Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 109, H.R. 1590.

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of our Democratic colleagues.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. Wednesday, September 25; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; further, that following leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up 10 minutes each until 10:30 a.m.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this week the Senate will consider more of the President's choices to fill important positions in the Federal Government. Too many important seats have continued to gather dust 2.5 years into this Presidency due to systematic Democratic obstruction. The President deserves his team, and the American people deserve to be governed by the government they actually elected back in 2016. So as long as there continues to be resistance to processing uncontroversial nominees in the typical fashion by voice vote, we will just continue to vote on these impressive men and women. Leading off this week are nominees to be Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury, Ambassador to the Republic of Fiji, Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, and Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. I hope our colleagues will join in supporting each of them.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senate also needs to remain focused on our important job of funding the Federal Government. Last week brought an unfortunate spectacle: The vast majority of our Democratic colleagues actually filibustered legislation to fund our national defense--at a dollar figure they had previously agreed to--for the sake of a political fight with the President. The funding our commanders need to keep pace with China and Russia, the funding our men and women in uniform need for their tools and training, even a pay raise for our servicemembers--all of it was blocked by our Democratic colleagues, blocked by Democrats in order to pick a partisan fight with the White House. That is an interesting statement of priorities, but I remain hopeful that we can get this process back on track. Back in July, both parties in both Houses of Congress and the White House all agreed to a bipartisan, bicameral roadmap to guide appropriations. We all agreed to rule out poison pill policy riders and not to seek changes in Presidential authorities relative to current law. So I hope we can rediscover that roadmap and make some progress. In the meantime, before the end of the week, we will vote on a continuing resolution to prevent a lapse in funding while the work continues.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on one final matter, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has long worked on a bipartisan basis in secure settings out of the public spotlight to conduct critically important oversight of classified and sensitive matters. So I have been disappointed to see our colleague, the Democratic leader, choose to politicize the committee's ongoing efforts with respect to a recent whistleblower allegation--the special subject of which is still unknown. As my friend Senator Schumer is aware, Chairman Burr and Vice Chairman Warner have been working together to get the Acting Director of Intelligence and the intelligence community's inspector general before the committee this week to discuss the matter. As with most matters before the committee, I believe it is extremely important that their work be handled in a secure setting with adequate protections, in a bipartisan fashion, and based on facts rather than leaks to the press. It is regrettable House Intelligence Committee Chairman Schiff and Senator Schumer have chosen to politicize the issue, circumventing the established procedures and protocols that exist so the committees can pursue sensitive matters in the appropriate, deliberate, bipartisan manner. Although we don't know the substance of the allegations, there is speculation that it relates to our relationship with Ukraine. For my part, as I stated earlier this month, I was very glad to see the White House release security assistance funds for Ukraine. I championed U.S. security assistance to Ukraine over the objections of the Obama administration in 2014 and have consistently believed in the importance of helping our Ukrainian partners defend their territory against Russian aggression. In fact, I had been personally pressing them to release security assistance funding for several months to ensure the United States did not walk back our important commitments to Ukraine. On two occasions I raised the need to keep our commitment to Ukraine with the Secretary of Defense, expressing my interest in seeing this money be released to help our Ukrainian partners. I raised it with the Secretary of State. My staff also engaged senior officials at the Pentagon, at the State Department, at the National Security Council, and at the Office of Management and Budget. I also worked closely with Senator Graham on the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee and Chairman Shelby. Throughout July, August, and early September, I worked hard to ensure that Ukraine received this much-needed assistance. That is because, going back years, I have urged administrations of both parties to be completely clear-eyed about the dangerous intentions of Putin's Russia and the importance of standing with Ukraine. I sounded the alarm early and often when President Obama went soft on Putin and missed opportunities to send arms to Ukraine, and during the Trump administration, I have been a strong supporter of its efforts to provide defensive lethal weapons to Ukraine and to Georgia. As I have said repeatedly, Russia poses a significant threat to U.S. interests. The best way to contest Putin and his hegemonic aspirations is to rebuild our defenses, work closely with our allies and partners, and improve the capacity of those threatened by Moscow to defend themselves. I am grateful that security assistance has finally been released to help our friends in Ukraine defend themselves. Now the task falls on us to pass a Defense bill and make the necessary investment in modernizing our own military to ensure America's preeminent position in the world and to deter challenge from adversaries like Russia and China.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I understand that there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading, en bloc.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceedings en bloc.

