Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Is it also true that during your tenure as a Floridian, you had the good fortune to be an American astronaut?

Mr. REID. The point I am trying to outline here for the Senator from Florida, I think, without any stretch of the imagination, that you know the State of Florida pretty well, don't you?

Mr. REID. And you understand as much, if not more, than anyone else the dangers of these mosquitoes that are ravaging your State and other States and, of course, the American citizens of Puerto Rico; is that true?

Mr. REID. And you understand, I ask the Senator from Florida, that for generations of time, mosquitoes have caused all kinds of medical problems for people who are infected from different bites from mosquitoes; is that right?

Mr. REID. It is true, is it not, that in generations past, mosquitoes have caused death and illness that we have tried to handle for the last 100 years?

Mr. REID. Isn't it true that this strain of mosquito is now causing, for the first time in history that we know of, not only death and sickness but also causing women to give birth to babies who are very ill?

Mr. REID. Is the Senator aware that what we passed out of here by 89 votes was $1.1 billion in emergency funding for the State of Florida and the rest of our States and, of course, the citizens of Puerto Rico?

Mr. REID. Mr. President, will my friend yield for a question?

Mr. REID. Is it true that your family first came to Florida in 1829 or somewhere in there--a long time ago?

Mr. REID. Is it true that your family came to the State of Florida around the turn of the 19th century?

Mr. REID. And the Senator is aware that what we got back from the House of Representatives and what this Republican Senate signed on to is a bill that is an abomination. Is the Senator aware that what it does, among other things, is it allows the flying of Confederate flags at cemeteries; it takes $543 million from ObamaCare; it takes money from emergencies we have today with Ebola? Is the Senator aware that they are taking a whack at the Clean Water Act with our inability to spray? Is the Senator aware that there are so many women who go to Planned Parenthood to handle the problems that women have, including wanting help to not get pregnant? Are you aware that the legislation they sent back to us prevents Planned Parenthood from being involved in this?

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senate's work is that of legislating. The art of legislating is rooted in good faith, and, always, legislation by definition is the art of compromise. In order to accomplish things for the American people, the Senate must work together in good faith, but I am seeing very few good-faith efforts from the Republicans on Zika, among other things. What I am seeing is one cynical Republican ploy after another. It is clear now that Republicans are not going to provide President Obama and the country with the $1.9 billion in emergency Zika funds that public health officials need, but Democrats still want to get as much funding as the experts tell us they need in order to stop Zika. To that end, the President of the United States, Leader Pelosi, and I have made several entreaties to the Republican leaders--that is, Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan--pleading with them to work with us. Last Thursday, the administration tried to schedule a meeting with Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell in the same room with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Director Shaun Donovan, the leader of the Office of Management and Budget. This was an opportunity for Republicans in Congress and the administration to get on the same page about Zika and chart a path forward. Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell said no to me. They wouldn't even meet with two members of the President's Cabinet. Democrats are disappointed, but we continue to look for solutions. The only solution at this point that would get doctors, researchers, and public health experts the immediate Zika funding they need is to pass the bipartisan Senate compromise as soon as possible. We were willing to do more, but the Senate compromise I just mentioned passed this body with 89 votes and could pass again today if it were brought up by the Republican leader for a vote. I spoke with the Republican leader personally and asked him to consider this legislation as a stand-alone bill. And we would be willing to do even more. I told him that. He would not commit one way or the other. Yesterday, I had my staff reach out to the Republican leader's staff. We haven't heard back. Instead of getting back to my office with a substantive response, the Republican leader came to the floor this morning and made accusations that were wild and unfair about what we are proposing. I guess that was the Republican leader's response to our good-faith offer. I guess that was it. But that is not the way the Senate should operate. Now it is clear that the Republican leader has been stringing us along. He never had any intention of coming back to negotiate a deal. Republicans have no desire to work with us to get a bipartisan Zika funding bill to the President now or at any time in the near future. It has all been a charade. Republicans are interested in one thing only: attacking Planned Parenthood. Zika is the sideshow. What Republicans really show their interest in is undermining women's health by taking potshots at Planned Parenthood. They are good at this. They have been doing this for years, and they will use Zika, Ebola, and anything else to do it. There is a frightening shortage of integrity in this body, and it is getting worse every day. It doesn't have to be that way. Democrats and Republicans can work together and should work together, and we should work in good faith. The chair and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee have an agreement that if Democrats agree to go to conference on this Energy bill, Senator Murkowski has given her word to side with Senator Cantwell in order to produce a consensus-based conference report they can both support. She made that same commitment to me personally. So Senator Murkowski and Senator Cantwell will work together to represent the Senate at the conference--not represent Democrats or Republicans but the Senate. That is terrific. Senators Cantwell and Murkowski have proven in the past that they can work on good, strong legislation without poison pills and with strong bipartisan support. So I look forward to them working with other conferees to complete a final energy bill that Democrats can support and the President will sign. The basis of this legislation has been going on for 4 or 5 years--4 or 5 years. The effort was led by Senator Shaheen for years. We almost got it done, but we had Republican obstruction on it. So we are where we are now. We can't legislate for things done in the past, but the Republican leader should take a cue from the senior Senator from Alaska. We still want to work together with Republicans to get something done on Zika. It is important to the American people. That would require a good-faith approach from our Republican colleagues. That is not here right now, and it is too bad. I yield the floor. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time in the quorum call that I am about to suggest be charged equally against both sides.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, what does the previous order say?

