Christopher Coons

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Madam President, I join my colleague from Arizona in briefly remarking on my regret that our resolution was not adopted today. It does call for the full implementation of mandatory sanctions as discussed at some length. It does not call for the reckless implementation of mandatory sanctions. There is a significant range of sanctions already provided for in this law, adopted 98 to 2 by this body, that have not yet been adopted. I recognize that this resolution, standing strong behind the Department of Justice, the intelligence community, and its ongoing investigation is, as was referenced, a symbolic act, but there are moments when symbolism and standing together are important. I look forward to continuing to work closely with my colleague and friend from Arizona to ensure that this resolution is adopted, that the American people and the men and women of our Federal law enforcement agencies and our intelligence community understand that this body strongly supports them and their work and sees clearly the ongoing and continuing threat to our democracy posed by President Putin and Putin's Russia. Thank you.

Mr. COONS

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President on this date a century ago, an extraordinary life began that would change the lives of millions of others. One hundred years ago today, Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo in a countryside of grass-covered rolling hills in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. That day began a 95-year journey of one man who led the South African people to liberation and whose legacy continues to reverberate through time. Over the course of his life, Nelson Mandela, known by his nickname ``Madiba,'' became venerated as a global advocate for justice and equality by millions--arguably, more than any other political figure of our time. Through political activism and resistance, Madiba led a revolution by shepherding his people from racial division, hate, and subjugation to freedom, tolerance, and democracy. One of the most striking aspects of Nelson Mandela's leadership as the first President of a truly free, nonracial, nonsexist South Africa was his enormous capacity for forgiveness and his ability to open his heart to those who were once his brutal oppressors. Twenty years after he was released from a lifetime in prison, Nelson Mandela invited to dinner at his own home one of his former jailers, a man with whom he had become close friends, saying that their friendship reinforced his belief in the essential humanity of even those who had kept him for so long behind bars. How long? Twenty-six years, 6 months, and 1 week. Despite all of those years, months, and days of continuous imprisonment, Nelson Mandela never himself became a prisoner to hate. Madiba set the example of healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation that ultimately allowed South Africa's rainbow nation to emerge from the ashes of brutal racial oppression. His example is particularly timely and powerful in light of the polarization, distrust, and division in our world and even in our own Nation today. History reminds us, though, that this reconciliation, this openness, is not a new phenomenon. Fifty-two years ago this summer, in June of 1966, then-U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy delivered a memorable speech at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Speaking to a nation then deep in the throes of the cruel injustices of apartheid, Senator Bobby Kennedy began his speech by describing ``a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which was once the importer of slaves, and must now struggle to wipe out the last traces of that former bondage.'' Kennedy then paused before famously concluding: ``I refer, of course, to the United States of America.'' Then, as now, the differences between the United States and South Africa are significant. Yet Americans and South Africans share more than we might recognize or want to acknowledge. On the positive side, we share remarkable constitutions and inspiring foundational documents in South Africa's Freedom Charter and our own Declaration of Independence, whose fundamental principles are profound and inspiring but whose lived experiences have so far fallen short. We also share a deep commitment to democracy, societies grounded in the rule of law, a vibrant and free press, and capable and independent judiciaries. We are also multilingual, multifaith democracies, Federal republics that have incredible human histories and deep and rich natural resources. Both South Africa and the United States have demonstrated how important civic institutions are to sustaining democracy and preserving the progress of humanity. Today, on what would have been Nelson Mandela's 100th birthday, the United States is itself facing serious challenges to the very institutions that underpin and preserve our hard-won democracy. As we weather these challenges together as a nation, let us find inspiration in Mandela's life and legacy. Let us remember that on his long walk to freedom, Nelson Mandela taught the need to study not only those with whom we agree but also those with whom we disagree and to be willing to compromise and find common ground. In Madiba's words: It is easy to break down and destroy. The real heroes are those who make peace and build. In the years to come, it is my hope that the United States and South Africa will look to each other as both nations continue to struggle against the legacy of racial injustice, reverse our growing economic inequality, and protect our evolving experiments in democracy. Nelson Mandela ventured to shape the world as it should be. He showed us that values such as forgiveness, respect, and tolerance are not just words but concrete actions we can all take. I am inspired by Madiba's example to keep fighting for a better, more just world here in the U.S. Senate, as I was first inspired in the fall of 1986 when I traveled to South Africa to volunteer for the South African Council of Churches during the anti-apartheid struggle. Just 2 years ago, I had a chance as a now Senator to revisit Johannesburg and Cape Town with a delegation that included Senator Kennedy's daughter, Kerry Kennedy, and a whole host of the Kennedy clan. Our own Congressman John Lewis, a leader in America's civil rights struggle; my friend and colleague Congressman Steny Hoyer; and two survivors of the racially motivated shooting in a church in downtown Charleston, Polly Sheppard and Felicia Sanders, were there to serve as a living example of the challenges and the difficulties of reconciliation, of forgiveness, and of grace. We had remarkable experiences. We met with Desmond Tutu, my former supervisor at the Council of Churches decades ago, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and someone who helped lead the peace and reconciliation process in South Africa. We also heard from today's chancellor of the University of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela's widow, Graca Machel. Our reflections were interrupted by student protesters demanding a more just dispensation in today's South Africa--a jarring reminder that even the greatness of the remembrance of Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Mandela is not enough to still the relentless yearning for more--more justice and more equality--by the youngest among us. I still today believe in Nelson Mandela's vision for the world--a world governed by justice and equality and peace and cooperation for the common good. But it is important to remember just how much we have to do together as a global community to hear each other, forgive each other, and get there. Nelson Mandela once famously said: ``I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who just keeps trying.'' So today let us remember Nelson Mandela's relentless trying, his historic contribution to South Africa and the world, and the example of his struggle to promote human rights and justice for all. Madiba's service is an enduring reminder of what it means to place the good of a nation's people above one's own narrow self-interests--a lesson from which we can all benefit. I am pleased to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of a giant of history and to honor Nelson Mandela's lifetime of extraordinary service with a bipartisan resolution submitted today. Today, let us rededicate ourselves to his vision for our world and together work tirelessly to make it a reality. I yield the floor.

