Make you their sure foundation. From this foundation, may they gain strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Help them to base their hope on your exceedingly great and precious promises, as you do for them more than they can ask or imagine. May they have such an inner sense of your presence that they will desire to commune with you throughout this day. And lord, bless our incoming summer page class. May these young people increase intellectually, physically, socially, and spiritually. We pray in your great 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 madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell last week the senate voted on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis to advance the iran sanctions bill currently before us and well take another vote today to proceed to that bill. I want to thank the chairs and ranking members of the Foreign Relations and banking committees chairman corker, chairman crapo, for their efforts to craft muchneeded additional sanctions on russia as well. Id encourage members of both parties to keep working together so we can pass the critical iran sanctions legislation very soon. Now on another matter, seven years ago Senate Democrats on the Obama Administration forced obamacare on the American People. Obamacare never actually lived up to what democrats had promised. From rising costs to shrinking choices and collapsing markets, the problems associated with obamacare grew across the country as the years passed, leaving the American People literally to pick up the pieces. Obamacares years long legacy of failure will only get worse unless we act. Consider the latest examples of how it is threatening to hurt more americans. In washington state, people in two counties just learned that they could have zero Insurance Options under obamacare plans next year. Thousands of ohioans across 18 counties just found out they could also be left with absolutely zero choices under obamacare. Iowans could be left without a single major insurance option to choose from statewide as well. And in nebraska, nearly 100,000 residents learned they could be left with just one insurance option on the Obamacare Exchanges next year or potentially none at all. At the rate things are going, americans living in nearly half of all counties could be left with just one or even zero Insurance Options under obamacare next year. Think about that. Millions of people in nearly half of all the counties across america are at risk of having no options or a single option of insurance plans because of obamacare. Worse still, as choices continue to drop, premiums keep rising, often by double digits meaning those lucky enough to have a plan under obamacare may not be able to afford the plan they select. Its a fact underlined by reports released by the centers for medicare and Medicaid Services or c. M. F. These reports show that hundreds of thousands of americans who selected an obamacare plan ended up canceling their coverage after just a few weeks, and the most common reason they cited for doing so was because it was too expensive. Is it any wonder as another groundbreaking report revealed last month, premiums have on average doubled and in some cases even tripled. And in the vast majority of states on the federal exchange since obamacares slow enactment in 2013. Now youd think youd think the democrats would want to work with us on how to clean up the years long mess that they created. Instead theyre defending the status quo, or trying to shift the blame for the failures of their own law, the law democrats designed, a law democrats forced on our country, a law democrats defended year after year as it hurt americans over and over. Theres just no serious way to try and spin these years of obamacare failures at this late date. Its also clear that the status quo is simply unsustainable and demands action. Thats why republican senators have been working hard on solutions that can help rescue American Families who have been hurt by this laws failures. Members will keep working this week because bringing relief from obamacare may not be easy, but it is necessary. Were going to keep working hard to get this done. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Schumer madam president. The presiding officer ed 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 id like to take a moment to remember the victims of the shooting at the pulse nightclub in orlando that occurred one year ago today. It was the deadliest shooting by a single gunman in our nations history. Children, parents, sisters, brothers, friends. They went out that night to celebrate with their friends, and instead came facetoface with a soul twisted by an inexplicable hate. The best way i can see to h honor their memory is to honor them with action. We should redouble our efforts to make this country safer from the scourge of terrorism, gun violence, to ensure our schools and our churches, our theaters and our nightclubs are safe places where all americans can be who they truly are. Let in a be let that be our mission as we remember the 49 victims of the Orlando Attack and keep their families in our prayers. Now on russia sanctions. Madam president , soon we will move to a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the iran sanctions legislation. The two leaders, chairmans corker and crapo, the two ranking members brown and cardin of the Foreign Relations and banking committees continue to negotiate a package of strong russia sanctions that can be offered as an amendment to the bill. I hope we can come to an agreement soon, one that at the very least includes legislation put forward by senators graham and