Vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chambesh votor change their vote . On this vote, the yeas are 5,the nays are 38. The nomination is confirmed. The clwill rort the nomination. The Clerk Department of the treasury, Brian Callanan of new jersey to be general counsel. The presiding officer the question is on the nomination. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote the presiding officer have all senators voted . Any senator wish to change their vote . The yeas are 55. The nays are 39. The nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22 the senate proceed to legislative session and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h. R. 2740. Further, that at 2 20 there be up to 20 minutes of debate equally divided between the chairman and Ranking Member and that following the use or yielding back of that time the senate vote on the cloture motion on the motion to proceed to h. R. 2740 with the mandatory quorum call being waived. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , i further have. The presiding officer under the previous order, the senate will proceed to legislative session to resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h. R. 2740, which the clerk will report. The clerk motion to proceed to the consideration of h. R. 2740, an act making appropriations for the departments of labor, health and Human Services, and education and so forth and for other purposes. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , i have six requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have been approved by both the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , one of the most poignant moments of my life and certainly of my career here in the senate came in 2017 when a gunman opened fire on a sunday service at a Little Baptist Church right outside of Sutherland Springs, texas. 26 lives were lost that day. 20 people were injured. And the entire community, that small, Little Community outside of san antonio, was shaken to their core by this hateful act. Well, it didnt take us too long to learn about the shooter, a man with a record of domestic violence, animal cruelty and Mental Illness. He had been courtmartialed by the air force and convicted of a serious domestic abuse, which is a felony. By law, the shooter should have been prevented from purchasing or even possessing a firearm, but he wasnt because the critically Important Information about his criminal background had not been uploaded into the relevant background check databases maintained by the f. B. I. Even though a federal statute clearly states that all federal agencies are required to do so. As a result, the gunman was able to unlawfully purchase four firearms, three of which he used to carry out this despicable act. In the wake of any tragedy like this, you cant help but ask what if. In this instance it was our sad duty to ask those questions but we knew the answer. If his criminal record had been uploaded into the f. B. I. Background check system, the shooter would have been prevented from purchasing these firearms he used in the attack. It was the worst kind of system failure. And i searched my conscience. I searched the record to try to figure out exactly what we might be able to do toll prevent acts like this from occurring in the future. Ten days after the shooting, i introduced a bill called the fix nics act. Now, its a little bit confusing. Nics is the National Instant criminal background check system, but it was clear that we needed to fix the National Instant criminal background check system. Hence the name fix nics which is now law. But that law broadened the background check system to prevent violent criminals who shouldnt be able to purchase firearms from being able to do so. It was actually one of the good things that came out of this terrible tragedy. At a time when division and partisanship were much more common than working together, we actually were able to overcome that partisan divide and division and to pass this common law solution to a real problem which im convinced will save lives in the future. This is the kind of thing our constituents expect us to do and what we need to do more of. Its been two years since the shooting in Sutherland Springs and unfortunately that was not the last Mass Violence episode experienced by the state of texas. On august 3 of this year, a gunman stormed the el paso wall minority killing 22 people and wounding two dozen others. Less than a month later on august 31, a man went on a shooting rampage in midland and odessa killing seven people and wounding 25. I visited each of these cities in the days following the shootings to pay my respects to those who had lost loved ones and to visit those who were still recovering in hospital rooms and also to thank the Law Enforcement officers that i believe saved lives that would have otherwise been lost but for their quick and professional response. In those early days, we were still gathering information and working to get to the bottom of how these shootings happened. Now that we have a pretty good idea about what happened and what didnt happen that should have happened, its time to work on solutions to help prevent these types of episodes of Mass Violence into the future. Over the weekend the minority leader here in the senate and the House Speaker said that any proposal that does not include the housepassed universal background checks legislation will and i quote not get the job done, close quote. But i would say to