Mr. COONS

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

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I come to the floor to raise concerns both about the next vote we will take--a vote that will or will not confirm President Trump's nominee Brian Benczkowski to be the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice--and to express my concern about our President's actions at the NATO summit and his upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation. Let me start with Mr. Benczkowski. I come to the floor to speak in opposition to our proceeding to his confirmation. Mr. Benczkowski has been nominated to serve as an Assistant Attorney General and will be in charge of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. How big of a division is that--10, 50, 100? It actually has 900 employees and 600 career Federal prosecutors. The U.S. Department of Justice takes up, handles, investigates, and prosecutes cases of an unbelievable range, complexity, and sophistication in every district court in the entire United States. One would have to assume that to take on such a significant--such an important--role as overseeing, supervising, and managing 900 professionals and 600 career prosecutors that Mr. Benczkowski must be very qualified to serve. As someone who is himself an admitted member of the Delaware bar and serves on the Judiciary Committee, I hesitate to suggest that I have the qualifications because I have never tried a criminal case in court, so I am not sure how I would directly supervise a whole team of career Federal prosecutors. Mr. Benczkowski has never prosecuted a case. He has never supervised a criminal prosecution. In fact, he has not ever appeared in Federal court, by his own admission, except for on one or two limited occasions in order to address routine scheduling or other matters. Mr. Benczkowski is before us, in his having been nominated to supervise the single largest, most complex, most sophisticated law firm in America for criminal matters on behalf of the people of the United States, without his having the relevant experience. In my view, that alone is disqualifying. That alone should lead us to pause in terms of whether we should confirm this man to lead the Criminal Division as the Assistant AG. Virtually all of the last several Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorneys General for the Criminal Division have had extensive prior experience as prosecutors, as former U.S. attorneys, as career or elected folks who have either been within the Department of Justice or have been attorneys general. This is for good reason, for the Federal Government holds enormous power and discretion when it comes to criminal prosecutions. The Assistant Attorney General is responsible for overseeing offices that investigate and prosecute money laundering, fraud, organized crime, public corruption, and a host of other serious offenses. It is that AAG who ultimately signs off on some of the edgiest or most difficult or most questionable prosecutorial decisions. Every American should expect that the person who is nominated for this important job is qualified to meet the weighty demands of this job. Secondly, every American is entitled to the assurance that the Department of Justice will be independent and that criminal prosecutions will rise and fall with the facts and the law and nothing else. Sadly, Mr. Benczkowski fails to pass this test too. He led the Department of Justice's transition team for the Trump administration. He previously served with our now-Attorney General and former Senator Jeff Sessions. Yet, after leaving the transition team for the Trump administration, he went on to private practice in a law firm where he represented Alfa-Bank, which is one of the largest Russian banks. It is a Russian bank which, through its owner, a Russian oligarch, has close ties to Vladimir Putin. At times, it is hard for me to believe how many people immediately around the President, his Cabinet, his campaign team, or around him personally have had concerning, inexplicable, difficult-to-understand ties to Russian entities, but here we are again. To be frank, I am concerned that Mr. Benczkowski's position--if confirmed by this Senate in just 5 minutes in a vote we are about to take--could enable him to directly interfere with Special Counsel Mueller's ongoing investigation into Russian interference. I have raised concerns about this, about ensuring that Attorney General Sessions fully complies with his recusal from matters related to the last election. Adding Mr. Benczkowski to the mix in his absolutely central role as the Assistant Attorney General who will oversee the Criminal Division raises these concerns even further. Adding another senior person to the Justice Department's leadership team who raises these concerns about real independence gives me real pause. I joined all of the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats in a letter that asked the administration to move Mr. Benczkowski to some other position and to send us a qualified, capable nominee who does not have concerning Russian connections. Unfortunately, the administration hasn't done that. My friends on the other side of the aisle seem poised to confirm this gentleman today.

