Read from the ancient and sacred scroll of ester. It is in the scroll we read at first of a certain darkness, a darkness which would come to envelope the entire nation over which ester would reign as queen. It was queen ester who became frightened when the plan revealing a plot to erase the sacred remnants of her people, along with the fundamental teachings of her faith came to light. And yet, it was ester who, when confronted by the impending darkness, was able to bring the plot to an end, allowing her people to emerge from the shadow of this horror and live freely, without fear, celebrating life itself in the light of their new found freedom. And now, standing here today before you on the eve of the festival, we too ask that you remember us for life, instilling within us a greater love of freedom seeking both peace and prosperity for all the inhabitants of this great nation. And yet, dear lord, we would be remiss if we were not to remember those who have sacrificed much, those who have suffered and paid dearly with their lives, allowing for us a life of freedom without fear, worshiping as we choose, and continuing to bask in that Greater Light of your eternal love. Teach us now and forever to celebrate our differences, unify us to preserve and admire those differences among us with respect and dignity for all. Lord, we ask you to bestow your blessings today upon this assembly and upon the nation which it serves. Bless all the inhabitants of this land with both prosperity and lasting joy. Yivarechecha adonai vyishmarecha. God bless the United States of america and may god bless us all. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. The president pro tempore 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 clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington, d. C. , february 27, 2018. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i here by appoint the honorable benjamin sasse, a senator from the commonwealth of nebraska, who will perform the duties of the chair. Signed orrin g. Hatch, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order the leadership tame is reserved. Morning business is closed. The senate will proceed to executive session. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, elizabeth l. Branch of georgia to be United States district judge for the 1 eleventh circuit. Mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the dc circuit leader. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer after calendar number bien, columbine and so many to name, the nation convulsed, we talked about gun safety laws po prevent more to prevent more names and places from being added to the list. Each time we talked this government did nothing. Now, in the wake of the tragic shooting at Stoneman Douglas high school that took the lives of another 17 americans, we must try again to pass meaningful changes to our laws to keep our children safe. Thats our duty, and there are many things we could and should pursue. Yesterday, i suggested that comprehensive background checks would be an excellent and necessary place to start. It doesnt make sense that we allow anyone, regardless of their criminal history, felons, or a history of Mental Illness, to walk into a gun show or go online and buy a gun, no questions asked. Theres no sense in that. When i wrote the brady law back in 1993, gun shows werent popular. We didnt have Internet Sales to worry about at the time because there was no internet. These loopholes grew and grew and grew over time. Now its hard to know the exact number because we dont record the number of guns at gun shows sold at gun shows or online, but about onefifth of all gun sales happen without a background check. Its likely that criminals and others up to no good, they dont want to be detected and go through a background check. It is outrageous that so many guns are sold with no background check whatsoever, whether youre a felon, adjudicated mentally ill, domestic abuse. We should close the loopholes and close them now. Comprehensive background checks. Not something here or there, but comprehensive background checks are supported overwhelmingly by the American People. Later this morning, in 15 minutes, i will meet with several of the students, the brave, courageous students, from Stoneman Douglas high school, and i want to hear what they have to say. These brave students, whether at the florida statehouse or on national television, have spoken out with eloquence and grace. They are changing the way this country thinks about this issue. I hope, i pray, they compel us to do something significant because we cannot settle for half measures, not after what happened in florida, not after so many tragedies. The fix nics bill is an idea that has wide support in this chamber. But it is tiny. It is a Grant Program that addresses one specific issue. Now we have a whole hoes of issues to address a whole host of issues to address, not just one. Fix nics was named by the senator from texas after a particular tragedy in texas where a member of the air force was not qualified to get a gun, but the air force failed to send the information to ncis. Nics. We should not aim our Gun Legislation simply at one past tragedy. We must look to the future. What will prevent future tragedies . Comprehensive background checks will. The fix nics bill will not. So lets not set our sights too narrow and squander this moment. Lets try for significant, Bipartisan Legislation that will make a real difference in keeping our children safe. Now, even as our caucus discusses what legislation