Direction and provides leadership for the civil works programs of the u. S. Army corps of engineers. In this position, mr. James will play a central role in ensuring the navigatability of the waterways. He will oversee the storm Risk Management and responses to emergencies like hurricanes that we saw in florida and in texas this past fall. He will also play a central role in modernizing americas aging water infrastructure. This week the committee on environment and public works, which i chair, has look at the needs of americas water infrastructure. These hearings are important steps as the Committee Works towards a new Water ResourcesDevelopment Act which will be reauthorized this year. Its critical to have mr. James confirmed so he can partner with us in this important process. I look forward to working with mr. James on projects important to my state of wyoming. He has committed to me that he will work to prevent icejam floods like those that caused the water in our state to flood. His nomination was unanimously approved by a voice vote in both the Senate Armed Services committee and the environment and public works committee. Mr. James is well qualified for this position. He has served as a Civil Engineer member of the commission. He was appointed by democrat and republican president s. He is an accomplished farmer, businessman. He is experienced, qualified, and he is ready to start. Its time for the senate to confirm his nomination. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. The presiding officer i yield the floor. Mr. Blunt i thank senators barrasso and carper for getting this nomination to the floor. I have known r. D. James for a long time. He understands what is involved. He is a Civil Engineer and he understands what this job entails. I think his support will be appreciated by the corps of defense. Mr. Wyden the senate has been running a bit behind. I ask unanimous consent that the vote be moved to 2 20 p. M. Rather than 2 15 p. M. On mr. Azar. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Wyden a year ago President Trump stormed into office promising better and Cheaper Health Care for everyone. He said he would bring Prescription Drugrice down, because, in his words, Drug Companies were getting away with murder. So as we move to this vote, as the senior democrat on the finance committee, i wanted to make sure we took stock after year one. The trump record on health care is worse than your garden variety case of a president failing to live up to his campaign promises. This president has surely hurt the people that he promised to help. Very shortly the senate will vote on the nomination of alex azar to be the secretary of health and human services. He would be the captain of the president S Health Care team in this position. So this debate is about a lot more than mr. Azars resume. It is a referendum on a year of health care failure, particularly on Prescription Drug costs and it is a referendum on what i consider to be a Health Care Agenda of discrimination. Im going to begin with the skyrting Prescription Drug prices because they are a gut punch for millions of americans each time they step up to the pharmacy window. A few promises the president made with respect to health care resonated more than his promise to bring down Prescription Drug prices. But now, a year later, hes chosen alex azar, a Drug Company Executive with a documented history of raising drug prices. From 2012 until last year, he was the head of eli lillys subsidiary lily u. S. A. He chaired the u. S. Prices and a and access to the Steering Committee and that gave him access to every product lily marketed in america. On mr. Azars watch, lilly more than doubled the prices of drugs used to treat diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, and adhd. And these are only some of the drugs under his purview. He told the finance Committee Staff that he had never once approved a decrease in the price of a drug at lilly. Will azar said, you know, thats just how the system works. Prices always go up. I would say, mr. President , mr. President and colleagues, mr. Azar may have had his facts straight about the system, but that doesnt make it right. Mr. Azar was a part of this broken system, and despite the cheerful overtures that he has made to senators on the other side of the aisle over the last few weeks on how he wants to work on the given a single concrete example of how he would actually change the system, change the system that he said is broken, he wont give us an example of how he would change it to make it better. Members of this body, democrats and republicans, have come forward with specifics about what they would do to help those americans getting clobbered at the Prescription Drug windows across the land. Weve got colleagues who are for drug importation, we have colleagues that are for more negotiating power for medicare, weve got colleagues who understand the challenge with the pharmaceutical benefit managers where theres so little transparency. Mr. Azar, we asked him repeatedly for examples, but all he had to say about this system that was so broken is he would be, quote, open to ideas. Now, mr. President , as important as that is, theres a whole lot more for senators to reflect on as they think about this vote. After a year in office, the trumpinis admation is relentlesa Health Care Agenda of discrimination discrimination against those with preexisting conditions, discrimination against women, discrimination against lgbtq americans, discrimination against those struggling to get ahead. The question up for debate today ought to be whether or not this nominee to head this Critical Office of Health Care Policy is going to be end that discrimination. Colleagues, as you think about this vote, all i can tell you is when you review the record in the face of an administration moving relentlessly to promote discrimination in health care, there is not a shred of evidence that mr. Azar is going to try to stop