Mr. COONS

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

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, this morning, the hot Sun rose on a tent city 20 miles outside El Paso, TX. That tent city stands as a makeshift detention facility to house children who have crossed our border and have been separated from their parents. This tent city, I would suggest, is hopefully a temporary monument to modern-day American cruelty. Across South Texas, so-called tender age shelters have sprung up to house very young children, even infants, who have been taken from their parents in an act that pediatricians, psychologists, and frankly anyone who has raised a child themselves know is the most traumatizing and upsetting thing you can do to a young child, which is to take them away from their parents by force, with no understanding of what is happening or expectation of when they will be reunited. This morning, thousands of children woke up to the voices of strangers in strange places and started another day in institutionalized, fenced-in confinement. This is happening in our Nation. I have heard from dozens--hundreds of Delawareans by every means they could communicate with me, and I am sure my colleagues have also heard from hundreds or thousands of their constituents, as we, as a nation, have been haunted by the sounds and images of vulnerable children crying out for help. On one hand, I think this is a simple issue of right and wrong, but on the other, this issue, like so many others that affect us in the Senate, has been complicated by politics and by rhetoric and by statements, frankly, meant to mislead. The American people, though, I think deserve clarity about what has been happening along our southern border in recent weeks and what its impacts have been and may be to families, to children, and to parents who have crossed our border. So let's be clear about what is happening. President Trump and his administration created--created--a humanitarian crisis by adopting a so-called zero tolerance policy to compel prosecution of all who cross our southern border, many of whom are people fleeing unspeakable violence in their home countries in Central America. Then the President and leaders in his administration excused or even misled people about this policy--this cruel policy--in a variety of different, conflicting, and, frankly, at times, even absurd ways in the past week. Administration officials claim they didn't actually have this policy or claimed they were compelled to do this by a nonexistent law or claimed their policy was a deterrent to prevent people from seeking asylum in the United States. Regardless of the explanations given, the American people spoke clearly and forcefully over the past week and said the President's policy was unacceptable. They said this treatment of children was an un-American tragedy that should not continue. Under that sustained pressure from the American people, our President relented and yesterday signed an Executive order, but even then he has only created new problems with the Executive order he just issued. As a Senator and as a person of faith, my own public service is closely tied to the values taught to me by my Christian faith and by my parents. I know many of my colleagues with whom I have spoken, on both sides of the aisle, feel the same way. We have to ask ourselves as parents, as people of faith: How can we stomach the human suffering of a child being ripped from his mother's arms and that intentional, willful child abuse being imposed to make that child a hostage or a bargaining chip in our long-running and unresolved conflicts here about immigration policy? How can we tolerate even one father being left in torment, searching for his baby or child, not knowing where they are or even if he will ever see them again, and having that torment imposed as a tool of policy, and how can we stomach multiplying those individual tragedies by 2,342? By my count, since May, 2,342 children have been forcibly separated from their parents after crossing our border. In just 6 weeks, 2,342 lives have been changed in ways that will have lasting consequences. Now, the President has issued the Executive order that he claims will end this separation of families, but that Executive order is seriously flawed and will create as many problems and questions as it seeks to address. Of course, it doesn't change the fact that this policy, this zero tolerance policy, has already inflicted trauma and suffering for thousands of families and children. I think it creates a new humanitarian challenge, a new humanitarian crisis, because the consequences of this new Executive order will be to detain entire families in what may well prove to be ill-equipped tent cities. This policy does nothing to clarify what will become of the more than 2,300 children already separated from their families, some of whom have been lost track of by the agencies responsible for them. We live in the world's most powerful and prosperous Nation, but I am afraid we are watching, day after day, the way in which the administration has chosen to treat children, through their indefinite detention or separation from their parents, in a way that will have lasting and negative consequences for our human rights record. As a nation, we were founded as an idea, a place to which people came fleeing persecution, fleeing countries in collapse or authoritarian regimes, and seeking a brighter, newer future in this country. I think we are being dishonest or shortsighted about our own family's history if any one of us stands and says that none of our ancestors came here-- none of our ancestors came here seeking relief from oppression or outside the legal mechanisms of the time. I think we are forgetting our family's history if we say: Today we must close our border absolutely and prevent anyone seeking asylum from coming to our country. Frankly, I have struggled as leaders in this administration have chosen to cite Scripture and to use their faith as an explanation or justification for why this zero tolerance policy was required. Our Attorney General, a former colleague of mine, someone whose knowledge of Scripture I know to be thorough, cited Paul's Epistle to the Romans to justify this policy. In fact, I think it is specifically Romans 13:1 through 5. He said Romans 13 requires us ``to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for His purposes.'' I, too, am somewhat familiar--in a passing way--with Scripture. I try to read my Bible daily, and, with all due respect, I disagree with Attorney General Sessions's reading. In Paul's letter to the Romans, he says, just before Romans 13--in Romans 12, and then just a little later in Romans 13--so if you just read a few verses on either side, I think the message is clear: We are urged to share with the Lord's people in need; we are urged to live in harmony with one another, and we are reminded most pointedly later on in Romans 13 that love is the fulfillment of the law and that ``love thy neighbor'' is the greatest Commandment of all. If there is one common theme, not just in this epistle but in the Gospel, it is that Jesus radically opened His heart and His preaching to those considered outcasts and ordinary and marginalized in His society in His time. With whom did He spend His time? Outstanding citizens? Respected leaders? No, with prostitutes, with tax collectors, with lepers, with Samaritans, with the others, and with the outcasts. I just ask those who heard what Attorney General Sessions had to say and who thought it was the right answer to rethink whether this strained and cramped reading of Paul's letter is truly a faithful reading. Romans 13 does, indeed, instruct us to follow the law and to respect those in authority, but I will say this particular passage--and it is being misquoted in order to support oppression--has a long and storied history. It was cited by Tories in this country who opposed those who stood up for freedom in the American Revolution. It was cited by slaveholders who opposed abolition in the runup to the Civil War. I heard it cited by those who defended the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Yes, it does teach us to obey the law and respect the law. It does teach us that God ordains those in authority, but it does not mean we should simply accept unjust and inhumane laws and the abuses that flow from them. As a person of faith, I simply cannot accept the current policies for the treatment of those who cross our borders seeking asylum and refuge in our Nation. In the last few days, as I have heard on my television and social media, the sounds of crying children and the images of children being kept in what certainly looked to me to be little more than cages, I have been thinking about something written by one of America's most famous former slaves, Frederick Douglass--a man who spent much of his life in this very city and who wrote about the consequences on the oppressor of cruelty. In his book, ``My Bondage and My Freedom,'' he recounted his life as a slave, and he wrote about the brutalizing impact of slavery on the people of faith who tolerated it. I think his words bear briefly repeating today. He said at one point in that book: The mistress of the house was a model of affection and tenderness. Her fervent piety and watchful uprightness made it impossible to see her without thinking and feeling--``that woman is a Christian.'' There was no sorrow nor suffering for which she had not a tear, and there was no innocent joy for which she had not a smile. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach. Frederick Douglass goes on to say: Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these excellent qualities, and [slavery soon proved its ability to divest] her home of its early happiness. Conscience cannot stand much violence. Once thoroughly broken down, who is he that can repair the damage? I think we should reflect, as people of conscience motivated to public service, in many cases by a shared faith, about our responsibility to speak up for the values upon which our Republic was founded and through which it has been improved. When we promote humanity, kindness, love, tolerance, and openness, we advance our Nation. I have been heartened by the calls I have heard from across my State and country by people of many different backgrounds, many different faith traditions, many different political views. I am reminded of that passage of Frederick Douglass of the harm it causes us to be a part of a nation that imposes such a cruel and thoughtless policy and turns away and fails to look at it and fails to step forward and fails to change it. I am encouraged by what change there has been so far, but I will remind those listening that we must redouble our efforts. Let me quote just a few. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called forceful family separation ``immoral'' and ``contrary to our Catholic values.'' The Holy Father, Pope Francis himself, expressed his agreement with that opinion, saying he is on the side of the bishops conference in this debate. Rev. Franklin Graham, one of President Trump's most ardent defenders, called this policy ``disgraceful'' and said: ``It's terrible to see families ripped apart and I don't support that one bit.'' A personal friend of mine, Rev. Jim Wallis, of Sojourners, has worked with a broad group from across faith leadership, from the evangelical community to the Protestant community, to put together a group that goes by reclaiming Jesus and to post online an important statement that speaks to how across so many different faith traditions this practice, this policy of forcibly separating children--and now a subsequent policy of family detention--speaks ill of all of us. Christians, Jews, Muslims, humanists, people of all traditions have been calling on our President to end this treatment of fellow human beings. I have heard from colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, from all over this country, their voices of concern. So it is my hope that we will refuse to tolerate this; that we as a body will take a stand; and that we as a nation will urge our President and this administration to adopt new, more humane policies for people crossing our border and seeking refuge in this country; and that we will support bipartisan legislation to fix our broken immigration laws. It is only by the action and leadership of this administration that we have gotten into this space; it is only by their action and leadership that we can get out of it. I pray it is not too late for us to restore this Nation's reputation as a country that welcomes those seeking refuge from around the world. I will continue to pray every day for our President, for our Senators, for our Nation, for its values, and for our ability to stand up for the treatment of children in distress. Thank you. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, as we await a 12:15 p.m. vote, I want to urge my colleagues to support the first amendment that we will be voting on today--the Gardner-Coons sense-of-the-Senate resolution, a resolution that focuses on the importance of federally sponsored research for the advancement of scientific innovation. There are many great things to like about the program that is funded in this Energy and Water appropriations bill that is about to be before us, especially the work funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Our bipartisan resolution reinforces that message by acknowledging that the United States has long been a leader in innovation, in large part because of a critical role played by Federal funding for both basic and applied research. For decades, we have made investments that have led to incredible breakthroughs instrumental to our current prosperity, economy, and jobs. The Department of Energy National Labs--the 17 labs across 11 States--have been at the forefront through that process since their founding. It is the creative, generative, innovative partnership among these federally funded national labs, our network of universities and colleges that conduct federally funded and privately funded research, and the entrepreneurs and companies that take, through applied research, their innovations and inventions to the marketplace that in combination have created one of the most innovative, most competitive economies in global history. I am grateful for the leadership of Senators Alexander and Feinstein, the chair and ranking member of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of Appropriations, for having brought forward this balanced and thoughtful bill. I will remind my colleagues that for several years now, budgets presented by the executive branch have proposed deep and harmful cuts to the foundational, federally funded scientific research upon which the success of our innovation economy rests. I am thrilled that once again this year, on a bipartisan basis, we are rejecting those cuts and, instead, investing significantly more in Federal scientific research. I am grateful for the opportunity to partner with my colleague, the Senator from Colorado, in moving the sense of the Senate. I am hopeful that it begins to clarify on a bipartisan basis that this Chamber is committed to innovation, science, competitiveness, and research. With that, I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. Pancreatic Cancer Research Mr. President, while we are waiting for floor action, I will briefly share with my colleagues that my day began with my speaking to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, which is made up of more than 500 Americans who have come from all 50 States and who are all across Capitol Hill right now, meeting with those in offices of the House and the Senate. They are folks who have lost loved ones--family members, relatives, neighbors--to one of the deadliest cancers, pancreatic cancer. They are here to urge that we invest more in medical research. This is a cancer that has affected families all over our country, but without greater investment in research, we cannot bend the trajectory of this dread disease. It was just last February that I lost my own father to pancreatic cancer, and this year was my first Father's Day without him. I am grateful for the opportunity to have joined this morning with these Americans from every State. I join with them in urging my colleagues to consider investing more this year in research to end this scourge of pancreatic cancer. I thank the Presiding Officer.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I join my colleagues on the floor this afternoon to address the mounting concerns we have with the foreign policy of the Trump administration. I want to thank my colleague, Senator Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and comment at the outset on two things that have been widely said that I don't think are true. First is that Democrats are bottling up the President's vitally needed nominees for senior ambassadorial positions or senior Department of State nominations and that we are holding key nominees. Frankly, nothing could be further from the truth. Earlier today, in a business meeting, our Foreign Relations Committee, which works well on a bipartisan basis, voted out a whole series of Ambassadors, treaties, and Assistant Secretaries of State. Second, I heard it said by some pundits that Democrats wish President Trump ill, that we are working to do everything we can to hold him back and prevent him from being successful. Let me start by saying that I think all of us know that we are strongest when we stand together and work together. All of us have at some point heard the old adage that politics should stop at the water's edge, and nothing would make me happier then to see our foreign policy, our military, and our diplomatic efforts succeed around the world. I do not wish our President ill or our State Department a lack of success, but I think it deserves mentioning for the few minutes I am taking on the floor today that President Trump, who promised as a candidate to be unpredictable and nontraditional, has overperformed in that category. His foreign policy has been defined by inconsistency, volatility, unpredictability, and at times, a failure to advance our values. This comes exactly at a time, as my colleague from Connecticut was just reciting, when our allies and partners crave stability and leadership and when the threats to our democratic way of life from Russia and China are on the rise. Trump's ``shock and awe'' style of governing was demonstrated recently by his abrupt firing of the Secretary of State in a tweet and his further humiliation of the Secretary of State in stories that dribbled out about exactly how and when and where he was fired. We should not be conducting foreign policy in the same way that one might host a reality TV show like ``The Apprentice.'' In just a year, as I have attended a variety of conferences and meetings around the world, I have been struck by the number of ways in which the President has undermined alliances and friendships that have taken decades to build. Let me briefly review a few of the ways our European and Asian allies have been puzzled or confounded--by our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership; by imposing a travel plan on citizens from majority Muslim countries; by withdrawing from the Paris climate accord; by imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum, including against our close North American and European allies; by questioning our commitments to NATO; and by denigrating an entire continent when discussing the value of potential immigrants from Africa. Real and consistent leadership around the world that reflects American values is needed now more than ever. In the dozen countries I have visited for regional security conferences in the past year, I have heard the same from our vital allies. Senator McCain and I traveled to Halifax in Canada and to Singapore in Southeast Asia for a series of bilateral meetings of representatives of close and trusted allies. Senator Flake and I have traveled to Africa. Senator Graham and I have traveled to the Middle East. In all of these trips, what I have heard is that our allies are concerned, that they need reassurance about how and where we stand, and that in many cases, yes, they are beginning to move on past us and to reach accommodations with China or Russia, having concluded that we are not committed to engagement with the world. Every time I go on a visit to a foreign embassy--an embassy of the United States overseas--I sit down with our Foreign Service officers and I ask about their work and service, and I am overwhelmingly impressed with the professionalism and dedication of our career development professionals and our diplomats. Yet, overwhelmingly, the big number of vacancies at the State Department and a budget that proposes a more than 30-percent cut in the State Department and USAID have had a significant, demoralizing impact on these people whom we count on to advance America's interest and values around the world. Let me also say briefly that on the continent of Africa, where I have spent a great deal of my time on the Foreign Relations Committee, we are missing Ambassadors to some of the biggest and most important countries--South Africa and Tanzania being just two, for example. It is a continent where China's pervasive presence is not being countered by an America that is robustly engaged. Why does this matter? Because in this century, Africa will become the fastest growing and largest market for our goods and should be the continent in which we have the closest alliances and partnership. But instead of building partnerships and helping to extend markets here at home, the Trump administration is squandering the current momentum and watching from the sidelines as democratic norms deteriorate. As a member of both the Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees, I was gravely concerned that for a second year in a row, the Trump administration budget proposed deep cuts in diplomacy and development. We must recognize that while these investments serve a humanitarian purpose, they also make us stronger by spreading American values, safer by building coalitions, less susceptible to terrorism by creating a more stable world, and more prosperous by creating stronger export markets for our goods. If we want to remain a global leader, we need a strong State Department and USAID that are sufficiently funded. Let me turn to the matter of Russia before I conclude. Throughout his administration, President Trump has not only turned away from some of our critical allies and weakened our commitments to international coalitions but has also refused to head-on, clearly address the real and multifaceted threats we face from Russia. Russia's activities, as has been testified to by senior administration officials over many hearings, now are directly interfering with our democracy--our last election and likely our next election, as well as those of our closest allies throughout the world. Rather than sending a clear and forceful signal to Russia that our political affairs are not to be meddled with, President Trump has instead at times turned aside from this challenge and failed to address it. Let me conclude by simply saying that now more than ever, the United States must lead in the world, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee on a bipartisan basis to advance our interests. Thank you, Mr. President. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. COONS

