Richard Shelby

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I just say that the Senator from Connecticut has a worthy amendment. We are all concerned about what is going on in Yemen. I would have hoped that we would not do it on this bill because we are trying to keep out a lot of riders and things, but this is something we are going to have to address. I and others on both sides of the aisle would like to work with him because what has been going on in Yemen is atrocious. I object, though, at this point in time.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, this afternoon, as most of us realize now, the Senate has begun debate on amendments to the fiscal year 2019 Defense-Labor-HHS appropriations bill. These are the two largest bills to come out of the Appropriations Committee as a whole. Both of them together make up a great part of all of the appropriations process and the numbers. At the end of last week here, I offered a more detailed outline of the critical funding of this bill for America's military. So I will not repeat myself on that. Today, I simply wish to remind my colleagues of what is at stake with this legislation and our path to success, hopefully, this week. First and foremost, our national security is at stake. Earlier this year, the President signed into law the largest increase in military spending in 15 years. This legislation accelerates that increase and provides our men and women in uniform with the largest pay raise they have seen in nearly a decade. So the No. 1 thing at stake here is rebuilding our military and taking care of our troops. This bill also provides for a wide range of critical domestic priorities, including education, medical research, and funding to combat the opioid epidemic. All are very important to America. Recent history suggests that we face a tall task in passing these bills on the Senate floor. The Senate has not passed a Labor-HHS appropriations bill in more than 10 years. It has been even longer since the President was able to sign a Defense appropriations bill into law before the end of the fiscal year, which ends September 30. Why? Because in the past, poison pills have blown up the process or foreclosed it altogether. I appreciate that one Senator's poison pill is often another Senator's priority, but I strongly urge my colleagues today to focus on accomplishing the big picture priorities that I have underscored here. We know where the fault lines run, and I hope we can avoid them. There are reasons to believe that this year will be a different year and that we will produce a different outcome. First among them, there is a unified desire to avoid another omnibus spending bill. Second, we come to the floor this week on the heels of a string of recent successes in passing appropriation bills. Third, each of the bills in this package passed the Appropriations Committee by a vote of 30-1. These factors paved the way for the full Senate to consider this package, and I want to take a minute to thank the leaders on both sides, Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer, for agreeing to bring this bill to the floor. I also want to thank the vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Leahy, for sticking to the agreement he and I made to move these bills in a bipartisan manner. Mr. Vice Chairman, you are here on the floor. We would not be in this position without your efforts. I want you to know how much I appreciate that. I want you to know how much I believe that most of the Senate appreciates that. I say to my colleagues, we collectively call for regular order in the appropriations process, and now we have it. I am optimistic that we will continue to show the American people that we are here to work, and that means debating and disposing of amendments, passing appropriation bills, and accomplishing the job they sent us here to do. I hope my optimism is not misplaced. The stakes are simply too high. We have a lot to do this week, but we can do it. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I call up substitute amendment No. 3695.

Mr. SHELBY. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, today, the Senate begins debate on an appropriations package that I believe is absolutely essential to the strength and security of this Nation. The package before the Senate marries the two largest fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills; that is, the Defense bill that funds all national security and the Labor, HHS, and Education bill. Each of these bills carries the near unanimous support of the Appropriations Committee, which is quite unusual. Senator Blunt, the chairman of the Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, and Senator Murray, his ranking member, worked together to produce a strong, bipartisan bill that balances many competing priorities. I commend both of these Senators for their hard work, and I want to take this time to thank them for their continued efforts in this regard. If they haven't been here yet, Senators Blunt and Murray will soon come to the floor to discuss the particulars of the Labor-HHS division of this package, so I am not going to get into the details of that bill, but as chairman of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, I want to provide my colleagues here this afternoon with an overview of the funding it contains for America's military. Secretary Mattis, the Secretary of Defense, as we know--a decorated general who commands deep respect on both sides of the aisle--has warned us that ``failure to modernize our military risks leaving us with a force that could dominate the last war, but be irrelevant to tomorrow's security.'' Think about that for a minute. We cannot allow that to happen. I think we must rebuild America's military to where it will be second to none in the