May our lawmakers focus on your glory and not their own. Inspire them with your presence so that their lives will reflect your mercy and truth. Lord, give them the wisdom to trust your plans and to desire for you to do as you please for our nation and world. Forgive us when we depend primarily on our strength and ability to meet lifes challenges, forgetting that you are able and eager to help us. God, our deliverer, we bless your name from this time forth and forever more. Thank you, for your merciful kindness that is new each day. We pray in your precious name, amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell during the obama years, many of the hardworking men and women of americas middle class felt completely forgotten. Paychecks often did not keep pace with rising costs. Opportunities for work could often seem bleak. And for those men and women, the promise of a hard of earned retirement seemed to drift further and further away. For so many middleclass americans, the last decade meant a weak economy and a decline of opportunity. The people of the nation deserve better. They deserve larger paychecks, more jobs, and better opportunities to get ahead. This congress is committed to helping the economy live up to its full potential once again, which is exactly why we are committed to passing tax reform. This is our onceinageneration opportunity to overhaul a broken tax code that holds us back and replace it with something that actually works for the hardworking people of our country. It represents the singlemost important thing we can do today to get our economy back on the right track. Working together, President Trump, his team, and taxwriting committees in congress have developed a framework that will help us get there. Heres what it envisions for american workers, we want to make taxes lower, simpler and fairer. We want to take more money out of washingtons pockets and put more in yours. Helping individuals and families succeed is the first aim of tax reform. Helping businesses succeed is the second aim. So we can help create more jobs and creat keep them right here n america. American businesses both large and small face an increasingly competitive global economy. We want to put american businesses and workers on a level Playing Field because when they are, they can win. We want to help bring jobs and profits back home. And once theyre here, we want to keep businesses the right incentives to keep them right here in america. We want to unleash the potential of the American Economy. Helping you keep more of the money in your paycheck, helping businesses grow and workers succeed, helping move the economy into high gear so we can sustain real prosperity into the future for americas middle class. These are the kinds of ideas that should be shared by everyone, republicans and democrats alike. Our friends across the aisle supported the need for tax reform for many years. They used to advocate it loudly. But the tone seems to be different now. What changed . The president or so it would seem. We know that our democratic friends are under immense pressure from the hard left to oppose everything this president touches. But i hope they can resist that pressure and do it what they know is right. After all, shouldnt we all support cutting middleclass taxes, helping small businesses, and bringing jobs and investments back to our country . I was always under the impression democrats wanted to end corporate offshoring, eliminate loopholes for the wealthy, and cut middleclass taxes. Well, these are all aspects of the current tax reform framework. So theres no need for our friends to ink vent reasons to invent reasons to justify opposing tax reform. Theres no reason to launch attacks on the tax reform fram framework based on madeup details that arent actually in it. Tax reform has been a bipartisan effort in the past. It can be and should be again now. So its up to our democratic friends to decide if theyd like to engage p in a serious way. I personally hope thisll joining us in advancing this Important Initiative for our country. I think we owe at least that much to the millions of americans who have felt forgotten over the last decade. Tax reform can help move our economy into high gear. It can help deliver more jobs, higher wages, and increased opportunities for the american. The men and women of this country deserve it, which is why i am committed to keeping up the work to get tax reform accomplished. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the quarles nomination, which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, Federal Reserve system, Randal Quarles of colorado to be a member of the board of governors. The presiding officer under the previous order, the time until 10 00 a. M. Will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. Hatch mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Hatch mr. President , i rise today to applause the nomination of Randal Quarles to help oversee the Federal Reserve system. Mr. Quarles is eminently qualified, certainly eminently qualified to serve in this capacity, this important position. Through his long experience in Public Service in the private sector, mr. Quarles has gained experience in financial regulation, economics, and the firsthand operations of Financial Institutions. He also has a proven track record of leadership and policy management. The feds responsibilities are extensive and they are varied, and the roles that mr. Quarles has been nominated for come during a unique period in the feds history. The years ahead will be decisive for the development of the Federal Reserve. The American Economy as well as domestic and international reform. It is paramount that the fed be equipped with a wellrounded leadership a wellrounded Leadership Team so it can meet the many opportunities and challenges of maintaining financial tax i firmly believe that mr. Quarles is an ideal fit to take on such responsibilities for the success of the Federal Reserve and the good of our nation. In closing, i applaud and strongly support the president s nominee to help oversee the Federal Reserve system. I know him personally. I know what a fine man he is. I know what an excellent leader he is. And hell do a good job. Importantly, i would note that it is the intention to confirm mr. Quarles to the position of vice chair for supervision, another essential role. It is critical that mr. Quarles begin his role at the fed as soon as possible. There really is no time to waste, and hell do a great job. With that, i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Schumer mr. President . The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer are we in a quorum . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer thank you, mr. President. Now, as we continue to grieve with the people of las vegas, the families of the injured and the deceased and i think of the pictures i see of those beautiful young people who had the best of life ahead of them you ache for them, but our thoughts must turn to action so this doesnt happen again. What can we do as a nation to change, because surely when there are more Mass Shootings this year than there are the number of days this year, when we average more than one mass shooting per day, something has to change. Im sure if you asked the grieving families, do they want the laws to change so this might not happen again, the overwhelming majority would say yes. They would want us to do something. If we could talk to those brave souls who were killed and are now in heaven, they would say, do something. They wouldnt say, lets wait. They wouldnt say, leave things alone. The fact that they were killed, the fact that there are so many injured, they wouldnt think it is political to tray and save their lives to try and save their lives or prevent somebody else from dying the way they did. So when folks say, dont bring politics into this, its inappropriate and i am sure that the families of the loved ones who were lost would agree with me that it is appropriate and important and necessary. Politics is where were supposed to come together and debate the great problems of our time in order to find solutions to them. Politics is how were supposed to make our country a better, safer, more prosperous place to live. And there is no more appropriate time than now to talk about the issue of gun violence. Now, yesterday President Trump visited las vegas. Im glad he went to show our solidarity and remind everyone there they have the full support of the nation. But he didnt talk about guns. Theres a huge opportunity he missed to lead this nation in a reasonable, moderate debate on gun safety. But that opportunity is not over. The president still has the opportunity. All eyes are on the president to see if hell grasp the opportunity and lead the nation to do something reasonable and moderate about guns and gun safety. President trump, are you going to wait to hear what the n. R. A. Says first . Are you going to wait for the n. R. A. To give you the green light . You ran your campaign saying you were beholden to no one. You fashion yourself as a strong man. Well, are you going to show that you are not beholden to anyone now . Are you going to show your strength now . Are you going to be the first president , republican president , in a generation to buck the n. R. A. . Mr. President , you know what the right thing to do is. I say to President Trump, come out and say that you support and would signing a law to ban bump stocks, the modification used by the las vegas gunman to make his weapons automatic. That is small, and its the right thing to do. Dont wait for the n. R. A. To make up their mind. Do it. Of course, bump stocks cant be our only response. Its hardly enough, even though we should do whatever we can in this body in obeisance to the n. R. A. We must do more. Abandoning efforts to deregulate silencers would be the next step. The police were able to figure out where the gunman was because of the noise from his gun in the mandalay bay total. Lets forget about implementing a National Concealed Carry reciprocity. My Police Officers in times square dont want to let someone who has had no check, who might have a mental derangement like paddock come to times square and they cant do anything about it. Thats what this law would do. Any other heavily populated place. Downtowns of many of our big cities, and even mediumsized cities. Walt disney world, baseball game, football stadium. If this concealed carry reciprocity passed, crazy people could carry weapons concealed into any football stadium in america, and the police couldnt check on them. And they couldnt see if they had a gun. So we have to do these things. And the most important and attainable thing to do, if you looked at the thing that would be the most effective in stopping all this gun violence, the daily gun violence thats doable, it would be adopting universal background checks. Its commence, its measured, its prudent. It would be really effective. The bill that senator murphy introduced yesterday is one that i have been involved with for a long time, and we should see if we can get enough support to pass it. We can and should talk about these issues more. It requires only a modicum of political coverage. President trump and republicans in congress ought to show that moral and political courage now by bucking the n. R. A. And engaging in a reasonable debate about commonsense gun laws. Fully automatic weapons are already illegal. Made so by a law signed by president reagan in 1986. Banning bump stocks is entirely consistent with the books. Senator feinstein has introduced a reasonable proposal here. What are we waiting for . The