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

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, today is 1 month to the day from a tragic shooting in Parkland, FL, where 17 high-school-aged students lost their lives. As so many of my colleagues have done, I come to the floor to remember them, to honor their loss, to speak to their classmates, colleagues, and families, and to share from the experience of my own home State of Delaware. This morning, today, there are high school students across our country and across my home State of Delaware who are walking out of class to try and draw the attention of those of us in Washington to the urgent need that we work across the aisle to tackle the plague of gun violence that affects communities all over this country. That is why we see young people not just across the country but including in my home State of Delaware demanding that we take action. We need to answer their call. Let me speak to my hometown of Wilmington, DE. Just last month, 5 people--5 people, last month--under the age of 21 were shot in Wilmington, and 2017 ended as one of the worst years ever for gun violence and homicides--197 individuals shot, 32 wounded fatally. If I could, I wish to read the names of 31 individuals who were victims of gun violence in the city of Wilmington in 2017. We are working--Federal, State, and local officials; police departments and community and civic leaders--to try to tackle these challenges, but some of the core causes can only be addressed here. We need to find a way to work together, to respect each other, to compromise, and to tackle the very real epidemic of gun violence in our country. These 31 Delawareans lost their lives in the city of Wilmington to gun violence in the year 2017: Dariberto Velazquez Mendez, age 32; Santanu Muhuri, age 64; Jermaine Francois, age 34; Charles Mays, age 66; Jamiere Harris, age 21; Kayden Young, age 21; Ainsley Cumberbatch, age 23; Jamiel Congo, age 23; Keevan Hale, age 38; Tajuane Helton, age 41; Richard Crosby, age 30; Yaseem Powell, age 18; Tyree Robinson, age 23; Bryan Brooks, age 29; Tynesia Cephas, age 16; Joquon Coverdale, age 22; Derrius Jackson-Paul, age 23; Sherman Pride, age 22; Shamar Lindsay, age 25; Cyree Watson, age 22; David Bailey, age 23; Nycire Mills, age 23; Kai'Mel Ennals, age 20; Barry White, age 19; Allen Melton, age 28; Albert Hazzard, age 33; Dwayne Grimes, age 19; Justin McDermott, age 18; Andrew Pennewell, age 25; Shawn Lockhart, age 29; and Keanan Samuels, age 20. The facts of all of these different episodes of violence and loss vary widely, but the conclusion must be the same: We have to find ways to listen to each other, to work across the aisle, and to stop deadly shootings in our country. I am encouraged that many of my colleagues today have introduced legislation that would take meaningful steps to tackle gun violence and make all of us safer. We must act. We must listen to the voices of young Americans demanding that we do our job and make our country safer. I yield floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I come to the floor this evening inspired by the determined efforts of my colleague Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. My colleague has made clear, by delivering his 200th floor speech on climate change, that he is committed to raising awareness about and urging action on this very real threat to our environment. Let me speak briefly as someone trained in science as a chemist. I am troubled that time and again I am called to this Chamber to defend and advocate for science. We live in a time of unprecedented scientific advances. Throughout our history, we have turned to science to help us solve both domestic and international crises. Science was there, for example, to do battle against the Ebola outbreak, threats from hurricanes and other natural disasters, and the dangers of cigarette smoke and lead exposure. It was scientists who helped find a cure, provide early warning, who educated us, and who influenced politics to lead to policies that led to stronger industry and consumer safety standards in facing all of these threats. The scientific method has saved lives and ensured our survival, so why don't we more widely embrace the science of prediction, mitigation, and adaptation to the effects of climate change? Climate change is real. We know climate change is already happening, although it is slow, gradual, and often hard to perceive. Its effects will impact human health, agricultural production, national security-- an unbelievable range of concerns that should motivate us together. Yet I have colleagues who either aren't convinced or don't understand that climate change is a real and pressing threat. Let me briefly cite one meta-study of scientific opinion. It surveyed 13,950 peer-reviewed articles and studies on climate change and found that only 24 of them rejected global warming--less than 0.2 percent. Although there is not unanimous opinion, when there is 99.8 percent agreement in the scientific community, we should agree that this degree of certainty is enough to take action. ``An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure'' is an aphorism that dates back to the early 1700s. Why are we waiting? Let's change our ways. Let's work together to lower greenhouse gases, combat pollution, and slow the impact of climate change. As someone who represents the State of Delaware, I am passionate about this because we are the lowest mean elevation State in America. I have heard from folks up and down the First State--from my colleague Senator Carper, from our Governor, from our community leaders, and from concerned citizens from Wilmington, to Rehoboth, to Middletown--that they are concerned about sea level rise and its likely impact on our State. We need to do more because, in my small State, sea level rise is happening at twice the national rate. In about 100 years, everyone in Delaware will finally have a beach house--just not the way they want it. Let me conclude by saying we need to look forward, not backward, when addressing climate change and sea level rise. We need action, not reaction. We need policy, not politics. We should act today, not tomorrow. Again, I thank Senator Whitehouse. It was my pleasure to have him visit my home State of Delaware and see what we are doing to plan for and to combat sea level rise as a result of climate change. It was my honor to join him this evening and lend my support to him, to our environment, and to the fight against climate change. I yield to my senior colleague from our shared home State of Delaware.