world. We have to defend this Nation first and foremost. Here in the Senate this afternoon, I am pleased to report that this bill takes a big step in that direction. I will explain why. It provides an additional $67.9 billion for overseas contingency operations. The fiscal year 2018 Defense bill, enacted earlier this year, contained the largest increase in military spending in 15 years. The bill now before us does even better by providing an additional $16 billion above the 2018 level. This funding sustains U.S. force structure and improves military readiness. It also provides critical resources for a wide range of priorities that are essential to maintaining our technological superiority in an increasingly complex and competitive national security environment. The bill before us includes substantial investments in the areas of basic research, hypersonics, directed energy, artificial intelligence, microelectronics, missile defense, cybersecurity, and our test and evaluation infrastructure, among many other priorities. Just as important, the package before the Senate today provides our men and women in uniform with the largest pay increase they have seen in nearly a decade, and they certainly deserve it. As we debate this bill over the coming days, the sacrifices of these brave men and women should be on the top of the minds of all of us. In light of their sacrifices, I believe it is our duty to ensure they are the best prepared and best equipped military in the world. The American military is the most feared fighting force the world has ever known, and we want to keep it that way. This bill ensures that continues to be true. That is how we defend this Nation. I thank the vice chairman at this time of the Defense Subcommittee, Senator Durbin, for his valuable input in crafting this bill. Together, I believe we have produced a balanced bill that meets the Pentagon's objectives and includes the contributions of Senators from both sides of the aisle. I am proud to present this legislation to my colleagues, and I urge their strong support. I also want to recognize the vice chairman of the full Appropriations Committee and his work on the committee, Senator Leahy, and the leaders of both sides, including Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer. At the outset of the appropriations cycle, the four of us met and agreed to work together in an effort to return the Senate to regular order. Since that time, the Appropriations Committee has passed all 12 bills before the July 4 recess, all with strong bipartisan margins--the first time, as the Presiding Officer knows, it has been done in 30 years. The first minibus contained three bills and passed the Senate by a vote of 86 to 5. It is now in conference with the House. The second minibus contained four bills, two of which had not seen the light of day on the Senate floor in many years--Interior and FSGG. That package passed by a vote of 92 to 6. Hopefully, it will soon be in conference as well. By August, the Senate had passed more appropriations bills than our counterparts in the House. That had not happened in the last 20 years. None of this would have been possible, as the Presiding Officer knows, without the partnership of Vice Chairman Leahy and the leadership of Senators McConnell and Schumer. I thank each of them once again. Our work continues, starting now. We have a great opportunity to extend the success we have generated thus far. It has been more than a decade since the Senate passed a Labor-HHS appropriations bill, period, and it has been a dozen years since the President was able to sign a Defense appropriations bill into law before October 1. These two records, I believe, must be broken. We must not only provide the resources necessary to rebuild our military, we must do so before the end of the fiscal year. There is no time to waste when it comes to our national security. With the confirmed cooperation of my colleagues, I am confident we will continue to get our work done in a deliberate and timely manner. I thank all Senators for working together to produce regular order in the appropriations process. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Madam President, I will be brief. I appreciate the Senator's amendment. On policy grounds, I would agree with Senator Cruz 100 percent. My position on this, though, is clear, and I have consistently voted to repeal ObamaCare and the individual mandate. So it is with reluctance that I support the motion to table this amendment. I do so, I believe, for the good of the appropriations process. We have been able to cut a path back to regular order here by working together in a bipartisan manner. This amendment, I believe, would poison this, would eliminate the bipartisan support we have forged for this package. If we go down this road, I believe we will soon find ourselves back on the path to disorder in the appropriations process. I don't believe any of us want that. So, again, I support the motion to table this amendment not because I oppose it on policy grounds but because I want to maintain the progress we are making in the appropriations process to go to regular order. I thank the Chair.

Mr. SHELBY. Madam President, I thank Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer for their kind remarks. I hope my wife was listening to that. What the heck. We have been working together, and we have to continue that to make the process work, to reach out to each other. Gosh, it is hard work. Senator Leahy and I differ on a lot of things, but we are together on bringing regular order to the Appropriations Committee because I thought all along we owe it to the American people. We are accountable--both parties, both groups. That is what we have been about. Thank you again to the leader and Senator Schumer for your kind remarks.