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I will take some of that time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, the tortured explanation from my friend the Republican leader this morning about two important issues--opioids and Zika--is an indication of why the Republicans will no longer have the majority come election day. That is very clear. You can't go on doing what they are doing and expect people to support you. In the morning, we are going to vote on opioid legislation. It is important we do that. Everyone in this Chamber knows we have to do something to stop this epidemic. It has claimed the lives of too many Americans, and it is doing it every day. Our CARA conference report is a start, but it is a missed opportunity to do something really substantive to stem the number of opioid overdoses across the country, and the reason for that is Republicans refused to allocate money for this legislation. To have my friend talk about we have done twice as much as we did under the previous majority--why wasn't anything done before? Because it was filibustered. We couldn't do it. There is not enough money to do all the authorizing we have done for these programs. There is not enough money. In conference, Republicans again rejected our efforts to insert funding into the report. Authorizing legislation is a start, but without resources it is very meaningless. Without any real funding, the conference report comes up really short. For example, editorials around the country have said as much, and I will pick on one--the New York Times editorial board. This morning, in their piece entitled ``Congress Is Voting on an Inadequate Opioid Bill,'' they say: Congress is about to pass a bill meant to deal with the nation's opioid epidemic. It contains some good ideas. It will also be far less effective at saving lives than it should be. The Senate is expected to vote on this measure, approved by the House on Friday by an overwhelming 407-to-5 majority. It would authorize addiction treatment and prevention programs to stem what has become a scourge and a disgrace--more than 28,600 overdose deaths in 2014. And it has gotten worse, not better, but this legislation contains not a penny to support any of these initiatives. Continuing to read from the article: The bill would allow the federal government to award grants to states to treat people who are hooked on prescription painkillers and illicit drugs like heroin. In Congress, however, getting a program authorized is only half the battle. Republican leaders say they will allocate funding when lawmakers return to Washington after a seven-week break that begins at the end of this week and ends after Labor Day. Yet there is no good reason for Congress to put off a vote on funding, given the urgency of the problem. Quoting again, the editorial ends with a further funding caution: Many lawmakers, especially those who are up for reelection, clearly want to show voters they are doing something about opioids. This bill amounts to progress, but it will not change the trajectory of this epidemic. That says it all. Without real funding, this legislation is far from adequate. If we want to stop the increasing number of opioid overdoses, then we need to get serious about finding a way to do it. One way is funding our Nation's response to this scourge. So I repeat, it is no wonder that there will be a change in the majority of this body with what went on, as evidenced by this morning's statement by my friend the Republican leader. To talk about a tortured explanation on Zika, the Zika problem we have in America today is significant. Last night, 39 new cases were reported in 1 day in America. These mosquitoes are ravaging--basically two breeds of mosquitoes are causing these problems. They are vicious. They are awful. Mosquitoes have been bad for generations, making people sick and causing people to die, but this is new. Never in the history of all the problems mosquitoes have caused have they caused birth defects. But they do now, and they do it big-time. The President is aware of the issue. He is aware of the issue. It is a very, very frightening thing for our country. In May, the Senate passed a bipartisan compromise to address this crisis. The bill wasn't perfect. The legislation called for $1.1 billion in funding and was well short of the $1.9 billion health experts said was needed to address the crisis, but it was OK. It was certainly a step forward, and 89 Senators--Democrats and Republicans-- agreed it was a good step forward. The Senate compromise at the very least was a step in the right direction. That is why, in spite of our serious reservations about the lack of adequate funding, we voted for this legislation, and I am glad we did. The overwhelming majority of Republicans voted for this bill, and I am glad they did. The Zika compromise passed, as I said, with 89 votes. Only the most extreme, conservative Members of this body voted against it. That was 2 months ago. But since then, it has become increasingly clear in the last 2 months that Republicans are not serious. They are playing games again because they are not responding to the threat posed by these mosquitoes and by this horrible, horrible condition that they are causing for human beings. Instead of working to send the bill to the President's desk, the Republicans derailed the bipartisan response--89 Senators who voted--to send that to the House of Representatives. There was a conference. The Republicans chose a very reckless approach. They ignored what went on here in the Senate, even as more and more Americans are getting infected every day. There are almost 4,000 people in the United States and territories that have Zika right now. At least 600 pregnant women have shown evidence of infection. We don't know how many of those pregnant women who have this infection--this virus--are going to bear very, very sick babies. We don't know how many, but it is going to be a lot. We should be working to fight Zika. We should be working together. We should be providing public health experts with the tools they need to fight this