Mr. COONS

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

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I rise in this historic Chamber to offer my thanks, my respect, and to pay homage to an incredibly valued member of my staff who is about to retire from the U.S. Senate after decades of dedicated service. A New Englander by birth and a Delawarian by choice, Mary Ann Kelley has served as my deputy scheduler now for 7 years and is due to retire tomorrow, March 9. Mary Ann Kelley--or MAK, as she is affectionately called in my office--started a career with the U.S. Senate way back in December 1990 as a staff assistant for then-Senator Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. Except for a break in service, Mary Ann served on Senator Biden's team until he resigned to become Vice President in 2009. She stayed on through the tenure of Senator Ted Kaufman and joined my scheduling team late in 2010. In her having served now three U.S. Senators, Mary Ann brings a breadth of knowledge and experience to my front office and scheduling team. She helps to maintain my schedule, helps to organize and evaluate and to track hundreds of invitations and scheduling requests to coworkers and constituents. Mary Ann's professionalism and business acumen are unwavering and valued. She always maintains her composure despite the stress and sometimes craziness this unique position offers. My team in Delaware appreciates her ready wit, balanced judgment, and calming presence. Krista Brady, my talented casework manager, said: MAK adds that something extra Irish to the office. Every morning, she comes in wearing her snazziest outfit, drinking her cappuccino from Starbucks, and ready to tell a funny story. Krista reminded me about Mary Ann's love for cats, her famous Halloween mask, her curry chicken, and, of course, her wicked New England spirit. Mary Ann's story is rooted deeper than in just her years of Senate service. MAK's authenticity, personality, and devotion to friends and family make her a staff favorite and valued member of my team. To properly honor Mary Ann, let me share some details about her background and her persona. A graduate of Cardinal Spellman High School and Framingham State University, Mary Ann was born and lived in Massachusetts until she moved to Delaware in 1979. Ask MAK about her hometown, and she will quickly chime in with ``Brockton, MA--home of Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler!'' Thanks to Rocky and Marvin, world heavyweight and middleweight boxing champions, Brockton is recognized as the City of Champions. If Rocky and Marvin are Brockton's boxing champions, Mary Ann is the city's undisputed world champion in cooking, whether it be baking, roasting, or toasting. Like Rocky and Marvin, Mary Ann has a passion and talent for her own chosen sport, one that she has practiced and refined over many years. Marvin Hagler explained what makes a winner, and what Mary Ann did to become a well-seasoned top chef is the same thing. Marvin Hagler, the boxer, once said, ``Every fighter has got [to] be dedicated, learn how to sacrifice, know what devotion is all about, make sure you're paying attention and studying your art.'' Mary Ann learned to cook at an early age. She will say that she was born with a love of cooking. This interest is something she has pursued through her college years and into today. She earned a bachelor's of science in food and nutrition from Framingham State in 1967 and subsequently mentored and educated students as a home economics teacher for 5 years. Mary Ann taught classes on food, nutrition, and, of course, cooking. Over the decades, our very own MAK perfected a wide range of delicacies to soothe and feed family, friends, and fellow Delawarians. Often, the people she fed and cared for were through her efforts at the Ministry of Caring in Wilmington, DE. Mary Ann worked for a decade as the head chef at the Ministry of Caring, a community-based nonprofit that provides a network of social, health, and support services for those who are living in poverty or who are homeless. Mary Ann used her professional education, her faith, and her experience to feed the souls of people and provide them comfort through food served at the Ministry's Emmanuel Dining Room. When Mary Ann returned to the Senate after her break in service, she rallied her coworkers to volunteer and serve food monthly at the Emmanuel Dining Room, where I, too, have volunteered. When I took office as a Senator, we continued this outreach, and it served as a great opportunity for my casework team and others to connect with constituents. Besides MAK's involvement with the Ministry of Caring, for many years, she owned and operated her own excellent business, Creative Catering Cuisine. To this day, she still receives catering requests and calls from friends for cookies, cakes, and other treats. Mary Ann's depth and variety of dishes are unique and storied. Staff favorites include MAK's mouth-watering filet mignon, cranberry coffee cake, Irish cake, banana pudding, and a wide variety of pound cakes. Lynne Phifer, my intern coordinator, speaks highly of Mary Ann's homemade oatmeal cookies and other confections. Lynne and the rest of the team, however, are unanimous in their vote for MAK's curry chicken. Mary Ann's food is influential and, I would say at times, even transcendent. I am confident, if MAK's menu had existed in earlier times, it could have changed the course of history as we know it. If this sustenance had been available in 1775, Founding Father Patrick Henry may have exclaimed, ``Give me Mary Ann's curry chicken or give me death!'' Mary Ann goes to great lengths, in all seriousness, to prepare meals for those she loves. She gets the best and freshest ingredients. Some on my staff remember the day Mary Ann returned from her lunch break with a half dozen lobsters--the main course for a dinner prepared in honor of her son's birthday. Desiree Burritt, my immigration case worker, who also worked for Senators Biden and Kaufman before me, said: Mary Ann has always been our in-house chef, always there to pull up a chair, quick to smile, laugh, and listen. MAK is like a mother to all of us. Mary Ann may not know just how much she inspires and influences those around her. I have been moved to hear and witness the impression that she has made on my staff, on her friends, and her family. Terry Wright, who also previously worked for Senator Biden--a member of my Service Academy Selection Board--has known Mary Ann for many years. Terry said Mary Ann is ``generous with an absolute willingness to help anyone in any way she can. When she's your friend,'' Terry said, ``you have a friend for life.'' Elena Sassaman, a newer member of my casework team, said: Mary Ann is one of the nicest and most thoughtful people I've met both here, working in the Senate, and in everyday life. MAK was one of the first people to include me in the office family dynamic when I first started. Elena has developed a love for knitting, crocheting, and other crafts thanks to Mary Ann's encouragement and valued friendship. When I am not in DC, I am usually in my Wilmington office in Delaware, and we enjoy the opportunity to have lunch as a group with everybody on the Delaware staff. I love those lunches, listening to Mary Ann tell funny stories, share observations, even show photos of or brag about her grandkids. My dad, whom I miss dearly, was born in Boston, MA, himself, and Mary Ann, who never lost her remarkable Boston accent, has provided me a familiar and comforting presence whenever she speaks. I love her Massachusetts spirit, her soul, and her positive attitude. Mary Ann is a good and decent person and a great presence in our office. She is at the same time both a fixture and a breath of fresh air. Mary Ann's work in the Senate and her career as a chef shows us all the importance of working hard and embracing what you love, using your strengths to help your friends and neighbors and to better the country and community. Mary Ann said she would miss all aspects of working with us in the Senate. It has been such a big part of her life, I know. Mary Ann, I know you will also miss the comradery of your coworkers in the Delaware office. As a longtime chef, I am confident, Mary Ann, that you already have a recipe for retirement and will embrace the joy of not working. Your retirement will surely be filled with activities such as cooking, knitting, and outings with your friends Jill, Norma, Sue, and Tanya, and you will spend more time with your sons Michael and Terence, daughters-in-law Nell and Jennifer, and beloved grandchildren Cole, Mitch, Meredith, and Nolan, who all live right nearby, just over the line in Pennsylvania. Whether their Nan is joining them for dinner or attending a Unionville High School rowing event, I know you will be there in high spirits, prepared with a great story and an even better dessert. Mary Ann, I know you look forward to trips to Westborough, MA, and to spending holidays and warmer weekends with Terence, Jennifer, Meredith, and Nolan. Let me conclude by saying to Mary Ann, thank you for your years of service to the Senate, to our community, and to the people of the First State. You have been a valued member of my team, and I will close with a traditional Irish blessing: May there always be work for your hands to do. May your purse always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine on your windowpane. May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of a friend be always near you. May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you. With that, Mary Ann, I offer you a fond farewell and a thanks to you for all you have done for Delaware and the Senate. Thank you. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I was honored when my good friend Senator John McCain reached out to me 2 weeks ago to suggest that we introduce bipartisan legislation here in the Senate that would attempt to solve two of our most pressing immigration issues and keep our country and Congress moving forward. The bill we have introduced--and which the Senate will soon proceed to vote on--doesn't solve every immigration issue we face, and it doesn't try to. What our bill does is focus on the issues on which we can agree. It is an attempt to break through the messy political debates and substantive disagreements here and find compromise. Our bill would do two simple things: Move to secure our border, and finally give Dreamers the path to citizenship they deserve. First, to address border security, our bipartisan bill would ensure that we gain operational control of the border by 2020 with new investments, new technology, new resources for Federal, State, and local law enforcement. It would also reduce current immigration court backlogs by funding new judges and attorneys, while addressing one of the root causes of immigration from Central America. Second, our bill would give legal certainty to 1.8 million Dreamers who are American in every way but the paperwork--young Americans who have known no other country but this one. Dreamers who continue to play by the rules by going to school, serving in our military, and maintaining consistent employment can become lawful permanent residents and, 5 years later, U.S. citizens. Senator McCain and I aren't the only ones who think this bipartisan solution makes sense; 54 Members of the House--an even split of 27 Republicans and 27 Democrats--have cosponsored and led this effort. It has been championed by Republican Congressman Will Hurd of Texas, whose district has 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, and Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar of California. Our bill is more than just a set of policies. It is a way for us to agree when we can agree and not let our disagreements get in the way of making progress. There have been misrepresentations and half-truths said in attacking this bill, and I will simply say this: Would a true American hero and patriot like Senator McCain have lent his name to this bill if all these attacks were true? I think not. Our message is simple. We may not fix every immigration issue right now, but we can take a historic step forward, and with new technology, new manpower, a new pathway to citizenship, address Dreamers and allow them to succeed in American schools and in the American military and to enrich American communities without fear of deportation. These are tough issues, but the solution is simple. I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the McCain-Coons bill. I yield the floor. Cloture Motion

