The u. S. Senate is about to gavel in to start the day. Creme, the defense programs and policy bill is on the floor, but off the floor leaders are considering the legislative options for the rest of the week after deciding yesterday not to move forward on the grahamcassidy health care bill. A pair of executive nominations also outstanding. We may hear debate on those today with votes possible by the end of the week. Meanwhile, the house will be meeting this afternoon at 3 p. M. Eastern, thats to give time to republicans to attend a tax reform retreat at the National Defense university in maryland. Our capitol hill producer craig the presiding officer the senate will come to order. The chaplain will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Immortal and invisible god, you continue to be our shelter in the time of storms. Thank you for being our nations protection. Give our senators the wisdom to place their confidence in you instead of in National Power and prestige. Lord, inspire our lawmakers with your presence; dispel all fear. May they remember that in the most turbulent and unpredictable of times, you are still in charge of our nation and world. Give each of our citizens the ability to know and do your will. Be in our midst, so that we will experience peace, even in the midst of a storm. We pray in your great name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington d. C, september 27, 2017. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable john cotton, a senator from the state of arkansas, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed orrin g. Hatch, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 1519, which the clerk will report. The clerk motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 1519, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for military activities of the department of defense, and so forth and for other purposes. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer the senate is not in a quorum call. Mr. Mcconnell i understand there is a bill at the desk to do a second reading. The presiding officer the clerk will read the title of the bill for a second time. The clerk h. R. 3354, an act making appropriations for the department of the interior, environment, and related agencies, for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2018, and for other purposes. Mr. Mcconnell in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceedings. The presiding officer objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President , later today, i look forward to joining members of the Senate Finance committee, the house ways and means committee, and other congressional leaders in unveiling a unified framework for fixing our nations broken tax code. Its an idea that can bring muchneeded relief to middleclass families and Small Businesses and help keep more jobs right here in america. Its a result of a lot of hard work and input from members, committees, staffs, and the administration, to name a few, and i want to thank them again for their continued diligence on behalf of our country. This framework is focused on supporting american jobs, on making taxes fairer, and on growing families paychecks. Its a refreshing change from our current outdated tax code which for too long hasnt worked for Many Americans. The current code forces individuals, families, and Small Businesses to navigate a web of schedules, deductions, and penalties. Rates are too high, incentives often make little to no sense. Some actually encourage companies to ship american jobs overseas. Moreover, for eight years under the obama administration, our economy grew at a sluggish rate, never living up to its real potential. Too Many Americans struggled to get ahead, many living paycheck to paycheck. Its time for a significant change in favor of families and jobs. This is our once in a Generation Opportunity to fundamentally rethink our tax code. We can unleash the economy, promoting growth, attracting jobs and improving american competitiveness in the global market. Instead of sending jobs overseas, we can modernize our tax code to help bring strong investment and goodpaying jobs home and keep them here. Through this framework, we can lower taxes for individuals and families so hardworking americans are able to keep more of their hardearned money. Later this afternoon, President Trump will bring our shared vision of tax reform to the people of indiana and to americans more broadly. He will explain his support for putting americans across the country on a more level playing field, because when they are, they can win. I want to thank the president and his team for their efforts to develop the framework. Together we can continue that work to bring relief and growth to the people of our states like the workers, Small Businesses, and families of kentucky, and promote Economic Growth in america. Using the framework we will release today as a road map, the Senate Finance committee will continue to hold a seergz of hearings to discuss how to make taxes lower, simpler, and fairer for middleclass families and for Small Businesses. Like its counterpart in the house, the ways and means, the Senate Finance committee will continue working to provide muchneeded relief to encourage jobs and investments to come back to the United States. The work of these committees will help build a stronger country. Many of our democratic colleagues have lost support for overhauling our tax code and throughout this process, i hope they will choose to work with us in a serious way. A fundamental overhaul of our tax code is a daunting task. We have a lot of work ahead, but america deserves it. Like the hardworking men and women of the middle class saving for retirement and the Small Businesses trying to expand and grow and the families hoping to send their kids to a good college. These americans deserve real tax reform. And i urge all of my colleagues to join me in working from this framework to deliver for them. Because heres the point, mr. President. Its time to take more money out of washingtons pockets and put more of it in the pockets of americans. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer good morning, mr. President. Id like to talk about taxes. President trump and Republican Leaders will announce today several proposals as part of their tax plan. According to recent reports, that plan will include proposals to repeal the estate tax, lower the rate on passthrough entities, lower the top rate and actually raise the bottom tax rate. Each of these proposals would result in a massive windfall for the wealthiest americans and provide almost no relief to middleclass taxpayers who need it most. It seems that President Trump and republicans have designed their plan to be cheered in the country clubs and the corporate boardrooms. Repealing the estate tax, how does that help middleclass people . Only 5,200 of the wealthiest families in america, couples whose estates are worth 11 million, pay the estate tax. Any middleclass families worth 11 million . Is that the president s definition of the middle class . The estate tax is so skewed to the very wealthiest among us, and theyre going to repeal it. This is not going to fly with the American People. Let me tell you. Our republican colleagues tried to do something the public disliked on health care, taking away benefits, reducing health care. Now theyre trying to do the same thing on taxes, helping the very wealthiest. Theyre going to be in for a rude awakening as the American People are going to rise up against this. Over 70 of americans are against tax breaks for wealthy americans and wealthy corporations. Lowering the rate on passthrough entities, that would create a huge loophole, allowing very wealthy americans like Hedge Fund Managers to funnel their income through a business entity in order to avoid the top bracket and pay a much lower rate. So the upper middleclass family making 100,000 or 200,000 or 300,000 could pay 39 . But these wealthy Hedge Fund Managers and lawyers and whoever can through a passthrough pay no Corporate Tax and then a 25 rate on the rest of their taxes. Does that help middleclass americans . Absolutely not. Does it help the wealthiest who have the lawyers to set up these passthrough entities . Absolutely. Lowering the top rate, the individual top rate, the top 1 who make above 490,000 a year would get a tax break because their rate would be lowered. God bless them, they made a lot of money. Do they need a tax break . I dont think so. But President Trump clearly believes, despite his rhetoric, that the wealthy in this country deserve another tax cut while middleclass families at best get crumbs. Amazingly, amazingly the trump tax plan will even include a proposal to increase the bottom tax rate, a punch to the gut of working americans. The American People should be able to see the principle behind President Trumps tax plan in this one fact he proposes to cut taxes on the highest income brackets and raise them on the lowest. He raises the bottom rate and cuts the top rate. This is wealth fare. Wealth fare, helping those of great wealth with more tax breaks. The American People should be able to see the principle behind President Trumps tax break. Its little more than an acrosstheboard tax cut for americas millionaires and billionaires. God bless them, im glad we have a lot of rich people in america. I dont begarage them. Many of i dont begrudge them. Many worked very hard to get their money. Some get it through an estate, so be it. But they dont need a tax break, the wealthiest among us, theyre doing great. All the statistics show that those at the highest end are making more money than ever before and the middle class is flat or sinking. Who needs the break . The Washington Post abc poll released yesterday said that more than seven in ten americans say our tax system already tends to favor wealth more than the middle class. This bill makes it much worse. One more thing to watch today is whether or not the president and his republicans provide any details about how they intend to pay for these massive cuts. Without these details, i suspect republicans will turn the ageold trick of promising that Economic Growth will make up for the entire difference. Some of them call it dynamic scoring, but that name obscures what dynamic scoring really is. President trump calls the Media Outlets fake news. Dynamic scoring is fake math. Its just made up, fake math, to hide another deficitbusting tax cut to benefit the wealthiest americans. No less in authority than james baker, conservative republican, former republican treasury secretary, who led the last successful tax reform effort under president reagan, said that, quote, we must not let tax revenues decline and worsen the deficit. In other words, tax reform must be revenue neutral and should be judged on its own merits. Lets call that the baker rule, the jim baker rule. Tax reform must be revenue neutral, judged on its own merits. No dynamic scoring, no fake math. So today, and i have to say, mr. President , here, i am amazed. President trump, whenever he talks says he wants to help the middle class, and his plan at best throws crumbs for some middleclass people. Some will get a tax increase, especially those in hightax states like new york. But his plan benefits the wealthy. Has the president read his plan . Has he been involved in creating his plan . Or is it the people around him, many of them from wall street, came up with this plan and the president doesnt even know what he does. I tell you, if he goes to indiana today and says his plan helps the middle class rather than the wealthy, hes got it backwards. It helps the wealthy far more than it helps the middle class. Of now on health care, yesterday the majority announced it wouldnt be holding a vote this week on the latest trumpcare bill, grahamcassidy. Every american should breathe a deep sigh of relief. The majority has vowed to revisit a. C. A. Repeal, maybe even with this legislation. President trump and our republican colleagues should have learned from these failures that the American People do not want to do that with health care. If they try to do it a third time they will fail again for the simplest reasons in politics. The public is against what they want to do. This administration which campaigned it is for the people and populous on health care is doing what people dont want, on taxes is doing what people dont want. What is going on . Id remind my republican colleagues, continuing to threaten repeal is like hanging a giant sword of damocles above our Nations Health care system. It causes great uncertainty in the health care market. It leads insurers to raise premiums on average americans. Now i understand that for political purposes, republicans dont want to ever admit that a. C. A. Repeal is off the table. They promised the American People