virus. It is not being done, as the Republican leader says. In the Senate, we are stuck in limbo as the Republican leader forces an unnecessary revote on this failed proposal we got from the House of Representatives and approved by the Republicans in the Senate--this conference report. We don't need to vote on this again. It was already rejected. It will be rejected again. Why? For very good reasons. It is an abomination of a conference report. It restricts funding for birth control provided by Planned Parenthood. My friend talked about pregnant women. If we want to talk about pregnant women, we ought to talk about women who don't want to get pregnant. Where do they go? The vast majority of women in America go to Planned Parenthood. Millions go. This legislation that the Republicans are trying to foist on the American people stops them from being able to do that. It restricts funding for birth control provided by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is a whipping boy for the Republicans. This legislation also exempts pesticide spraying from the Clean Water Act. They had to get Planned Parenthood, and they had to do something to the environmental community. Here is what they are going to do to whack the environmental community: We will just not have the Clean Water Act apply. Veterans--my friend the Republican leader talks about veterans funding. Understand that the legislation being proposed to help fight Zika takes $500 million--one-half billion dollars--from the veterans program. That money was to be used for processing claims for veterans, which are way behind. We need that extra money. That is going to be gone. The so-called salvation of the Zika problem also rescinds $543 million from ObamaCare. Right now, I could raise a point of order, and that would go. That would be gone. It rescinds $543 million from ObamaCare. They have to do this. They are so ideological: Let's go after Planned Parenthood; let's go after the environmental community; let's make sure we do something about ObamaCare; and, just for good measure, because Ebola is not an emergency this very second, let's take more money from that. Two years ago, Ebola was a big emergency, and it will be again. And, just for good measure, to satisfy the right-wing--as Speaker Boehner called them--crazies over there, they said: We will strike a provision on the Confederate flag that was in the House bill. How is that for an effort to do something constructive? We all know the Senate will not pass this Republican conference report. President Obama will not sign it into law. So why waste more time on this? We should pass the bipartisan Senate compromise as soon as possible. My friend said: Well, we can't amend the conference report. Of course, we can do anything here. With unanimous consent, we can do all kinds of good things. That is obviously the responsible path forward, and we need to get this legislation to the President's desk. In order to do that, we must bring the Zika compromise legislation before the Senate as a stand- alone. I tried yesterday to do that. I asked unanimous consent that the Senate move to the compromise legislation and the Senate vote on that passage. But despite his previous support for this bipartisan legislation, the Republican leader objected. Senate Democrats are not going to be deterred. Is there a State in the Union that is going to suffer more than Florida? No. So the senior Senator from Florida is going to come to the floor in a little while this morning, and he is going to ask consent that the Senate proceed to the Zika compromise as a stand-alone bill. It can be done. We should do that. Florida has been hit really hard, and the worst is yet to come. Yesterday alone, as I indicated, there were new cases reported. According to the Palm Beach Post, that brings the number of Floridians--just Floridians--affected with Zika today to almost 300, including 43 pregnant women. So I hope they are going to consider the request by Senator Nelson. We are willing to work with Republicans to get this done. The Senate is going to adjourn for the long, 7-week vacation once we get this done. Our country is facing an emergency. It is time for the Republicans to start treating it as such. ``Opioids,'' ``Zika'' are only words from the Republicans. I repeat for the third time this morning, it is so clear why the Republicans are going to lose the majority in the U.S. Senate. All you have to do is listen to what the Republican leader had to say today. Will the Chair announce the business of the Senate this morning.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2577 and the conference report be agreed to with no intervening action or debate. That must be the wrong one. Sorry about that. Madam President, it is sure good we have staff around; isn't it? Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 5243 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 5243, which is at the desk; that all after the enacting clause be stricken; that the substitute amendment, which is the text of the Blunt-Murray amendment to provide $1.1 billion in funding for Zika, be agreed to; that there be up to 1 hour of debate, equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I will give a longer presentation in just a minute or two, but I do want to say this: The consent I ask has the approval of 89 Senators here in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans. Only 11 have not voted in the affirmative. It doesn't seem too outrageous to suggest that the House send this back to us as it is. What the Republican leader is asking has very little support over here that is not partisan in nature. He is proposing a completely partisan conference report riddled with poison pill riders. It is one of the worst conference reports I have ever seen in this body. The report is truly nonsensical. It restricts funding for Planned Parenthood--the very place women rely on for care to prevent the spread of Zika and get contraceptives. It is ridiculous to try to pass a conference report that runs counter to common sense, so I object to the Republican leader's request.