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 2 minutes before we proceed to the cloture vote scheduled at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I come to the floor to talk about an issue that has occupied this floor, this body, this Congress for some time now: the challenge of how to fix our broken immigration system. As many of us have debated and talked and tried to find common ground and a bipartisan path forward, I wanted to speak about why I have optimism that we can find a bipartisan solution to this challenge. I know I am not alone in my optimism about this. One of my very dearest friends in the Senate, someone I respect and admire deeply, someone who knows more about sacrifice and patriotism than anyone I have ever met, believes the same thing. This friend of mine is not just any Senator. It is Mr. John McCain, the senior Senator from Arizona, who also happens to be an American hero and someone who has literally fought for this country and its values throughout his entire life. He is someone whom our mutual friend, former Vice President Joe Biden, calls a ``man of . . . deep conviction, and unmatched character.'' John McCain is exactly the person the Senate and this country needs in times like this, when the way forward is unclear, when our disagreements seem too wide, when our instincts are to argue rather than listen. This Chamber and this country need someone who is able to show us a way forward and lead us out of our stubborn, sometimes too partisan fights--someone like Senator McCain. As this debate has progressed in recent days, I have been reminded of something I heard Senator McCain say late last year when he accepted the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. When speaking about our country and when speaking about the opportunity he has had here, he said: What a privilege it is to serve this big, boisterous, brawling, intemperate, striving, daring, beautiful, bountiful, brave, magnificent country. With all our flaws, all our mistakes, with all the frailties of human nature as much on display as our virtues, with all the rancor and anger of our politics, we are blessed. We are living in the land of the free, the land where anything is possible. The land of the immigrants' dream, the land with the storied past forgotten in the rush to an imagined future. What a country, indeed. Beautiful, brave, and magnificent, as John said, but also challenged by occasional frailty, rancor, and anger that we have seen too much of in this sustained debate over immigration. The point Senator McCain made that night in Philadelphia--and the point he has made every day serving our Nation for more than six decades--is that working through our disagreements, our divisions is worth it, not just as Senators but as citizens. The whole point is, we may be boisterous and intemperate, which John has certainly also been accused of being a time or two, but we don't stop striving for our ideals, believing in our future, and respecting one another. That is often difficult--especially here in politics--but it is the challenge that comes with the blessings of living and serving this great country. So I was honored when Senator McCain reached out to me a week ago to say: Let's work together to introduce in the Senate legislation that could help solve our most pressing immigration issues and keep our country moving forward. The bipartisan bill we have introduced--the McCain-Coons bill--in the Senate doesn't solve every immigration issue we face, and it doesn't try to. What our bill does is focus on two issues right in front of us that I believe we can address and resolve. It is an attempt to break through what have been messy and divisive political debates and to address, through a compromise, legitimate, substantive issues in front of us. Our bill would do two things: secure our border and finally give Dreamers the pathway to citizenship they have long awaited for, and they deserve. First, to address border security, our bill would ensure we gain operational control of the border by 2020 with new technology, new resources for Federal, State, and local law enforcement, and new infrastructure. It would reduce the existing immigration case backlogs by funding new judges and new attorneys, while also addressing one of the root causes of migration into our country from Central America. Our legislation would give certainty to 1.8 million Dreamers brought here as children through no fault of their own, who are American in every way but the paperwork. Dreamers who continue to play by the rules by going to school, serving in the military, or being consistently employed can become lawful, permanent residents and, at least 5 years later, U.S. citizens. Senator McCain and I aren't the only ones who think this bipartisan solution makes sense. In fact, the reason we filed it here was because of the strength of its development in the other Chamber, the people's House, the House of Representatives. This bill was crafted by Republican Congressman Will Hurd of El Paso, TX, whose district has more than 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border--more than any district in our country with a U.S.-Mexico border--and his partner, Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar, who is from Southern California. The two of them put this bill together after a lot of consultation and meetings with their colleagues in the House. Today, it enjoys 27 Republican cosponsors and 27 Democratic cosponsors. I often hear we shouldn't take up and consider anything that can't pass the House, but a bill that has 54 bipartisan cosponsors in the House is certainly on the right track. Now, I am clear-eyed about the fact that this McCain-Coons bill is not perfect, and I understand some of my colleagues may want to make changes to it. Some of my Republican friends I have met with and heard from and talked to in recent days have suggested it needs more investments in border security to win their support, and that is fine because our bill is more than just a set of policies. It is a way to provide a framework for us to agree and not let our disagreements prevent us from moving forward. So my message is simple about this bill: We may not be able to fix our entire immigration system this week--in fact, I am certain we can't--but we can, over the next few days, perhaps even over the next few hours, take important, even historic steps forward. We can lay the groundwork for securing our border with new investments, new technology, and new manpower. We can help Dreamers succeed in American schools, serve in our American military, and enrich American communities without living in constant fear of imminent deportation. These are tough issues, but the solution can be fairly simple. I think our legislation offers a real solution for right now. There have been developments in recent days. I have been proud to participate in a large bipartisan effort by the Common Sense Coalition, and as it has, as a group, tried to hammer out a bipartisan deal, I have been honored to have started this discussion, this debate, with Senator McCain by filing our bill that we brought over from the House. It is a bipartisan bill that I believe is the most bipartisan bill currently before this Chamber on this issue. If we can make more progress, if we can attract more bipartisan support through some amendments or revisions, I welcome that. I believe this week, this day, this opening on our Senate floor is not only a challenge but an incredible opportunity to do the right thing. We don't have to agree on everything. We just have to agree on some things, and we can find a way forward together. It is an enormous honor to have the opportunity to partner with Senator McCain in this legislative effort. While he is not with us today, I know he is with us in spirit and watching our deliberations, and he is someone who has shown not just courage on the battlefield but courage in American politics--a determined willingness to compromise and to work tirelessly to advance the interests of the American people. I can only hope my colleagues, when we get a chance to vote on this bill--which I hope we will later today--will join me in supporting it in recognition of his lifetime of service to our Nation and his commitment to bipartisanship. It is my hope that as this day and tomorrow unfolds, we will have the open and fair process that has been promised, and that all of us, together, can do what we were sent to do: listen to each other, trust each other, work together, and find a path through compromise that can solve these two most important and pressing issues in the field of immigration. Thank you. I yield the floor. (The Acting President pro tempore assumed the Chair.)