Mr. SHELBY. Madam President, I want to say again that what we have been doing here, working together in a bipartisan way, is something that Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell were talking about hadn't been done basically in 30 years. We are on the right track. We want to stay there. I have said many times to both parties: It is in our interests. The American people expect it. Let's keep working together. Madam President, before we vote, I want to thank my colleagues for their cooperation in moving this package. In particular, I want to thank leaders McConnell and Schumer for bringing these bills to the floor and Vice Chairman Leahy for his continued partnership throughout the appropriations process. I also want to congratulate the bill managers and their staffs: Senators Murkowski, Collins, Lankford, and Hoeven on the Republican side; Senators Udall, Reed, Coons and Merkley on the Democratic side. These valuable members of the Appropriations Committee produced strong and balanced bills, and they have guided an open and disciplined process here on the Senate floor. I thank them for their excellent work. We are now making real headway in the appropriations process. The Committee reported all 12 fiscal year 2019 bills to the full Senate before the July 4 recess all with strong bipartisan support. The first three bill package passed the full Senate last month by a vote of 86 to 5. The package now before the Senate contains four additional appropriations bills. Hopefully--we'll see here shortly--this package will achieve the same level of bipartisan support as the last. If that holds true we will have passed seven--yes, seven-- appropriations bills before August. With only five more to go, I think we can honestly say this train has considerable momentum behind it now. Next up is the Defense-Labor-HHS package--a package I know senators on both sides of the aisle are very eager to debate. I hope my colleagues are encouraged by what is happening here, by what we are accomplishing together. Moving these bills in this way is the right thing to do--not only for this institution, but for our country; for the American people. When we take up the next package I hope we will continue to work using this framework as our guide. It is, after all, this framework that has allowed us to return to regular order. This process is working, let's keep it going. Again, I thank my colleagues for their cooperation. I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill and with that I yield the floor.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to urge my colleagues to invoke cloture on the substitute amendment before us. In debating this measure over the past week, we voted on several amendments. We hope to include dozens more in a managers' package that we are working with the Democrats on that continues to evolve. We sought to achieve a fair process on this package. The bill managers have gone to great lengths to accommodate Members' interests within the framework that has allowed us to make so much progress thus far in the appropriations process. I want to thank my colleagues. I especially thank Senator Leahy for working together with us in a bipartisan way. We hope this will continue to be a constructive process because all of us benefit. In this light, I urge my colleagues to vote yes so we can continue to move forward on this package and build upon the momentum we have generated thus far.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to oppose the Paul amendment. While we all understand the desire to cut spending, the allocations in this package before us are based on caps that were set in a bipartisan budget agreement signed into law earlier this year. I think we cannot go back on our word and our agreement and expect bipartisan support. We are working longer in the Appropriations Committee. I think we are doing well at this point. We have a long way to go, but if we start loading it up, the process will fall apart. I urge you to vote no on the Paul amendment.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Madam President, this week the Senate takes another step toward regular order in the appropriations process in the Senate. The package before the Senate today contains the fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills for the Subcommittees on Interior; Financial Services; Agriculture; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. We have not debated an interior appropriations bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate in nearly 10 years. The Financial Services appropriations bill has not seen floor action in several years either. Why? Because year after year, party-line votes in committees represented the end of the line in the legislative process. Yet here we are today debating both of these appropriations bills and more on the Senate floor. So what changed? What changed was the mindset of appropriators on both sides of the aisle who embraced a willingness to sacrifice partisan riders and priorities outside the committee's jurisdiction for the good of the process. Together we have committed to do what is good for the process because we want to do what is right by the American people. This approach is yielding meaningful results thus far. The Interior and Financial Services bills in this package both won the unanimous approval of the Appropriations Committee, which is generally unheard of--unanimous, Madam President. We haven't seen that level of support for these bills in quite some time around here. The Agriculture and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bills also garnered unanimous support of the Appropriations Committee. I want to take a minute to commend the chairmen of these subcommittees--Senator Murkowski, Senator Collins, Senator Hoeven, and Senator Lankford--for their leadership in the process. I also, again, thank Vice Chairman Leahy and the ranking members of these subcommittees for their hard work. These Senators have worked together to produce strong and, I believe, bipartisan bills. This broad bipartisan support paved the way for the full Senate's consideration of these bills, and I thank Leaders McConnell and Schumer for agreeing to bring this package to the floor. As we begin debate this week, we can leverage our recent success in passing appropriations bills. Just last month, the Senate passed a package of three fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills with overwhelming support. This support was facilitated by an open amendment process and a willingness to work together to address legitimate Member concerns. As a result, the process was both open and, I believe, disciplined. More importantly, it was successful, passing by a vote of 86 to 5-- yes, 86 to 5. The bill managers on both sides of the aisle will seek to replicate this process and success with the package now before the Senate. We ask for the continued cooperation of all Senators in this effort. Critical mass, that is what we are building in the Senate--critical mass for returning to regular order in the appropriations process. By completing our work in a deliberate and timely manner on this package, we can turn next to the Defense and Labor-HHS-Education package. While completion of our work on the current package will mean we have passed more than half of the 2019 appropriations bills, the lion's share of discretionary spending, as my colleagues know, is contained in the Defense and Labor-HHS bills. That is very important to all of us here, very important to our constituents, and very important to our country. Again, I encourage our colleagues to participate in this process and help sustain the momentum we have generated thus far. We have a lot of work to do, but we are making real progress. I hope my colleagues find this encouraging. I certainly do. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that for the purpose of rule XVI in relation to the substitute amendment No. 3399, division A of H.R. 6147 serve as the basis for defense of germaneness for division A of the amendment; that division B of H.R. 6147 serve as the basis for defense of germaneness for division B of the amendment; that H.R. 5961, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee, serve as the basis for defense of germaneness for division C of the amendment; and that H.R. 6072, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee, serve as the basis for defense of germaneness for division D of the amendment.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I now call up the substitute amendment No. 3399.