Mr. REID. Madam President, carrying on, this week the Republican leader will continue with the pointless approach that has been a hallmark of his time as leader--bringing another failed partisan bill back before the Senate for a revote. The Republican leader will force yet another failed vote on this cynical Zika conference report. The Republican agreement on the MILCON-VA-Zika conference report is a disgrace. It is a mockery of how Congress should treat an emergency. Remember, we passed a bill out of here--89 votes. It wasn't everything we wanted. It was a compromise. Instead of $1.9 billion, it was $1.1 billion. But we agreed to that. Democrats and Republicans agreed to that. It went to the House, and we thought we were home free, but little did we realize we were dealing with the same problems Speaker Boehner dealt with for a long time until he was forced to leave. It seems that Ryan, who was going to bring a new voice to the House, has not been able to do so. I know he has tried. I repeat, it is a mockery of how Congress should treat an emergency. What does it do? It restricts funding for birth control provided by Planned Parenthood. It exempts pesticide spraying from the Clean Water Act. It cuts veterans funding by $500 million below the Senate bill. It cuts Ebola funding by $107 million. It rescinds $543 million from ObamaCare that simply would fall, like that, with raising a point of order. It strikes a prohibition on displaying the Confederate flag that was in the House bill. Why would the Republican leader waste his time on this? The conference report is going nowhere. The Senate will not pass this Republican conference report and President Obama will not sign it into law. Democrats were willing to negotiate, willing to compromise. I told the Republican leader to give us something to work with. I feel we have given him something to work with. I feel it is reasonable. Instead of wasting time, we should be responding to the real Zika emergency that is now in the United States. It is not just in Puerto Rico; it is on the mainland. I know the number of people affected with Zika is increasing every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 3,700 people in the United States and territories have Zika. As of right now, 599 pregnant women have shown evidence of the infection. Seven babies have been born with birth defects caused by Zika. These babies were born in the United States. There is a path toward a bipartisan solution to combating this terrible virus if Republicans are willing to take it. Two months ago, the Senate passed a bipartisan compromise to address the Zika crisis. As I have indicated previously, we didn't like that. We believed, as we still do, that $1.1 billion is not enough and will shortchange what scientists, doctors, and public health officials need to fight Zika. But we still voted for the bill because it was a step in the right direction. And, as I have indicated now for the third time, it passed with 89 votes. The Senate bill, while imperfect, was not riddled with the vexatious provisions in the Republican conference report that I have enumerated. The Senate Zika legislation would save lives. We need to get to this soon. We need to send it to the President. The only way to do that is to pass the Senate compromise as a stand-alone bill. That is precisely what we Democrats are proposing. It is too bad that the House says we can't do that unless we have a Confederate flag flying over veterans cemeteries, stop people from going to Planned Parenthood, adversely affect EPA with the Clean Water Act, take money from Ebola, which everyone says we need to stay on top of that, and take $500 million away from veterans for processing claims. The Senate should take up and pass the Zika compromise as a stand- alone bill. If we send it to the House, if the Speaker would bring up the legislation today, if he would let the Democrats vote, it would pass overwhelmingly. But he doesn't do that. He is still following the disgraced Hastert rule, and we need not say more about that other than to remind everybody that he is now in prison--the man whose name is affixed to that. Tragedy in Dallas Madam President, a couple of other things. Last Thursday night, a peaceful protest for justice in Dallas, TX, erupted into violence as a sniper ambushed law enforcement officers. Five police officers and two civilians were killed, murdered, and nine were wounded--seven police officers and two civilians. We grieve with the victims, their families, and the brave men and women who serve the people of Dallas, TX. We thank the police and first responders whose timely action prevented further loss of life. It is insufficient to say that we as a nation are saddened by this attack. It is more than that. We are devastated. We are aghast at this sickening violence perpetrated on innocent police officers who were on duty to protect and to serve. There is no justification for this senseless, evil act. This shooting rampage ran counter to the message conveyed by the peaceful demonstrators in Dallas. The people at the Dallas march were demonstrating for an end to violence. They were calling for no more of the brutality and hostility that have taken the lives of Americans of all backgrounds but disproportionately people of color. That message should not be lost, particulately in the aftermath of the two fatal shootings last week in Louisiana and Minnesota. Last Tuesday, Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old Black man from Baton Rouge, LA, was pinned down by two police officers and then shot and killed. The next day, on the outskirts of St. Paul, MN, a 32-year-old school cafeteria supervisor named Philando Castile was pulled over for a broken taillight. The police officer killed Castile when he reached for his license as his fiancee and her 4-year-old daughter sat in the car and watched. We are saddened by this loss of life, but our condolences mean nothing if this epidemic of violence persists. Our words are worthless if