for seven years but deluded them on what it really meant. The average american thought if they took a. C. A. Off the table, premiums would go down, coverage would go up. The bills the republicans have proposed is just the opposite. But i understand why they do it. They promised it so often. But those promises have a real human consequence in the form of higher costs for everybody. The responsibility and the blame for the rate hikes, should they occur and they probably will will fall squarely on the republican shoulders. President trump and the republicans are in charge. Saying gee, something in the past caused it. When they failed to protect it, its not going to work. My republican friends, youre no longer in the minority. Youre running the show. Its your responsibility to help bring premiums down. We want to do that. And, in fact, there are good bipartisan sprouts. Senators alexander and murray are very close to a bipartisan agreement. Now, we hope out of pique or anger that our republican colleagues wont reject a good bipartisan compromise that helps the American People, put together by the chair of the Health Committee and the ranking member. I hope and expect the negotiations to pick up right where they left off because we democrats want to work with our republican colleagues to stabilize the markets and lower premiums for millions of americans. We hope our republican colleagues wont just sit back, repeatedly threaten repeal and watch as millions of americans pay Higher Health care costs. That will be wrong substantively, and politically it will fall right on their shoulders. So i hope we can have these negotiations pick up between senators murray and alexander, right where they left off. Each of them said they were close to an agreement before chairman alexander was pulled away by Republican Leadership. Insurers are about to set their rates for the next year, and whether we can come together or not could be the difference between stable market and premiums that are hundreds of dollars more expensive. So for the sake of the American People, for the sake of turning over a new leaf on health care, let us Work Together in a bipartisan way to shore up and improve our Nations Health care. Finally, mr. President , on the crisis in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands. Hurricanes irma and maria have left the islands, home to well over three million american citizens, hanging on for dear life. You have seen the pictures. They are just devastating. Water, food, diesel, power, cell service, medicine, shelter, security. Basic needs of human survival are limited and running out in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands. Diabetic patients who require insulin shots are unable to keep their lifesaving medicine refrigerated. Hospitals still lack power and running water. This was a catastrophe on an epic scale. It may have been one of the worst humanitarian crises within our borders. Now, the president has a bully pulpit. More importantly, hes in direct control of the vast resources of our federal government. The military, the department of energy, fema, usda, and much more. He can direct the attention of all americans to important issues. Previous president s have used this platform to focus our attention on disasters that strike our country. Barack obama did it, george bush did it, bill clinton did it, george h. W. Bush did it, Ronald Reagan did it. And the president can direct resources, boots on the ground and the structure to coordinate it all, but a president needs to act aggressively and comprehensively and urgently. Some of that has been lacking with this president , unfortunately. A cursory scroll of President Trumps twitter feed and Public Comments from the past few weeks does not show him using the power of his office to focus our attention on the crisis in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands. Its been a week since the storm hit, and as i said, his twitter feed and Public Comments dont show him using the power of the office. When he mentions puerto rico, President Trump promotes his own administrations efforts and implies that puerto rico is partially at fault for the devastation they have been suffering. The response from the Administration Needs to get a whole lot better, fast. I spoke to the governor of puerto rico yesterday. He gave me specific items that would provide immediate help. I spoke about them yesterday, and i hope the administration acts on them quickly, but most important, we need the administration to send us an emergency and interim aid package to pass, just as we did in the wake of hurricane harvey. Puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands shouldnt have to wait a second longer for aid than any other american state or territory. We should take up and pass this package here in the senate before the week is over. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from maine. Mr. King mr. President , first i want to join the democratic leader in his comments about the devastation of these hurricanes. This has been truly a maligned visitation on our country over the last several weeks. Florida, texas, Virgin Islands, puerto rico have really suffered and are suffering. I know that the administration is working hard on this, and i commend them for the efforts that they have made. I think now much of our attention is turning to puerto rico and the Virgin Islands in order to mitigate what is really a humanitarian disaster. One difference between those islands and florida and texas is the fact that they are islands. It is harder to get there. It is harder to get aid there. I understand just this morning the san juan airport was open for the first time, and its opened in a limited way. This is clearly a responsibility that we have as senators, as members of congress, as americans to reach out to our neighbors in a situation such as this. When a crisis hits, it often calls for the best of america. I believe that thats happening right now. I want to talk about a different kind of hurricane, a slowmotion hurricane. A slowmotion hurricane that is sweeping our entire country, not just the southeast. It is sweeping through our small towns and our cities, our families, our schools. And its taking lives of a scale thats unprecedented and almost unthinkable. Im talking about the hurricane, the epidemic of opioid abuse and Overdose Deaths. Many of us this week are watching with rapt attention ken burns magnificent study of the vietnam war. We are losing more people per year to Overdose Deaths than were lost in the entire vietnam war. Thats one way to think about the magnitude of this catastrophe thats striking our country. The problem is it strikes here and there. It strikes a family here, a family there, a community here, a community there, but it doesnt strike all in one place so its not so apparent. If we were losing a small city in america of 63,000 people once a year, we would be turning ourselves inside out to solve the problem that was causing those deaths. 