cardin that would establish a process for congress to review any russiarelated sanction relief. Senator mccain, along with senator cardin, has also introduced an amendment for tough new sanctions which i very much support. Democrats feel strongly that russia sanctions should move alongside iran sanctions and were prepared to do what we can to make sure that we get a vote on a good amendment, hopefully a bipartisan one. Now, on special counsel mueller. Madam president , as we continue to grapple with last weeks testimony from former director comey, it seems a new strategy by some on the right is now to question the credibility of special counsel mueller. Already former speaker gingrich and others have said negative things about mueller just weeks after praising his selection. They know that mr. Mueller is the man now responsible for following up on mr. Comeys testimony, so the hard right is trying to discredit him in advance. They know they cant debate the facts or the issues or defend the actions of the white house on the merits, so what do they do . They attack the referee and try to besmirch the reputation of someone like mr. Mueller. Muellers a man of integrity. Thats agreed to by just about everybody. Hes devoted his entire career to his country. He came out of private life to do a job on behalf of his country and be right down the middle. Even attorney general Jeff Sessions has praised mr. Mueller for his service and credibility, saying, quote, his integrity is undoubted, as is his experience and love of country. Those are Jeff Sessions words. And now the political right have pulled out their partisan knives to try and defame his reputation. Its a shameful, shameful ploy. The right must be afraid of what mr. Muellers going to find. I would ask speaker gingrich a question. Is he afraid of what mr. Mueller is going to find out . Is that why he is attacking his reputation . Baseless attacks on former director mueller ring hollow. Director mueller has been hailed as a paragon of Public Service by those of all political stripes. This country comes to a low point when that kind of attack is issued. Despite what speaker gingrich may try to imply, we should have every confidence that mueller will investigate the matters at hand with integrity and thoroughness, and i can tell you one thing, the little bit i know about him. Speaker gingrichs attacks and attacks like that wont do a thing to deter director mueller from finding out the truth. Now on health care finally, madam president , the republicans continue to work on their Health Care Bill behind closed doors and now it seems they are looking for a final vote for a vote on a final bill before the july fourth recess. God bless you. She sneezed. To all of america, this should be a red alert. This is not a drill. This is a red alert. In a very short time, maybe only two weeks, the republican majority may try to jam through a Health Care Bill that no one in america has seen. No committee hearings, no public debate. According to some reports, the republicans wont publicly release the text until the very last moment. What Senate Republicans are doing on health care is one of the most outrageous examples of legislative malpractice in decades. Senator mcconnell who believes in regular order ought to think long and hard before he does this because it will not go down as a fine moment in history for him, for his party or for the senate. This is a party that chanted read the bill, read the bill when obamacare was being debated, and now they wont even show the bill. Democrats spent over a year on the Affordable Care act, the obamacare bill, with multiple committee hearings. We actually accepted dozens of republican amendments. Show us the bill. Senator grassley, senator hatch and others had amendments that were added to the bill. So us the bill so we have the same opportunity. Why would the majority so starkly depart from the normal legislative procedure . Why would they seek to pass in the dark of night a bill that affects onesixth of the economy, millions of peoples lives . Leader mcconnell used to stress the importance of regular order in the senate. Why is proceeding why is he proceeding with the republican Health Care Bill in the most irregular way . I know why. Its because republicans dont want the American People to see the bill. They are so ashamed of their Health Care Plan, they want to pass it in the dead of night. No hearings, no amendments. Rush it through. Its not a bill they are proud of. If they were proud of the bill, they would say lets debate it. Theyre ashamed of the bill. They know they have the hard right on their backs. Theyve got to do something. But at least have the decency, the honor, a little bit of courage to put the bill out there and let us debate it and let us amend it. Republicans dont want the American People to know that their bill will likely gut medicaid to finance a massive tax break for the wealthiest of americans, hurt the health care of average americans, middleclass americans, elderly americans, those who have opioid abuse so they can give a big tax break to people whose income is above 200,000 a year. The republicans dont want the American People to know that their bill will make older and sicker americans pay more for less coverage. Someone 63 or 64 could see their premiums go up three, four, five times, while millionaires and billionaires get a break on their taxes. If it was my bill, i would be ashamed of it, too. Thank god its not. Republicans dont want the American People to know that their bill will cost will cause costs to go up, care to go down and leave millions of americans without health insurance. Why are republicans