amazing, really, to think about the progress that has occurred without any real actions taking place. Again, this has gone through multiple administrations. North Korea stands as one of the most foremost proliferators of WMD-related materials and ballistic missile technologies. North Korea has engaged in WMD-related and missile cooperation with several states, including Iran, Pakistan, and Libya. North Korea also assisted Syria in the construction of a plutonium- based nuclear reactor at al-Kibar, until Israel destroyed that facility in 2007. In addition, it has been reported that North Korea assisted both Iran and Pakistan with nuclear weapons design activities. Again, I think it is very timely that we are taking this up--actually beyond time--with the most recent activities that have taken place. This is timely. Obviously, the policy--again, through multiple administrations, multiple Congresses--has really been left untouched in a significant way. I truly do believe the legislation that hopefully will pass this body today with overwhelming support will be the beginning of a process. We just have seen, by the way, with it being known that the U.S. House and Senate were probably going to pass a very strong piece of legislation--we are now seeing other countries in the region stepping up. Again, it speaks to the power of us speaking in one voice and again pushing, as we did on Iran years ago, pushing the international community to join in with us. Again, as I said earlier, I am still disappointed that the U.N. Security Council cannot function--cannot function--in a way to speak more collectively in that way, but I am glad to see that countries in the region, as a result of certainly the stances being taken here and as a result of their own concerns about what is happening with North Korea--I am glad to see it looks as though we are beginning to push toward more international efforts against North Korea. With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I know we have a number of speakers who are interested in this legislation. I think they will be coming to the floor between now and vote time. I ask that the other Members who wish to speak on this legislation come to the floor so we can fill in the gaps. Again, I thank Senator Gardner and Senator Menendez for their efforts on the front end of this legislation. I think this is a meaningful piece of legislation. I was with the Presiding Officer yesterday during a lunch meeting, and I think he is OK with my sharing the fact that the Senate is playing a role in really projecting our strength. We continue to do so both through the Armed Services Committee that he serves on and also through the Foreign Relations Committee. I think this is a very strong piece of legislation. A lot of times it is difficult for us to make a difference. Let's face it. The Commander in Chief has such powers and such staff at their disposal. However this is one of those pieces of legislation where I am certain we are going to make a difference. Will it end North Korea's activities? It will take collective efforts to make that happen, but I think this begins the process of moving that along. I have to say that I am so disappointed in the way the U.N. Security Council is behaving. Again, I don't want to rehash old discussions, but I know when we looked at the snapback provisions that were a part of the Iran nuclear agreement--when you are dealing with partners like China, which wants to buy oil from Iran, and Russia, which wants to sell them arms, I hate to say it, but our European friends are just dying to do business in the different ways that they are--mean nothing. They mean nothing. It is the fact that Iran had two ballistic tests that have taken place, violating U.N. Security Council resolutions, and nothing has happened because Russia and China have blocked those. In many ways that means that for us to continue the project to cause change to occur, this body itself has to be even more proactive. Senator Gardner has visited the DMZ, just as I have, and has seen the 28,500 troops that we have there. I know Senator Sullivan has done the same thing. We understand the constant danger that South Korea and Japan face, as well as others. North Korea is right on the border of China, and China is the entity that can make the biggest difference. Yet China--again, after being embarrassed when North Korea paid no attention whatsoever to their reach-out when they tried to keep this last test, in particular, from occurring--was unwilling to listen. So when we have ``partners'' on the U.N. Security Council unwilling to take steps, it means even more so that this body, of probably the greatest Nation on Earth, has to be proactive. I commend the Senator from Colorado. I commend the Members of this body who I think are certainly interested and will pass this piece of legislation overwhelmingly. Again, I thank Senator McConnell and Senator Reid for allowing this legislation to come up in this manner. I too thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engle. They have worked well together to cause us to project strength in this regard. They sent the base bill over, and it is a very good bill and a strong piece of legislation that the Senate, by passage later today, will strengthen. This is a collaborative effort. I hate to even use words like that, but it is a collaborative effort by two bodies of Congress and two committees. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I think the two bodies will fully pass this legislation and it will become law. This is going to begin to make a difference in the way North Korea is behaving. What is happening there is important. It is one of the greatest humanitarian crises, and this bill also addresses that. I thank Senator Gardner for his comments on the floor. More importantly, I thank him for his efforts in helping to bring this piece of legislation to the floor and for his leadership in the committee in helping to design this bill. I look forward to our having a successful day in the Senate.

Mr. CORKER. Yes.