63,000 People Killed last year through Overdose Deaths. Almost 400 in my state of maine. More than one a day. And all indications are that its increasing. One a day. 63,000 is about seven people an hour, 24 hours a day, 362 days a year are suck coming to this plague are succumbing to this playing. Its a medieval playing afflicting people all over our country. Lives lost, families torn apart, communities compromised, and its a huge cost. I hesitate to talk about things like dollars when youre talking about lives, but its a cost in both ways. Not only are lives being lost and families being torn apart, but the estimates are it costs our society something over 400 billion a year in everything from medical costs, criminal justice costs to lost economic, lost productivity in our society and our economy. But, mr. President , im here today because all hope is not lost. Contrary to what some people hear and you hear sometimes, this is hopeless, there isnt anything we can do about it. There is ample evidence that treatment can work. This is not a death sentence. Opioid abuse is terrible, and from talking to people that have suffered from it, its i it literally changes your brain and it becomes almost impossible to escape, but it can be escaped, and the reason we know that it is that know that is that there is data from across the country, but the reason i know that is my friends in maine, andrew, matt, and chris. Peace are people that i know, that i have interacted with, that i have sat down with. Andrew is a guy who is at the university of southern maine. He was trapped in the throes of addiction. He wept went through went through treatment, and now he is in recovery. Indeed, there are 25 Million People in this country who are in recovery, and they will tell you that they will always be in recovery, because they can never shake this disease, whether its alcohol, but the really destructive one that were focusing on right now is opioids. Andrew has made a new life. Hes at school. Hes at the university of southern maine. Hes helped form a studentcentered community to help people who are in recovery or who are working on getting there. Matthew is a junk young man who in 2009 again was trapped by this horrible scourge. Now hes hoping to go to medical school. Chris is a guy who sat in my office, he worked in the white house, he was in it up to his neck and above. He had criminal justice problems. He was in jail. He was convicted. But now hes a member of the maine bar. He got himself through school. He got himself through law school. And there was an important moment that i think all of us should think about when we think about people that are in this situation. When he went to apply to law school, the people at the law school said well, we dont know if we can take you because you have this record, and his question was which was brilliant, which indicates to me he is going to be a pretty good lawyer. His question was, what was my sentence when i was convicted . And the response was three years. He said you are putting me in for life. If you dont let me move forward with my life, youre making that a life sentence, not a threeyear sentence. He was accepted to law school, he graduated, and this year, he was accepted passed and was accepted in the maine bar. Hes making a contribution to his community. Treatment can work. It doesnt always work the first time. Anybody who has been through this, whether its alcohol or anything else, will tell you that or even quitting smoking, it doesnt work the first time, necessarily. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt. Sometimes it will take multiple trips through the recovery and treatment process, but it can work. We know it can work. I have 25 million reasons to tell you that it can work. And three that i know. Im going to be introducing a resolution later today. I hope the senate can take it up and pass it, designating next month as National Recovery month, honoring and recognizing the people that are in recovery. So if it works, whats the problem . Why is this hurricane still sweeping our country . Why does 2017 look like its going to be worse than 2016 . Well, the sad truth is that of of if all those millions of people that are addicted, that are stuck, that are trapped, only one in ten has access, only one in ten. Now, what we have to do to deal with this problem, of course, as like most other problems, there is no single answer. It involves Law Enforcement. It involves interdiction. And let me pause for a moment on interdiction. The presiding officer and i are both on the Armed Services committee, and we have heard testimony in our committee that we only have the coast guard and naval resources to interdict onefourth of the drug shipments that we know of coming up from south and Central America by sea. In other words, we have intelligence. We know of 100 boats and we can only stop 25. Theres no excuse for that. So, yes, Law Enforcement at the source, along the way, in our states is an absolutely essential part of this process, but its not the whole answer. We also have to work on prevention and, frankly, ive been talking to groups around maine and around the country on this. Were all still trying to figure out how to make prevention work. What will work . And i havent yet heard a really strong answer to that question. I guess it varies from person to person. But prevention has to be part of it. The but treatment can work. But if only one in ten people have treatment available to them or have access to treatment, that means nine are sentenced to life and maybe to death. We passed last year, a year and a half ago, cara comprehensive Addiction Recovery act. Great bill, lots of good things in it but no money. Thats like sending the Fire Department to the fire and saying, fight that fire but were not gimmick to give you any but were not going to give you any