is best and in our Leadership Meeting we had an outstanding discussion this morning, i look forward to working with our republican colleagues to see if we can get Something Real done. Now, mr. President , on another matter, today Senate Democrats will be introducing our legislation to reverse the f. C. C. s repeal of Net Neutrality. It has the support of every single democrat and one senate republican, senator collins, from the state of maine. I tell all my republican colleagues this c. R. A. Is the best way to undo the terrible decision to repeal Net Neutrality. Its an important debate. At stake are two opposing visions of the future of the internet. For its entire history, the internet has been free and open, accessible to all americans. Its been a true public good, just as our highways are. Whether you are on main street or wall street, you got the same internet. Whether you were a consumer or a big corporation, you got the same internet. Whether you were a teacher in a wealthy school or an underresourced school, you got the same internet. The equality of access has driven innovation and entrepreneurship, and so much of what we value in the american spirit and the american economy. Its the american way. Net neutrality rules were put in place to ensure that the internet remains that way, open, equal access to all. No matter who you are, how much money you had, how much power you had. But after repeal by the republicanled f. C. C. Has opened us to an entirely new universe where Internet Service providers, the big boys will have the authority to sell quality internet to the highest bidder. That means they could restrict customers access to their favorite websites by forcing them to buy internet packages or pay more for premium services. Big companies could pay to get faster Internet Service, while startups and Small Businesses and average americans are left in the slow lane. Everything from netflix to amazon prime to spotify, streechg television, sports and movies could be slower if you dont pay up streaming television, sports and movies could be slower if you dont pay up. Public schools could be at a significant disadvantage. Startups looking to get their businesses off the ground but arent large enough to negotiate faster internet delivery with i. S. P. s might never take off. Our startups in new york are scared to death of the elimination of Net Neutrality. And they have created hundreds of thousands of jobs in my city and millions throughout the country. An internet without Net Neutrality is a tail of tale of two internets where the best internet goes to the highest bidder and everyone else loses. We have an opportunity to save the internet with our c. R. A. Which would reinstitute Net Neutrality rules that keep the internet just the way it is now. Democrats believe the future of the internet must be as free and open as in the past. Thats the startup founder living in her parents basement, and she should be able to compete with the Worlds Largest corporations. Thats the young student in an underserved school district, and he can find all the information he needs online. Thats every american who should be able to afford easily accessible internet. If we start degrading the internet, it could dramatically hurt our economy and our equality in america, something we are all striving for. Right now, unfortunately, only one republican has signed up for the fair, open vision of an internet that we need and want to keep. All we need is one more, and on this Net Neutrality day of action, i urge all americans to contact their senators and demand they sign up with us to save the internet. Now, finally, a word on the republican tax bill. When President Trump and Congressional Republicans were trying to sell their tax bill, all you heard about, its going to be a boon to workers, stimulate investments in new factories, raise wages, create jobs. Well, its a few months after the tax bill, and the promises have not been backed up by the evidence. Now the evidence is flowing in that corporations are spending the lions share of the benefits they reap from the tax bill, not on workers but on goosing their own stock. Heres a headline from mondays New York Times. Quote, trumps tax cuts in hand, companies spend more on themselves than on wages, unquote. The article goes on to document how the republican tax bill has unleashed a wave of share buybacks and stock repurchasing programs, things which help out rich executives and shareholders but dont accomplish much for everyday american workers. Youre the c. E. O. Of a company, you are judged by whether your stocks going up. The quickest hit on that is buy back your shares, reduce the number. It doesnt help your workers, doesnt help american productivity. It helps your bottom line, mr. C. E. O. That is so wrong. And that we did a huge tax bill and put ourselves in deep debt so that so much of the money can go to corporate executives, not improving the actual performance of their company but just raising the value of their stock by buybacks, that is so wrong. The article in the New York Times documents how the republican tax bill has unleashed this wave of share buybacks and stock repurchasing programs, which as i said help out rich executives and shareholders but dont accomplish for everyday workers. Rather than investing in new equipment to research, raising wages, providing better benefits, raising productivity which were so short of here in america right now, Corporate America is using the trump tax cut to give itself a raise. Heres morgan stanley, hardly a leftwing company. Morgan stanly at morgan stanley, the analysts surveyed a bunch of companies, and the companies surveyed say they would pass only 13 of the trump tax cut savings on to workers. In comparison to the 43 that will go to share buybacks. For manufacturers, we all care about manufacturing, its even worse. They expect 9 to go to workers, 47 to go to share buybacks. Republicans made a conscious decision to give corporations and the wealthiest americans the lions share of the tax cuts and promised it would trickle down to everybody else. Unfortunately, trickle down never works. Corporate america is doing best Corporate America is doing whats best for Corporate America, and working america is getting left behind. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the assistant democratic leader. Mr. Durbin mr. President , a few years ago, an author named Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called the Tipping Point. He really spelled out in the course of history when something occurs which changes peoples thinking, actions. It is a precipitous moment where what has been done for so long stops, is reevaluated, and a different course is followed. The clear question we have in America Today is whether we have reached a Tipping Point when it comes to gun violence. Its only been 13 days, 13 days since the tragedy in parkland, florida. And look whats happened since. Of course, outrage, sadness, mourning for the families that lost these wonderful students, teachers, and administrators, but beyond that, these high school students, 17, 18 years old, some even younger, have really become a national voice, a powerful voice on the issue of gun safety in schools. I often wondered when this moment might occur or whether it would occur. There has been such a long litany and string of mass shootings, massacres. Its sad to say there was a numbness setting in when terrible things occurred in places like las vegas, in texas, in other states. You wondered is that is that the event . Is killing those innocent children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in connecticut, will that be the Tipping Point . Will america finally say enough . It appears on this day, 13 days after the tragedy in florida, that we are near or at a Tipping Point when it comes to gun safety. Some of it is very personal. Two weeks ago, after this occurred, my 6yearold granddaughter said to her mother that she had been warned in her first grade classroom that if a shooter should turn up at the School Firing a gun, first she should stay away from the windows, and second she should lie down on the floor. I cant tell what you a profound impact that had on me as a grandfather, to think that my little first grader, this beautiful little girl was worried about the moment when somebody would walk in her classroom and juwan tonally try to kill and just wantonly try to kill the teachers and students who were there. I cant believe any person believes that the Second Amendment to the constitution, the right to bear arms, envisioned that possibility. Im sure it didnt. Im sure our Founding Fathers and we can debate it the rest of the day what their words actually meant never envisioned that an american citizens right to bear arms could somehow translate into violence against so many innocent people, as it has over and over and over again. Last week, i was in chicago. I was joined at a press conference by representatives at the Martin Luther king jr. Community center on the south side. We stood together, victims of gun violence and myself, at a press conference. Advocates in the Illinois Council to combat gun violence have been working for years against the scourge of gun violence in illinois. I stood with patrick correllis who was injured on february 14, ten years ago at a mass shooting at Northwestern University in dekalb illinois. But a new group came to join us. A girl from parkland, florida, Francine Brown. She graduated in 2009. She is currently a College Student at kent college of law. She is one of dozens of Stoneman High School graduates in the chicago area, which includes the first baseman for the chicago cubs, anthony rizo. Hundreds if not thousands nationwide who have joined together in the aftermath of the february 14 mass shooting that killed 14 Stoneman Douglas students and three staff. These young men and women have come together to speak up and urge their lawmakers to do something about the nations epidemic of gun violence. The message is starting to resonate. When Francine Brown was speaking last wednesday, students across the schools in the chicagoland area were walking out of class in solidarity with Stoneman Douglas students. They were all calling for commonsense gun reform. These students dont have time or patience for political games in washington or springfield. They have seen their friends, kids just like themselves, get shot in the classrooms and neighborhoods. They have had enough. Fran machine brown said, and i quote, its not supposed to matter what side of the aisle a politician sits. Were supposed to all protect the future for our children. I couldnt agree more. These students and young people across the country are changing the debate about gun violence. They are making it clear how absurd it is for lawmakers in this chamber, across the rotunda, or in state capitols to do nothing when americans get shot every day in their neighborhoods, churches, nightclubs, concerts, and schools. There are fellow politicians in washington who ignore the overwhelming majority of americans who want commonsense gun safety