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I start by thanking the leader for bringing to the floor today the bipartisan North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act. This legislation passed unanimously out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to address a critical national security issue--the nuclear and ballistic missile threat from North Korea. We know all too well that the past two decades of North Korean policy, including both Republican and Democratic administrations, have been an abject failure. While there is no silver bullet solution, it is clear that Congress must play a proactive role in providing a more robust policy tool to the executive branch to confront this threat. There has been a lot of attention on North Korea in the weeks following North Korea's fourth nuclear test, but Senators Cory Gardner and Bob Menendez demonstrated leadership on North Korea long before recent events, and I thank them personally--Senator Gardner chairing the subcommittee that looks after policy relative to North Korea and Senator Menendez coming together with a robust piece of legislation. I thank Senator Gardner for his leadership. He is new to the committee but certainly not new to addressing problems our Nation faces, and I thank him for that. I thank them for their efforts over many months to focus attention on the threat posed by North Korea and to work with Senator Cardin and myself to develop a bipartisan Senate bill. I want to single out Senator Cardin and his staff for the collaborative and constructive manner in which they worked with my team on this important bipartisan piece of legislation. Senators Shaheen and Markey also made important contributions as well. Senator Cardin just arrived late, but I want the Senator to know I was just boasting about his tremendous efforts. If he would please know that has occurred. This was truly an all-hands-on-deck bipartisan committee effort to ensure a piece of legislation that the Senate, the Congress, and the country can be proud of. Over the past decade, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has convened every couple of years at the full committee level to assess the state of U.S. policy toward North Korea. There has been surprisingly little variation in their overall descriptions of the danger and recommended policy prescriptions. Former U.S. officials have all characterized North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile activities as posing serious and unacceptable risk to U.S. national interests. These same officials also all stressed the importance of standing with our close regional allies, South Korea and Japan, in the face of destabilizing North Korean provocations. In addition, they all cited the necessity of cooperating with the international community to deter further North Korean provocations and prevent the spread of sensitive technologies to and from North Korea. They all noted the importance of enforcing U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea, specifically the need for China to exercise greater influence over Pyongyang. Let me say this. I am personally very disappointed at the way the U.N. Security Council is functioning--whether it is Iran, where we had two ballistic missile tests and yet nothing has been done at the U.N. Security Council level. Most recently, China sent a delegation to meet with North Korea right before this last test in order to try to influence them, and the country of China was embarrassed by the fact that North Korea went ahead with this ballistic test. Yet, in spite of that embarrassment, in spite of the fact it is their neighbor on their border that is conducting these provocations, they still have not agreed to U.N. Security Council resolutions to put into place sanctions against North Korea. That is very disappointing. In the recent years, U.S. officials have spoken increasingly of the deplorable human rights situation in North Korea, including highlighting North Korea's notorious prison camps. Of course, there have been some differences in approaches toward North Korea over the years, particularly with respect to the tactics of engaging North Korea and the appropriate balance of carrots and sticks. Yet it is apparent that the past several decades of U.S. policy are not working. North Korea continues to advance their nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities unchecked. They have orchestrated malicious cyber attacks that threaten our allies as well as our own national security. Meanwhile, the North Korean people remain impoverished and subject to brutal treatment at the hands of the Kim regime. I appreciate the complexity of risks posed by North Korea and our limited options. However, there is certainly more we can and should be doing in addressing this issue. Our bill sets precedent and puts in place strong mandatory sanctions and establishes for the first time a statutory framework for sanctions in response to North Korean cyber threats. The President will be required to investigate a wide range of sanctionable conduct, including proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms-related materials, luxury goods which affect the elite in that country, human rights abuses, activities undermining cyber security, and provision of industrial inputs such as precious metals or coal for use in a tailored set of activities, including WMD, proliferation activities, and prison and labor camps. Penalties include the seizure of assets, visa bans, and denial of government contracts. I am also pleased this bill goes beyond just these sanctions--which, by the way, are very strong--and I want to underline the word ``mandatory.'' It establishes a more robust policy framework, including tools to improve enforcement, and shines a brighter spotlight on North Korea's abhorrent human rights record, such as their forced labor practices. The bill requires a strategy to promote improved implementation and enforcement of multilateral sanctions, a strategy to combat North Korean cyber activities, and a strategy to promote and encourage international engagement on North Korean human rights issues. There are reporting requirements related to these strategies as well as a report on political prison camps and a feasibility study on providing communications equipment to the people of North Korea. After the careful work over many months by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, we have a piece of legislation that I believe will begin to allow our country, working with our allies, to begin seizing the initiative in constraining North Korea's ability to threaten its neighbors and the world with nuclear weapons while also continuing to focus world attention on the plight of the North Korean people. I look forward to hearing the perspectives of my colleagues on the significance of this legislation that I expect will receive wide bipartisan support and eventually become law. Mr. President, I yield the floor to my distinguished friend and the ranking member, Senator Cardin.