water. We know that this costs money, and its something that we have to commit to. It has to be part of whatever we do around here about health care and about budgets. We have to realize were losing our people, and these arent bad people. These arent people over there. I sat at a roundtable in a small town in maine, south paris, maine. Next to me was a deputy sheriff. He lost his daughter. She is arent strangers. These are often middleclass people. These are people who are whose kids or sometimes parents this is not agespecific are caught up in this scourge. So i guess i want to leave us today with two points. One is, treatment works. And the second is, we need more of it. We know if we know that something works but only one in ten people have access to it, shame on us for not remedying that situation. And to me the most tragic case and ive talked to people in maine about this the saddest moment, the most tragic case is when someone who is in the throes of opioid abuse is ready to ask for help and they have to be put on a waiting list. That is tragic and inexcusable. Its hard to get to that point. Its hard to admit that youre trapped, that youre no longer in control of your life. Once youre willing to do that and say, i need help, then its up to us to be sure the help is there. And thats what were talking about today. So this is a different kind of hurricane, but its a hurricane nonetheless thats destroying our families, destroying our communities, and wrecking the lives of our friends. But its no act of god. We cant stop the winds of maria or irma, but we can mitigate the effects, ameal i dont remembe rememberrate the effect ameliorate the effects, soften the effects, and thats exactly what we need to do for those who are victims of the hurricane opioids thats sweeping our country. I hope and believe that we will respond to this challenge, as we have at other times in our history, and indeed as we are this week to the hurricanes in the caribbean. I want to respond also to the hurricane sweeping america, that we can indeed ameliorate, mitigate, and soften. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. And i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from washington. Ms. Cantwell i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Cantwell i rise to ajete pi as chairman of the f. C. C. Hes been involved in dismantling the rules that preserve the diversity of content in media ownership, potentially negatively impacting forever the number and variety of voices in the media market. In addition his confirmation to this important position will also have a negative impact on one of the most important issues i believe of our time and that is preserving Net Neutrality. A strong and open internet is key to an economy of the future, to giving the innovation and creative jobs n. R. A. Going to come along with an open architecture. Chairman pai is poised to undo what our bedrock principles is already in place to protect an open internet. Even in the face of that internet that it is important to aint net economy an millions he was jobs, he is determined to try to rewrite them. On monday the senate will vote whether to confirm ajit pai for another term as chairman of the f. C. C. As i have said, i think his leadership has shown that on Net Neutrality he believes the rules should be changed. As long as he continues to hold that position, i cannot support his nomination. As the chairman of the federal communications commission, he has demonstrated a disdain to these important Public Interest principles that hes supposed to be upholding, and it shows a disregard for the innovators in america that are striving so much to build the economy of the future. The Public Interest mission of the f. C. C. Is encoded in the agencys d. N. A. The law created the f. C. C. And clearly states that the agencys mission includes promoting equal access to Communication Networks for all people around the United States. This means the f. C. C. Has the responsibility to promote the expansion of Communication Networks and to ensure they have the ability to compete fairly with one another in providing broadband services, not letting a big Telecom Company or Cable Company run other Small Businesses or consumers and say to them, unless you pay me more, im not going to give you essential services. Imagine if that would have happened to the telephone industry decades ago. If you couldnt get access because someone had decided im going to let the highest bidder rule the roost. The president s nomination and his desire to make him chair continues to show a desire to undermine the internet and the internet economy. As soon as he was appointed, chairman pai announced his intention as chairman to go against the demands of American Consumers and reverse the rules that are already on the books to protect consumers. Chairman pai wants to make it possible for those big telecom and Cable Companies to erect toll lanes that would further burden the nature of the internet. He plans to go against more than 10 million American Consumers and innovators who have told him to keep the internet open and free. So recent studies have shown that the internet economy is now over 7 of u. S. Gross domestic product and it employs 7 Million People and is worth 1 trillion. Our strong, robust internet rules, without question, have helped keep that Economic Growth. Our economy is in a massive technological transformation. Its in an information age. And in an information age, making sure you have an open internet is going to be degrowing business. Every Business Plan of every startup relies on its ability to access consumers and for those consumers to get equal access to content. And largely as a result of the innovations this has created thousands of hundreds of tech jobs in the United States. The internet economy almost 1 trillion and 7 of g. D. P. Is growing faster and stronger than many other sectors, including construction, mining, utilities, agriculture, education, and entertainment. So, it is disturbing to me that chairman pai has made it clear that he wants to rewrite the rules that protect those businesses and create an artificial fast and slow lane, and if you want out of the slow larynx you better pay me more and if you want out of the slow lane, you better pay me more money. We cant do that for all the applications and Small Businesses continuing to work on growing our commitment of we need to make sure that instead of shedding jobs in the u. S. , as we did in the last economic downturn, that we can creating jobs and power for consumers. We have seen what has been termed the app economy, which consists of everybody who makes money as a job thanks to a mobile app, that was also powered by the internet. Today 1. 