Guide our senators to live so honorably that they will bring glory to your name. Lord, inspire them to yield their allegiance to you, striving always to receive your approval. Thank you for hearing and answering their prayers, as they fervently seek your wisdom. Guide them through the challenges of these times. Lord, remind us all that we are mere sojourners in time, heading for the better land of eternity. We pray in your loving 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. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. Mr. Grassley madam president. The presiding officer the senat
Vote the presiding officer are there any senators wishing to vote or change their vote . On this the vote the yeas are 53, the nays are 40. The nomination is agreed to and confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates actions. The clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. The clerk cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of Lawrence Vandyke, of nevada, to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit. The presiding officer by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. The question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of Lawrence Vandyke, of nevada, to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit shall be brought to a close . The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the rol
Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not the yeas are 83. The noes are 9. The motion is passed agreed to. Mr. Grassley madam president . The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley ive got a couple of issues i want to speak on. One would be trade and section 232 issue. That would be my second one. The first one, i want to speak about commonsense entitlement reform. In the past year weve seen a flurry of drug pricing proposals. Im encouraged by efforts from my colleagues here in the senate, especially Ranking Member wyden, colleagues in the house that agree in the house of representatives who agree with this effort to reduce drug prices and the president of the United States who has already been involved for a year and a half in lowering drug prices. All have made lowering Prescription Drug costs one of the Core Principles of our efforts and particularly a core principle for this administration
Washington, D.C. - In Tennessee, 70 of our 95 counties are considered rural, and over the last few years, we have lost 15 rural hospitals. As a member of