At 1130 there will be voting whether to limit debate on the 2018 defense spending bill. Public funding runs out at midnight. Later the senate is expected to take up a six week extension. Live now to the floor of the senate. The presiding officer the senate will come to order. The chaplain dr. Barry black will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal spirit, our lamp and light, we praise your holy name. Lord, you are our strength and shield, enabling us to be surefooted even when standing on mountain heights. Stay with our lawmakers, support them with your mighty hand, and keep their feet from slipping. Enable our senators to one day stand before your presence with great joy. Show them your greatness until the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of your glory and grace. We pray in your majestic name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the 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. The presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington d. C. , february 8, 2018. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable pat toomey, a senator from the state of pennsylvania, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed orrin g. Hatch, president pro tempore. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell this congress and this president have delivered a historic series of achievements for the American People. We took an axe to the red tape holding back our economy. We used the Congressional Review Act a record 15 times to pave the way for job creation. After joars of broken properly years of broken promises to our veterans we began giving our heroes the more accessible care, greater choice and workforce training they deserve. We confirmed outstanding judges to the federal bench. We advanced efforts to address the Opioid Crisis. And of course we passed the most significant tax overhaul in a generation. Already tax reform is increasing takehome pay for american workers. Already businesses are investing more, expanding more, and creating more goodpaying jobs right here at home. Over the past year, we have built a record of successes for middleclass families and a stronger, safer country. But among all the work that still remains, one critical piece of Unfinished Business is now really close to the finish line. If we act now, we can start rebuilding our military and provide our troops the training and equipment they need to defend the homeland and protect the American People. The crisis in our military is acute. Just this week headlines revealed that twothirds of the navys fa18 aircraft are not prepared to fly. The fleet which must secure sea lines of communication across the globe and patrol the persian gulf and the South China Sea has shrunk to the smallest ship count in nearly three decades. Weve become too reliant on special Operations Forces and radically drawn down our conventional force structure. This has not been lost on china or russia. Theyre improving their conventional forces and intimidating their neighbors. Our force faces a complex collection of threats and challenges from iran, china, russia, and north korea, to isil, al qaeda, and their affiliates. The need for our forward presence is not diminished in the persian gulf nor the South China Sea and the pacific. Neither has our responsibility to our nato allies in europe or to the republic of korea. No, we have not asked our allvolunteer military to do any less for our country. Theyve just been forced to make do with less. And all these shortterm funding bills have handicapped our military leaders ability to make longterm plans and investments. In december the Navy Secretary said the inefficiencies from continuing resolutions have cost his department enough money to pay for an entire squadron of fighter planes or two destroyers. Let me say that again. The secretary of the navy said the inefficiencies from continuing resolutions have cost his department enough money to pay for an entire squadron of fighter planes or two destroyers. Heres how general dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff put it. He said the u. S. Militarys competitive advantage against potential adversaries is eroding. Yesterday i announced a bipartisan budget agreement that will finally bring this to a close. The agreement will allow for the funding levels recommended by the ndaa conference report, authorization levels secured by the stalwart leadership of chairman john mccain and our colleagues on the Armed Services committee. So what does this mean for our men and women in uniform . It means putting a stop to the decline in combat readiness. It means knowing their Weapons Systems will be delivered, maintained, and kept on the cutting edge. Take it from secretary mattis. Yesterday he explained just what this agreement will do. Heres how he put it. It will ensure our military can defend our way of life, preserve the promise of prosperity, and pass on the freedoms you and i enjoy to the next generation. Our volunteer Service Members arent the only americans this agreement will help. It also builds on the progress weve made for veterans and military families by providing for better care and helping cut the v. A. s maintenance backlog. It offers reinforcements to families on the front lines of our nations struggle with opioid addiction and substance abuse. According to the c. D. C. , opioid Overdose Deaths increased five fold just between 1999 and 2016. On average this epidemic takes more than 100 american lives every single day. This agreement