A senator i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Cassidy mr. President , right now we are debating let me turn off this device. Right now were debating the Great American outdoor act which would be great if it only were balanced. My problem with the Great American outdoor act, mr. President , is that it spends billions on places where we vacation but the authors of the bill would not allow a few million to be spent to protect the places where we live and we work and we help create livelihoods for many. And there is an amendment that would do that that is bipartisan and that would not take any money away from the billions that the bill is already allocating for those places where we vacation. And first let me kind of make my point. Mr. President , 42 of americans live on a county or parish adjacent to a coast. 42 . 85 of americans live in a coastal state. But, mr. President , of the billions that go into the Great American outdoors act, of those billions, 50 to close to 60 are spent in seven states, seven localities. And if you exclude washington, d. C. And areas around washington, it is not spent on coastal areas. Were spending billions on places where we go to vacation, but the authors of the bill would not allow millions to be spent to protect where we live. Mr. President , that is foolish public policy. We should be investing in coastal resiliency. Fow of now of course the iroy is we are going to spend billions on the coast, mr. President. Why . We see it. Harris county flooded. Thats houston. Florida, flooded, the panhandle, other parts of florida. Puerto rico, the american virgin islands. North dakota, South Carolina north carolina, South Carolina, georgia, hurricanes rita and katrina and the coast of louisiana, also mississippi, and alabama. Were going to spend billions. Were going to spend billions, but were going to spend those billions in the wrong way. Were going to spend those billions on the coast repairing damage that could have been prevented if we had spent millions now. I draw attention to a floodwall, a levee in Terrebonne Parish louisiana. We had flooding that came off the gulf of mexico. Ten thousand homes were not flooded because that flood protection had been erected. Ten thousand homes were not flooded. Now all im asking, mr. President , for the authors of this bill is to allow a few million to be spent where people live, where people work, where people help others earn their living, and they can still have their billions to spend on the places where we vacation. Now i dont want to minimize the need to take care of our National Parks. When someone speaks of a leaky roof and if you fix it early, then fixing it early keeps the damage from getting greater, that makes sense. We should find a way to pay for it, but it makes sense that you would do that. How much more so when were speaking about l coastal resiliency . I was told recently that army corps of engineers wants to build a 3. 5 billion floodgate in miami to prevent miami from flooding. 3. 5 billion. Were going to spend billions on the coast, mr. President. Its just a question of whether we do it in reaction or whether we do it kind of, we have to fear the worst, or whether we do it like in Terrebonne Parish. Building a floodwall now so that 10,000 homes dont flood. It is my disappointment that the authors of this legislation will not allow this bipartisan amendment to take, to be added. By the way, weve heard that democrats are okay with the amendment. But for whatever reason, the authors will not allow it. Let me show you one other thing just to make the point. The Great American outdoors act actually has two pots of dollars, if you will. One is for deferred maintenance. Again, 50 to 60 of that goes to seven states. But this shows where the land Water Conservation money goes. This is the coastal states. This is where people live. In these states, they on the average per capita get 7. 53 from the land Water Conservation. These blue states in the interior, some of them populated, some of them not, on average gets 17. 66 per capita. Were sending money to where people dont live to fix vacation spots, which are important, but its not where we live. And were not spending money where people do live, where their homes are, where their cities are, and where if we dont enhance resill yen circumstance were going to resiliency, were going to spend billions when the hurricane hits. This is so foolish public policy, by the way, some of my fiscal conservative colleagues, and i consider myself a fiscal conservative weighed in against the Great American outdoors act saying were not paying for it. Were pretending to pay for it. Were taking dollars that would otherwise go to the treasury. Otherwise go to the treasury and pretending like theyre new dollars. Thats actually true. But what we can also say is that if we add the amendment the coastal act, which i worked on with senator sheldon whitehouse, been a great partner to work on, we actually would be paying for it. We would be paying for it by putting in that coastal resiliency, that coastal resiliency that will prevent the future billions from having to be paid to pick up the pieces after a hurricane hits a populated area. Mr. President , ill speak again on the floor tomorrow, but i just want to make the point, the Great American outdoors act spends billions where we vacation, fixing things that we dont wish to get worse. The coastal act does not take away from these billions, these billions spent on places where we vacation, these billions spent where people do not live. It just spends millions, a paltry few million trying to add resiliency to where we do live, to where we do work, to where we do create livelihoods not just for ourselves but for others. And that is a fiscally sound, fiscally conservative way to spend dollars. That would save treasury money. It would save lives and maybe give people a little extra money to spend in these parks that were spending billions to fix up. Mr. President , i thank you, and i yield back. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations committee be discharged and the senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of p. N. 1704 with the exception of alzese yons, that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. That no further motions be in order, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, and the president be immediately notified of the senates action and the senate resume legislative session. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Mcconnell so i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 393, s. 149. The presiding officer the the clerk will report. The clerk calendar 393, s. 149, a bill to establish a senior scams prevention advisory council. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection, the senate will proceed. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the committeereported substitute be agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the committee on Veterans Affairs be discharged from further consideration of s. 3637 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk s. 3637, a bill to amend the Service Members civil relief act to extend lease protections for Service Members under stop movement orders in response to a local national or global emergency and for other purposes. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell now, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 00 a. M. Thursday, june 11. Further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be researched for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. Finally, following leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of calendar number 75, h. R. 1957. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell so if theres no further business to come before the senate, i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order. The presiding officer the Senate Stands adjourned until Senate Stands adjourned until hasnt got allows for lawmakers continued to be on the public land package that would permanently hunt the land and Water Conservation fund while establishing a fund for maintenance of National Parks and other public lands. The final bottleneck could take place this week. Also possible executive and judicial nominations as well as a motion to meet with the house on the reauthorization negotiations on that continuum off the floor. Follow the senate live here as he spent two, when they gamble back in. Earlier today Senate LeadersMitch McconnellChuck Schumer came to the floor to discuss Police Reform legislation said to be debated on the floor before july 4th. Heres a look. Yesterday i explained we cannot let the First Amendment become another casualty. Of this troubled moment. No matter how charge the issue, peaceful protests must be protected. From suppression by governments or hijacking