Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20240713

Vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, on this vote, the yeas are 53, the nays are 36. Twothirds of the senators voting, a quorum being present, not having voted in the affirmative, the joint resolution on reconsideration fails to pass over the veto of the president of the United States. The senator for illinois. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i ask consent before the roll call to be recognized to make a unanimous consent request. Id like to take that opportunity now, unless theres some other item of business before the senate. The presiding officer there is not. The senator for illinois. Mr. Durbin thank you t lets start with madge, basic madge, andrew yank math. Heres what it boils down to. Each year we have 140,000 employmentbased visas issued in the United States, 140,000. A decision was made several years ago that politicians were playing favorites, picking countries that would get more of one and more of another and so they put in country quotas, country caps, 7. 5 . Ill do the math, liberal arts lawyer. Its about 10,000 per year 10,000 for. Mr. Perdue country. Mr. Durbin there are some 520,000 people of indian descent in the United States who came here legally on hb1 visas for example have work here for a period of time and now want to stay in the United States. And from this senators point of view, you are welcome. We need you. You brought extraordinary skills to our country that we need. I want you to stay. But you found many have found that they get into a cue that is so long and because of the limitations of the cap, they cant even imagine living long enough to ever get the green card that theyre waiting for, the green card that can ultimately lead to citizenship. So senator lee comes to the floor with a bill and his bill say, as follows were going to take care of those waiting in line, which is primarily over half a million of indian descent, and we will close down immigration from other countries during this period of time. So it would be to the benefit of those of indian descent, who are the vast majority of those waiting in line, but at the cost of every other country in the world having anyone who can come in and qualify for an eb2 visa. And even his approach that ive just described, if you follow it through at the end of the ten years, there would still be 165,000 people of indian descent still waiting in line in ten years. Thats not fair. Its not right. Last sunday i had a meeting in schaumberg, illinois. It was Democrat Party breakfast. There were about 200 people standing with signs with my name on them. They were there to say, durbin, dont stop lees bill. And i met with many of them afterwards. I would have met with all of them. I am prepared to. One of them told me a story. He was a physician from my hometown of springfield, illinois. He brought his 12yearold daughter along with him, beautiful young girl. And he said, senator, im waiting in line here. I dont know if i will ever get the green card. And whats going to happen to my daughter when she reaches age 21 . She can no longer be my dependent and stay in the United States. Whats going to happen to her . Is she supposed to go back to india . And in the meantime how is she supposed to go to college . What is her status in this country . These are perfectly legitimate questions. I have an answer. First we lift the 140,000 cap. That is whats holding us back here. Why is 140,000 of these eb2 visa year a magic number . Its not. Were a nation of 350 million people. We have a million legal immigrants at least coming in each year. To expand the cap for those who are seeking the eb2 visa beyond 140,000 to people with skills already living in the United States who want to stay me and continue to work is perfectly raj to me. That is what my bill proposes and it does two other things. It bill also says that we are not going to count your dependents when it this comes to the annual quotas. So if it is 140,000, we are talking about the actual breadwinners. 140,000. If youre married, have a spouse, and two children, youre not speaking four of these visas, only one. Automatically your spouse and dependents come along with you in my bill. Theyre not counted against the 140,000. Third point when you make application, it freezes in place for legal reasons the status of your dependents. So if it takes two years or three years and that daughter of yours becomes 21 years ofagers it is no difference. She stale is going to come in with you based on your application. Now, that to me is a reasonable way of approaching it. And ive said to my friends in the Indian American community, in the Indian Community in illinois, im not against your being here. I want you to be here. Ive got on approach that will allow you to be part of our future. Youve been an important part of america to this appointment of i want you to continue to be. My approach will allow it. Senator lee of utah comes to the floor and says, durbin, if you lift that 140,000 cap, youll doom this bill. Ive just spoken to him and i have several times. I wont doom this bill if hell support it. If he is a republican, will gather support for this bill, we can lift the number of people who will be eligible under these skilled immigrant visas to be part of americas future. We can do that together. And im finding, as i talk to even republican colleagues here, they feel that we should be opening up the skilled visa opportunities for Legal Immigration. The sentiment is growing, and it should. People who have real skills that they either learned in the United States or earned in the United States, i want to be part of the growth of our economy in the future, part of america. When it comes to diversity, count me in. My mother was an immigrant to this country, brought here at the age of two. Her son stands right here with a fulltime government job, the american dream, right . I basically believe in immigration, and i believe in the diversity of america. But what will not work, what will not succeed is the notion that we can somehow just favor one group from one country at the expense of every other country. What has happened, we found, since senator lee started moving forward with this, is weve got people from a variety of Different Countries around the world saying, you mean youre going to cut us off entirely . We cant have any eb2 visas for ten years . Youre saying thats going to apply to canada and mexico and the european nations and all of asia as well . Thats unfair. Why would you cut us off to give an opportunity for those from i understand yacht . That from india. That isnt fair. We have got to have a more balanced approach. My approach will solve that. And i would ask the senator senator lee to consider t and id also say to him, in the course of bringing this measure to the floor, senator lee has been negotiating with members of his own political party. Thats all right. I understand that. Ive been in this business for a while. But he should be talking to people on both sides of the aisle. What hes given are socalled carveouts to the 140,000. And i probably wouldnt argue with any single carveout in substance, if he wants to give them to nurses or medical professionals. But each time he makes a carveout of 140,000, he lengthers the long waiting period for those of indian descent so the real answer is to increase Legal Immigration to the United States. My bill would do that. It would take the country caps off, take the 140,000 cap off. It would open the door for those of whove been waiting in line and many years for years, if not decades stop discriminating against your children through no fault of their own. They have been stuck in the line with you. Their legal status shouldnt change and dont count the dependents, the spouses and children, against the quota, whatever the number might be in the future. That i think is a reasonable way to do this. But to do that you have to accept one premise that immigration is good for america. And i believe it is. I believe it always has been. And i think the diversity of this country is its strength, and the people that come from every corner of the earth ready to make personal and family sacrifices so that they and certainly their children will have the chance they never would have had where they were bonn. That is the key where they were born. That is the key about whats different about this country and why we should honor it. Lets not apologize force increasing Legal Immigration, particularly people with proven skills. Let us celebrate it that they want to to be part of americas future. I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged of 2603, s. 2603, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Lee