provides for new grants, prevention programs, and Law Enforcement initiatives to bolster existing national and state efforts. The legislation secures relief for families who are still struggling to rebuild in the wake of last years spade of natural disasters. This provision was only made possible by tireless work from several of might colleagues. Of my colleagues. Thanks to the leadership of senator cornyn and senator rubio who led on behalf of florida and spoke up for the people of puerto rico, help will soon be on the way. And the agreement also provides for new investment in our nations infrastructure, a shared bipartisan priority. Now, im confident that no senator on either side of the aisle believes this is a perfect bill. But im also confident that is our best chance to begin rebuilding our military and make progress on issues directly affecting the American People. This is a bill for brave americans serving our country, including the many Service Members based in my home state of kentucky. They deserve the pay raise we promised them and the confidence that when they leave our shores, theyre combat ready. This is a bill for our distinguished military commanders who have sounded the alarm on sequestration more times than any of us can count. This is a bill for our heroes who have come home. They should be greeted by a better funded streamline Veterans Administration that is equipped to meet their needs. This is a bill for American Families who have been victimized by brutal storms or the scourge of drug addiction. They deserve the assistance this agreement secures. I hope each senator will carefully review this bipartisan bill and support it. We need to build on our historic year, seize the opportunity, and keep moving forward. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the house message to accompany h. R. 695 which the clerk will report. The clerk house message to accompany h. R. 695, an act to amend the National Child protection act of 1993 to establish a National Criminal history background check system and criminal history review program for certain individuals who related to their employment have access to children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities and for other purposes. The presiding officer under the previous order, the time until 11 30 will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. Mr. Mcconnell i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer Senate Minority leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. Are we in a quorum, mr. President . The presiding officer we are in a quorum call. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer thank you, mr. President. Yesterday after months of painstaking negotiations, the republican leader and i reached a twoyear budget deal. Not only will it end the series of successful fiscal crises that have gridlocked this body, it will also deliver a large investment in our military and robust funding of middleclass programs. It will also give a significant boost to our Nations Health care and provide long overdue relief to disasterstricken parts of our country. As i said yesterday, it doesnt include everything that democrats want nor everything that republicans want. But its a good deal for the American People, and its a strong signal that we can break the gridlock that has overwhelmed this body and Work Together for the good of the country. Let me run through a few of the benefits that this agreement would provide. Our military has suffered from the uncertainty of endless shortterm spending bills. This budget deal puts that to an end. It gives the military a significant boost in support and allows the pentagon to make longterm decisions about its budget. Its the right thing to do, and i want to credit two people. First, my dear friend, senator mccain. He talked to me repeatedly even when he was ill about the need for funding defense. He also talked about the need for doing immigration and tried to make them go hand in hand. But senator mccain has been our leader in this chamber on both sides of the aisle in terms of making sure defense is funded, and i know he is proud today of what were doing for the military. Id also like to thank secretary mattis. He visited me repeatedly. Hes a cabinet secretary who seems to be doing his job rather than focusing on an ideological path which divides people. And he worked hard for this and deserves a great deal of credit. We democrats always argue that waoepbted to fund our we wanted to fund our military and middleclass programs. We needed good help on both. A mother whose child died from opioid addiction, a veteran who is waiting in line to get help, College Students with great debt on their shoulders. Pensioners whose pensions might be greatly diminished, they all need help, too. To say our military needs help to the exclusion of all these other worthy causes is not fair to them and not good for america. And i have always argued, we can do both. This budget shows we can. We can do both, fund the military and help fund the middle class. For those naysayers who said that couldnt be done, it sure can. This budget, im proud of what it does for the middle class. For a decade, we all know this, we all talk about it, our middle class has suffered from a needless and selfimposed austerity in congress, limiting investment and jobs in education, infrastructure, Scientific Research and more. This deal puts that to an end as well. So for those who said we cant do both, we can. Im proud of this budget because it does. Let