Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this week the Senate has several opportunities to make headway on important matters facing our country. First, we will tend to a pending treaty protocol on the accession of a new member to NATO and reaffirm the importance of the alliance to the security of U.S. interests around the world. Then, we will consider yet another of the President's well-qualified nominees to the diplomatic corps. But while the Senate can take care of some of these matters on their own, much of the pressing business of the American people requires coordination with our colleagues across the Capitol. Unfortunately, the only thing that seems to really inspire House Democrats these days is their obsession with overturning the results of the 2016 election. In the weeks since the Speaker of the House gave in to her far-left Members' demands for an impeachment inquiry, she and other prominent House Democrats have insisted over and over and over that impeachment will not stop them from making real progress on legislation. They say their 3-year-old impeachment parade doesn't have to block traffic and bring other important priorities to a standstill. That is what they have been saying, but actions speak louder than words. We have yet to see any actual indication that House Democrats intend to make good on that commitment. For months, we have heard the Speaker claim that she would like to get to yes on the USMCA. We have heard that her caucus is ``making progress,'' but nearly a year after this landmark agreement with Mexico and Canada was announced, the most significant update to the North American trade policy in a generation is still waiting for the House to take action. Billions of new dollars in economic growth and 176,000 new American jobs are still waiting on House Democrats. And that is not all. So far, even something as completely basic as funding our Armed Forces--funding our men and women in uniform--has met the same fate. Democrats have elected to stall it and block it in order to pick fights with the White House. Notwithstanding our bipartisan, bicameral agreement to wrap up the appropriations process in good faith, Senate Democrats voted a few weeks ago to block funding for the Department of Defense. No critical resources for U.S. servicemembers, no predictable planning process for our commanders, no pay raise for our all-volunteer Armed Forces--none of that was allowed to travel through the Senate because our Democratic colleagues just don't care for the occupant of the White House. Ironically, many of these same colleagues of ours have spent recent days making loud pronouncements on U.S. foreign policy. By the sound of their comments, it almost sounds as if they are coming around to Republicans' long-held views on the necessity of American leadership all around the world. But, once again, actions speak louder, and thus far our Democratic colleagues have not even been willing to get past partisanship for the sake of job No. 1--funding our military. So this week we will offer our Democratic colleagues a clear test. Are all the declarations that they are willing to work on important legislation just empty talk or will Senate Democrats finally do their part to move the appropriations process forward? Soon we will vote on advancing a package of domestic funding legislation. As I said last week, I am grateful to Chairman Shelby and Senator Leahy for their continued conversations and hopeful they can produce a substitute amendment that will fund a number of urgent domestic priorities. Then, once we complete that work, we will vote to move forward the funding for our national defense--two big votes, two big votes, two big opportunities for our Democratic friends to show the country whether their party's impeachment obsession leaves them any room at all for the pressing business of the American people.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. McCONNELL. In order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings.