we don't do something to stop this violence. The Black community is grieving over the disproportionate number of deaths of their young men. How would you explain all these deaths? How would you explain this violence to your children--Tamir Rice, a 12- year-old boy in Cleveland killed by police for holding a BB gun, or Freddie Gray in Baltimore, or Eric Garner in New York, or the other unarmed Black men who died in confrontations with law enforcement. Some 512 people have been shot and killed by police this year so far. Black Americans are killed at a rate 2\1/2\ times greater than that of Whites. According to the Washington Post, the number of fatal shootings by police officers increased during the first 6 months of this year. Twenty-six more people have been killed this year than during the first half of last year. The evidence is indisputable. We have, as President Obama called it last year, a slow-rolling crisis of troubling police interactions with people of color, and because we are not addressing the problem, people are rightly outraged. We all should be outraged. In America, police brutality is not a new issue. I echo the pleas from the Congressional Black Caucus leaders who are calling for more funds and more training for our police departments. We must help ensure that those who police our neighborhoods have proper training in community-oriented policing and deescalation tactics. The Black Caucus has said that. I agree. The Dallas Police Department is exemplary in their effectiveness of community policing. Long before this tragedy in Dallas, long, glowing articles have rightfully been written about the Dallas Police Department. America looks to Dallas and other police chiefs look to Dallas not only to grieve for the fallen officers but to learn from the department's improvements under the leadership of Police Chief David Brown. But, as Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said in the aftermath of these attacks, we must get to the root cause. From Baton Rouge, to St. Paul, to Dallas, intolerance and hate are breeding division and violence. As a nation, we must work to bridge the gaps between police and the communities they serve and unite against prejudice and brutality. I apologize to everyone for taking a little extra time, but it is necessary because of the exchange the Republican leader and I had. Climate Change Madam President, over the next 2 days, Senate Democrats, led by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, will speak about how the world is being distracted and misled on climate change. The Senator from Rhode Island has been the champion of this frightening issue--climate change. He has spoken 143 times on the Senate floor calling for action. Dozens of shadowy organizations are waging a campaign to mislead the public and undermine American leadership on climate change, the Paris climate agreement, and clean air initiatives across the country. Every day that is going on. All of these shadowy, dark entities--such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Heartland Institute, and the Cato Institute--are all fronts for the Koch brothers. Clearly, these groups all have one thing in common: They are bankrolled by the multibillionaire Koch brothers. Charles and David Koch and the shadowy groups they fund have a simple agenda--to promote their own interests at everyone else's expense. These two brothers own Koch Industries, one of the largest privately held corporations in the entire world. Together, Charles and David Koch are worth, some say, up to $100 billion but at least $80 billion. Why would the Koch brothers mastermind a plot to convince America that climate change doesn't exist? Because denying climate change is fundamental to the Koch business model. That is why it is done. The volume of pollution the Koch Industries emit into our environment is staggering. The company is among the worst in toxic air pollution in the entire United States. Koch Industries churns out more climate- changing greenhouse gases than oil giants Chevron, Shell, and Valero. To acknowledge that climate change exists is to acknowledge that the Koch brothers' empire contributes to it, but the Kochs will not take that responsibility because they don't care. The Kochs don't care about climate change. They don't care that it is making wildfires more frequent and intense and that they are endangering the lives and property of millions of Americans, especially in the West. As I speak, there are fires raging all over the western part of the United States--Arizona, California, and other States. They are very vicious in those States. The Koch brothers, as wealthy as they are, don't care about Nevada. They don't care that Nevada is enduring the 15th year of a terribly difficult drought. The Kochs don't worry about the water levels in Lake Mead. They don't worry that they have dropped to the lowest level since the Great Depression, when the lake was first filled. The Kochs have ignored the underlying cause of the California and Nevada droughts--the unsustainable amounts of carbon being dumped into our atmosphere because of fossil fuels. One of the chief contributors, of course, is the Koch brothers. Those who ignore the climate crisis or deny it exists do not have a valid point of view. They are wrong. They are out of touch with reality. These wealthy moguls, the Kochs, aren't just on the other side of this debate. They are on the other side of reality. Their flagship organization, Americans for Prosperity, is carrying the Kochs' toxic agenda into statehouses and city halls across America. They are involved at every level of government, trying to buy government. They are doing pretty well. They buy their own scientists to publish misleading reports to confuse the public about the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change. This isn't my theory. This is fact. A Drexel University Professor found that in 7 years half a billion dollars was spent by the Koch network on a ``campaign to manipulate