me go into a few specifics. There is billions of dollars of support for child care, helping middleclass families shoulder the very heavy burden of child care. They need to take care of their kids in a way that they can have confidence in when both parents work. So often that happens. Or in singleparent families, so often that happens. What about College Affordability . The debt burden on the shoulders of those who just got out of college or graduate school is huge. We are focusing on providing help here, and in this budget, we focus on police officers, teachers, and firefighters. What about infrastructure . Our infrastructure is crumbling throughout america. Much of it was built 50 or even 100 years ago. Roads and bridges, water and waste water. We need to help those, and then we need new infrastructure. How about Rural Broadband to rural areas in inner cities which are not getting it. Broadband is a necessity today. Kids cant learn. Often you cant hold a job unless you can get broadband at home. In large parts of america, particularly rural, we cant get it. We provide help. And Rural America is very happy that were doing this. We provide billions to rebuild and improve veterans hospitals and clinics, so that when our brave soldiers come home there in the scars of war, their country serves them just as well as they served us. Opioids, i mentioned that earlier. 6 billion. Finally to guard against the opioid and Mental Health crises. The Opioid Crisis is widespread. The president has set up a whole bunch of commissions and given a whole bunch of speeches, but hasnt funded it. We in this body have. We democrats have led the charge. We have so many members like senators shaheen and manchin. So many senators like senators heitkamp and baldwin. So many senators like mccaskill and donnelly, like senator hassan, have been talking about the Opioid Crisis for a long time, and their hard work has now produced the dollars that will give the treatment that so many who are addicted need and the infrastructure to prevent these bad drugs, particularly fentanyl from coming into this country. Mr. President , my guess to the state of the guest to the state of the union was Stephanie Keenan from put New Hampshire county. She was a brave veteran. The veteran got hooked on opioids after ptsd. He waited six months for his first appointment at the v. A. Died of an overdose two weeks before he could get treatment. Stephanie keenan has been fighting for this. She is a brave, strong woman who is lighting a candle. She was my guest at the state of the union. She is a happy woman this morning because all her hard work after her sons passing is coming to fruition. And of course, there is much more in this proposal, so much we can all be proud of as americans that were not neglecting people who have been neglected for so long. Support for Community Health centers. They serve over 25 million americans. A full decade of funding for chip, the Childrens HealthInsurance Program. An effort to lower Prescription Drug costs to millions of american seniors caught in the Medicare Part d doughnut hole. Disaster relief, Recovery Funding not just for texas and louisiana and florida, important as they may be and are, but for puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands and western states, and a special select committee, we dont do this often, thats empowered under a deadline to deliver a legislative fix to the pension issue by the end of the year. This issue, which plagues so many working americans, middleclass americans, in many states, people who paid into their pensions day after day, week after week, month after month, and are now finding those pensions vanishing, we should provide relief for them just as we should provide relief for others, and this commission is a strong, bright light that focuses on this issue and will create a path to solution. I want to salute so many of my colleagues who have worked so hard on so many of these pieces. Senators murray and wyden and tester on health care. Brown, casey, stabenow, manchin, heisman trophy, donnelly, klobuchar, baldwin and smith on the pension piece. Nelson on the disaster package. Senator leahy, Ranking Member of appropriations, has done a great job on the whole thing. A lot of credit is due to each of them and so many more of our members because the final product is something that will benefit so Many Americans over the next decade. Senator mccaskill was also very much involved in the pension issue, as well as many others. So i hope this budget agreement will pass the senate in large numbers from both sides of the aisle. It will be easy to say well, i didnt like this, i didnt like that, but this is the time to come together. This is a time to stand up for our soldiers, our middle class, and those aspiring to the middle class. So i hope we will get a large bipartisan vote. And to that point, i have some pointed words for some in the house, in the Freedom Caucus, hard right, who are starting to squawk about this budget deal. They say it raises the deficit. They just voted and cheered a bill that would add 1. 5 trillion to the deficit in the form of tax breaks for mammoth corporations. They were willing to increase the deficit on the defense side of the budget, but all of a sudden, when it comes to our schools or our roads or our Scientific Research, oh, we cant do it because of the deficit. Mr. President , it is blatantly hypocritical to ignore the deficit when it favors Corporate America but raise the alarm when it comes to helping our vete