them, mr. President , there is simply no evidence that if the house bill was law, that it would have prevented any of these recent acts of violence. So i would have to ask if the solution that you propose would not have prevented these acts from occurring, what is the point . Is this about making a statement . Is this about virtue signaling . Is this about politics . Or is this about trying to come up with solutions to the problem . We also know the president has repeatedly issued a veto threat on that particular bill, and we know that there is zero, zero chance that it will ever become law. That is not what i call getting the job done. Some of the folks who dont believe in the Second Amendment are using these tragedies to advance an agenda rather than to try to solve a problem. Thats not good enough. And this is not what the American People deserve. Im not interested in introducing legislation just because were being urged to, quote, do something. Im interested in trying to solve a problem and save lives in the process. Thats what we did with the fix nics llation, and thats exactly what we need to do by coming together once again. In the wake of the shootings in el paso, midland and odessa, ive been working on some ideas that can once again, i believe, help unite congress so that we can pass laws that will have a real impact and not just do something. One of the most important ways to intervene as early as possible is to improve access to Mental Health services. Assisted outpatient treatment programs otherwise known as a. O. T. s were under the 21st century cures act as part of a bill i introduced back then called the Mental Health and safe communities act. Whats so important about assisted outpatient treatment programs is the alternatives available to a Family Member when your son or daughter or your spouse or your parent or your brother or your sister becomes mentally ill and is suffering a crisis, your options are extraordinarily limited. And what the a. O. T. s provide, the assisted outpatient treatment, it provides alternatives that can allow a Family Member to help somebody undergoing a Mental Health crisis who otherwise might be in danger to themselves and others. We know that the most common cause of gunrelated deaths are suicides. If we could somehow get people the Mental Health treatment they need early before they even think about taking their own life, we will save many lives. And if we can get people like adam lanza, for example, in sandy hook, Mental Health treatment so we does not become violent to others as well, i think we have a very realistic opportunity to actually save lives going forward. The Mental Health and safe communities act also increased resources and training for Law Enforcement and First Responders to identify those with Mental Illness and respond with treatmentbased alternatives. By strengthening and expanding these programs and prioritizing a strong Mental Health workforce, i believe we can avert potential crises before they happen. Not all of them but i think we can make some real progress. Additionally, i think theres some things we could do to build on the success of fix nics by enforcing current law and improving the existing background check system. We know we need to take Decisive Action against individuals who are violating current law by selling and manufacturing large numbers of firearms without a federal firearms license. Its clearly Congress Intent to make sure that if youre in the business of buying and selling firearms in a commercial enterprise, that you should be licensed by the bureau of alcohol and tobacco a. T. F. The shooter in odessa, for example, attempted to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer but because licensed dealers must perform background checks, he flunked it. He managed to circumvent the background check requirement by later purchasing his weapon from an individual who is obviously in the business of manufacturing and selling firearms but who never registered as a firearms dealer. Thus the shooter evaded a background check because, as i said, all federally licensed firearms dealers are required to do them. But we know under current law it can be difficult to prosecute individuals who are circumventing federal law when they fail to register as a federally licensed firearm dealer. And i believe congress has a role and theres a pretty clear path forward to clarify existing law so that unlicensed dealers can be prosecuted and more people in the business of selling firearms will become federally licensed firearms dealers and thus by definition end up doing more background checks when theyre in the business of doing so. As weve learned as well, its also important for us to take additional steps to harden tough targets like schools. We know that people dont generally go try to shoot up a police station. They go to the soft targets where these cowards know they can will not be met with much resistance. And we need to improve intervention and threat assessment at our schools, share information more broadly between teachers and parents and counselors so we can identify potential acts of violence before they occur. So my point is, mr. President , we need to focus on things that can actually work. In the case of fix nics, it was able to become law because it had the support of both republicans and democrats here in congress as well as the president. An thats precisely what we need to do again. The sorts of things i mentioned are real and meanil chang we can make hereo prevent more