it, reform it, or in any way try to make sure that those americans, all of them, get a fair shake. From day one, in addition to this pattern of discrimination, the administration has been on a campaign of sabotage against the Affordable Care act and the private Health Insurance markets. They cut the open Enrollment Period in half, they slashed the advertising budgets, they made it harder for people to sign up in person. Thats a major reason that a number of americans without Insurance Coverage increased by more than three million last year. Three million people, our friends, our neighbors, one sudden illness away from personal bankruptcy, the result of Health Care Policies this administration has pursued and cheered. Even worse, and i touched on this yesterday, the administration is bringing back to life junk insurance, letting fraudsters get back in the Insurance Business with health plans that arent worth the paper they are printed on. It takes me back to the days when i represented the gray panthers, back when some had 15 and even 20 private Health Insurance policies to supplement their medicare. Mr. President , those polics were junk. Some of them just out and out scams. So the Congress Passed a law, and i was proud to be part of a bipartisan coalition, to change it. And it worked. We drained the swamp when it cames to the fraudsters ripping off the seniors. Then eight years ago some parts of the Affordable Care act put Consumer Protections in place so that nobody of working age would get ripped off with junk insurance. It is those policies and those people that the Trump Administration will let the fraudsters exploit because the Trump Administration wants to undo those protections against fraudsters ripping off those of working age. Next is shortterm plans that will be even worse. What it comes down is the Trump Administration is turning back the clock on health care and allowing jiang insurance to discriminate over preexisting conditions and age. This is going to be big test for mr. Azar if hes confirmed. I would just colleagues, well see well see if mr. Azar is going to look the other way and allow scam artists to peddle junk coverage or is he going to protect americans who need health care they can count on. There is an array of discriminatory policies with respect to womens health. They tried to take away guarantee, no cost access to contraception, essentially taxing women for their gender. Fortunately that move has been held up in the courts. They overturned longstanding protections dealing with states and family planning, what amounts to a woman seeing the doctor of her choosing. They are broadrnin exceptions of University Universities of what kind of health care they can access. When asked of his views during the hearing, mr. Azar said, quote, we have to balance a womans choice of insurance she would want with the conscience of employers and others. My counter to that, absolutely not. Theres no balancing womens choices against anything. In america a womans choice of health care ought to be her choice, nobody else in much the same way as going after womenS Health Care, this administration is discriminating the lgbt. The administration has given the green light to slap requirements and limits on americans covered by state medicaid programs. This action, by health and human services, goes after people across the country who are walking on an economic tightrope. They are people taking care of kids, elderly parents, or struggling with a chronic condition. This will not improve anybodyS Health Care. As the first waivers are coming out of the department of health and human services, the double is learning some disturbing details. In kentucky, the state has a literacy test for health care. Nobody in this country should have to be reminded that the literacy test is a discriminatory one. Again, the wrong one to take on health care. I close, mr. President , by saying the record after one year shows the trump agenda on health is not about improving care for all americans. The trump agenda on health is about discrimination and its about ideology. So the question, as my colleagues come over to this floor to cast their votes this is what the Trump Administration going to be allowed to continue to turn back the clock and advance discrimination, given the opportunity to demonstrate that he would actually lead the department in a new direction, he came up short. So i will not support his nomination. Mr. President , through my time in public service,ack from those early days working with the senior citizens, i always said health care has got to be a bipartisan issue. To do health care right, youve got to find a way to bring people together. I hope mr. Azar, if he is confirmed, will make his stated willingness to listen to ideas a reality and begin to work closely with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to actually make some changes in these key areas ive described from policies where we just sit on the sidelines and theres skyrocketing drug prices, to sitting out the fight against opioids and allow discrimination against women and rolling back the protections on medicaid. These are issues that go right to the heart of the health and safety of millions of americans. Mr. Azar certainly does not carry the ethical baggage of his predecessor, tom price. The question for the senate this afternoon, after we have asked him again and again and again to give any examples of how he would break with these harmful policies of the last year, we have just come up short. So i regret to say to the senate im going to oppose this nomination. And with that, i yield the floor. The presiding officer without objection, all time is yielded back. Under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired and the question occurs on the azar nomination. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or to change their vote . If not, the yeas are 55. The nays are 43. The nomination is 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 action. 