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on a related matter, while Senate Republicans continue to seek bipartisan solutions, the story on the other side of the Capitol has been a little bit different. Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic House continue to neglect opportunities to find compromises that might actually become law and instead churn out one leftwing messaging bill after another. Two weeks ago, just days before Iran's coordinated attack on the world's largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia, House Democrats took it upon themselves to send us several pieces of legislation that would have reduced--reduced--American energy independence. Domestic energy is a driver of American prosperity and one of the big success stories of recent years, but the House Democrats want us to retreat. They send us go-nowhere legislation the Senate will not pass and the President will not sign. And then, lest a whole week go by without one of these exercises, here is what happened last week: House Democrats began unveiling Speaker Pelosi's handmade plan to have Washington, DC, bureaucrats start micromanaging America's prescription drugs. It is the same old one-size-fits-all, government-controlled philosophy we continue to see from our Democratic colleagues. Forget about choice. Forget about competition. Forget about free enterprise and finding ways to unleash more market forces to help consumers. Just give Washington bureaucrats more power to clumsily call the shots and manipulate markets from the top down. Predictably, what this plan amounts to is not an efficient, effective way to help American families but an efficient, effective way to bring even more of the economy under the bureaucracy's thumb and potentially set us on a track toward nationalizing a major industry. There are millions of Americans who benefit from our Nation's incredible innovations and the R&D breakthroughs on new drug treatments and cures. We really ought not to jeopardize that. American families deserve more choice, more competition, more affordability. The last thing we need is for the socialist delusions of the Green New Deal and Medicare for All to be copied and pasted into innovations and cures, putting them at risk. Fortunately, this Republican Senate won't let the Speaker's dangerous proposal hurt the country. We will stay focused on the American people's business, and we will keep hoping our friends across the building put aside the political performances and join us to work on real solutions with a real chance of becoming real laws.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I want to thank the senior Senator from Iowa for his observations this morning. That is exactly where we find ourselves with what happened on the Senate floor yesterday afternoon.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, Senate Democrats blocked this year's funding for our national defense. They voted it down. We can't move the legislation forward. Democrats blocked the funding our commanders need to keep pace with Russia and China. Democrats blocked money for the tools and training that our men and women in uniform badly need while our adversaries continually pour money into new weapons and technology. The Democrats even voted against a pay raise--a pay raise--for our servicemembers. All but two Democrats voted to filibuster all of this and kept the Senate from even considering the legislation. Never mind that before we adjourned in August the Democrats in the House and Senate all agreed to a carefully negotiated framework to keep our appropriations process on track. In fact, the Speaker of the House and the Democratic leader in the Senate publicly agreed to the exact dollar figure for the Defense bill they just voted down yesterday. They publicly agreed to the number in the Defense bill they just voted down yesterday. We all agreed in the caps agreement that poison pills, new policy riders, or any changes to Presidential transfer authorities were off the table--off the table--unless both sides were on board. So the appropriations process, including at the committee level with Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Leahy, appeared to be going pretty smoothly, but, as we have seen a number of other times in the recent past, the Democratic leadership seemed to have a change of heart. Perhaps it sunk in that actually meeting President Trump and Republicans halfway, as divided government obviously requires, might have earned some criticism from the far left. But whatever the reason, our Democratic friends turned on a dime, reneged on the bipartisan agreement, and began demanding exactly the kinds of poison pills and partisan policy changes that we all promised not to do. That is how we get to a spectacle like what happened yesterday. That is how we get to a place where 42 Senate Democrats vote to filibuster defense funding and obstruct a pay raise for our servicemembers, for all the world to see, because Democratic leadership decided they saw more of a political upside in picking new fights with the President than in keeping their word and investing in our men and women in uniform. In fact, I understand that just yesterday, our Democratic leaders were offered even more money for the Labor-HHS bill, but they declined it. So it is not about the money. It is not about compromising and getting to yes. It is about not wanting to take yes for an answer. I have great respect for our Democratic friends, but I think this episode has to go down as a new high-water mark for the policy consequences of what some people call ``Trump derangement syndrome.'' We are at a point where 42 Senate Democrats would decline to fund the U.S. Armed Forces essentially just to spite the occupant of the White House. If you ask me, that is one heck of a price to pay to put on a show for ``the resistance.'' But yesterday's vote is now a matter of record. It is in the past. I really am hopeful that we can get back on track with the kind of appropriations process my Democratic colleagues have already pledged they would support. They had already pledged to support it. When the good work that takes place in committees is allowed to proceed without this top-down partisan maneuvering, it tends to yield pretty good results. I think we were all pleased with the bipartisan funding bill that Chairman Shelby and Senator Leahy produced together last year. I understand this morning's appropriations markup is expected to be bipartisan as well. For example, I am proud the Financial Services and General Government bill would include a bipartisan amendment providing another $250 million for the administration and security of elections, to help States improve their defenses and shore up their voting systems. I am proud to have helped develop this amendment and to cosponsor it in committee. That would bring our total allocation for election security to more than $600 million since fiscal 2008. It is a crucial issue. The Trump administration has made enormous strides to help States secure their elections without giving Washington new power to push the States around. That is how we continue the progress we saw in 2018, and that is exactly what we are doing. This is exactly the kind of positive outcome that is possible when we stop posturing for the press and let Chairman Shelby and Senator Leahy conduct a bipartisan committee process. As time grows shorter before the end of September, I hope the critical defense funding that Democrats blocked yesterday will soon earn the same kind of productive treatment, because I don't think the American people will have much patience with the notion that Democrats' first responsibility is irritating the White House and funding the Department of Defense coming second. I hope we can reboot this process and move forward for the sake of our Senate process, for the sake of stable funding for our government, and for the sake of our Nation's security.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls be waived.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 176.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 367.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I move to proceed to legislative session.