communities from grieving from additional tragedies. I hope we rise to the occasion and once again Work Together and come up with consensus legislation. I as one senator am willing to work with anyone on either side of the aisle to build consensus and to pass legislation that will make our country and our communities safer. Finally, mr. President , briefly on another matter, Justice Brett kavanaugh was confirmed almost a year ago but that hadnt stopped the partisans on the left from carrying out their fact devoid Smear Campaign. About this time last year, the confirmation hearing for an exceptionally well qualified nominee for the Supreme Court was turned into a media circus over uncorroborated and unsubstantiated allegations. Id hoped that we had moved beyond this embarrassing chapter for the senate and for the country, but the sir sus circus somehow has returned. This time the wild accusations didnt play out here in the senate but rather in the New York Times. That newspaper ran a story over the weekend that publicized more unsubstantiated allegations against the justice from way back when he was in college. And the authors and editors managed to leave out the most critical detail of the entire story. The woman at the center of this reported alleged event declined to be interviewed by the journalists and her friends say she doesnt even recall such an event from occurring. But the New York Times printed it anyway. Well, the reaction was predictable and immediate. As members of the media began pointing out this glaring hole in the story, some democrats saw an opportunity to continue their Smear Campaign against this good man. They pounced on these unsubstantiated claims as evidence of wrongdoing by Justice Kavanaugh and began calling for his impeachment. Once the paper issued its colossal correction, none of these folks backed down or apologized for calling for the impeachment of this good judge, this good man, even though the newspaper admitted their error. So this isnt about the allegations or an investigation or even Justice Kavanaugh for that matter. This is just the latest assault on the independence of the federal judiciary by a party that is struggling to come to grips with reality. From alarming courtpacking calls to baseless allegations against a sitting Supreme Court justice, im not anxious to see what sort of reprehensible allegations and attacks they come up with next. Id like to reiterate the commitment made by the majority leader earlier this week. As long as we remain in the senate, we will prevent this type of mob rule and this sort of media circus and fight to preserve the rule of law and our independence and the independence of our judiciary. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from missouri. Mr. Blunt mr. President , later today well have a day, certainly today or tomorrow well have a vote on whether we want to move forward on this years appropriations process. The vote that would allow us to move forward, frankly, would and should allow every member to make any amendment they want, to debate this bill on the floor as the bills should be debated. If they dont like the house bill that well take up and many of us would not like the house bill, you have a chance to substitute that with another bill or make amendments on that bill. Id like to see this process get started. A significant part of the house bill was the labor and health and Human Services and education portion. I chair that bill in the senate. Its after the defense bill which would also be part of this bill which, by the way, has the biggest pay increase for those who defend us in a decade in it. In addition to after the defense bill, theor and health and Human Services and Education Bill is about 30 of all the money left. So just those two bills together, mr. President , is a significant amount of all the deral spending. It would be great if we could get this done on time again this year as we did for 70 of the spending last year. Im disappointed in the bill that we actually made public as part of an alternative today, that for the first time in four years we werent able to work with our friends on the other side and have a bipartisan bill. This was a bill that was degned not to bring a lot of controversial legislating into the appropriating process, but really do the appropriating, to leave the language in the bills that had been there before that may have been controversial at one time, but has long become part of the bill, but not add new things. We agreed to and the president signed a bipartisan agreement that reiterated that principle and set a total amount of money to be spent. In retrospt, it might have been better if we would have also allocated that money between the 12 committees. We didnt do that. We basically allocated the defense part and the nondefense part. We were able, because of that, not to reach an agreement with the minority to mark up this bill the way i would like to, and i think, frankly, they would have liked to. Certainly the Ranking Member and her staff have been an important part of this discussion. This bill, the bill that would be our alternative today, includes funding that they would like and i like. New suicide initiative. It increases Early Childhood care and education programs. There are new Mental HealthHealth Workforce programs involved here. We invest in Homeless Youth education in the way that i think the senate ultimately will. But those are all things that weve tried to move forward on in a way that im confident the