working so hard in secret for a bill they are clearly not proud of . Because the ideologues on the hard right are pushing them to just repeal and give a tax break to the rich. Its because they repeated this political slogan, repeal and replace, to their base for seven years without coming up with a workable Health Care Plan for the day for when the day came that they were actually in charge. So now we have this frankenstein bill from the house assembled from spare parts, intended to buy off different republican constituencies, and the republican majority in the senate, which at one point we thought would show more honor and more courage, they seem to be taking the same approach. Theyre working on modifying the bill so it can get 50 votes in their caucus, no matter what the impact is on the country. Many, most of the devastating consequences of the house bill will remain. Now, mark my words, my republican friends, the Republican Party will regret the day it passes a bill that looks anything like what is now being considered. Every independent analysis has shown that trumpcare will devastate sicker, older americans, folks in rural areas, the working poor, young couples or middleaged couples who have a parent in a nursing home. It will raise costs on middleclass families and those struggling to get there. We will be left with a Health Care System that works only for the healthiest and wealthiest amongst us. And the republicans will own every last shred of the responsibility. They will own it completely because there has not been a scrap of bipartisan input on the bill. Not a single democratic amendment. Not a single hearing. And no one even knows exactly what the bill looks like. A senior g. O. P. Aide said in the paper today they werent releasing the bill text because, quote, were not stupid. I challenge that claim. Keeping a bill this bad holed up in secret and then forcing it down the throats of the American People is much more stupid than simply showing the bill, allowing it to be vetted, allowing it to be amended, allowing it to be improved. Its much more stupid. Republicans are going down a dark path, down a dangerous road that will have devastateing consequences for their party and, of course, for the American People. Believe me, this is not what democrats want. We democrats are actually willing to take on some of the responsibility. Were willing to work with our republican colleagues to make improvements to our Health Care System. To fix problems with the existing law. That involves some political risk. Were willing to take on that risk to try and help more americans afford health care. The republicans are doing just the opposite, by hiding their bill under lock and key, theyre trying to avoid the risk of public backlash on a bill that at least the polling shows has the support of a mere sliver of the American People, 18 . It will backfire. It will do potentially irrevocable damage to their party and, more importantly, to our country. Republicans ought to turn back before its too late. They will rue the day they rushed this bill in the dark of night that does so much damage to the American People. I yield the floor. 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 motion to proceed to s. 722, which the clerk will report. The clerk motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 722, a bill to impose sanctions with respect to iran in relation to irans Ballistic Missile program, and so forth, and for other purposes. Mr. Cornyn madam president. The presiding officer the majority whip. Mr. Cornyn madam president , before he leaves the floor, i want to say to my friend, the democratic leader, among his other attributes, he now claims op omniscience. He knows about things that havent even been written yet. I appreciate as a republican his concern about the Republican Party. I would challenge his memory because i was here in 2010 when 60 democrats in the senate jammed through obamacare, a bill that we frankly need to save the American People from as it begins to melt down. The distinguished presiding officer coming from iowa knows there is not a single carrier in iowa thats willing to sell obamacare insurance on the exchanges because they are simply bleeding money. Mr. Schumer would my good friend and gymmate from texas yield for a question . Mr. Cornyn i would yield for a question. Mr. Schumer is some initial yens a comment of is omniscience a comment of all knowing . Mr. Cornyn i would say to my friend from new york he is omniscient if he actually claims to know the content of a bill that has not yet been voted upon or agreed upon by republicans in the senate. So i would just put that in the same category as his other advice to folks on this side of the aisle and, again, challenge his memory to how we got here in the first place. I was here on Christmas Eve when we voted. Actually, i ended up voting against, but democrats voted to jam obamacare through this body on a strictly partyline vote, and the fact is obamacare is failing millions of people because if they have access to coverage at all, many of them have seen their premiums go up an average of 105 since 2013. Thats the average in the 30plus states that carry obamacare insurance on the health care exchange. 105 increase. And many of them have also seen their deductibles get so big that they cant even really use the insurance they have because basically they are effectively selfinsured. Sew i take with a grain of so i take with a grain of salt that we are doing something so horrible when were trying to rescue the American People and try to clean up the mess that our democratic friends created when they jammed through obamacare on a part