and mislead the public about the threat posed by climate change.'' Consider the example of one of their front groups, the Nevada Policy Research Institute. The Kochs use this institute to fight efforts to increase my State's use of clean energy, even though to date $6 billion has been invested in clean energy projects in Nevada, including tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. This is in spite of the Kochs' bankrolling of more coal and more oil. I can remember when I came out against more coal-fired plants in Nevada. I didn't know where all this opposition was coming from. I know now. It is the Koch brothers. The Kochs don't appreciate Nevada's renewable energy acceleration. So they fund the Nevada Policy Research Institute to bash clean energy solutions. The Kochs are heavily involved in the Nevada State Legislature. This Koch front group recently hired an academic to write a report saying that renewable energy was raising Nevada's energy costs. How about that one? The report, of course, was false and, of course, it is misleading. When experts studied the report, it was found to be without basic facts. The Nevada Policy Research Institute went so far as to oppose the Tesla Gigafactory that is being constructed just outside of Reno, which will use clean energy and employ thousands of Nevadans. This is a project that every State wanted to have in their State. Nevada was fortunate to get it there. The footprint of that facility is so large that the only standing building that would be any larger is the Boeing factory in Seattle. Listen to what I said. All the energy will be with renewable energy. The Kochs don't like that. Even though they oppose something as basic as bringing thousands and thousands of jobs to Nevada through the Tesla Gigafactory, this kind of deceitful activity from large corporations has occurred before. But the Kochs deserve to be in the hall of fame. They have done so much deceitful activity that other corporations are on the sidelines. They are in the minor leagues. For more than 40 years, Big Tobacco confused scientific consensus about the effects tobacco had on our health, leading to millions of premature deaths. Just like the tobacco companies, Big Oil has known about the harm it is causing. As early as 1981, Exxon's in-house climate expert knew that climate change was an issue, but they bought off enough scientists so they could stall for a while longer. In spite of knowing, Exxon provided over $30 million to 69 organizations to cast doubt on the science of climate change. This is what a clean environment confronts--lots of Koch money and lots of falsehoods. The Koch brothers and their shadowy organization know the truth. Science has long been proven, but they don't care. They will sacrifice the future of our planet for bigger Koch profits. I join my colleagues today and tomorrow, calling attention to the web of denial financed by the Koch brothers and other fossil fuel interests. The Kochs' money and power amplified the climate deniers' voices. The government belongs to the people. Our planet belongs to the people--not the Koch brothers, these multibillionaires. It belongs to the people. The public deserves to know who is behind these deceitful efforts, to allow better informed decisions about understanding climate change, and we are going to continue doing everything we can to show the evil nature of the Koch brothers.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, today I wish to recognize the 60th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects, or AIA, Las Vegas chapter. Established in 1857, the AIA works to elevate the architecture profession throughout the United States. In Nevada, a small group of architects joined together to promote a high standard of architecture and started the first AIA chapter in Las Vegas in 1956. At first, the chapters were so small that individual members took turns acting as president. The organization has grown into one of the leading professional organizations in my State, and the Las Vegas chapter recently elected exceptional leaders from its membership, including the current president, Brett Ewing, and the president-elect, Jon Sparer. The Las Vegas Chapter of AIA has played a distinct role in the expansion of Las Vegas and Clark County. With the incredible growth in Nevada, architects have played a key role in designing iconic properties on the Las Vegas Strip and housing developments throughout the valley. AIA members developed many of the same entertainment venues that accommodate tourists and provide essential jobs for Nevadans. The creative genius of architects was essential to transforming Las Vegas into the ``Entertainment Capitol of the World,'' which welcomes more than 50 million visitors annually. Members of the AIA have made a significant and positive contribution to the security, arts, culture, beauty, and livability of our community. Southern Nevada is a better place to live and work because of the efforts of AIA Las Vegas. I appreciate and admire the dedicated professionals of the AIA, and I wish them continued success for years to come as they design the future of Las Vegas.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I yield 2 hours to the junior Senator from Oregon, Senator Jeff Merkley.