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

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, before we vote this morning, I want to express my support for the appointment of conferees and my belief that this is yet another encouraging sign of a return to regular order in the appropriations process. The package of appropriations bills that will be conferenced with the House received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate. This broad agreement was facilitated by a concerted effort by both parties to prevent partisan riders from poisoning the well. Thus far, we have been able to translate bipartisan cooperation among members of the Appropriations Committee into success on the Senate floor. At this time, I want to recognize and to commend the continued efforts of the committee members in the process, especially the Republican and Democratic managers of this package. In particular, I want to thank Vice Chairman Leahy for his strong partnership in this effort and Senator Alexander, who is here on the floor, who has guided this process and will chair the conference committee. We will continue to consolidate critical mass for a return to regular order, but we still have a long way to go. This is another step in the right direction. Senator Alexander, Vice Chairman Leahy, and I will have a strong slate of conferees joining us. On the Republican side, it will be Senators Boozman, Daines, and Lankford. On the Democratic side, it will be Senators Feinstein, Schatz, and Murphy. Our objective will be to build upon the momentum we have generated in the Senate by urging the same type of bipartisan cooperation in the conference. We will aim to return to the Senate floor--hopefully, sooner than later--with a conference report that reflects bipartisan agreement and merits the support of our colleagues. It is, I believe, the right thing to do for the American people. Whatever partisan fights may ensue in the coming weeks, I believe the appropriations process should not suffer those wounds, and we should continue our hope and work. Thus far, it has been immune from such a fate. It is my hope that we can continue on that path. That will be our goal in this conference committee. I hope others will join us. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I move that the Senate insist on its amendment, agree to the request of the House for a conference, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. SHELBY

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

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, before we vote this afternoon, I want to thank my colleagues in the Senate, provide a status update on the appropriations processes before us, and urge the Senate to stay the course. First, I thank Leaders McConnell and Schumer for bringing this package to the floor and facilitating an open amendment process. I also thank the bill managers--particularly Senator Alexander--for their work in crafting strong bipartisan bills and keeping the process on track. In addition, I express my appreciation to Senator Leahy, the vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Vice Chairman Leahy is a man of his word, and that has been essential to the committee's ability to move bills. Finally, I thank all of my colleagues for their cooperation and their input during floor consideration of this package. At the outset of this debate, I challenged all Senators to follow through on their calls for a return to regular order. To that end, several amendments received up-or-down votes on the floor, and dozens more from both sides were included in the managers' package. We also rejected controversial authorizing provisions for the good of the process. As we are getting ready to vote on final passage, I hope my colleagues agree that we are headed in the right direction. I recognize that this package must still be reconciled with the House version before we can get it to the President's desk, but I am optimistic that we can do that in short order. We also cannot forget that nine other appropriations bills remain. The Appropriations Committee has already reported seven of these remaining bills to the full Senate, all with strong bipartisan margins. This week, the committee will mark up the final two appropriations bills--Defense and Labor-HHS--and I am hoping for a similar result. While we are about a quarter of a way through the 2019 appropriations process, we still have a long way to go, but we do have a framework for success--no poison pill riders, no new authorizations of law, no nongermane provisions. I have said it many times before, and I will keep saying it: This is the basis of the agreement I have with Vice Chairman Leahy. This is the approach our subcommittee chairmen and ranking members have adopted in producing strong and balanced bills. This is the way to avoid the catch-all spending measures and shutdowns we all detest. This is how the appropriations process is supposed to work. This is simply what the American people expect both parties to do. Looking ahead, I don't think any of us are naive about the potential for partisan politics to snake its way back into the appropriations process. Tomorrow is a different day, as we know, after all. But we all have a constitutional responsibility to allocate taxpayer money in a deliberate manner, and we have a viable path forward. So it is my hope that today marks a new day for the appropriations process in the U.S. Senate. To all of my colleagues, I want to thank you for your cooperation. I ask that you continue to work with us in the weeks ahead so that we can successfully pass all 12 appropriations bills on the Senate floor. With that, I urge my colleagues to support the bill that will come before the Senate in a few minutes. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Madam President, just 3 months ago, Congress passed and the President signed a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package for the year 2018. No one had time to read it, much less an opportunity to amend it on the floor. The President vowed that never again would he sign such a measure. Collectively, we lamented the absence of process and the excess of partisanship that had led to that point once again. The collapse of regular order had become the new normal, despite our usual resolutions to revive it. I am pleased to report today that the Senate Appropriations Committee has charted a different course in the months since the 2018 omnibus became law. In April of this year, I began working with Vice Chairman Leahy and our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to put into motion an aggressive schedule to mark up all 12 appropriations bills before the July 4 recess. Thus far, the committee has passed seven of these bills. This week, the committee will mark up three additional bills, and in the final week of June, we will consider the remaining two. At the moment, we are right on schedule. What has been truly remarkable, however, is not the speed of the 2019 appropriations process but the bipartisanship that has given it new life. All seven of the bills passed by the committee thus far have garnered overwhelming bipartisan support. Most of them, in fact, have been approved unanimously. This is no small accomplishment in today's partisan political environment. At this point, I pause to recognize Vice Chairman Leahy's significant contributions to this effort. Senator Leahy and I have known each other for many decades now. In fact, our combined years on the Appropriations Committee exceed the ages of many of our colleagues. On this basis, we came together at the outset of the process and determined that only by uniting would appropriations bills make it to the Senate floor and beyond. He and I made a deal, the essence of which POLITICO succinctly summarized in the headline of a recent article, entitled: ``Poison pills banished from Senate spending bills.'' That is what we hope. As part of this deal, Vice Chairman Leahy and I agreed to reject not only partisan riders--our own too--but also new authorizations in the 2019 appropriations bills. We resolved that Senators on both sides who would be looking to authorize new law in appropriations bills would be referred to the appropriate authorizing committees. As the appropriations process has unfolded, I have honored this deal, Vice Chairman Leahy has honored this deal, and our subcommittee chairmen and ranking members have honored this deal. The results speak for themselves. Last week, for example, the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill passed unanimously out of committee. One would have to go back nearly 10 years to find the last time the Interior bill garnered such strong bipartisan support. I recognize that today we are still early in the game and that many contentious issues lie ahead, but I believe we have established a framework for success in returning to regular order. It is now time to translate this success to the Senate floor. Members of the Appropriations Committee, including the Presiding Officer, through their discipline and adhering to this framework, have demonstrated that their perennial calls for a return to regular order have not been hollow. We will begin today to discover whether the full Senate is equally sincere in its resolve. The package before the Senate combines three fiscal year 2019 measures that have been recently approved by the Appropriations Committee: the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, and the Legislative Branch appropriations bill. The Energy and Water Development bill provides $43.7 billion in discretionary funding--a $566 million increase over the 2018-enacted level. The bill addresses critical national security needs concerning nuclear energy, while it also improves our water infrastructure and invests in basic science and energy research for this Nation. Senators Alexander and Feinstein, the chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, have crafted, I believe, a balanced, bipartisan bill that passed the full committee by a 30-to-1 margin. The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill--the second bill--provides $97.1 billion in discretionary funding, which is $5.1 billion above the 2018-enacted level. This bill supports investments that will ensure maximum readiness and warfighting capability for our troops, while it also provides funding for needed improvements and innovations at the VA. Senators Boozman and Schatz, the chairman and ranking member of the MILCON, VA, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, wrote a strong bill that received unanimous support of the full committee. Finally, the Senate's Legislative Branch bill provides $3.3 billion in discretionary funding, which is $68 million above the 2018-enacted level. This bill, the third bill, makes important investments in the safety and security of those who are working in Congress and those citizens who are guests, visiting our Capitol. Chairman Daines and Ranking Member Murphy, of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, also drafted a strongly bipartisan bill that garnered the unanimous support of the full