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 27.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and the distinguished Democratic leader, Mr. Schumer, I send to the desk a resolution on documentary production by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and ask for its immediate consideration. Mr. President, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs recently conducted an investigation into China's impact on the U.S. education system. The Subcommittee has now received a request from the U.S. Department of Education seeking access to records that the Subcommittee obtained during the investigation. In keeping with the Senate's practice under its rules, this resolution would authorize the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, acting jointly, to provide records, obtained by the Subcommittee in the course of its investigation, in response to this request and requests from other Federal or State government entities and officials with a legitimate need for the records.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, first, this morning, I join colleagues on both sides of the Capitol in expressing our grief and sadness at the passing of our House colleague, Chairman Elijah Cummings. In his over more than two decades in the House of Representatives, Cummings became a living legend in his native Baltimore. By all accounts, he was a powerful and passionate voice on the national stage and was a strong advocate for his neighbors, his district, and his values. He counted close friends and admirers from all across the political spectrum. The Capitol will lower its flags today to mark this significant loss and remember a life well lived. The Senate unites our prayers with those in the House for Maya, Elijah's wife; for his children; and for all of the colleagues, friends, and staff who will miss him greatly.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on one final matter, this week, I have been discussing how Washington Democrats have sought for 3 years to effectively nullify the Trump Presidency. They have tried to cancel out the voters' decision in 2016 and dodge the consequences of Secretary Clinton's defeat whether it be through the 3-year-old impeachment parade that the House Democrats have been leading or through the unprecedented delays and obstruction that has been visited on the President's nominations here in the Senate. Well, our Democratic colleagues will today mount yet another effort to fire up the time machine. They want to move forward with legislation that would undo a major regulatory reform success story of the Trump administration's and reopen the Obama administration's disastrous War on Coal. Specifically, they want to try and revive the so-called Clean Power Plan, which is a dangerous, misguided policy that the Trump administration has rightly done away with. We will be voting on this resolution later today. The basic facts haven't changed since this job-killing scheme was first put forward back in 2014. This relic of the Obama administration would have further buried the producers of affordable American energy under a mountain of stifling redtape. It would have created overlapping local, State, and Federal standards, unrealistic compliance deadlines, and would have set up a Washington bureaucracy that would effectively root for American energy to fail. It is no wonder, by one analysis, that 125,000 jobs would have been on the chopping block had President Obama gotten his way. The workers in my State know better than anyone the true costs of the last administration's misguided War on Coal. Kentucky workers know what happens when plants that create jobs and generate affordable electricity at the same time are simply shut down. That is why I have been proud to lead the fight in ending the regulatory War on Coal. It is why I wrote every Governor in the country in 2015 and raised my concerns about the Obama administration's dangerous Clean Power Plan scheme, because, even today, nearly 3 years into an administration that is not at war with American energy, Kentucky miners continue to feel the effects of the previous administration's policies. We also know that the full effects of the Clean Power Plan would have stretched far beyond coal country. The ripples of this harmful proposal would have been felt across the country by Americans in paying their power bills. One independent report predicted that consumers in 40 States, including Kentucky, would have seen double-digit percentage increases in their electricity costs, and by the Obama officials' own admissions, the proposal would have hit low-income and minority communities the hardest. Let me say that again: Low-income and minority populations would have been hit the hardest by the double-digit electricity bill increases in four out of every five States. That is quite a rap sheet for a Federal policy. In a nation in which carbon emissions have already been trending downward, this proposal would have sold off our economic edge to overseas competitors whose emissions are, actually, steadily climbing. It would have taken the legs out from under American job creators while some of the world's leading polluters would have continued to roar right past us. It would have literally shipped our economic competitiveness to places like China and India. Here is how experts estimated the effect of all of this self- inflicted economic damage on the climate: a one one-hundredth-of-1- degree difference by 2050. Here is the impact estimated to have happened if it had gone forward--a one one-hundredth-of-1-degree difference by 2050. Think how deeply you would have to be in the grip of leftwing ideology for that trade-off to sound like a good deal for American families. Today's effort to revive this bad policy is being pushed by the same Senate Democrats who, overwhelmingly, could not bring themselves to vote against something as absurd as the Green New Deal back in March. Unfortunately, we know there is a considerable appetite among Democrats to inflict huge economic harm on American workers and American families just so we can better comply with this new green religion. But here is the good news for my constituents in Kentucky and for hard-working Americans across the Nation: Senate Republicans are on the case, and we will not let far-left fashions take precedence over the common good of our country. The American people have elected an administration and a Senate majority that trusts workers and job creators, not Washington bureaucracies. We have spent years cleaning up the mess of overregulation that the Obama era has left behind, and we will continue to stop the Democrats from reenacting that damaging history. So I would urge all of my colleagues to join with us today and oppose these efforts to nullify a Presidency and take us backward. Let's vote to keep this ill-conceived, leftwing policy on the shelf, where it belongs.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL. In order to place the bills on the calendar under the provision of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings en bloc.

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on an entirely different matter, I was encouraged to see yesterday's display of bipartisan concern in the House of Representatives for sustaining America's global leadership and, specifically, over the damaging impact of hastily withdrawing that leadership from Syria. Back in January, I led a forward-looking debate here in the Senate on these very issues. I sponsored an amendment to S. 1 that earned the support of a bipartisan supermajority--70 Senators. We went on the record as opposing a premature exit from Syria or Afghanistan and emphasized the need for sustained American leadership in the fight against terrorism. I was disappointed when a number of leading Democrats, including my counterpart, the Democratic leader, and most of our colleagues who are running for President, voted against this bipartisan consensus, but, overall, a huge majority of the Senate spoke up strongly. I know many of us are keen on engaging in these important issues further in light of recent events. As the Senate debates our Middle East policy and contemplates what action to take, I believe it is important that we make a strong, forward-looking, strategic statement. For that reason, my preference would be for something even stronger than the resolution the House passed yesterday, which has some serious weaknesses. It is so narrowly drafted that it fails to address the plight of imperiled Sunni Arab and minority Christian communities in Syria. It is backward-looking, and it is curiously silent on the issue of whether to actually sustain a U.S. military presence in Syria, perhaps to spare the Democrats from having to go on the record on this key question. So my first preference is for something stronger than the House resolution. I look forward to continuing to engage with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle as we chart the right course, and I expect many of us will have much more to say on the subject very soon.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, our Democratic colleagues insist that despite their political differences with President Trump, they are still prepared to tackle important legislation and do our work for the American people. Well, next week they will have an opportunity to prove it. Congress has fallen badly behind schedule on appropriations. It has been a month since my Democratic colleagues filibustered government funding on the floor, blocking defense funding and a pay raise for our servicemembers. We need to get moving. The country is watching. It is time to make progress. So in just a moment, I will file cloture on motions to proceed to two government funding bills, setting up votes for next week. In order to meet Democrats halfway, the first House shell we will vote on will be a package of domestic funding bills. If we can get bipartisan support to take up that domestic funding bill, we will stay on it until we complete it. I hope Chairman Shelby and Senator Leahy can work together to craft a bipartisan substitute amendment. Afterward, we will turn to a second package, including the defense funding that our Armed Forces and commanders need, especially in this dangerous time and considering current events, plus resources for other priorities such as the opioid epidemic. So we will be voting next week, and I urge all of our colleagues to move in that direction. Let's make good on all the talk about bipartisanship and finally make progress toward funding the government.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 441.

Mr. McCONNELL

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

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 141, H.R. 3055.

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