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are as patriotic as the Republicans. We support our military just as much as the Republicans do. We are led by a number of stalwart people, not the least of which is the ranking member on the Committee on Armed Services, Jack Reed. Jack Reed is a West Point graduate, a man who everyone respects--Democrats and Republicans--and he is a man of integrity. He is going to vote against moving forward on this bill. Barbara Mikulski, the matriarch of the Senate, someone who is respected worldwide for her integrity and the work she has done in the Senate, will vote no. We need a strong defense, and we acknowledge that, but we also understand that a strong defense is more than the Pentagon. The Pentagon would tell you that. They do not like the OCO funding that is being talked about, whispered about. To have a strong defense means more than the Pentagon, I repeat. It means making sure the Department of Homeland Security is well financed. We want to make sure the Drug Enforcement Administration is strong and well financed. We want to make sure the FBI is an agency that we take good care of. There are a lot of other entities we are concerned about. The Republican leader, I am stunned, is concerned because we sent him a letter yesterday; four Democratic leaders sent him a letter. We simply said that it is important we not be given a little dance step on this matter. We all know what they are trying to do here. We have a defense bill, it is an appropriations bill, and once that is done, the appropriations process will be wiped out, and we will be at the mercy of the Republicans in some form or fashion. With the defense bill done, everything else will be pushed away someplace else. I want to read just a few things. Time doesn't run out until 10:22, and I understand that, but I want to read a few things from the letter we wrote to the Republican leader. The letter was sent by me, Durbin, Schumer, and Murray. Here is what we said, among other things: Without strong, public assurance that you are committed to honoring the core tenets of the bipartisan compromise-- including fair funding, parity, and a rejection of poison pill riders--through the completion of the full appropriations process, we will no longer be able to support proceeding to new appropriations bills. For example, the House has passed a Defense Appropriations Bill that uses a budget gimmick to hand out extra taxpayer dollars for the Pentagon, with no equivalent support for domestic security and other initiatives important to the middle class. Similarly, during consideration of the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, Senator McCain offered an amendment to authorize an additional $18 billion in overseas contingency operations-- This is the gimmick-- funding only for the Pentagon, a clear violation of the parity principle. Senators Reed of Rhode Island and Mikulski offered a competing amendment to increase OCO funding by $18 billion and provide a matching $18 billion to invest in security at home by providing funding for law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, invest in job creating infrastructure and scientific research, and address national emergencies like Zika, opioids, and access to clean drinking water. However, the amendment fell on a largely party-line vote. The willingness of Republicans to consider the McCain amendment and to reject the Reed-Mikulski amendment, combined with the reported desire of Senate Republicans to offer an OCO amendment to the Defense appropriations bill sends a deeply troubling signal about your willingness to appropriate by the parity principle. Further, this unbalanced approach does not truly keep Americans safe or protect our interests abroad. Without sufficient funding for the vital national security work done by local law enforcement agencies, enforcement of sanctions and cutting off terrorist financing, and counterterrorism, we hinder a coherent national security policy. And here is the last paragraph of this letter. We urge you to publicly give your word that all appropriations bills considered in both chambers and sent to the President for his signature will comply with the principle of fair funding, parity, and a rejection of poison pill riders. If you cannot give us such assurance, we will be forced to oppose proceeding to future appropriations bills until you agree to keep your promises and honor our agreement. This is signed by Reed, Durbin, Schumer, and Murray. So Mr. President, we really want to do the appropriations bills. We have had a little trouble, as you know. We have had this situation with the veterans bill. It brings back a Zika bill that has been formulated not here. We passed a very good Zika bill. It wasn't as much money as I wanted--$1.1 billion in emergency funding. It passed here by 89 votes. What do we get back from the House? What do we get back from the House? They whack Planned Parenthood. They have to do that. That is the only thing they can get out of the House Republicans. They cut $500 million from veterans, and that money is to be used for processing claims. We really need help with those. There is $500 million they take from ObamaCare, money from Ebola. And, of course, they have to do something about the EPA. You have to do something there or let's do something with the Clean Water Act. So that is all in this bill. What we sent to the House you wouldn't recognize in what we have back here. The Zika mosquitoes are still out floating around. And then, to make this bill even more strange--what we got back from the House--they stuck in a provision that said we can fly the Confederate flag in veterans cemeteries. How about that. So is there any reason we should be suspect about what is going on around here? Of course we are. And unless we hear something publicly from the Republican leader today, just as I indicated, that he publicly give his word that all appropriations bills considered in both Chambers and sent to the President for his signature will comply with what we have talked about--fair funding, parity, and a rejection of poison pill riders--if we don't get that assurance, we are going to have move to go to a different plane, and it is just unfair to do anything else. All we need is the one example of what we have just been through-- Zika funding--which has all the craziness I just talked about. So if we want to talk about political games, this is a picture-perfect example of what happened on the veterans bill, and we are concerned the same thing would happen on what we are doing right now. So I am going to recommend to all my Senators that, until we have a public assurance from the Republican leader, we should vote no on this cloture vote.