mr. President . The presiding officer the senator for utah. Mr. Lee reserving the right to object, the with the hes describing is not one that can pass this body. It certainly is not one that can mass this body pass this body unanimously. Hes absolutely right. My friend and distinguished colleague from illinois is correct in noting that ive had conversations and negotiations with republicans, and ive also had conversations and negotiations with democrats. Ist been working on this for nearly nine years. And at every moment weve made concessions to people on both sides of the aisle. I wish that if the solution that he were offering today were something that could allow us to pass the fairness for highskilled immigrants act. Alas, it is not. And i would note, its not as though this is something new or objectionable or even something the passage of which would amount to a concession on his part. For one thing, the fairness for highskilled immigrants act is a bill that he was an original cosponsor of in a previous congress. This is his bill. Now, you might ask whats different about the bill he champion add few years ago and the substitute amendment i put forward earlier today. The answer is that asided from a short subsection to temporarily alleviate nursing shortages in parts of this country, the only thing that we have changed is that weve added a variety of new provisions to combat some abuse in the h1b program. And ive said, these provisions are drawn almost verbatim from the durbingrassley h1b reform bill of which my colleague from illinois has long been the lead democratic cosponsor. The only other thing thats changed from the time when the senator from illinois would have stood by my side instead of in opposition and helped to pass this bill is the problem that he sought to solve when he supported this bill, that very same problem still exists and has gotten worms as i indicated earlier, there are 40,000 green card applicants nil i will alone, plus their spouses and children, stuck in this awful backlog. These are individuals whose children are aging out of their temporary visas and theyre forced to return to a country they left behind log ago. Long ago. A country that in many cases their children dont know and have never known. And so, to be to repeat, the amendment that i offer today and that has been the subject of some of my colleagues remarks this afternoon in his unanimous consent request consists of nothing more than the fairness for highskilled immigrants act, of which my colleague from illinois was once a leading sponsor and a series of h1b reforms that he himself has long sought to enact. If passed, it would provide relief to many hardworking families from both his state and from mine. And yet he objects. And as he objects, he offers up Something Else, Something Else that he knows cannot possibly get close to passing this body by unanimous consent. And yet we could do that today. We could do that right now, if he would lift his objection. He knows that i cannot and i will not. And on that basis, i object. The presiding officer the objection is is heard. The senator for illinois. Mr. Durbin i would like to make two points to my senator from utah. The first point i want to make is what i support today is what i introduced and voted for when 68 senators, democrats and republicans, passed a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill, which you opposed. I hope that that shows my good faith intent when it comes to this issue. Im not just thinking of something today thats never been considered on the senate floor. It has passed on the senate floor in a previous senate. And i think it can pass again with your active support. The second point i want to make is is this. For us to have dueling unanimous consent requests and both to object in this debate is really unfair to the people who have gathered in this gallery today as well as those who are following this debate on television with literally the fate of their family and future in our hands. I would like to ask you a favor, to consider the following. When senator kennedy objected on your behalf yesterday or the day before in a similar manner, i suggested that we push this issue forward for a hearing in the immigration subcommittee of Senate Judiciary where we both serve. That committee is not overworked. It considered one bill last year and no amendments. So let us try to prevail on the chairman of that subcommittee to have a hearing on the subject and bring out all the facts before the subcommittee and the full committee in the hopes that we can find some sort of reasonable bipartisan compromise. If you will join me in that request, i hope that we can prevail on senator graham and senator cornyn. Mr. Lee mr. President. The presiding officer the senator for utah. Mr. Lee i thank my colleague for his constructive observations there. With respect to the gang of eight legislation, yes, it passed in this body. And, yes, i voted against that as did a number of my colleagues. My view was that that was a piece of legislation that while it entailed a lot of work by a lot of people who were trying to make things better, it was doomed at the outset for failure because the message of that bill and of those who were pushing it was essentially you either pass all of this bill and all of its reforms, a large number of which, the majority of which i agreed with, or you pass nothing. We were literally told that. Its either this entire package or its nothing. We spent weeks in the Judiciary Committee debating it and discussing it. I personally proposed dozens of amendments to that. What emerged at the end of that from the committee was a its been six years, so my colleague will forgive me if i dont remember the exact numbers. It was about a 700page bill. When we got to the floor, what we debated and discussed was substituted out at the last minute. What we ended up getting was another bill which was as i recall 1,100 or 1,200 pages long. It was a different bill. But the message was the same with both of them. This is a package deal. Either reform all the bill reforms and do it at once or you get none of it. And many of the sponsors of that legislation made clear they would oppose any smaller effort. I believe this is exactly the opposite of the type of solution that will work. Whats going to work here is if we start with incremental stepbystep legislation. And if we start with something that the senator from illinois has himself in the past sponsored both as for the fairness for highskilled immigrants act itself and as to the substance, the nuts and bolts of the grassley amendment. Hes been on the cutting edge of supporting both of those things, if not here where . If not us, who . If not now, when . This is what we need to do. Im going to continue to come to the floor. Im going to continue to seek unanimous consent and to pass this every way i can. As to my colleagues suggestion with regard to a comat Committee Hearing, this hasnt been the topic of Committee Hearings in the past and its been fully discussed. I would of course welcome any further Committee Action the chairman might choose to hold. Id be happy to have any Committee Action. That of course isnt mine to offer or give. But i would always prefer more legislation on the fairness for high skilled immigrants or less. For the record, i want to state this bill is ready to pass right now. This bill has got 365 votes on the house floor right now. This bill would become law right now, would pass out of the senate and would pass out of the senate in a form that would be passed out of the house of representatives ultimately right now but for this objection. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. Durbin mr. President. The presiding officer the senator for illinois. Mr. Durbin the senator from utah is my friend and weve worked closely together on important legislation. I trust him and respect him though we disagree on some of the merits of this issue. What i think i heard was an offer which im going to accept of a goodfaith bipartisan request of the Judiciary Committee to have a hearing on this measure. It will be the first hearing on it and i think its long overdue. In terms of the comprehensive Immigration Reform, i dont want to dwell on history but we went through hundreds in judiciary, scores of amendments on the floor. Everybody had their day in court, an opportunity to come up with a good idea and it came up with one bill at the end and you had to vote yes or no. I voted yes, you voted the other way. This bill is not close to it in terms of deliberation, amendments on that process. Lets start the right way. You have a hearing. Im not going to pull anything over on you but lets do it for the people who are following this and say how did that end, let us say to them it ended by both of us agreeing to pursue a Committee Hearing on this important subject as soon as possible and appealing to the chair of the Judiciary Committee to ask for that hearing. Mr. Lee mr. President. The presiding officer the senator for utah. Mr. Lee i thank my friend, the distinguished colleague from illinois. I appreciate his dedication to detail and the hard work hes put into the area of Immigration Reform. Yeah, youre right, that was a difficult process. They went through six years ago, and i commend you even though you and i reached different conclusions as regards to the outcome of that legislation. My point there is simply to say it is and properly should be always is going to be the case that its going to be easier to get something done with more narrowly focused. In this case weve got a bill that the senator from illinois has himself cosponsored in the past. Its been modified by another provision he has also sponsored in the past. It is not my plais to commit on behalf of of the Judiciary Committee or its chairman whether or not were going to have hearings. I reiterate my view that no further Factual Development of this is necessary. I dont believe a hearing is necessary. Im never going to object to someone holding more hearings on it. If thats what the chairman of the Judiciary Committee is inclined to do, im certainly not going to interfere with that. In the meantime, im going to continue to do everything i can to get this thing passed. Its ready to pass. Its ready to pass right now. And im going to continue to find every way possible to p get this the consideration it deserves. Thank you, mr. President. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator for virginia. Mr. Warner thank you, mr. President. Ive come to the floor to speak on a different subject, but i do want to acknowledge this is an issue that i follow as well. I actually cosponsored senator lees bill. I do hope that what my friend, the senator from illinois, proposed in terms of a process, that that process will take place and that we can get this legislation or vacationer or variation thereof passed through the senate, that we can deal with this issue. This is something i hear a lot from my constituents in virginia, particularly northern virginia. And again, while no piece of legislation is perfect, i think the direction that senator lee put forward is one that i carefully considered before i cosponsored the legislation. The only way this is going to get resolved is if we go through this process. There is nobody in the senate that works harder on immigration issues with more passion and willingness to get to yes on issue after issue than the senator from illinois. I thank him for his work as well. Mr. President , i came down here today to address the question i came for, to actually continue the tradition of my friend, senator ted kaufman. He had the distinction of serving here as a staff member for a long time and filled in for a few years when senator biden became the Vice President of the United States. And what senator ted kaufman did was he came during his tenure in the senate on a regular basis and came to this floor and highlighted the contributions of exceptional federal employees, highlighted the work they do every day to make our nation and communities safer, healthier and stronger. I came to the floor earlier this year to congratulate three virginians who were recognized by the partnership for Public Service as finalists for the service to america medals. In the world of federal employees, this award may not be as well known as the oscars, but the awards, the service to american medals are known as the samees. I spoke about the ambassador from arlington and john wagner from ashburn. Each of these Public Servants have made significant contributions to our National Security as well as to global peace and human rights. We are indebted to them for their contributions. And i congratulate them again for their muchdeserved recognition as finalists. Unfortunately none of this years winners hail from virginia. Still i want to congratulate the 2019 federal employee of the year, victoria braun of wisconsin. Ms. Braun is a career Public Servant who has spent more than 37 years working in the v. A. System. Since 2015 she has served as the director of a v. A. Medical center. When she arrived the center was struggling with unsafe medical practices. High staff turnover and other issues impacting the quality of care that veterans were receiving. In the years since her arrival, there has been a rise in Patient Satisfaction and a dramatic drop in the use of opioids and other prescription pain relievers. Under director brauns leadership, preventable inhospital complications have also dropped significantly. And the center has risen from one of the worst ranked hospitals in the v. A. System to the top 10 . This remarkable turnaround that is making life better for our veterans is due in much ways to the work of ms. Braun. So, congratulations, ms. Braun, and thank you for your service. Congratulations as well to all of this years Award Winners who hail from around the country, not just washington, d. C. And while the federal workers we recognize today are exceptional, the truth is they are not the exception. Federal employees across the country dedicate their lives to serving the country, to protecting its people, and to making sure our tax dollars are properly spent. Unfortunately this commitment has not been honored by the trump administration. In addition to the longest Government Shutdown in history, federal workers have endured pay freezes, hiring freezes, badfaith collective bargaining and other efforts to dismantle our nonpolitical civil service. This is wrong. Its also unsustainable and ultimately it will be Everyday Americans who suffer the consequences of this administrations actions. If you drive out and drive down the morale of our workforce, the American People end up with a less good product. I commit that i will continue fighting here in the senate to ensure this country is keeping its commitment to federal workers because they deserve so much better than the treatment theyve received recently. Mr. President , let me now for a couple of moments turn to another important issue where i fear were not keeping our commitments, and that is our commitment to our nations historically black colleges and universities, also known as hcbus. Id like to talk briefly in support of legislation introduced by my colleague from alabama, senator jones, and my colleague from south carolina, senator scott. The legislation they introduced is called the future act. The future act would provide a twoyear reauthorization of the mandatory funding for hcbus and other minorityserving institutions, but its already expired on september 30. This is a commonsense bipartisan fix that is fully paid for and would allow us to keep our commitment to institutions across the country that are educating historically underrepresented and underserved students. Virginia is the home to five outstanding hcbus whose funding would be preserved by this legislation. Virginia state university, norfolk state university, hamilton university, virginia hampton state university, Virginia Union university and Virginia University of lynchberg, all told, these institutions received nearly 4 million in funding last year that is now at risk unless we pass the future act. I have letters of support here from the president s of hampton, norfolk state and Virginia Union. These letters highlight the future act and the importance of this funding of the representative universities. I ask unanimous consent that these letters be entered into the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Warner recently our colleagues in the house passed this important legislation on a bipartisan basis. Now its time for the senate to do the same. Lets pass the future act without further delay. And then Work Together on a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education act. As dr. Harry williams, president of the Thurgood Marshall college fund said, americas hcbus, quote, simply do not have the time for congress to work out a deal. Lets put our broader policy differences aside for now and honor the commitments we made to hbcus and other Minority Service institutions before congresss inaction harms students in virginia and around the country. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator for wyoming. Mr. Enzi mr. President , i rise to announce a new youth of an old requirement. I rise to speak about the latest senate score keeping report which i filed this week in the congressional record, in the and the congressional record is available to anyone, its online. This report shows overspending by committees, and a number of other things. This is the first such report since i filed a current law budget for the fiscal year 2020, as authorized by the bipartisan budget act of 2019. This weeks filing tracks the senates adherence to that current law budget and provides uptodate budgetary information about the federal government for congress and for the public. For the first time a copy of the score keeping report can be found on the Senate Budget committees website to allow the American People to better track congresss fiscal decisionmaking. Thats new. Let me repeat that. For the first time a copy of the scorekeeping report can be found on the Senate Budget committees website to allow the American People to better track congresss decisionmaking. Since this is the first time that the committee is posting the scorekeeping report on its website, i want to take this opportunity to explain this report for those taxpayers who are concerned, as i am, about our countrys Fiscal Health and want to learn more. I hope that people will look at the future months at each monthly report. A current our current law budget allows the senate to enforce the spending leveling projected under current law. While it will not put us on a path to stabilizing our debt and deficits, like the levels approved by the Senate Budget Committee Earlier this year, would do, it tells congress to stop making our fiscal situations worse, to stop making our debt and deficits worse. The scorekeeping report covers six primary areas. First, it shows whether authorizing committees are sticking to their allocation, which is just a fancy term for each spending committees allowance. Now we track that for the one year, five year, and tenyear periods in this report. For the october 2019 report, all committees are in compliance and no breaches have been reported since i filed the current law budget on september 9. Thats good news. Though with our debt approaching 23 trillion 23 trillion going a month on the budget is not something to pat our backs over. But its a good start. Second, the report tracks whether the Appropriations Committee is adhering to the Discretionary Spending limits imposed by the most recent bipartisan budget act. For fiscal year 2020, the limb on regular the limit on regular spending in the defense category is 66 66. 5 billion. And for nondefense it is 6. 5 billion. Since appropriations for this fiscal year have not been enacted, the only budgetary effects recorded are for advanced or appropriations made through prior law. Third, the scorekeeping report tracks changes in mandatory programs. We call that chimps, which is used by the Appropriations Committee. Thats so that we arent using this very important wording of changes in mandatory programs. Actually making changes in mandatory programs without people knowing. The Appropriations Committee uses those changes in mandatory programs to offset new Discretionary Spending each year. In recent years the Budget Committee has ratcheted down the total amount of changes in mandatory programs that could be used in a given year in an effort to hold the line on spending. This years total limit is 15 billion. Thats extra spending. And the report traction the appropriation committees adherence to that limit thus far. Now i know many of my colleagues share my desire to finally end the practice of using changes in mandatory programs to inflate spending. So, fourth, the report traction the amount of emergency and overseas Contingency Operations spending in appropriations bills. Emergency spending is not constrained by Discretionary Spending limits that i talked about, but it has the potential to cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year. To date, for fiscal year 2020, there have been 8 million worth of worth of Emergency Budget Authority adjustments. Thats with a b. These adjustments are the result of agriculture provisions in the additional supplemental appropriations for the Disaster Relief act of 2019. Emergencies dont count against the budget, but they do go to increased debt. Theres no requirement to adjust the budget to pay for emergencies. The fifth purpose of the report. Included in the reports information provided to me by the Congressional Budget Office, it compares topline spending and revenue amounts known as aggregates to the current budget levels. The report shows there is currently enough spending on spending aggregate to accommodate all outstanding regular appropriations and no additional room for revenue loss. And, finally, sixth, the report includes the current balances of the senates paygo scorecard. Pay go goes paygo stands for pay as you go, a unique concept around here, in other words, was it paid for . If not, the report shows on the scorecard. The sandts paygo scorecard which is enforced with a 60point of order, tracks legislation moving through congress affecting mandatory spending and revenues. This report shows a zero balance on the senates paygo scorecard for the filing of budgetary levels just last month, as chairman of the Senate Budget committee, i try to come to the floor regularly to sound the alarm about our countrys unsustainable fiscal course. Were on a perilous path with the Congressional Budget Office projecting our debt and deficits to skyrocket in the coming years. Debt is the cumulative amount, deficits are the annual amount. The deficit for the fiscal year that ended on september 30 reached 984 billion. While revenues were up, 133 billion over the previous year, or 4 compared to that fiscal year 2018, spending was up 338 billion or 7 over the prior year. Let me say that again. We overspent 984 billion, but revenues were up 133 billion but spending was up 338 billion. The Congressional Budget Office projects budget deficits for the current fiscal year to top 1 trillion. Thats another trillion dollars added to our already high debt. Thats overspending in spite of increased revenues. Were long overdue for an honest conversation about the countrys finances. I hope that the senate score keeping report can contribute in a small way to that conversation. I believe that the more we allow the public to follow the dollars, the more pressure there will be on all of us to finely address our overspending problem. I truly hope all members view this report and come see it to see it as a valuable tool for getting our books in order. I yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell our democratic colleagues insist that their political differences with President Trump and they are still prepared to tackle important legislation and do our work for the American People. Well, next week theyll have an opportunity to prove it. Congress has fallen badly behind schedule on appropriations. Its been a month since my democratic colleagues filibustered spending on the senate floor, blocking defense fawngd a pay raise for our Service Funding and a pay raise for our military. It is time to make progress. In a moment i will file cloture on motions to proceed to two government funding bills, setting up votes for next week. In order to meet democrats half way, the first half shell will be on a package of domestic funding bills. If we can get bipartisan support to take that up domestic funding bill, well stay on it until we complete it. I hope that senator shelby and senator leahy can Work Together to craft a bipartisan substitute amendment. After wards, we would turn to a second package, including the defense funding that our armed forces and commanders need, especially in this dangerous time, and considering current events, plus resources for other priorities such as the opioid epidemic. So well be voting next week and i would urge all of our colleagues to move in that direction. Lets make good on all the talk about bipartisanship and finally make progress toward funding the government. I move to proceed to executive session to car calendar number 5 treaty document 1161. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have. The ayes do have it. The motions agreed to. The clerk will report the treaty. The clerk calendar number 5, protocol to the north atlantic treaty on the accession of the republic of massa dona. Mr. Mcconnell i ask that the reading be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask that the clerk report the motion. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk will report the senator from kentucky proposes amendment to treaty document. Mr. Mcconnell i ask the reading be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The yeas and nays are ordered. Mr. Mcconnell i have a seconddegree amendment at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk the senator from kentucky, mr. Mcconnell, proposes amendment 94 proposes amendment 947 to amendment 946. Mr. Mcconnell i ask the reading be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the cloture motion. The clerk quorum, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on treaty document 1161, protocol to the north atlantic treaty, signed by 17 senators as follows mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. Ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i move to consider calendar number 441. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, United Nations, andrew p. Bremberg, of virginia, to be representative of the United States of america to the office of the United Nations and other organizations in geneva. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of andrew p. Bremberg, of virginia, to be representative of the United States of america to the office of the United Nations and other International Organizations in geneva signed by 17 senators. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is imreed is greed to. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to hfer 3055. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk h. R. 3055, an act making appropriations for the departments of commerce and justice, science and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2020, and for other purposes. Mrn mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk for the motion to proceed. The clerk the. The clerk will report. The clerk cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 141, h. R. 3055, an act making appropriations for the departments of commerce and justice, science and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 20, 2020, and for other purposes signed by 17 senators as follows. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i withdraw the motion to proceed. The presiding officer the senator has that right. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to calendar number 140, h. R. 2740. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 140, h. R. 2740, an act making appropriations for the departments of labor, health and human services, and education and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2020 and for other purposes. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk for the motion to proceed. The presiding officer the clerk will report the cloture motion. The clerk cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 140, h. R. 2740, an act making appropriations for the departments of labor, health and human services, and education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 20, 2020, and for other purposes signed by 17 senators as follows. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the mandatory quorum calls be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President , i have seven requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Romney mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Romney mr. President , i rise today to address the Current Situation in syria. First, i welcome the Vice President s announcement of a ceasefire which will prevent further loss of life. I hope the agreement is honored. But at the heart of this matter is a central question of why these terms and assurances were not negotiated before the president consented to withdraw our troops. Let me briefly recount whats happened in the past seven days since the u. S. Announced our withdrawal. The kurds suffering loss of life and property have alied with assad. Russia has assumed control of our previous military positions and the u. S. Has been forced in many cases to bomb, of our own facilities. The announcement today is being portrayed as a victory. It is far from a victory. Serious questions remain about how the decision was reached precipitously to withdraw from syria and why that decision was reached. Given the initial details of the ceasefire agreement, the Administration Must also explain what americas future role will be in the region. What happens now to the kurds and why turkey will face no apparent consequences. Further, the ceasefire does not change the fact that america has abandoned an ally adding insult to dishonor, the administration speaks cavalierly, even flippantly, even as our ally has suffered death and casualty. Their homes have been burned and their families have been torn apart. We know the truth about our occurred allies eowe kurd allies. They lost 11,000 combatants in our joint effort to defeat isis. We dropped bombs from the air and provided intelligence and logistics behind the lines. The kurds lost thousands of lives. 86 brave americans also lost their lives so tragically. Its argued that the kurds were fighting for themselves. Of course they were. Thats the nature of an allian alliance. We fight together, each pursuing our own vital interests. American leaves no soldiers behind. Often a great cost in blood and treasure, we recover our dead and our wounded and we free our men and women who are held captive. This is a matter of american honor and promise. So, too, is the principle that we stand by our allies, that we do not abandon our friends, the decision to abandon the kurds violates one of our most sacred duties. It strikes at american honor. What we have done to the kurds will stand as a bloodstain in the annals of american history. There are broad Strategic Issues as well. Iranian and russian interests in the middle east have been advanced by our decision at a time when were applying maximum pressure on iran by giving them a stronger hand in syria, weve actually weaken thad pressure. Russias objective to play a greater role in the middle east has also been greatly enhanced. The kurds out of desperation have now aligned with assad. So america is diminished. Russia, iran, and assad are strengthened. And so i ask how and why this decision was reached. I serve on the Foreign Relations committee and given the syria decision taken by the administration, i might be forgiven for wondering why our Committee Even exists. I say this because apparently the decision to leave syria was made without consultation with the committee or even with the Committee Chairman and ranking member. Just three weeks ago our subcommittee held hearings to receive an extensive analysis of the conditions and the way forward in syria. It was presented to us by the serious study Syria Study Group, a bipartisan, congressionally mandated commission tasked with the assessment of the conditions in syria and to provide recommendations for americas strategy going forward. So far as im aware, the Administration Made no effort to contact those who attended that hearing or to speak with the Syria Study Group to be able to understand the content and their extensive in their extensive published report. I asked whether it is the position of the administration that the United States senate, a body of 100 people representing both political parties, is to be entirely absent from decisions of the magnitude just taken in syria. Now some argue that we should not have been in syria in the first place because there was not a vote taken to by the senate to engage in war there. I disagree. Congress has given the president Legal Authority and funding to fight against terrorists in syria. However, even if one for purposes of argument believe that no authorization had been given, thats really irrelevant to the decision as to the withdrawal once we have alied with the people, the kurds, committed to defend them, and together defeated isis. Once you jump in the ocean to stave a save a drowning soul, you dont turn around with the excuse that you didnt have to jump it in the first place. It is a as a matter of fact of commitment. Others argue that we should just get out of a messy situation like this. The middle east they say has had wars going on forever. Just let them have at it. There is a certain logic to that position as well but again it applies only to the original decision as to whether or not we should have gone into syria. Once we have engaged and made the commitments weve made, honor as well as selfinterests demand that we not abandon our allies. Its been subjected that turkey may suggested that turkey may have called americas bluff telling the president they are coming no matter what we did. If thats so, we should know it. For it would tell us a great deal about how we should deal with turkey now and in the future. Some have argued that syria is simply a mess with warring groups and subgroups, friends and allies shifting from one side to the other and we had to exit because there was no reasonable path for us to go forward. Are we incapable of understanding and shaping complex situations . Russia seems to have figured it out. Are we less adept than they . And are our principles