7 million americans have jobs because of that economy. Nearly 29,000 of them are in the state of washington. So over the past five years that app economy and those jobs have grown at an annual rate of 30 . The average growth rate for all other jobs is 1. 6 . So literally you are trying to clog the arteries of one of the fastestgrowing Economic Opportunities in america. By 2020 the app economy would grow to over 100 billion. This demonstrates that the internet economy is a dynamic, supercharged, jobcreating engine with Economic Growth that should not be artificially slowed down because some industries believe that they have the right to do so. These facts in making sure we pocket an open internet is why we should not support chairman pai. The slow lanes and the fast lanes are not like a highway where a consumer or business can take another route or plan another course. Here youre creating barriers that are wedges between businesses and their consumers, between doctors and their patients, between industry Solution Providers and the customers they are trying to serve. The growth of the internet platform for Economic Activity is something that we do not want to see destroyed. And chairman pais dismantling of that robust, open internet architecture and the support that it gives to innovators is extremely troubling to me. I think about all the applications that ive seen in my state, whether its a businesslike mckinstry which provides efficiencies to School Districts all over our state and puget sound. Lets pretend now that mckinstry who is trying to tell a north shore district theyre using too much power or can reduce costs but now all of a sudden they have to charge that School District more if they want to get that information to them on time. A clogged artery will not get the information to that School District when its needed in time to make an adjustment. Lets talk about a doctor in a rural area who receives information about someone who comes into their emergency room but wants a consult with somebody in seattle and all of a sudden now their connection and connectivity is slowed down again unless they pay more money. Or i think about it in just some very traditional ways of people going to get coffee who now in my state preorder, go online, and show up to get that all so they can avoid the long lines but now all of a sudden is that also going to be another toll, an extra toll just to get it to go as fast as Consumers Want it to go . Or are Cable Companies or online providers going to say you have to pay more if you want a fast lane . What chairman pai doesnt realize is that the internet is now a fullflown ecosystem with all attachments, that the internet is like the artery system that connects it all and connects it in so many ways beyond even our imagination. And yet he is proposing to clog those arteries, to hold us ransom if only we will tell a Cable Company its okay to charge the American Consumer more. We cannot afford to ruin the internet economy by doing this. You need to have an open architecture that allows everybody to access this information at the same time and the same rate so that we can have an open internet architecture. There are ways to grow the internet and grow internet investment in the delivery system. In fact, during the time period of the open internet rules, we have seen just that, a continued investment. So we do not now have to rewrite these rules. We do not now have to throw a roadblock, a hurdle, a clogging of the arteries at the Small Business and internet economy that is growing so rapidly with all its devices. God forbid that one of our colleagues would be on the other side of town and get a delayed message about when a vote started just because we in the senate hadnt bought a higher, faster speed lane and maybe they would miss a vote. Its hard to say what slowing down the internet artificially would do because it is so connected to everything we do today. And that is why we have to stop. Im happy to hear that chairman pai would drop his insistence on trying to change the rules of an open internet. I might think differently about his nomination. But i will continue to fight for my states economy that depends so greatly on this and to the millions of consumers around the United States who are trying to grow what are smarter, more intelligent, more Cost Effective businesses, even the Health Care Debate we just had. I believe in home health care. I believe we can get there and drive down costs. But if youre telling a doctor and a patient you might not get the information back from your doctor for days because he cant afford a fast Internet Connection that the Cable Companies are charging, then i guarantee you were not going to reduce our health care costs. So please ask my colleagues. You will not have another chance at this. You will not when you hear from your constituents about this issue be able to take back this vote. Please make sure you understand that chairman pai is marching ahead on a very different picture, and because of that, im not going to vote for someone who is going to slow down and clog the internet. And i urge my colleagues to vote no on chairman pai and his nomination. I thank the president and i yield the floor. Mr. Cornyn h president n hfer yrt rip wrn mr. Cornyn i would ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer the senate is not in a quorum call. Mr. Cornyn thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , today i would like to talk about a topic that most of us dont want to discuss and thats taxes except today is different. This time you dont have to grown over spread shets or calculation sheets or calculations or worry about how much of your hard earned pay you have to send to uncle sam. Leaders in the house and senate will unveil their Core Principles for tax reform. The president will travel to indiana with our colleague senator young to announce his support for these Core Principles. Now, taxes can be confounded and complicated and painful to deliberate, but for folks back home, what i believe describes our tax principles is mos more e takehome pay. That works for everybody. In other words, you