n. R. A. To give us a green light . That is so wrong. If the president and congress are so beholden to the n. R. A. That they cant do the very bare minimum, banning a device that allowed a shooter to kill 59 americans with ease, a device whose ban would in no way infringe upon the legitimate rights of gun owners and our politics, our means of making this country a better, safer place will have once again failed us. Now, mr. President , turning to the humanitarian crisis in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands once again. Yesterday, the congress received a request from the administration for a supplemental aid package that will go to help puerto rico, the u. S. Virgin islands, and other states hit by storms. That also includes some money for the western states beset by wildfires. Its a good first step, but it is just the start of a long recovery and relief effort that will require additional aid from this congress. While aid and resources are necessary now, these islands are just starting to assess the damage, and once they have been able to determine how devastating these storms actually were, we need to respond immediately to provide Additional Support and funds to assist their recovery and rebuilding. Just as weve done for past storms and disasters, on this package i have three points. First, im urging my colleagues to add additional and vital Flexible Funding for recovery like the Community Development block grant. We gave cd bg to help texas after harvey. We cant deprive puerto rico and the Virgin Islands of this money. Second, i am warning my colleagues on the other side, particularly those in the house, not to attach any extraneous ideological policy riders to this urgent aid package. Ideological policy changes to Flood Insurance program and Forest Management policies should come nowhere near this bill. They tried to do it last week in the f. A. A. Bill, and we had to send it back because of because of joint opposition, both sides of the aisle. Lets not go through that again, and i thank our chairman of our Banking Committee for helping in that regard. Third, its become clear that puerto ricos recovery will be further hindered by its ongoing debt crisis. That crisis, coupled with the devastation from maria, hurricane maria, has led to growing concerns that the island will soon face a liquidity crisis. Simply put, the island is running out of money to pay for essential Services Like first responders, not to mention funds for rebuilding and recovery. The funds we hope to include in the disaster package are critical, but we have to make sure the island has enough cash to start the process, because in fema, local governments often have to lay out the money first and then they get repaid, but puerto rico doesnt have the money to lay out, so we have to deal with that issue to make it effective. With these things in mind, we should act quickly on this supplemental, but its just the beginning of congress aid to rebuild. And finally, mr. President , on the republican tax plan. I have so much to say about this plan. It is so awful in so many ways. Huge tax cuts for the wealthy and the powerful. Raising tax cuts on middleclass people, which im going to talk about in a minute. Blowing a huge hole in our deficit. And to fund the tax cuts for the rich, cutting medicare and medicaid by close to 1. 5 trillion. So were all in favor of serious tax reform debate. We have mentioned our guidelines no tax cuts for the 1 , no increase in the deficit, and do it in a bipartisan way. The republican plan does just the opposite. Thats why democrats are so opposed. It lavishes tax breaks on the rich, pays for it by cutting medicare and medicaid, and leaves everyone in the cold, except the very wealthy. But today i want to focus on one provision of the g. O. P. Tax plan, the repeal of the state and local tax deduction. The republican plan raises taxes on millions of middleclass families across the country by repealing the state and local deduction. 44 million americans, that is about one in eight. Its about many fewer, one in four or five families take that deduction. A third of all taxpayers take the deduction, almost one in three. And they dont just get a few pennies back. They get several thousand dollars off their taxes each year. And its not just a rarefied group in states like massachusetts, new york, and cal. The reason it brings in 1. 3 trillion is because it affects so many people throughout the entire country. Dont believe me . Look at the numbers. Look at these charts. I am posting here, and i hope people will the percentages for each state. 46 of the people in maryland get an average deduction of 12,900. Connecticut 41, new jersey, virginia. Virginia, i showed one of my colleagues, is higher than new york. 37 get an 11,000 deduction. Massachusetts, oregon. Utah. To my colleagues from utah, 35 of utah taxpayers get an average deduction of 12,954. And in utah, they say well, the standard deduction makes up for it. With most families, the standard deduction wont because were taking away the standard exemption. So its a wash if youre a family of three. Lets keep going. Minnesota, new york. I want to show my republican colleagues what is how it would affect some of their states. So lets take georgia. A third of all taxpayers get an average break of 9,000. Okay. Look at these numbers, my colleagues. Im going to send them to every one of you. Look how it affects your state. Like. Here we go. Iowa. 29 of all people get a 10,000 break, on average. Pennsylvania, 29 , an 11,000 break. Arizona, 28 , a 7,000 break. My friend from idaho i didnt know he would be here, but his number is on the chart. 28 of idahoance get an average idahoans get a 8,862 break. Ebb nebraska, 28 , 11,000 deduction. By the way, these numbers come from a group that put it together, but from the i. R. S. These are