Pr mr. President , i just listened to the majority leader come down to the floor and tell members of the senate that they should close their eyes and box their ears to the current scandal that is engulfing the white house and the trump administration. I heard the majority leader accuse of democrats of quote, politicizing, unquote, president trumps demand that the government of ukraine interfere in the 2020 election. That is a laughable charge and its not going to silence us on this matter of grave importance. First of all, i have no idea what it means to politicize something these days. News flash, we are politicians. We practice politics. Thats our job. I get told very often that im politicizing gun violence when i suggest that maybe we should pass laws in order to change the daily trajectory of violence in this country. And yet, thats the very reason that we are here, to protect the safety of our constituents, protect the sanctity of our democracy. What we are standing up for right now is the rule of law and i hope that over the course of this week my republican colleagues join us in that basic responsibility that members of the United States senate and house of representatives have. We see the rule of law slipping away from us right now. We see our nation being turned into a Banana Republic where the president can do anything he wants and turn the organs of state into his political machine, his means of crushing his opponents and we see today, many of my republican colleagues, not just letting it happen, but facilitating it. There has got to be a line that the president cannot cross. There has to be a moment where we all stand up and say, this has gone too far. The president has admitted this weekend to asking a foreign leader to open an investigation into one of his political opponents as a means of advancing himself politically. Thats not alo you had thats not allowed in a democracy, that corrupts the Foreign Policy of our nation, that makes us all less safe when Foreign Governments now wonder whether they are going to be enlisted into the political operation of the president of the United States. This has always been a nogo area for democratic and republican administrations. Because they understand the vast power that the presidency has. And if the president chooses to use that power and the leverage that he has over people in this country and in other countries to do his political bidding, then theres nothing to protect any of us from the executive branch. The idea that the president can openly admit that he is asking a Foreign Government to get involved in his political Reelection Campaign and believe that he will get away with it suggests a belief in the impunity surrounding his office that we should all be concerned about. At the very least, mr. President , if my republican colleagues dont share my grave alarm at the disclosures of the last 48 who yours 48 hours, then we should at least agree that the whistleblower complaints needs to come before the United States congress unredacted. Theres no fuzz y number around this law. It is clear as day. If a Whistleblower Makes a complaint that is deemed urgent in nature, it must be presented to the United States congress. The president cannot hold it back. The executive branch cannot make it a complete. And what makes it worse, the president seems to be playing games with this whistleblower complaint and teasing out little bits of information contained in it here and there in order to play to his political advantage. Its even worse than holding back the complaint from us, hes now using pieces of it to try to gain advantage over his political opponents. At the very least, over the next 24 hours, we need to come to a conclusion that the law needs to be followed because the president can withhold from us whistleblower complaints that are know the flattering to him, that potentially implicate him, then whats the point of having a whistleblower law . Whats the point of having a process to protect people who are uncovering corruption in the administration if the administration can keep those complaints secret . And lets just be honest, if this president gets away with it, the next democratic president can get away with it, the next republican president can get away with it. Weve lost our power to see into the wrongdoing of an administration and there will be a day when republicans want to see into potential wrongdoing of an administration of the opposite party, but thats all gone. If we dont at the very least come to the conclusion that we need to see it as the law states and thats just the beginning because i think as the president has advertised, that complaint is going to show that he did indeed try to pressure a Foreign Government to conduct investigations into one of his political opponents. I think this is a really serious moment for the country. I think its a really serious moment for the prerogative of the article one branch. I understand that my republican colleagues may not be ready to talk about consequences for the administration, for their wrongdoing, but at the very least, we need to come together and make sure that we have all of the information necessary p and by the way, it doesnt end with the whistleblower complaint because the whistleblower complaint is likely going to raise even more questions that were going to have to answer and we have a duty to then go out and find additional information. For many, the president s admission of guilt may be enough to make a determination about what the next steps are. But for those that arent persuaded that there have to be consequences for the president s admission of corruption, then we should use the organs at our disposal to figure out the rest of the details surrounding the incident of series of incidents. What kind of contacts have the president s representatives been having with the ukrainian government. Has the state department been involved in trying to do the president s political bidding in and around ukraine . How many people knew about this in the administration . Who tried to stop it . Whos been involved in keeping the whistleblower complaint from us . There are so many questions that need to be answers here and it should be our responsibility to get to the bottom of all of it. Of all of it. I think this is a really serious moment for this country. I think the minute that the president is able to turn the Foreign Policy of this nation into a vehicle for his own political advancement is the day that democracy as we know it slips away from us. And so if we arent ready to have a bipartisan conversation about consequences and remedies this week, then lets at least have some bipartisan concensus in the way that this place used to all the time around making sure that we have all the information necessary to move forward. I yield the floor. Acting director of National IntelligenceJoseph Mcguire testifies thursday before the House Select Intelligence Committee on the process and handling of a whistleblower complaint involving president trump. Watch live coverage thursday at 9 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3. Online at cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. App. The house will be in order. For 40 years cspan has been providing american unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events from washington d. C. And around the country so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979, cspan has been brought to you by your local satellite or cable provider. Cspan your unfiltered view of government. Government. The u. S. Senate about to gavel in for more debate on executive nominations including Brian Mcguire to be deputy undersecretary of the treasury. The first set of votes are scheduled for 11 30. Senators are also planning to take a break in the afternoon for their weekly caucus meetings. Before the week is over, we also expect the chamber to take up a temporary spending bill passed by the house to fund the government until november 21st. Floor action on that is still at a time to be determined. Now live to the senate floor. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal god, give our lawmakers the power to live with purity. Remind them that for each test and temptation, you have provided a way of escape. When they stumble, help them to receive