to be jettison when we find things get messy . The administration claims that none of these reasons are accurate. Instead the president has said that we left to fulfill a commitment to stop endless wars, to bring troops home, to get them out of harms way, perhaps to save money. I find these reasons hard to square. Why . Well, we withdrew 1,500 troops in syria but weredding 2,000 troops in saudi arabia were adding 2,000 troops in saudi arabia. In all total we have some 60,000 troops in the middle east. Assuming for the sake of understanding that getting out of endless wars was the logic for the decision, why would we take action so precipitously . Why would we not warn our ally the kurds of what were about to do . Why would we not give them time to also withdraw or perhaps to dig in to defend themselves . Clearly the turks had a heads up because they were able to start bombing within mere hours. I simply dont understand why the administration did not explain in advance to erdogan that its unacceptable for turkey to attack an american ally. Could we not insist that together we develop a transition plan that protects the kurds, secures the isis prisoners, and meets the legitimate concerns of turkey as well . Was there no chance for diplomacy . Are we so weak and so inept diplomatically that turkey forced the hand of the United States of america, turkey . I believe that its imperative that public hearings are held to answer these questions, and i hope the senate is able to conduct those hearings next week. I note in closing that i also hope the ceasefire agreement is honored and that turkey ends its brutal killing. But i note that lives are already lost and america honor has already been tarnished. We once abandoned a red line. Now we abandon an ally. Mr. President , we need answers. What has happened in syria should not happen again, and we, the senate, must take action to make sure that it does not. Yield the floor. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Reed thank you, mr. President. I, too, rise this afternoon to discuss the situation in syria. Let me commend my colleague, senator romney, for his very thoughtful and very timely and very important comments. We all recognize that the situation in syria is highly fluid, but its important, i think, to state the case with respect to the president s decision to acquiesce to president erdogans offensive against the kurds. The president s decision is a disaster for our partners in the fight against isis and the United States Foreign Policy more broadly spoken. While i welcome the temporary ceasefire announced a short time ago and hope that a permanent ceasefire can be achieved, it does not absolve President Trump of responsibility for his betrayal of our kurdish partners and his role in unleashing violence and instability in Northern Syria. It is not clear whether turkey made any concessions as part of the deal struck with the u. S. Delegation or whether Kurdish Forces will comply. If not, i am concerned that additional violence is likely to follow and well have little leverage to prevent it. In fact, there is a quote attributed to the Turkish Foreign minister by the White House Reporter at cnn. She quotes the Turkish Foreign minister as saying this is not a ceasefire. We will poise the operation for 1 pause the operation for 120 hours for the terrorists to leave. We will only stop the operation if our conditions are met. Indeed, even this supposed ceasefire may not materialize as a ceasefire. But the reality is that the blood of kurds, many kurds, is on President Trumps hands and thousands of hardened isis prisoners could be let loose as a result of this hasty and uninformed decision. President trumps decision to abandon our close partners also strengthened the hand of erdogan, putin, assad, and khomeini. Those are not friends. Those are in many cases adversaries and antagonists. Members of the administration claim that the u. S. Government opposed the tur turkish incursin but the president s own actions and statements made clear that he gave erdogan a green light. The president ordered our military to begin a phased withdrawal from syria last december, a decision that prompted the resignation of former secretary of defense mattis and surely gave the turks the impression that he would fold when pressed by erdogan. Not surprising he did. On that phone call, erdogan was pushing against an open door. He knew it. The president knew it. And thats why the turks came across the line. Stating that we should let the kurds and turks fight it out because of their long standing grievances, betrays both of your National Security interests in the middle east and our own ideals. It is a shame that the white house Statement Released after the president s call with erdogan did not even criticize the planned turkish incursion or wasnt of potential consequences if it went forward. It wasnt until the following day, after a bipartisan and international outcry, that the president began to express any concern about turkish plans while at the same time reiterating his invitation to erdogan to visit the white house next month. It is impossible to read the president s initial statements as anything but acquiescence. Furthermore, the president s statements over the follows days sought to distance the United States from the kurds and the foreseeable consequences of his decision with regards to isis and the humanitarian challenges in Northern Syria. The violence we have witnessed over the last few days in Northern Syria was the direct result of an impulsive president making decisions counter to the advice of our National Security experts. President trump has often expressed disdain for the career military, diplomatic and intelligence professionals our nation relies on to develop and implement sound National Security policy. We are once again seeing the ramifications of his incompetence. The president s stunning ignorance of the complexities of the middle east was on full display over the weekend in a tweet where he seemed not to have an understanding of the location or identity of the separate kurdish groups with whom we have partnered with in syria and iraq. The secretaries of defense and state both insist they were consulted by the president on this decision. Maybe so, but it is clear that he didnt heed their advice or that of our National Security experts. Im not aware of any Security Experts who advocated for standing by while the Turkish Military carries out on offensive against our kurdish partners. In fact, on october 2, just four days before the phone call between president s trump and erdogan, the state departments special envoy to syria publicly warned, we certainly think that a conflict along the turkeysyria border would serve the interests of all the bad actors in the conflict and in the surrounding region, whether thats isis or al qaeda or the Iranian Regime or what have you. That was his special envoy. The president s capitulation to erdogan runs directly counter to all of the administrations stated objectives in syria. The administrations stated strategy is to, one, defeat isis, two, force the removal of iranianaligned Foreign Forces in syria, and, three, achieve a negotiated political settlement to the Syrian Civil War in line with the United Nations resolutions. The security and humantarian catastrophe that president erdogan has unleashed with trumps approval will make achieving any of these goals nearly impossible. The violence in Northern Syria over the last few days have led to the displacement of at least 160,000 people. The suspension of humanitarian assistance into affected areas, the escape of an unidentified number of isis detainees and the horrific killing of unarmed civilians including experts that secretary of defense esper has described as potential war crimes. Just weeks ago at our urging, the s. D. F. Removed personnel from border areas, relocated heavy weapons and destroyed defensive fortifications in Northern Syria. They did 10 even in the face of continued Turkish Military buildup along the Syrian Border because they believe the United States and turkey had agreed to a security mechanism in good faith that could avoid bloodshed. It seems that they were wrong to put their faith in this administration. The turkish incursion into syria has undermined years of effort by the United States and the International Community. Despite the elimination of the socalled physical cali phate, isis is not defeated. General mattis correctly warned that isis will resurge if pressure against the group isnt sustained. Perhaps even more damaging than the Current Situation in syria is the longterm impact the president s decision on our standing in the world and our ability to achieve the goals