actually reduce the cost of your your living costs because uncle sam takes less of your paycheck meaning you get to keep more of that and to take that home and spend it on things that youd prefer to spend it on. So more takehome pay is our bottom line. I look forward to working with the chairman of the finance committee which i have the privilege of serving on. Speaker ryan and chairman kevin brady of the house, ways, and means committee, another good texan, on their ideas which i know were born from many long hours and tough conversations. But this is going to be a National Conversation starting with the president kicking this off this afternoon in indiana. Mr. Cornyn hes going to invite the American People to express their views on what tax reform should look like. For me in addition to more tak takehome pay, im looking for a tax code thats shorter, simpler, and which makes us more competitive in the Global Economy. Its a great relief, believe me, to have a president that understands how taxes and the uncertainty they place on job creators, stifles Economic Growth. And the reason Economic Growth is so important is because when the economy grows, more jobs are created and those jobs that exist, people will actually earn more money and be able to pursue their dreams. Just as importantly, though, this president understands that the job creator is not the enemy. You know, a former colleague of ours, gordon smith from oregon, once told me, he said, the problem with some of our democratic friends is they claim to love the worker but they hate the job creator. To me thats that sort of summarized it pretty well. And i know he didnt mean hate in the traditional sense, but he did Mean Congress and particularly our folks on the democratic side like to put additional burdens, like higher taxes or more regulation, more obstacles in the way of our job creators when we should be tearing down those walls, reducing that regulation, and lowering taxes so that they can be successful and in the process we can all succeed. Well, this president understands that our economy, too, is crucial but extremely fragile. And he joins all of us in wanting to do everything he can and that we can to ensure that we continue to be the strongest economy in the world. Heres why tax reform is so important in the first place. In the words of Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise institute, he said the american founders promised not just happiness but the pursuit of happiness. Thats, of course, in the declaration of independence. And i think arthurs on to something. I think its a good way of putting it. It means that all of us based on our countrys original vision should be free to follow our dreams without government getting in our way or making our burdens heavier. We should be free to pursuit happiness. Average american citizens should not be numbed or stifled by pandz toar participation mandatory participation in a system that depletes their energy and discourages them. And thats what our tax code does today. It exhausts people when it comes to actually complying with our arcane and convoluted and complex laws because its so theyre so difficult. So many people just simply outsource that by hiring some lawyer or some accountant to prepare their taxes because it is so complex. We can do better than that. We can make it simpler and fairer and flatter. Today many of the obstacles that exist prevent the average american from pursuing their dreams and reaching their full potential, which ought to be what joins us all together. One of those is an outdated and highly convoluted tax system that actually penalizes hard work. It stymies ingenuity and enriches the lawyers and accountants that people have to hire in order to just comply with all of its convoluted complexity, socalled compliance costs. Call this the terrible teed yum of taxes. It zaps our Energy Rather than unleashing it. It erodes our work ethic because if you work harder and harder only to see more and more money go to the federal government, what does that do to incentivize people to work hard . As we see less reason to labor for what ultimately gets taken from us. So the mission of the socalled big Six Committee which has been asked to put together a blueprint for reform has been to protect american jobs and make the tax code simpler, fairer and lower for average American Families. It is, in a sense, all about putting families first. Because Families Build individuals. Families mold character, so we have to give them every opportunity give every opportunity to families that need to thrive. Weve got to keep the uninvited guests of government away from the front door, constantly begging for more time and more attention and constantly throwing a wrench in their plans. I also believe we should provide tax relief for Small Businesses because Small Businesses are literally the engine of our economy. Its not the fortune 500 that creates the vast number of jobs, it is the Small Businesses which often face unyielding regulatory states and lower taxes for all businesses so they can compete with foreign ones. As the socalled big Six Committee said, the first plan should be to reduce tax rates as much as possible. Lets make sure this first cut is the deepest, as the song goes, but also to place a priority on permanence, create a system that encourages American Companies to bring jobs back overseas, along with the profits they wont bring back because theyll be taxed twice, and to put more money back in the pockets of all americans. As Ronald Reagan said, theres one simple fact you have to keep in mind when it comes to taxes. The problem is not that the people are taxed too little. The problem is government spends too much. This is not just about sheer wealth were after but earned success, the ability of mothers, fathers, and families to work a long day and to keep more of their hardearned paychecks to choose as they please, to save it for their retirement, to spend it on their house, or even to dot on their children. They would be more likely to c. E. O. And so does room for charity. You know, the United States is the most charitable and generous country in the world. People dont just turn to government for help during times of need. We saw that in hurricane harvey, hurricane irma, and now hurricane maria. Many, Many Americans generously dip into their own resources to help provide for their fellow human being in need during times of