The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Lankford mr. President , i want to be able to address this body to talk about an issue that we dont talk about enough, the deficit. Its an issue for whatever reason weve stopped talking about in washington, d. C. Were talking about tax policy, as we should. Were talking about Disaster Relief areas, which we should. Talking about health policies, which we should. A lot of other things. We have stopped talking about debt and deficit. I think thats a mistake for us. See, as the trend has moved, since 2011, at a high point when the deficit spending that year was 1. 3 trillion in overspending in a single year. Since that point, deficits have gone down a little bit each year until 2015. In 2016, our deficit number, thats a single year overspending started going back up. It went up in 2016. It went up again in 2017. Turning the wrong direction. As you will recall and as many people in this body would recall, deficits were a major topic for us starting in
A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from georgia. A senator mr. President , i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Perdue mr. President , weve had a lot of action in the United States senate which is unusual here. Id like to address that, today. You know, id like to address this to the people of texas, louisiana, and all those that just experienced the devastating results and impact of Hurricane Harvey. Obviously, our hearts go out to those people and of course were going to do the right thing and help the people of texas which is just what we voted on today. But its a bigger issue i want to speak to today. And i relate to this personally, because just last year, almost exactly to the day, my family was evacuated from our home in south georgia. And as i speak to you today, we were just notified today that my wife and motherinlaw who are there today will be well be evacuating this weekend from the south co
Russia and some of our other toughest competitors around the world. When our businesses compete and win, it means better paying jobs here at home, higher wages, bigger paychecks for americans. And so were going to continue to keep focused on tax reform that delivers tax relief to hard working American Families and that creates greater growth in our economy, better paying jobs and higher wages for people in this country. And the focus, of course, of tax reform is to improve the quality of life for American Families. And you do that by lowering individual tax rates so people get to keep more of their hardearned money. You also do it by lowering corporate rates so that businesses can have more money to pay higher wages and to increase the activities of those businesses. Additionally, there is a lot of money in u. S. Companies that is still sitting overseas that wed like to get back here, but the tax code makes it a lot harder because those companies are taxed twice; once in the country wh
Quorum call a senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from colorado. Mr. Bennet thank you, mr. President. Id ask the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Bennet thank you. Mr. President , as you know, last night, President Trump fired f. B. I. Director james comey. He did this in the middle of an active f. B. I. Investigation into possible links between the Trump Campaign, Trump Associates and the russian government. This action should worry every member of the senate. And i know it worries the people we represent. My office has been flooded with calls since this decision became public. Americans are asking why this firing happened now, why the firing happened at all, and they are right to ask. Officially, President Trump said the f. B. I. Directors dismissal was necessary to restore, quote, the public trust and confidence in the f. B. I. That is laughable. Anybody who knows director comey or knows the f. B. I. Knows that that statement
Quorum call a senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from colorado. Mr. Bennet thank you, mr. President. Id ask the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Bennet thank you. Mr. President , as you know, last night, President Trump fired f. B. I. Director james comey. He did this in the middle of an active f. B. I. Investigation into possible links between the Trump Campaign, Trump Associates and the russian government. This action should worry every member of the senate. And i know it worries the people we represent. My office has been flooded with calls since this decision became public. Americans are asking why this firing happened now, why the firing happened at all, and they are right to ask. Officially, President Trump said the f. B. I. Directors dismissal was necessary to restore, quote, the public trust and confidence in the f. B. I. That is laughable. Anybody who knows director comey or knows the f. B. I. Knows that that statement