Mr. REID

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

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, my friend the Republican leader talks about playing politics. There is no better example of that than what has taken place this week. Everyone knows the innate problems with what was tried on sanctuary cities and on the so-called Kate's Law. Everyone knows they are just a political message that means nothing for comprehensive immigration reform or immigration reform of any kind. So that is why those matters were brought up. It is obvious we have a Senator in Pennsylvania, a Republican incumbent, who is in deep trouble politically, and that is why they tried to jam us with that. There is no better example than what is going on with this opioid matter that is sweeping the country. I came to the floor 15 minutes ago. In another half hour there will be another two people who die from opioids in America, all over the country. To show how disingenuous and political the majority is on opioids, one need only look to Tennessee. In Tennessee, Knoxville chief of police David Rausch knocks Congress over opioid funding. My friend talks about the authorization that shot through here. Of course it came through the Senate pretty easily--because it was an authorization. There is no money there. That is why you have the chief of police from a place such as Knoxville, TN, who is saying: Shame on you for not giving us money. We can't do anything. All you are doing is authorizing more programs that cost more resources. In the police department we can't do it all. Rausch said: It's absolutely disappointing that Congress didn't move today on funding. Unfortunately, today Congress did not do their job. He is right. He said: That's the message it sends to our communities. If they're not getting treated, they die. That is the way it is. We are having a conference report come to us that gives no resources. That is why you have people all over the country, and Rausch went to the White House with 20 other law enforcement leaders from across the country to talk about this. They came for one reason and one reason only--to get money so they can do something to stop this terrible thing that is going on in America today. But, again, just like Zika, it is all for show--no money. The threat of Zika continues to rise. Republicans are intent on wasting time with their partisan and deeply unserious conference report. They will force yet another failed vote on this cynical legislation and then pack their bags for the longest Senate vacation since 1954. The Senate will not pass this Republican conference report. President Obama will not sign it. This reckless exercise will leave the public health experts and officials no closer to getting the funding they need to help combat this horrible epidemic. As we speak, there are more than 2,900 people in the United States and our territories with Zika. Nearly 500 pregnant women are showing evidence of infection by the Zika virus. At least seven babies have been born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects. We all know what they are--little heads, skulls caved in, brains that are small. And it is only going to get worse unless we act. There is a path forward toward a bipartisan solution combating this terrible virus if Republicans are willing to do something. In May, the Senate passed a bipartisan compromise to address the Zika crisis. It had money in it--real money. It got 89 votes, which is an unimaginable margin for many pieces of legislation. Only the most conservative, conservative rightwing Members of this body voted against it. So maybe that is not a plus for my Republican friends. Maybe they want to be a part of that. You don't receive anything from the Koch brothers if you are not way over there. The bill we approved with 89 votes wasn't perfect. I didn't like it because I thought there should be more money. We asked for $1.9 billion, but with 89 votes, we got $1.1 billion in funding, which is short of what we feel is needed. It is not sufficient, but at least it is a step in the right direction. When our country is faced with an emergency, the American people should be able to turn to us--Congress--to act. They expect us to put politics aside. We have already done that in the Senate--we Democrats. The Senate bill, while imperfect, was not riddled with toxic, partisan provisions. We need to get the compromise to the President's desk. Today I call upon Speaker Ryan to bring the Senate-passed Zika bill to us for a vote. It would pass. The $1.1 billion is not to my liking, but I would accept it in a heartbeat. This legislation would save lives, and it would pass the House of Representatives if they would let the Democrats vote. But Speaker Ryan has this deal that he is following, which is a deal into oblivion. It didn't work for my friend, whom I care so much about, former Speaker Boehner. It didn't work for him, and it is not going to work for Speaker Ryan. He cannot do this. He cannot try to do everything in his power to appease the far-right crazies in his caucus. They are even adhering to the Hastert rule, named after the disgraced former Speaker Dennis Hastert, who is now in prison. Speaker Ryan should listen to the American people. They desperately want Congress to act. Americans have had enough of Republicans putting party over country this year--and any year, frankly. They want us to responsibly solve problems like the Zika virus and opioids and not waste time appealing to the most extreme elements in our political system. The Hastert rule is that the Speaker will not allow a vote unless it can pass with the majority of the majority. To get a majority of the majority over there is worse than trying to get a majority of the majority over here. We have some dandies over here, but they take the cake in their efforts. It is not going to work for us, Speaker Ryan. We are willing to work with you to get this done. We shouldn't just leave here for this 7-week-long vacation with nothing done on Zika, this terrible scourge we have. It is time for Speaker Ryan and his fellow Republicans to put politics aside and let the whole House vote on this. Our country is facing an emergency with Zika, and it is time for Republicans to start treating it as such. Mr. President, I heard a Republican Senator come to the floor yesterday and she said: I don't know what they are talking about. The words ``Planned Parenthood'' are not in the legislation we have. Of course it doesn't say ``Planned Parenthood,'' but if you read the English language, it stops people from going to these Planned Parenthood clinics to get their advice on birth control, where millions of American women go. My Republican friends have an obsession with Planned Parenthood. They want to do everything they can to stop them. In fact, as you know, there were Republicans who went and got phony pictures that were proven false. And, oh, that gave the Republicans such--oh, they loved that. Oh, what terrible stuff is going on; they are selling body parts. That was totally wrong. It was a scam by some rightwing character who has been shown to be just that--a scam artist. The provision we are asked to vote for exempts pesticide spraying from the Clean Water Act provisions. It cuts veteran funding by $500 million below the Senate bill. What was that money for? It was to process veterans' claims. They whack it out. It cuts Ebola funding by $107 million. It cuts ObamaCare by $543 million. I am sure my Republican friends are happy voting for this one. What we sent over there said you can't have the Confederate flag flying over military cemeteries. They took that out. That must be a real joy, that we can now start flying Confederate flags in cemeteries. This legislation sets a terrible precedent of offsetting emergencies. It is wrong. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to announce the business of the day.