outlined in the National Defense strategy of his administration. The president s shortsighted abandonment of the kurds is a strategic disaster that raises grave doubts among our allies and friends about whether the United States under this president can be counted on to defend our shared interests. Given the diverse National Security challenges we face, we must attract and rely upon partners that share our interests. Our military leaders often promote the virtues of the by, with, and through approach especially when this comes to counterterrorism. Since 9 11, we have built partnerships with local forces throughout the world, from north and east africa to the middle east and across the pacific, to enable efforts against violent extremist groups. We have sought to apply exquisite capabilities only possessed by the u. S. Military to support local partners doing the preponderance of the fighting and dying in service to our shared objective of containing and defeating such violent groups. Contrary to President Trumps assertions, we are not engaged in an endless war in syria. In fact, the u. S. Partnership with the s. D. F. Should be viewed as a model of how to leverage an economy of force commitment of u. S. Military capabilities to achieve strategic effects, thereby object visa wait obviating the need for large numbers of u. S. Personnel to be put at risk. In syria, relatively small numbers of u. S. Forces on the ground enabled a kurdish and arab ground force of approximately 60,000 personnel with our help, the s. D. F. Lynn rated millions of innocent civilians from the violent oppression of isis and defeated the physical caliphate. Some have estimate the that the s. D. F. , the Syrian Defense force, made up of kurds and some arab syrians, lost more than 10,000 fighters taking on isis. Its true that many who joined the s. D. F. Did so to liberate their home from isis. However, it is also true that even after their homes were liberated, the s. D. F. , kurds and arabs alike, continued to pursue isis all the wait through the Euphrates River valley where the last remnants of the fiscal fate were defeated earlier inner i do not. They were not only fighting for themselves, they were also fighting for us. They were fighting to help ensure that there were no more isisdirected or inspired attacks like those carried out in paris, brussels, istanbul, orlando and san bernardino. After the s. D. F. Successfully liberated the territory formerly controlled by isis, they also maintained including more than 2,000 foreign fighters, even when many of their home countries refused to take them back. Beaver given the sacrifices of the s. D. F. And the fight against isis, it was particularly insulting for President Trump to imply that the s. D. F. May not now be releasing isis detainees to get us involved, in his words, in the ongoing violence in Northern Syria. As our military leaders will tell you, our partnership with the s. D. F. Was not only built on our shared opposition to isis but also the trust between our fighters. They deserve more from the United States and President Trump in the face of demand by turkeys autocratic leader. Given all the s. D. F. Has phak sacrificed in furtherance of the fight against isis, our betrayal of their trust is nothing short of appalling. Again, just days before President Trumps fateful call with erdogan, the Deputy Assistant secretary of defense in the middle east publicly stated that we, quite frankly, could not carry out our National Defense strategy if it werent for partners like the s. D. F. I feel that the president s impulsive abandonment of the kurds has done significant and lasting damage to the standing of the United States in the world. Shaken the confidence of our allies and losing partners in the region where the United States National Security interests. Congress and the International Community must send a clear bipartisan signal to the president that we do not condone the turkish incursion into Northern Syria or the president s decision to abandon the kurds. President trump must rescind the invitation for president erdogan to visit the United States in november. We should not welcome an autocrat who is responsible for endangering our troops on the ground in syria, the release of dangerous isis fighters, the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, and violence against noncombatants, which if reports are true, may result to war crimes. The United States does not need to stand alone in condemn respecting the violence in northern eastern syria. Our partners in the Coalition Share our concerns about the damage the incursion has caused to our efforts to defeat isis and the potential humanitarian costs. The United States should take the lead within the United Nations and nato to organize efforts that denounce turkeys actions and restrain the tragic consequences. We must also double efforts to seek a negotiated settlement to the Syrian Civil War that is consistent with u. N. Security Council Resolution 2254 and protects the equities of the s. D. F. And civilians living under their protection. Unfortunately, the greatest impediment in bringing about an end to the conflict there appears to be President Trumps inability to grasp the strategic significance of his actions. And with that, mr. President , i would yield the floor. Ms. Ernst mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Ms. Ernst mr. President , i rise today to call attention to the dire situation which continues to unfold in Northern Syria. Turkey embarked on a reckless and brutal intervention on october 9, 2019, ostensibly to clear Northern Syria of terrorist elements. They have ironically dubbed this operation peace spring. The departure of u. S. Forces just days prior to this incursion left nothing between Turkish Military forces and the predominantly Kurdish Militia known as the Syrian Democratic forces, or s. D. F. Up until the ceasefire agreement announced today, the s. D. F. Bore the brunt of the turkish assault. The kurds are deeply stung by what they see as america abandoning them. This after a long, hard, and successful fight against isis. At the height of its power, isis controlled territory larger than the united kingdom. As Many Americans know, isis directed and inspired terrorist attacks on our homeland, communities across the United States, and staged numerous attacks against our troops overseas. Isis branches across the globe have conducted unimaginable atrocities, including targeting christians, and others who opposed their corrupt interpretation of islam. Just one example of these atrocities is the heartbreaking stories of socalled yezidi brides who were forced into marriages with isis fighters, raped and brutalized repeatedly, forced to decide whether to abandon their children or make an escape. Or the multiple stories of isis terror inflicted on those with disabilities, such as babies being suffocated simply for being born with downs syndrome. Together with a coalition of over 30 countries, the United States engaged in a campaign to rid the world of isis and to restore peace and stability to that region. But it was not a nationstate that bore the brunt of the fighting against isis. The kurds and the arabs who made up the Syrian Democratic forces took the fight to the heart of the caliphate. With the help of United States special Operations Forces and air strikes, the s. D. F. Liberated lands held by the terror group, imprisoned thousands of terrorist fighters and restored hope to hundreds of thousands who suffered under isis rule. In our fastmoving and quicklychanging world, it is easy for some to forget the terrible threat isis once posed while they were at their most powerful. But it would be wrong to think we could now allow ourselves to take our foot off of our enemies throat. Even now isis cells are seeking to take advantage of the chaos in Northern Syria to reconstitute and once again pose a direct threat to americans am to americans right here in our homeland. You cannot watch whats unfolded in syria without being fundamentally concerned about the security of our friends and our neighbors. A recapitalization of isis is a threat to us all. It is for this reason that ive introduced a resolution which calls on the department of defense and the department of state to provide a plan within 30 days which will outline a strategy to ensure isis will never again threaten americans or our allies now or in the future. This strategy will address the ongoing threat that isis poses regionally and globally and will outline the plan to prevent an isis resurgence, contain isis expansion, mitigate the threat isis poses to the United States and our allies, and describe how our gains against isis since 2014 will be further protected. We