Appropriations Committee. I thank Chairmen Alexander, Boozman, and Daines and Ranking Members Feinstein, Schatz, and Murphy this morning for their continued hard work and leadership on these bills. As we move to the consideration of these bills today on the floor, I urge all Members to submit any amendments they have as soon as possible. Vice Chairman Leahy and I are committed to having an open amendment process, as are each of the subcommittee chairmen and ranking members, who will be managing their respective parts of these legislative packages. Just as they worked diligently to accommodate as many Members' requests as possible during the committee process, they intend to accommodate as many amendments as they can on the floor. To recap for the benefit of the Members, we are not interested in poison pill riders, and we are not considering new authorizations of law, but we are interested in discussing substantive amendments that are germane to this package. This is the path, I believe, that leads us back to regular order. It is my hope that we will not be led astray, down the path of delay and partisanship, which would result in yet another omnibus. That is no way to fund the government. Let's debate and dispose and do our job on behalf of the American people. Let's demonstrate to the American people that our collective call for a return to regular order was not just for show. Let's complete our work on this package in a timely manner so we can move on to the considerable work that lies ahead. I take this moment to thank all Senators for their input and their cooperation in this process thus far. I yield the floor.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I call up the substitute amendment, No. 2910.

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

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Annemarie Carney Axon to be U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Alabama. Annemarie Axon is exceptionally qualified to be a U.S. district judge. Her strong, respectful temperament and commitment to impartiality prove that she is well-suited for this esteemed position. Ms. Axon has spent her entire career devoted to the law. She is presently a member of Wallace, Jordan, Ratcliff, & Brandt, LLC, in Birmingham, AL, where she focuses on fiduciary and probate litigation. Prior to her current role, she served as assistant vice president at AmSouth Bank. She began her legal career in 2000 as an associate at the firm Edwards & Angell, LLP, in Rhode Island. Axon is a member of both the Alabama and Rhode Island State Bar Associations and represents a broad range of clients including individual and corporate fiduciaries and financial institutions in both State and Federal court. In addition to her experience in the courtroom, Axon serves as the president of the YWCA Junior Board, as well as the Girls on the Run board of directors. She is also a member of the Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation Board and a member of the American Cancer Society. Following her initial nomination in July 2017, Ms. Axon appeared before the Judiciary Committee for consideration. During the hearing, Axon stressed the importance of certain characteristics required to serve as a judge, including the ability to be fair, open-minded, courteous, and respectful to the attorneys and parties in each case. The committee favorably reported her nomination in October 2017. I believe Annemarie Axon exemplifies all of the characteristics of a proper judge. I am confident that she will base her decisions on the law above all else, despite the outcome of each case. Confirmation of her nomination is beyond imperative, as the swift confirmation of district judges plays a vital role in the functioning ability of the U.S. judicial system. By confirming Annemarie Axon to be a U.S. district judge, Congress is allowing the work of the U.S. judicial branch to continue in a manner that will best serve our Nation.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate Highlands Bar & Grill for winning the 2018 James Beard Foundation Award for outstanding restaurant on May 7, 2018. After being a finalist for 9 consecutive years, the Highlands Bar & Grill has finally won this prestigious award. The James Beard Foundation annually presents awards for culinary excellence, and I cannot think of a more deserving restaurant. Ever since the restaurant's opening in 1982, executive chef and owner Frank Stitt from Cullman, AL, and his wife, Pardis, from Birmingham, AL, have provided a memorable and hospitable culinary experience. Their commitment to providing high-quality food and service have been the foundation for their nationally recognized success. Contributing to the triumph of the restaurant is pastry chef Dolester Miles, who this year won the 2018 James Beard Foundation Award for outstanding pastry chef. One of the original employees of Highlands Bar & Grill, Dolester's 36-year career is certainly impressive and unparalleled. Frank Stitt's mentorship and guidance have influenced many other chefs in the Birmingham area and beyond. His ever-changing and inspirational menu has elevated the standard for fine Southern cuisine. I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Highlands Bar & Grill. This restaurant is one of the finest restaurants in the United States and is an ambassador to the world of fine Southern cuisine. Please join me in congratulating Highlands Bar & Grill for winning this award and for the restaurant's nearly four decades of success. I have no doubt that it will continue this path of excellence.