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 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of Samuel Dale Brownback to be ambassador at large for International Religious freedom signed by 17 senators. The presiding officer by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum has been waived. The question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of Samuel Dale Brownback of kansas to be ambassador at large for International Religious freedom shall be brought to a close. The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. vote vote the Vice President on this vote the yeaers 49. The nays are 49. The senate being equally divided, the Vice President votes in the affirmative and the motion to invoke cloture is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i suggest the absence of a quorum. The Vice President the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Whitehouse i ask that any pending quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, department of state. Samuel Dale Brownback of kansas to be ambassadoratlarge for International Religious freedom. The presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Whitehouse i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to 15 minutes. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Whitehouse thank you, mr. President. I begin today by adding a rhode island voice to the chorus of coastal communities around the country standing against President Trumps reckless and unwelcome choice to try to allow oil and gas drilling off of nearly all u. S. Coasts. The rhode island Ocean Economy is worth over 2 billion and it employs more than 40,000 people. For whatever potential gain of fossil fuel corporations, offshore drilling introduces all sorts of hazards to our fishing industry and the people who work in tourism and recreation along the narragansett bay. Remember how devastating the 2010 b. P. Oil spill was in the gu o mexico . This is what a spill that size would look like off of new england. The administration has tossed aside a fiveyear plan that underwent multiple revisions and involved multiple agencies over multiple years, taking into account the input of stakeholders and literally millions of comments from the public. The final plan that had been developed after all that effort only allowed for ten lease sales in the gulf of mexico and one sale in the Cook Inlet Program area off the alaska coast. There were no lease sales allowed in the pacific or atlantic. Why . Because everybody hates it. In ruling out drilling off our atlantic coast, the bureau of Ocean Energy Management cited, an i quote them here, strong local opposition, conflicts with other ocean uses, current market dynamics, and careful consideration of the comments received from governors of fected ss. None of that has changed. And the Trump Administration ought to listen to those coastal voices, not just the occasional republican governor of a coastal state seeking a political boost. Rhode island, the ocean state, has come out strongly opposed to this proposal. Our governor, said the administrations plan is endangering the health of nearly all coastal waters in our country, including our 400 miles of coastline in rhode island. Also, rich oil so that rich Oil Companies can get richer. Peter kilmartin vowed to continue to fight the latest move by the Trump Administration to give the oil and gas industry cart blanche to destroy our environment. End quote. Rhode island, mr. President , is a leader in offshore wind development, first in the nation to have steel in the water, first in the nation to have electrons flowing to the grid. We also have vibrant fisheries and a longstanding fishing economy. We depend on our coastal economy, for that and for tourism and for many other things. Also, we are especially susceptible to Sea Level Rise and other consequences of Climate Change. We are not about to go back in time and endanger our coast with the extraction of more dirty fuels. Here in washington, i led a Bipartisan Group of new england senators seeking legislation to bar offshore drilling along our new england coast. My rhode island colleague introduced the companion legislation in the house of representatives. The Trump Administration will not be following through on its rash plan if new englands bipartisan members of congress have anything to say about it. The value of healthy oceans and coasts is tangible and immediate for us. The larger backdrop to this conversation about offshore drilling is that our oceans are steadily getting sicker even without the threat of Additional Oil spills. The oceans have absorbed approximately 30 of the excess Carbon Dioxide that we have added to the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution began. That is changing the oceans chemistry dramatically. The oceans have also absorbed roughly 90 of the excess heat ose greenhouse gases. Here by we would not be living the way we have gotten used to through our development as a species if it werent for the ocean absorbing so much of that excess heat. We owe the oceans a lot. But as a result of that excess Carbon Dioxide and excess heat, our oceans are warmin warming. Because they are warming, they are rising. And as well, of course, they are growing more acidic putting marine life and coastal communities and ocean economies all in jeopardy. Oceans face another emerging problem, which is deoxygenation. Oceans need oxygen and fish and other creatures that live in the ocean need oxygen and were finding that theres less and less. Low x general zones in the ocean are nothing new. Dead zones are areas where oxygen levels drop too low for marine life to survive, occur naturally, but dead zones are worsening. Theyre worsening near the coasts where agriculture runoff spurs rapid blooms of phytoplank phytoplanktin. Their decomposition consumes large amounts of oxygen from the water and fish and other marine animals suffocate. We saw this just