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I think it is good that the Senator from Colorado brings up the fact that when we began putting these sanctions in place, there was a lot of push back because, in essence, for these things to work properly or make the biggest difference in outcomes, we need to have an international effort that takes place. When we began the Iran sanctions process, it was unilateral. And while we stressed on the front end--I know we passed an amendment in the Banking Committee where that one originated--to really put in place efforts to make it multilateral, over time it did and, because of that, the world community obviously is joining us, so we were able to force a behavior change. I would have liked to have had a better outcome when they got to the table, and I think most people in this body would have. But this bill, I would point out, does seek and does push the administration not only to implement these by mandatory statements, but it also, again, encourages them to work with others. I had those same conversations in China that the Senator from Colorado had years ago. The Chinese, with such emphasis on stability-- and I understand it is right on their border which, to me, should make these provocations even more infuriating and more important, relative to the security of their own country. But it just seems that they, too, have exercised the patience the Senator spoke about earlier that our country has exercised. I really do believe that passage of this bill today, and an ultimate signature by the President, has the potential to unleash the same chain of events that occurred relative to Iran, hopefully with a better outcome. Again, I thank the Senator for his efforts. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that any time spent in a quorum call before the vote in relation to H.R. 757 be charged equally against both sides.

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

Mr. CORKER. I yield to the Senator.

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I know we have a little shift taking place, but I thank Senator Inhofe for his staunch national security support and certainly support of this legislation. I appreciate his comments, and I think we are going to have a successful day today in doing something that is important. I think you know the administration has tried to work with the U.N. Security Council to get them to impose sanctions, as you would think they would wish to do. China has been the holdup there. You would think as a next-door neighbor they would be most apt to want sanctions and other actions to be put in place to push back against North Korea. This is something that is important that we are doing in a proactive way, and hopefully it will spur other actions down the road.

Mr. CORKER. I thank Senator Inhofe. I think most Americans, unlike my colleague, don't realize we still have 28,500 troops there. It is an area where easily something can get out of hand. So, again, I thank him for his support and for being here today. I know Senator Feinstein now has the floor. I yield to our distinguished colleague, Senator Feinstein.

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I want to take one moment to thank Senator Feinstein, who knows so much about the intelligence around this and has spent a great deal of her Senate career making sure she does, and she understands China probably as much as any Senator here. She has been involved in all kinds of bilateral meetings and discussions and has led the Senate in many ways in understanding what is happening within the country. So her comments--especially today with this important piece of legislation--are certainly well-received and appreciated. Again, we thank her for what she does to help keep our country safe and for her diligent efforts on the Intelligence Committee. I know Senator Markey is next in line to speak. Before he does, I wish to thank him for his contributions to making this bill better. He amended the bill. I think he has other amendments he would like to see happen at some time. I would say that there is probably no one here who focuses more on proliferation and ensuring that rogue countries--and actually some that aren't even so rogue but that have rogue constituents within their countries--don't continue to proliferate by sharing information, sharing technology, and sharing assets with other countries. So I thank him for his contribution in bringing this bill to the floor today, and I look forward to his comments. I yield the floor.

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I think Senator Capito is on her way down and is the next speaker. While we have a moment, I want to thank Senator Gardner in his presence. And on an issue that is important to not just our security but the world's security, I thank Senator Menendez for taking leadership in the way that he has and for working with Senator Gardner, Senator Cardin, and me to make sure we ended up with something that I believe is going to receive warm support. These are issues he has been concerned about for a long time. He has not only been concerned about them, he has shown leadership in putting together policies to combat them. Senator Gardner knows and said earlier that even though this is a step--we all know it is a big step, really, especially with the U.N. Security Council unwilling to take actions in light of the violations that have occurred. There is going to be a lot of diligence that will be necessary to get in what we want to get in, but this is certainly a significant step, and I thank him for his efforts.

Mr. CORKER

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

Mr. CORKER

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, for the Committee on Foreign Relations I report favorably the following nomination lists which were printed in the Records on the dates indicated, and ask unanimous consent, to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that these nominations lie at the Secretary's desk for the information of Senators.

Mr. CORKER

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, as we continue consideration of the omnibus, I rise today to applaud the inclusion of language I coauthored with Senator Mark Warner that will ensure that the fate of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--entities Congress created--will be determined by Congress, and this language makes crystal clear that this body does not support efforts to return to the failed model of private gains and public losses. As we wrap up our legislative business of 2015, I am also here to remind my colleagues that there is much work to be done in the new year to finally address the last unfinished business of the 2008 financial crisis. Prior to the crisis, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were publicly traded. They benefited from an implicit government guarantee, which meant any upside went to the company. But as we saw at the height of the financial crisis, the downside of that structure fell on the taxpayers and it fell hard. In September of 2008, because of this flawed model, losses mounted at Fannie and Freddie, causing taxpayers to write a $188 billion bailout check to keep them afloat. These entities remain in government conservatorship today, backed by the taxpayers and owned by the U.S. Treasury Department. A 2014 Federal Housing Finance Agency stress test projected that the GSEs could require a $190 billion taxpayer bailout to keep them afloat during a future crisis--something none of us wants to see happen. Because housing finance reform remained the last unaddressed piece of the financial crisis left, in 2013 Senator Mark Warner and I developed legislation that attempted to address the flaws in our housing finance system and protect the taxpayers. This bill has been called the blueprint for how our Nation's housing finance system should look in the future. After working with a group of bipartisan Members and then-Chairman Tim Johnson and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, a reform bill passed the Senate Banking Committee in May of 2014 by a vote of 13 to 9. This bill would protect taxpayers from future economic downturns by replacing Fannie and Freddie with a privately capitalized system. Unfortunately, it did not come to the Senate floor, but that does not change the fact that there continues to be broad, bipartisan, bicameral support to reform these entities. That broad support at the committee level and throughout Congress came despite pushback from a number of large, self-interested Wall Street hedge funds. Let me explain. As a result of the 2008 bailout, Treasury purchased senior preferred stock in Fannie and Freddie and was given sole discretion to sell or otherwise dispose of those shares. Seeing an opportunity to make huge profits at the expense of taxpayers, a number of big Wall Street hedge funds and other entities rushed in when Fannie and Freddie crashed. They bought shares for pennies on the dollar after the government had taken them into conservatorship and knowing full well the government would have the authority to make decisions relative to their future. Now the hedge funds appear to be spending big money and going to extreme lengths to stop housing finance reform in order to reap huge financial returns. As they know how to do so well, these wealthy hedge funds made a highly speculative bet that Congress would fail to do its job, structural reform efforts would fail, and Fannie and Freddie would be recapitalized and released out of conservatorship. Under that bet, the taxpayers lose while some of the wealthiest hedge fund managers get even wealthier. That is why the Wall Street hedge funds want to stop efforts to protect taxpayers in the hope that Fannie and Freddie could be recapitalized and released from conservatorship. Let me be clear. Under that scenario--recapitalizing and releasing Fannie and Freddie in their current form--we would fall back to a system of private gains and public losses, lining the pockets of multimillionaires while leaving taxpayers on the hook for future bailouts. Looking at what is at stake, one can see why these hedge funds are so engaged in stepping on the taxpayers and preventing reform from occurring. Using a self-analysis from one prominent hedge fund under a recap- and-release scenario, this fund--with an estimated current holding of $366 million--has a potential net profit of $8.1 billion and a total sale of $8.4 billion. To give another example using those same projections, another prominent hedge fund with an estimated current holding of $501 million has a potential net profit of $2.3 billion or a sale of over $2.8 billion. These hedge funds, and several others, would benefit greatly from a recap-and-release scenario, which is why they are so adamantly opposed to housing finance reform that would put taxpayers' interests above their own. Surely, we will not conflate the clear interests of the hedge fund managers, which are billions of dollars in profits, with the critical need to protect taxpayers from a future bailout by enacting sound housing policy in our country. Returning to the failed model of private gains and public losses would leave taxpayers on the hook for the GSE's $5 trillion in outstanding liabilities. That is why I believe we must act. Inclusion of the jump-start provision in this bill is a good first step. This legislation would prohibit the sale of Treasury-owned senior preferred shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without congressional approval and ensure Congress, and not self-interested hedge funds, has the final say on how our housing finance system should look in the future. While I believe that recap-and-release is totally inappropriate, I do understand that the hedge funds still have claims to deal with in court, and this legislation does not prejudice those claims. I believe the blueprint Senator Warner and I laid out in 2013 is a good starting point and one that will protect taxpayers, but this legislation in the omnibus bill is silent on the future system. It simply says Congress should have the final say in what happens to these entities--again, entities that Congress created in the first place. With passage of this provision--in the face of extremely intense opposition--we are telling taxpayers we are putting to bed the idea that returning to the status quo is an option. We will not return to a system where big Fannie and big Freddie control the lion's share of our housing system and taxpayers are exposed for future bailouts, but there is more work to be done. The question I have is this: Moving forward, who are we going to fight for? Are we going to abdicate our responsibility and shy away due to efforts by large Wall Street hedge funds wanting to get wealthier off of taxpayers by placing taxpayers at greater risk or are we going to fight for the people whom we represent? As all of us who served in this body during the financial crisis know well, the American people do not want to write another bailout check. Without housing finance reform, that is an all-too-real possibility. To my colleagues, trust me. I know a number of you have felt pressure from large Wall Street hedge funds and the interest groups they support, but I also know there is not one of you who truly wants to put private investors' interest ahead of the people we represent. In the new year, it is time for Congress to finally do its job. By finally addressing the last major piece of unfinished business from the financial crisis, we can once and for all end this failed model. Fortunately, a lot of the heavy lifting has already taken place. As we look forward to 2016, protecting taxpayers by reforming our Nation's housing finance system should be near the top of the to-do list. This legislation takes us a step in the right direction toward that effort by saying the fate of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be determined by Congress. I remain committed to doing everything I can to make sure we do not return to the same failed model that put taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars, and instead we can create a dynamic housing finance system that works for Americans rather than against them.

Mr. CORKER

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I also rise to applaud Congress for including important funding in the Omnibus appropriations bill that will help in our efforts to fight human trafficking and slavery around the world through the End Modern Slavery Initiative Act. I think most Americans would be stunned to know that over 27 million people are enslaved in more than 187 countries, including our own. Over 27 million people are enslaved today. That is more than four times the population of my home State of Tennessee. Modern slavery comes in many forms and it preys on women and children the most. This brutal, multibillion-dollar industry deprives individuals of their basic human rights. Rather than holding a schoolbook, children in India are stacking bricks. Rather than sitting in a classroom, young girls in the Philippines are sitting in brothels forced into sexual servitude. In Ghana, young boys are forced into a life of slavery on fishing boats, and worldwide men and women hoping only to better the lives of their families are stripped of their passports and trafficked for labor. I cannot thank the Senator from Texas enough for the incredible efforts he put forth to ensure that we do everything we can in our own country to keep this from happening. He has been heroic. These are our daughters, sons, mothers and fathers, and that is why it is so important that we take bold action. Those who have been fighting this heinous crime for years all say that to end the practice of modern slavery, we need a reliable baseline data and consistent, effective monitoring and evaluation. They also say that what is most critical in this fight is the need for a focused, sustained effort that can leverage and coordinate private and government funding. That is where the End Modern Slavery Initiative Act comes into play. This bold, bipartisan initiative has received broad support from over 90 industry experts, nongovernmental organizations, and faith-based groups. This initiative will seek to raise $1.5 billion--more than 80 percent of which is expected to come through matching funds from private sector and foreign governments--to fight slavery worldwide. This model is designed to leverage limited foreign aid dollars and galvanize tremendous support and investment from the public sector, philanthropic organizations, and the private sector to focus resources responsibly where this crime is most prevalent. The Omnibus appropriations bill that we will vote on this week brings us one step closer to making this initiative a reality with a $25 million downpayment. There are many complex problems facing this country that demand our attention but perhaps none whose existence threatens the very concept of what it means to live in a free society. Ending modern slavery and human trafficking will not come easy, but we have a moral obligation to try, and I am proud--really proud--that Congress is taking that step and investing in this critical fight. With that, I yield the floor and thank the Senator from Texas for allowing me to speak at this time.

Mr. CORKER

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, for the Committee on Foreign Relations I report favorably the following nomination lists which were printed in the Records on the dates indicated, and ask unanimous consent, to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that these nominations lie at the Secretary's desk for the information of Senators.

Mr. CORKER

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

Mr. CORKER

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

Mr. CORKER. Madam President, I rise today to support the confirmation of a fellow Chattanoogan, Travis R. McDonough, who has been nominated to serve as U.S. district court judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. I have known Travis personally for many years, and I have full confidence that he will serve the people of Tennessee honorably if confirmed to the Federal bench. Travis is well known in Chattanooga as a civic leader and has earned broad respect in our community. He most recently served as chief of staff and counselor to the mayor, having previously served as a partner at the law firm of Miller & Martin, where he specialized in criminal and white-collar litigation. A Truman scholar, he received his undergraduate degree from Sewanee and his law degree from Vanderbilt University. We had a number of conversations, as you can imagine, during his confirmation process, and he has assured me he will be a fair and independent judge. I wholeheartedly support his nomination and encourage my colleagues to support his confirmation. Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.