Mr. COONS

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

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to join my colleagues, both Republican and Democrat, in raising the alarm about a decision I believe represents politicized policymaking at its very worst. Just a few weeks ago, we were notified that the Trump administration's Interior Department seeks to open up 90 percent--90 percent--of America's waters to oil and gas drilling. This was startling news for Americans everywhere but particularly for those of us who come from States along the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines who had no expectation that our coastal waters were about to be subjected to the search for oil and gas. The objections to the Trump administration's decision came swiftly from elected officials in both parties, Republicans and Democrats, because protecting America's fragile coastlines isn't--or shouldn't be--a partisan issue. This decision by President Trump and Secretary of the Interior Zinke was not rooted in public input or scientific analysis. This decision was not based on concerns about community safety or economic prosperity. This decision was our administration putting their ``energy dominance'' goals above all else. I know several of my colleagues have already spoken out to discuss what this means for their States and how it will impact their constituents, but I am here today to raise my voice for mine, to fight for Delaware. In Delaware, our coasts are critical to our local environment and our robust economy. Delaware has 28 miles of Atlantic coastline--some of the most pristine, most beautiful beaches in the entire country. As you can see in this graphic of our boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach, DE, our 28 miles of coastline employ 10 percent of our total State workforce. That is a remarkable amount of economic activity in a very small space. Our coastline generates $6.9 billion in economic activity every year and hosts thousands of acres of protected land. It includes on our bay shore side two national wildlife refuges that serve as critical habitat for bald eagles, white-tailed deer, and striped bass. The future of our coastal economy depends on recreational access, fishing, and tourism, which are now potentially at risk because of this ill- advised decision to open the coastline off of Delaware and the rest of the mid-Atlantic to potential oil and gas exploration and production. My colleagues know that I make an effort to promote pragmatic and bipartisan ideas. It is one of my top priorities, day in and day out, to work across the aisle and do what is right for our constituents and for the United States. Let me be clear. My view is not based on an anti-oil or anti-natural gas message. I support an ``all of the above'' energy strategy and have advanced legislation that will embrace an ``all of the above'' energy strategy, and I acknowledge there are many places in the United States where we can, and do, safely produce these resources, both onshore and offshore. But what if we happen to face a spill of the scale and size of Deepwater Horizon? This is an overlay of the footprint of the 2010 oil disaster of the Deepwater Horizon and how it spread to impact the gulf coastline. It is perhaps a little hard to see here, but the State of Delaware and New Jersey and its fragile coastline are underneath that footprint. It suggests how we might end up facing dramatic impacts, negative impacts on tourism and fishing that depend on clean coastlines to support tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity in my home State. If we are going to think seriously about doing this, we need to think about the impacts. We need to ask whether the costs outweigh the benefits. When it comes to the Trump-Zinke plan to drill off the coast of Delaware, I am here to tell you that the potential costs dramatically outweigh the benefits. As you can see in this graphic, a spill the size of the Deepwater Horizon could devastate all of our beach communities and protected wildlife areas in Delaware and the region. Again, protecting our coastlines, an idea supported by scientists and coastal residents alike, should not be a partisan issue. In Delaware alone, multiple city councils, all up and down our coast, have openly opposed offshore drilling through letters and resolutions they have sent to me and the rest of our congressional delegation. Coastal lawmakers from both parties have opposed offshore drilling. I know for a fact the same is happening in virtually every other coastal State potentially impacted by this unwise decision. These are the people we should be listening to--the people who don't just visit the coast for a week in the summer but who live on it, who rely on it, who have built their lives and their local economy around it. Instead, as this decision shows, the Trump administration is prioritizing the oil and gas industry and partisan politics over those of independent scientists, coastal residents, and the elected officials who speak for our coastal communities. That was made painfully clear when the Republican Governor of Florida, a close ally of the President, petitioned to shield just Florida from potential oil and gas exploration and production. Sure enough, Florida promptly got a public promise from Secretary Zinke that its coastlines would be spared. I am sure Florida's coastline is beautiful. In fact, I visited Florida's coastline, and I can tell you it is beautiful. But guess what; so is Delaware's. We deserve to be able to protect our coastline just as much as Floridians do. I invite Secretary Zinke to once again come to Delaware but to instead see the coastline and see these fragile resources and see what they have to offer for wildlife, for conservation, for fishing, for hunting, and for tourism. Secretary Zinke promising to exempt Florida is the Trump administration deciding which States have to deal with oil and gas drilling based purely on partisan, political considerations. I think the state of our coastal communities and local economies shouldn't be auctioned off to the highest bidder and shouldn't be subject to partisan politics. Instead, they should be protected based on science and based on the views of coastal communities. I am here today to voice my profound disappointment in this blatant neglect of local voices and the well-being of individual States and coastal communities. I came to the floor to fight for my State and to raise the local voices I have heard from our coastal communities. Our coastlines are just too fragile and too vital and too important to let partisan politics get in the way of their future. With that, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I would like to thank Senator Hatch for his leadership on intellectual property issues throughout his distinguished career in the Senate. I was pleased to join him in securing the passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act in the last Congress, which established a Federal civil right of action to protect this valuable form of intellectual property. Likewise, I am pleased to join Senator Hatch as a cosponsor on the Music Modernization Act. This important piece of legislation will bring much-needed transparency and efficiency to the music marketplace and more fairly compensate songwriters for their valuable creative work. I note that there are some outstanding issues in the latter part of the bill that remain to be resolved with broadcasters and other music licensees. Senator Hatch has indicated to me that he intends to work through these issues as the bill moves from introduction to markup so that we can have the broadest consensus possible for this legislation. I thank Senator Hatch for this commitment and commend him for his leadership on ensuring that the copyright laws stay apace with evolving technology.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I would like to thank Senator Hatch for his leadership on intellectual property issues throughout his distinguished career in the Senate. I was pleased to join him in securing the passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act in the last Congress, which established a Federal civil right of action to protect this valuable form of intellectual property. Likewise, I am pleased to join Senator Hatch as a cosponsor on the Music Modernization Act. This important piece of legislation will bring much-needed transparency and efficiency to the music marketplace and more fairly compensate songwriters for their valuable creative work. I note that there are some outstanding issues in the latter part of the bill that remain to be resolved with broadcasters and other music licensees. Senator Hatch has indicated to me that he intends to work through these issues as the bill moves from introduction to markup so that we can have the broadest consensus possible for this legislation. I thank Senator Hatch for this commitment and commend him for his leadership on ensuring that the copyright laws stay apace with evolving technology.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, as we know all too well, the Senate of the United States has an annual job to do--to adopt a budget and then appropriate it; to lay out the framework for what to spend and then to make deliberate decisions in the Appropriations Committee and move forward by the end of the fiscal year. This may not be well or widely known, but the Federal fiscal year begins October 1. It is by October 1 that we are supposed to figure out what we are going to spend and how we are going to spend it and why we are going to spend it. As we all head home to celebrate the holidays on December 21, I just wanted to take a moment and go over the list of things that are unaddressed and unresolved at the end of this calendar year. The way it is supposed to work here and the way it is actually working here are strikingly different. In my 7 years now in the Senate on both the Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee, I have seen people of good will of both parties try mightily and so far consistently fail to get us back to regular order and to end this process of moving crisis to crisis, continuing resolution to continuing resolution. While I didn't hope that tonight the Federal Government of the United States would shut down, it is depressing, concerning, even alarming to me that we head home having not resolved so many issues. We have heard from other Members here about the pressing needs of their home States. We have concerns all over our country, such as the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, which is a literal lifeline to 9 million low-income children. Authorization and funding ran out months ago. Some States are already notifying parents that their children's health insurance coverage will lapse. There are community health centers on which 26 million patients rely. There is the pressing need to fund a response to the opioid crisis, the need to fund veterans' care, infrastructure, shore up pension plans, invest in education, and, of course, respond to natural disasters. From Americans in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to Americans in Texas and Florida and Louisiana, to those in California and the West--whether it is hurricanes or forest fires, parts of our Nation are literally flooding and burning. Yet we head home having not addressed their challenges. Of course, I feel concerned that we have failed to act to protect the Dreamers here in our country, the young men and women brought here who have never known any other country, men and women who reflect the best of our country. I met many in my home State of Delaware. They are high school and college students, members of our military, parts of our neighborhoods and communities. But given the Trump administration's decision, the President's decision to end an administrative policy allowing these young people to come out of the shadows and live without fear of being deported, we wait for bipartisan legislative action to give them the security they deserve and the ability to participate wholly in the American Dream. I believe we can pass a bipartisan Dream Act that both protects Dreamers and makes our borders more secure, but all of these issues seem to become more partisan and more difficult fights than they need to be. We should be able to work together to resolve our differences and not have to go home with yet another continuing resolution, keeping the government afloat while we head out to celebrate. Our constituents didn't send us here to fight endless partisan battles, to avoid the strictures of the Budget Act and the appropriations process, and when things get tough, to just kick the can down the road. Before I leave the floor, I want to speak about one other pressing concern I have, and that is about the importance of maintaining the independence of the investigation currently underway under the leadership of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. I have heard concerning, even alarming attacks on the special counsel by colleagues in the other Chamber and by folks in the press. I just want to take a moment to say that our Nation relies on a few key institutions and principles that protect this experiment in democracy, and none are more important than the rule of law and the institutions that make up our system of justice. As partisanship, gridlock, and distress have become more prevalent in our country and corrosive to our politics, these institutions that sustain our democratic system are more important than ever. I have traveled to other countries that have on pieces of paper Constitutions and legal systems that literally mirror our own, but they are ineffective and their systems are nondemocratic because their courts are not independent and their national leaders are not held accountable. Across our country for generations, from classrooms to courtrooms, in Congress and communities, we have affirmed to Americans of all backgrounds the importance of the principle that no one is above the rule of law. Our country has been able to grow and change and improve because we are a nation of laws--laws that can be debated and changed but must be followed and respected. The Department of Justice isn't respected because of its role on a piece of paper, no matter how treasured and important, or because of its title engraved above the door of the building or its motto; it is respected, trusted, and relied upon because it has strived to uphold our highest ideals and to enforce the law. It is easier to save an institution like the rule of law than it is to restore it once torn down. This is why I helped author bipartisan legislation that would seek to further affirm the rule of law and the independence of the Department of Justice specifically by protecting special counsel investigations from unwarranted political interference. We have spirited debates over taxation, immigration, our Federal budget, but this issue is too important for me to yield the floor before this end of the year without urging my colleagues to seriously consider the important task we face to maintain the independence of the Department of Justice and uphold the rule of law. I hope folks in this Chamber will consider the importance of protecting this investigation and this special counsel and, frankly, of continuing to protect the independence and integrity of the Department of Justice and our system of courts and law into the future. It is part of the bedrock on which our democracy rests, a bedrock which we cannot afford to have shaken. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. COONS

Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the vital importance of the connection between the arts, education, and progress. I am from a little town in Delaware named Hockessin. Hockessin was not much when I grew up there. We had about 1,500 people, some dairy farms and mushroom farms. Over the last 40 years, it has gradually developed. A not much widely noted big day happened back in 1994 in Hockessin, DE, when one of America's greatest jazz performers, Cab Calloway, passed away in the little town of Hockessin, DE. Cab Calloway gave his name to a remarkable performing arts school. This is a school that 25 years ago was created dedicated to the idea that if you want to elevate learning, if you want to strengthen education, you should make sure you have a robust range of opportunities to engage with the arts. I thought I would use that as an example today to talk for a few minutes about why what we do here can be important across our whole country and why a connection between the arts and education can make a lasting difference for families all across our country. Back in 1965, when I was just 2 years old, a group of Senators, Republican and Democratic, came together to create two things--the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. These two federally funded national programs are absolutely critical educational, economic, and cultural drivers that have impacted thousands of communities across the United States. Why is this a subject of any contention or discussion here? Well, because unfortunately our President's budget this year proposed to eliminate funding for both of these organizations--both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities-- proposed to be removed, zeroed out, cancelled, despite their almost more than 50-year record of successful impact and service across the country. In my little State of Delaware, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities funded all sorts of valuable programs with significant impacts. Last year, I invited the head of the National Endowment for the Arts to come and visit us in Delaware and to pull together the whole range of folks who received some grants from them--$681,000 last year. It is about 17 percent of all the funding for arts in my State. It helped support 100 grants to nonprofits all up and down our State. I will give a few examples. The Grand Opera House has a summer in the park series because of the National Endowment for the Arts. The University of Delaware Community Music School holds a musical theater camp every summer, serving dozens of kids--about 80 kids. The Christiana Cultural Arts Center in downtown Wilmington brings vibrant, cutting-edge arts programming to a neighborhood that might not otherwise enjoy it. The Creative Vision Factory provides individuals with behavioral health disorders an opportunity for self-expression, empowerment, and recovery through the arts. I can give many more examples, but these are four of the hundreds. The National Endowment for the Humanities gives a comparable number of grants and supports programs up and down our State. I will mention one--art conservation at Winterthur. Winterthur, which is a magnificent museum and collection of the American arts, has a partnership with museums in places around the world--from Haiti, to Iraq, to Syria-- where, because of conflict, critical pieces of cultural history have been at risk of being lost. Because of these NEH grants to Winterthur, those partnerships have been strengthened. We have been blessed to have in my friend Governor Jack Markell and his wife Carla, over the last 8 years, strong, longstanding support for the arts in our State. We have lots of leading individuals in our State. Tatiana Copeland, for example, helped build the Queen Theater and helped support the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. They work in partnership with the Delaware Division of the Arts. A gentleman named Paul Weagraff is now the executive director of the Delaware Division of the Arts under the new administration of Governor Carney. I am hopeful that we here in the Senate can sustain bipartisan support for arts and humanities funding and that the young people of Delaware, our communities, and our families will continue to enjoy the blessings that these investments in creativity bring. How much are we talking about? It is about $150 million--$149.8 million, to be specific--this fiscal year for each of these two endowments. That is a tiny percentage of the total Federal budget. Now, $150 million may sound like a lot, and $680,000 of grants for my whole State of Delaware may sound like a lot, but across these two endowments for the arts and humanities, $300 million in Federal money has a dramatic impact. It leverages private funding 9 to 1. In recent studies looking at the impact of the National Endowment for the Arts, they concluded that they were particularly focused and particularly effective and that where there is a leadership grant given by the NEA, it leverages $9 more for every Federal dollar used. I think Federal funding for the arts and humanities has to remain a priority. I think it is important that we embrace the model that the Cab Calloway School has championed in Delaware and across the country where educational excellence is shown by working together with the expressive and creative arts. It was William Butler Yeats--a famous Irish poet--who once said that education is not the mere filling up of a pail, it is the lighting of a fire. If you want to ignite the aspirations, hopes, and dreams of young people, don't just engage them in trigonometry, biology, chemistry, and physics--although those subjects can be interesting, engaging, or challenging--light the fire of their spirit with art, give their spirit room to soar, give them an opportunity to paint on the canvas of their lives, and give them the gift of artistic training and skills, and there is no limit to where they can go. That has been our experience in Delaware. That has been our experience across the country. It is my hope that we will find a way on a bipartisan basis to continue to sustain investment in the humanities and the arts. In 1960, President Kennedy said: There is a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts. Citing three important periods in history, he said: The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the age of Leonardo da Vinci. The age of Elizabeth was also the age of Shakespeare, and the new frontier for which I campaign in public life can also be a new frontier for American art. It is important that we remember here that the modest amounts of Federal money we invest in the arts bear enormous positive, multiplied benefits to the people of our country and to our place in the world. I am grateful for all who work in arts education, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work on a bipartisan basis to sustain our Federal investment in the arts and humanities. I thank the Presiding Officer. With that, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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