tragedy. And it is our prosperity that comes from job creation, getting to keep more of what you earn and pay the government less that makes that possible. Alexis detocqueville when he came to the United States, in the book democracy in america points out one of the more unique things about america, certainly different from europe, is the voluntary associations he called it. But these are often charitable organizations, whether churches, synagogues or mosques or Community Organizations that do, as part of their good work, providing charitable benefits for our fellow man and woman. So we ought to encourage that. Of course, none of us is an island. Its not that lower tax rates translates to everyone looking out exclusively for number one. Thats the way that our friends across the aisle will depict lowering taxes. They say, you want to lower taxes for the rich. We want to benefit everyone. Not just the individual, we want to benefit all americans. It creates more jobs and opportunities it creates incentives for investments so the entrepreneur can start a business, come up with a new idea, change the world, and create jobs and opportunities for other people at the same time. So we know that social obligations are still important. Its just that there are many ways of meeting them other than just cutting a big paycheck to the federal government every april. The higher taxes we pay, the easier it is for citizens to assume, i paid the federal government, let the government take care of it. Thats not who we are, thats not who we have been. That is not the way we began. We are a government that believed in the individuality and the importance of all individuals and we all benefit when each of us is free to pursue our dreams because that increases the opportunities for all. We will never become, i hope and pray, a country that says, its the governments job when it comes to taking care of a man or woman or a family in need. That, yes, government has a role to play, but i hope well always be the generous sort of country that we started out to be and that we are today, neighbors helping neighbors. Middleclass americans have experienced a decade of higher taxes, and staggering Economic Growth under the last administration. It is time to break out of that cycle and this is the time to do that. Every american knows we can do better. If you ask them, are your taxes hard to prepare . Is it complicated . Are you confused . Do you feel like the federal governments getting a bigger bite out of your paycheck than should . I think you would get near unanimity that the tax code is too complex, the government is to voracious when it comes to taking a bite out of your paycheck, and the people would welcome the ability to keep more of what they earn. Well, its time for us to show that we understand the plight of hardworking American Families and people of all economic levels that were hearing them when they say they simply want to keep more of the paycheck they earned and they want us to lower the cost of living by lowering the tax bite out of the paycheck they do earn. Americans are wondering what our tax reform policies will be. Well, for me, here are some nonnegotiable items. The tax code must be simplified. Secondly, job creators must be incentivized to keep goodpaying jobs here at home. And american competitiveness in a Global Economy must be increased by lowering business tax rates. The result should be a new retooled systems that will put more money in the pockets of middleclass families and reenergize our economy. It will benefit americans in every state across the country. It will also make it possible for us to meet our other priorities, as the federal treasury will also benefit from more people working, earning better wages, and helping to support their government. And it will make it possible for us to spend more money on our priorities like National Defense, which right now is underfunded, or medical research or other priorities the American People may have. So by delivering on thighs principles so by delivering on these principles we can help many generations to come and we can keep the promise of the declaration of independence that we are endowed by our creator by certain unalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That ultimately is what were talking about when we talk about tax reform. We shouldnt just be wearing green eye shades and getting out the spread sheets. This is about a promise in the declaration of independence that we are endowed by our creator with an unalienable right to pursue happiness. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. President , i would withhold and ask tell the presiding officer i have ten requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. These have been approved by the majority and minority leader. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Cornyn thank you, mr. President. I notice the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Merkley mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Merkley i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Merkley i ask unanimous consent that my intern jessica rosenbloc be granted floor privileges for the balance of the day. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Merkley thank you. Our constitution begins with three simple words, we the people. The founders wrote that in supersized font to remind us that this is what our nation is all about. Its not about power by the privileged, its not the elite, its not make the wealthy wealthier. Its not add more to the abundance to those who already have much. Its to establish government that reflects the will of the people, or as president lincoln put it, of, by, and for the people. But in this age where vast sums are spent on campaigns by a few billionaires to basically substitute of, by, and for the people, government of, by, and for the powerful, we have enormous challenge to maintain the integrity of the mission of the constitution and the responsibility of this u. S. Senate. We have certain trumpcare is designed to plan for massive tax giveaways to the wealthiest americans, hundreds of billions of dollars and to Rip Health Care away from 20 to 30 millionairey working families. Ordinary working families. What a tragedy under our constitution. What an amazingly misguided effort to do damage rather than to assist for a foundation for families to thrive. A few years ago a woman came up to me at a fundraiser