cannot afford to take our eyes off of this vital task of ensuring the lasting and irreversible defeat of isis. We must consolidate our gains to rid the world of this terrible organization. And insist on a sound strategy to ensure our success to that end. Too many of our Partner Forces and indeed american brothers and sisters, those that are shared in our arms must have fought and died in this fight, and we must ensure that those sacrifices were not made in vain. Thank you, mr. President , and i will yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden mr. President , i have come to the floor today the presiding officer were in a quorum call. Mr. Wyden i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Wyden mr. President , ive come to the floor today to fight for answers, answers that are long overdue. In 2018, my hometown newspaper the oregonian identified a handful of cases where saudi nationals accused of serious crimes in the u. S. Like manslaughter and Sexual Assault fled the country and escaped american justice. Since then the oregonian has identified numerous similar cases. In fact, almost two dozen such cases across the United States. That includes 19 in just the last seven years. Today i want to tell the senate about just one of those cases. Three years ago not far from my home in southeast portland, a young woman had her life taken from her. Fallon smart was then a rising sophomore at franklin high school, and she was aspiring to be a teacher. By all accounts she would have been a terrific teacher. She was 15 and according to everybody who knew her, fallon was warm and smart and friendly. She had her whole life ahead of her. According to police, she lost her life when she was crossing the street in front of stopped traffic and a vehicle illegally swerved into the lefthand lane and hit her at 55 or 60 miles per hour. Her mom was in a car half a block away and ran to her daughter. Fallon died in her mothers ar arms. And the car that hit her just sped away. A Saudi Arabian College Student named Abdul Raman Samir mura later returned to the scene and was arrested. He was eventually charged with manslaughter in fallons death and then released on a Million Dollar bail. The saudi consulate posted his 100,000 bond according to the oregonian newspaper. Mr. President , in the United States, in our country, there was every expectation that mr. Nura would get a fair shake from the Justice System. And the Justice System was working the right way here until two weeks before mr. Nura was scheduled to go to trial. His tracking bracelet was somehow cut and he disappeared. Mr. Nura has never stood trial for fallon smarts death. Eventually this spring the state department confirmed in a letter to me that mr. Nura had returned to saudi arabia. And i felt then and i do today this raises an important and serious question. How did a Foreign National charged with manslaughter whose passport was seized disappear from the United States without a trace . How does this person escape the country and make it thousands of miles back to saudi arabia with there being no record of his doing so. News reports in 2018 suggest that the Saudi Arabian government new about mr. Noorah and these other fugitives and potentially helped them flee justice. Mr. President , i have five children. I cannot imagine the grief i would feel if one of them was taken from me and the person responsible somehow managed to evade the Justice System. Its almost impossible to comprehend the anger and the helplessness and the frustration that any parent would feel in a situation like this. Ive met with fallons mom fawn and while she and all of fallons loved ones have born this miscarriage of Justice Bourne this miscarriage of justice with extraordinary grace, theyre just heart broken. And in addition to being heart broken, theyre angry. Theyre outraged by the notion that the person charged with killing their daughter may have just been able to escape scotfree and face no consequences for his action. For some time ive been demanding information from the trump administration. In my view the victims of these crimes, their families, the American People, theyre owed some essential answers. How did this happen . What is the United States government doing about it . Ive written the department of justice. Ive written the state department. Ive written the u. S. Marshal service. Ive written the department of homeland security. As far as i can tell, i would have gotten better answers from the saudi royal family themselves. In fact, when i asked secretary of state mike pompeo what he was doing to try to return the saudi fujitives to the United States, basically what his department did, we just got a collective shrug of the shoulders. I sent the secretary of state a letter last december. He didnt respond. So i sent another letter in february. I said the state Department Needs to use all its resources and all the tools at its disposal to hold the saudi government accountable. And, mr. Speaker, i asked whether our ambassador had pressed the saudi government about this disturbing, really shocking pattern of saudi nationals skipping bail. The state department finally did respond to my second letter. What we got was a whole bunch of nothing. One of mr. Pompeos aides said that without an extradition treaty, theyre just really there just really wasnt anything they could do about it. This is from a secretary who tried to rebrand state, i quote, as the department of swagger, unquote. That swagger was nowhere to be found when it was time to protect innocent americans. So, mr. President , today im not writing anymore letters. Im here on the senate floor asking for Action Action today. I am seeking to pass the saudi fugitive declassification act of 2019. My bill requires that the f. B. I. Director, in coordination with the director of national intelligence, would quickly quickly declassify any and all information related to a key question, whether the government of saudi arabia helped any saudi nationals escape the country when those saudi nationals were awaiting trial or sentencing for a criminal offense. So met me just repeat so let me just repeat that so theres no confusion. The bill requires that the f. B. I. Director its equaled the d. N. I. , the director of national intelligence, would quickly quickly declassify any and all information on the issue of whether the government of saudi arabia helped any saudi nationals escape the country when those saudi nationals were awaiting trial or sentencing for a criminal offense in the United States. I believe what i am asking for today must happen in the name of justice immediately. The American People deserve answers. The people i represent at home in our neighborhood in southeast portland, they want answers. These are not academic matters. This is not about a series of victimless crimes. This is about manslaughter. Its about rape. Its about a whole array of ugly offenses. This is about real people, real families, families that have suffered immeasurable pain. They deserve to see justice served. When individuals who are charged with Violent Crimes no victimless crimes here, Violent Crimes manage to escape and when the United States fails to do much of anything about it, it undermines public safety, it harms the u. S. Justice system. If, as some of the press stories have suggested, the saudi government has helped these alleged criminals escape justice, the American People have the right to be doubly concerned. Is the public image of saudi arabia a higher priority than the safety of american citizens . Any action by a Foreign Government to thwart our criminal Justice System would be an tac on our National Security and our sovereignty. If that is what has happened, then all americans deserve to know. So, mr. President , i now ask unanimous consent the United States senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 2635 submitted earlier today. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk s. 2635, a bill to require the director of the federal bureau of investigation to declassify any and all information relating to whether the government of saudi arabia assisted a citizen or national of saudi arabia in departing the United States while the citizen or national was awaiting trial or sentencing for a criminal offense committed in the United States and for other purposes. Mr. Wyden mr. President , i further ask the presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Wyden i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Wyden mr. President , parliamentary inquiry. With that action, has this bill now been passed . The presiding officer it has. Mr. Wyden thank you. Thank you, mr. President. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call