a few years ago in thei narragansett bay, greenh bay area. Now the gulf of mexico routinely sees dead zones as nitrogenrich waters flow from farms in the heartland down the Mississippi River and into the gulf. Last year as gulf dead zone reached record levels, noaa which measures these things, estimated the dead zone the size of new jersey, the largest ever recorded in the gulf of mexico. Noaa assessed that the cause was unusually heavy rains in the Midwest Associated with Climate Change that washed large amounts of fertilizer into t river and down to the gulf. Noaa is not alone. Last year as Climate Science special report, the scientific backbone for the federal governments Fourth National climate assessment, discussed the growing issue of Climate Changedriven ocean deoxygenation. The report did not mince words. I quoted here. Global ocean deoxygenation is a direct effect of warming. End quote. As water warms, it loses its capacity to absorb gases, like oxygen, and warmer water circulates less, meaning theres less mixing of water and oxygen between the surface and deeper waters. The report attributes 85 of global ocean oxygen loss to this stratification, as its known, of the water. Worldwide ocean oxygen levels have declined. According to the Climate Science special report, the North Pacific, north atlantic, southern oceans, subtropical South Pacific and south indian oceans are all expected to experience further deoxygenati deoxygenation. Oxygen may drop off as much as 17 in the North Pacific by 2100 if we dont rein in carbon emissions. Not surprisingly, fish and other Marine Wildlife try to steer clear of dead zones. If theyre not able to breathe in these lowoxygen water, they can die. Dr. Calvin roberts, a researcher at the university of york has also warned that large and fastmoving fish that use more oxygen, like tunas and bill fish and sharks and fish like this, unbelievably beautiful marlin, are being relegated to shrinking high oxygen areas causing them to change how they hunt. A 2010 paper in deep sea research estimated that from 1960 to 2008, the areas in the ocean where oxygen levels are too low to support fish and other big ocean organisms have grown by over 1. 7 million square miles. And added 1. 7 million square miles with oxygen level too low for gods beautiful creatures like this one. One example of this phenomenon comes to us from former noaa researcher dr. Eric prince who noticed that blue marlin and here we are a fish which is actually well known for its diving capabilities, would not leave the top hundred feet of ocean off of costa rica and guatemala. Elsewhere in the ocean, marlin regularly go half a mile down to hunt. The reason . For constraining themselves to that top 100 feet of ocean . Quote, a deep gigantic and expanding swath of water that contained too little oxygen. End quote. A 2011 study in nature Climate Change estimated that over 50 years the Surface Ocean habitat in the tropical northeast atlantic used by tunas and bill fish like blue marlin, has shrunk by 15 due to deoxygenation. A study published earlier this month in the prestigious journal science warned, though there may be a shortterm fishing surge due to the crowding of fishing species into surface waters, theyre easier to find because theres less oxygenated water theyre in, quote, in the longer term, these conditions are unsustainable and may result in ecosystem collapses, which ultimately will cause societal and economic harm. End quote. This portends devastating effects. The World Health Organization says around a bill people rely on fish as their main source of protein. The u. N. Food and Agricultural Organization estimates 10 to 12 of the worlds population base their livelihoods on fisheries or aqua culture. Bringing it close to home, commercial fishing in rhode island in 2016 totaled 82 million and valued at 94 million. In 2014, the new england Ocean Economy was valued at over 17 billion and employed nearly a quarter of a million people. All of that goes at risk as we pull out the cornerstones of our ocean ecosystem. Heres where it actually gets a little weird. Oxygen depletion could actually spur a boom in nitrogen breathing microorganisms, tiny microbes that breathe nitrogen instead of oxygen. They might then demand enough valuable nitrogen that they crowd out other ocean species that also need nitrogen. And these nitrogen species exhale nitrous oxide which is a greenhouse gas, which creates another possible Climate Change feedback loop. As a recent Washington Post story put it, our growing understanding of ocean deoxygenation and i quote here underscores once again that some of the most profound consequences of Climate Change are occurring in the oceans rather than on land. As dr. Denise brightburg, t lead author of the recent science paper said, of course declining oxygen isnt happening in isolation. Warming itself threatens marine food webs as does acidification caused by increased Carbon Dioxide in the water, but the threats are worse when combined. And thats what were seeing. Deoxygenation, warming, acidification combined. We recklessly ignore the warnings that the oceans are screaming at us. Scientists are seeing numbers and conditions in the oceans that they have never seen before. We ignore also the high tides that now regularly flood downtowns of major cities as sea levels rise. We ignore fish species moving northward and offshore in search of cooler waters away from traditional fisheries. We ignore the oyster spat dissolving in acidic sea water before they can grow to maturity. We ignore coral reefs turning white and dying in warm acidic seas. We ignore the record strength of warm water fueled 2017 hurricanes that killed people, destroyed homes, and caused billions of dollars in damage. I wonder how long can we ignore the cries from our oceans. Truly it is time to wake up. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from kansas. A senator i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum