deliver them from jealousy, from those who hate the upright and surround them with the shield of your divine favor. give them the wisdom to find common ground in order to accomplish the best for our nation and world. remind them that righteousness elevates a nation but sin destroys. prepare their hearts and minds for all of the challenges they will face in the days to come. we pray in your merciful name. and, lord, today, we thank you for the legacy of our nation's first president, george washington. we pray in your strong 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 resoiched. morning business is closed. pursuant to the order of the senate of january 24, 1901, as amended by the order of january 9, 2018, the senator from michigan, mr. peters will now read washington's farewell address. mr. peters: to the people of the united states. friends and fellow citizens: the period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the united states being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that i should now apprise you of the resolution i have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. i beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, i am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. the acceptance of and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. i constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which i was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which i had been reluctantly drawn. the strength of my inclination to do this previous to the last election had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then-perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. i rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country you will not disapprove my determination to retire. the impressions with which i first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. in the discharge of this trust, i will only say that i have, with good intentions, contributed toward the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services they were temporary, i have the consolation to believe that while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. in looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my political life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which i owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities i have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. if benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead -- amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which, not infrequently, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism -- the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guaranty of the plans by which they were effected. profoundly penetrated with this idea, i shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to then the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. here, perhaps, i ought to stop. but a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation and to recommend to your frequent review some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. these will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. nor can i forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. the unity of government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. it is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. but as it is easy to foresee that from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth -- as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed -- it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. for this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. citizens -- by birth or choice -- of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. the name of american, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. with slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. you have, in a common cause, fought and triumphed together. the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes. but these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. the north, in an unrestrained intercourse with the south, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. the south, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the same agency of the north, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the north, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes in different ways to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. the east, in a like intercourse with the west, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. the west derives from the east supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the atlantic side of the union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. any other tenure by which the west can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. while, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations, and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. in this sense, it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. these considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind and exhibit the continuance of the union as a primary object of patriotic desire. is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? let experience solve it. to listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. we are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. it is well worth a fair and full experiment. with such powerful and obvious motives to union affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its hands. in contemplating the causes which may disturb our union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations -- northern and southern, atlantic and western -- whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. one of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. you cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. the inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head. they have seen in the negotiation by the executive and in the unanimous ratification by the senate of the treaty with spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the united states, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the general government and in the atlantic states unfriendly to their interests in regard to the mississippi. they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties -- that with great britain and that with spain -- which secure to them everything they could desire in respect to our foreign relations toward confirming their prosperity. will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the union by which they were procured? will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisors, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens? to the efficacy and permanency of your union, a government for the whole is indispensable. no alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute. they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay by the adoption of a constitution of government, better calculated than your former, for an intimate union and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. this government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. the basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. but the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. the very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. all obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. they serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests. however combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. toward the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. one method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system and, thus, to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. in all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion exposes to perpetual change from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. it is, indeed, little else than a name where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. i have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. this spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. it exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy. the alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. but this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. the disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and, sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purpose of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty. without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. it serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. it agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments occasionally riot and insurrection. it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passion. thus, the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. there is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. this, within certain limits, is probably true; and in governments of a monarchial cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. but in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. from their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose; and there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. a fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming, it should consume. it is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. the spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one and, thus, to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. a just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. the necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our country and under our own eyes. to preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. if, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the constitution designates. but let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. the precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. in vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. the mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. a volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? and let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. it is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. the rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. in proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. as a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. one method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding, likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. the execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives; but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. to facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that toward the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. observe good faith and justice toward all nations. cultivate peace and harmony with all. religion and morality enjoin this conduct. and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? it will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. who can doubt that in the course of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? can it be that providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? the experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? in the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of them, just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. the nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is, in some degree, a slave. it is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. the nation prompted by ill will and resentment sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. the government sometimes participates in the national propensity and adopts through passion what reason would reject. at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. the peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations has been the victim. so, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. it leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained and by exciting jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld; and it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country without odium, sometimes even with popularity, gilding with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. as avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. how many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils! such an attachment of a small or weak toward a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (i conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. but that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided instead of a defense against it. excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests. the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. so far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. here let us stop. europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none or a very remote relation. hence, she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. if we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of european ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice? it is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world, so far, i mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. i hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy. i repeat, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. but, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. harmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. but even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand, neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary and liable to be, from time to time, abandoned or varied as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. there can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. it is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. in offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, i dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression i could wish -- that they will control the usual current of the passions or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. but if i may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good -- that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism -- this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated. how far in the discharge of my official duties i have been guided by the principles which have been delineated the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. to myself, the assurance of my own conscience is that i have at least believed myself to be guided by them. in relation to the still-subsisting war in europe, my proclamation of the 22nd of april, 1793, is the index to my plan. sanctioned by your approving voice and by that of your representatives in both houses of congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. after deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights i could obtain, i was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. having taken it, i determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perseverance, and firmness. the considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. i will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. the duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity toward other nations. the inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. with me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions and to progress, without interruption, to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes. though in reviewing the incidents of my administration i am unconscious of intentional error, i am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that i may have committed many errors. whatever they may be, i fervently beseech the almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. i shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence and that, after 45 years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. relying on its kindness in this, as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love toward it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, i anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which i promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the midst of my fellow citizens the benign influence of good laws under a free government -- the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as i trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: we're. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now, mr. president, in the wake of the horrific shootings at stoneman douglas high school, the deadliest shooting since sandy hook. this is being led by a group of brave high school students, the friends and classmates of the fallen who i will be sitting down with tomorrow. their passion and eloquence has been a moral force for change. thank god for these students. they are urging us now to have a debate in congress about something very straightforward. what can we do to stop very dangerous guns from getting into the hands of very dangerous people? how can we keep america safe at our movie theaters and nightclubs, at concerts and churches, and above all, at our schools. we need to get something real and significant accomplished. the problem of gun violence in this country is too immediate for another delay, too severe for half measures. now the president, president trump, has been talking about comprehensive background checks. we're blad to -- glad to hear that. we're glad that folks are starting to talk about the real issues of gun safety again. democrats believe that at the very least in the wake of parkland, we should strive for comprehensive background checks, closing the loopholes that allow anyone, regardless of a violent history, a history of mental illness, to walk into a gun show or go on the internet and purchase a gun. more than 90% of americans and the vast majority of gun owners support background checks. what are we waiting for? there seems to be a discussion about a more limited proposal to the fix nicks bill. i support the bill. i'm a cosponsor. but the fix nics bill is not what president trump has been talking about this afternoon and other times when he says comprehensive background checks. fix nics was to address one specific issue that was brought to light after a horrific shooting at a church in sutherland springs, texas. it leaves unchecked a hoes of crucial gun safety issues, including the loopholes in our background check system. if we only pass fix nics, we will be back here after the next shooting in nearly the same place. if all congress does is to pass fix nics, we won't be doing our job. we must do much more than that. this week, the democratic caucus will discuss what policies we believe will most effectively curb the uniquely american epidemic of gun violence. we will propose them and work with our republican colleagues to effect and enact them. i sincerely believe we can make progress, even on an issue as broad as this one, but it will require one thing, our republican friends to break free from the iron grip of the n.r.a. my republican friends face a simple choice. do something real on guns or please the n.r.a. doing both is impossible. the n.r.a.'s number one goal is to make sure nothing meaningful on gun safety ever happens. when there are national issues, when there's horrible shootings, they make a feign like they might try to do something but then they pull back because they want nothing to be done. as an example, after the shooting in las vegas, senators tried to do something about bump stocks, the modification that allowed the perpetrator to fire his arsenal of assault weapons. the n.r.a. and many republican members said, they would be willing to work on it. then what happened? the n.r.a. pushed the weakest possible measure, a simple review, by the department of tobacco and firearms which said they couldn't do anything about the bill. and then what happened in nothing. now the n.r.a. has pushed the house republicans to attach the fix nics bill, the cornyn-murphy bill focused on one issue that happened in texas but was not relevant to what happened here in parkland, they tried to attach that to the n.r.a.'s number one legislative priority, seal, carry, reciprocity, a bill that undermines the existing gun laws, defeating the legislation. even when it comes to the most modest improvements to gun safety laws, the n.r.a. always finds a way to stand in the way of progress. if we're going to get something significant done to keep our schools an kids safe from gun violence, president trump and the republicans will have to for the first time in a long time, buck the n.r.a. it's our hope that republican leaders will work with us in a bipartisan way to pass legislation that makes a real difference. not half measures, not baby steps, and certainly not attaching good legislation to legislation that would make the overall problem even worse. we hope republicans will work with us to pass serious changes to our gun laws, whether the n.r.a. supports them or not. that's the only way we'll make progress on an issue that has frustrated congress and the vast majority of the american people for far too long. on another matter, last week, the republican-led f.c.c. formally published a rule reversing net neutrality, the legal infrastructure that kept the internet free and open to all americans. the f.c.c.'s rule will give the i.s.p. the internet service providers the authority to restrict customers' access to their favorite websites by forcing consumers to buy internet packages like cable and pay for premium -- pay more for premium access. in this new universe, big companies that can pay to play could get faster internet service while start-ups and everyday americans are stuck in the slow lane. it will mean the end of the free and open internet as we know it. the way the internet has driven innovation and entrepreneurship, the way it's provided unprecedented opportunities for americans to learn and connect with one another, that could all change with a profit-making organization at the tollbooth deciding who pays what. we have an opportunity to save the internet by undoing the f.c.c.'s ruling through the congressional review act. already all 49 democrats have signed onto the bill and one republican, susan collins, has joined us. we now need only one more vote, one more republican to reverse the f.c.c.'s ruling here in the senate. when we force a vote on this bill, republicans in congress will for the first time have the opportunity to right the administration's wrong and show the american people whose side are they on? the average consumer will once again side with the big corporate interests. are they on the side of big internet service providers and corporations or are they on the side of consumers, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small business owners? tomorrow, there will be a net neutrality day of action here on the hill that i hope will focus the senate's attention on the issue. we have 60 legislative days to pass this c.r.a., and i urge every single one of my republican colleagues to join us and help save the internet. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: if the senator will suspend. mr. schumer: i suspend. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, elizabeth l. branch of georgia to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit. mr. casey: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: mr. president, i ask the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: there is no quorum call. mr. casey: i ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to commemorate black history month and to pay tribute to a pennsylvanian who has dedicated her life to public service. today we honor former philadelphia councilwoman marion benton tasko whose 50-year career in public service has improved the lives of countless people in our state. throughout her career, marion tasko consistently fought for the people of her community, from her first days as a typist working in the city of philadelphia to the end of her seventh term serving on the city council, marion tasko's life has been dedicated to helping people. today we celebrate marion's commitment to public service. born during the days of segregation in greensboro, north carolina, marion tasko was joyfully raised through the love and care of her mother, maisie benton. great grandmother suzy short, and grandparents alice and thomas benton. at an early age, marion expressed an interest in community service through volunteer activities with the brownies and girl scouts of america. even as a child, marion tasko was inspired to help others. it was at this point in her life that marion imagined that she would go on to become an educator. with that goal in mind, she began her education at bennett college, a historically black liberal arts college for women located in greensboro. working during the summers to pay for her tuition, marion had to leave bennet after two years when she could no longer afford to pay the cost of tuition. later in life, marion would return to bennett college on the board of trustees and actively work to support the growth of the college. after leaving bennett, marion tasko moved to philadelphia to be with her family and continue her education at temple university. again, working to pay her way through school, she attended classes at night until her graduation. while she maintained a strong interest in serving others, she decided that politics and government rather than education would be her venue for service. in 1959, marion began her work for the city of philadelphia as a clerk typist one in the philadelphia police department's cuban broker's division. not long thereafter, as a result of her diligent work, she was promoted to clerk typist two. in this new role, she was reassigned to the registrar's office of the philadelphia museum of art. like many others who have served the public, marion tasco's story in politics began on the front lines of the community, the community that she would later go on to serve. under the leadership of a distinguished lawyer, charles bowser, marion served as a task force coordinator for the greater philadelphia urban affairs coalition. this was an organization that she continues to serve today as a board member. one of marion's greatest accomplishments was the creation of a youth-focused summer work program that still exists today. her experience at the urban affairs coalition affirmed her interests in public affairs and community outreach and helped increase her understanding of the needs of the african american community in philadelphia. as her career progressed and new opportunities emerged, marion tasco remained committed to the path of service. following her work as an assistant to the former secretary of the commonwealth of pennsylvania, c. delores tucker, marion brought her passion for service to the office of the late u.s. congressman, william h. gray, who also, of course, served as house minority whip and chairman of the budget committee. she worked as both campaign manager and also director of constituent services for congressman gray. serving with secretary tucker and congressman gray made marion tasco worthy of recognition, but marion wanted to do more. she decided that with her years of experience and community activism and public service, she would seek elected office. it was at the urging of marion's mentor, former representative, city councilman and secretary of public welfare, john white jr., that she made the decision to seek elected office. in 1983, marion became the first african american elected philadelphia city commissioner. instantly, she helped develop voter education and registration programs in the city and worked to grow civil education focusing on philadelphia's young people. in 1988, marion began her first term on the philadelphia city council, as a representative for the ninth district of the city. for over 27 years, she served a number of communities including east oak lane, west oak lane, mount airy, logan, and oxford circle. she would go on to be reelected seven times and pioneer initiatives to improve the life for philadelphians young and old. throughout her tenure in office, counselwoman tasco's role continued to grow in responsibility and scope. she eventually rose to serve as philadelphia city council's majority leader, as well as majority whip. marion tasco has served as ward leader for the 50th ward of philadelphia for the last three decades. also, she was unanimously elected by the pennsylvania democratic state committee to represent pennsylvania on the democratic national committee. in this d.n.c. role, councilwoman tasco's reach grew beyond philadelphia into the national political arena. she helped institute meaningful change in philadelphia and literally across the nation. among other issues, she worked to fight predatory lending and her work in that area positively impacted the lives of many philadelphians. her commitment to, quote, protect americans from unscrupulous dealings of financial institutions, unquote, spanned both broad street and wall street and helped inspire some of president barack obama's work. her advocacy on this issue dates back to the early 1990's when she worked with community organizations to alert philadelphia residents about the potential harm of money offered by loan sharks. in 2004, she briefed then-state senator obama on the issue during his campaign for the united states senate. in commemoration of her efforts, president obama invited councilwoman tasco to join him for the signing of the historic dodd-frank legislation. marion tasco's accomplishments in public office made philadelphia a better place to live and work, and the people of philadelphia's largest city remembered. her retirement celebrations had over 1,200 attendees, including elected officials, labor leaders, community leaders, clergy, and of course constituents, the people she served. councilwoman tasco is a beloved figure throughout the city of philadelphia and beyond. she is beloved by her peers and those that she represented as a councilwoman. marion's work in public service was a shining example for others to follow. philadelphia mayor and former city council member jim kenny and former mayor and counselman michael nutter have both cited the counselwoman as a mentor. in fact, mayor kenny even noted that counselwoman tasco, quote, raised him, unquote, from the age of 32 when he was a new council member. she also has a proven legacy of recognizing and developing young talent on her own team. two current members of the philadelphia city council, derrick green and shirrell parker and the late judge calendar calendar numberons all served as members of her staff. counselwoman marion tasco's lifetime of service has been the subject of commendation. she has received a notable list of awards and honors, including the honorary doctor of laws degree from lincoln university, her years of work to improve the city of philadelphia resulted in a lifetime appointment to the board of directors for the board of city trust. the philadelphia cultural fund and the pennsylvania convention center authority board, just to name a few. for her advocacy on behalf of behavioral health programs and work to push local health care reforms, the former lindley court senior living apartments were renamed in her honor. marion tasco has spent the better part of her life working to improve her community, and she has inspired the next generation of public servants. as we celebrate this black history month, we honor those who have made a real commitment to serve others. marion tasco has always honored that commitment. on behalf of the commonwealth of pennsylvania, the city of philadelphia, and all those whose lives have been impacted and inspired by her work, it is my privilege on this day to pay tribute to marion tasco, a former member and leader of the city council of philadelphia, a devoted public servant who worked her way from clerk typist one to citywide leader with national impact. so well done, marion. your adopted city and our commonwealth is proud of your noble work. thank you, mr. president. i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. hatch: i ask the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: thank you, mr. president. today marks nearly two weeks since the murder of 17 students and staff in parkland, florida. today also marks the moment that we resolved to do something about school violence. may it mark the moment of left and right determined to lay aside their differences and work together to prevent future tragedies, to keep our children safe from harm there is no panacea. no one legislative solution. and it disheartens me when i hear talk about what can't be done. it's time to focus on what can be done. fortunately, solutions on the state level, including in my home state of utah, can help show us the way forward. working in the realm of the possible, utah state legislators have come together to forge bipartisan solutions to stop school violence. when i was in salt lake last week, i learned firsthand about the safe utah smartphone app. the safe utah crisis text and tip line is a statewide service that provides realtime crisis intervention. to use for texting and a confidential tip program. licensed clinicians from the university, neuropsychiatric institute at the university of utah, utah health respond to all incoming checks, texts and calls 24 shr-pb -- 24/7 by providing supporting and crisis counseling and referral service. the safe utah program developed funding in collaboration with the university neuropsychiatric institute, the utah state office of education and the utah office of the attorney general and the utah antibullying coalition is a testament to what can be done when mental health, education and law enforcement agencies work together to prevent student violence. not only is the app innovative, it works. since the app was unveiled in 2016, 86 planned school attacks have been stopped. think about that. 86 school attacks stopped in a relatively small state. that number translates to dozens of lives saved and hundreds of heartbreaks spared. for thousands of families across the state, this simple app made a world of difference. imagine the potential if these kinds of technologies were available to students across the country. we could quickly get help for those who need it, and in the process save countless lives. that's why later this week i will introduce the students, teachers, and officers preventing school violence act, or the stop school violence act. my bill makes department of justice grants available to states to fund programs designed to reduce school violence. to that end, the stop school violence act will fund four initiatives. first, it will provide grant funding for evidence-based training to prevent student violence against others and self, including training for local law enforcement officers, school personnel, and students. this is not just an active shooter training, but training designed to give students and teachers the knowledge to recognize and properly respond to warning signs or signals to stop school violence before it occurs. second, the bill will fund evidence-based technology to improve school security and prevent school violence. this includes the development and operation of anonymous reporting systems like the safe utah app as well as improvements to school security infrastructure to deter and respond to threats of school violence. and when prevention efforts fall short, as they unfortunately will in some cases, locks on classroom doors, reenforced entry ways and other commonsense security infrastructure improvements will help limit the violence. third, the bill will provide funding for the development and operation of evidence-based school threat assessment and crisis intervention teams which may include evidence-based training for school officials in responding to mental health crises. again, school personnel need the tools to assess and respond to threats before they materialize, including those threats that originate from individuals struggling with phepblts -- mental health issues. finally the bill will provide funding for continued coordination with local law enforcement. law enforcement alone cannot prevent school violence, just as no amount of prevention, training, security, infrastructure improvements or mental health resources will be able to singularly prevent tragedies like that in parkland. but law enforcement, and in particular those officers who already staff schools, have an important role to play in any comprehensive solution to prevent school violence. now some of you may point out something my bill does not address, and that's guns. on this issue many reforms have been proposed over the last 12 days, some old and some new. i believe we can find common ground here too such as that outlined in the bipartisan fix nics act which ensures that our background checks system is operating as designed. a background check is only as good as the records and the database. the f.b.i.'s national instant criminal background check system is currently incomplete because many federal agencies have not provided all records that prohibits someone from owning a firearm under current law. especially those related to mental health adjudications and involuntary commitment orders. the bipartisan fix nics act will ensure more of those records make it into the database by holding federal agencies accountable for uploading relevant records and incentivizing states to upload all relevant information, including these missing records, will help ensure more accurate and complete background checks, thereby keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of felons, fugitives, drug addicts, persons with serious mental illness, and other prohibited persons. i will be the first to admit there is no single perfect is solution, not the stop school violence act and not the fix nics act. but both of these bills can help save lives. remember the 86 planned school attacks since the safe utah act was unveiled, and remember the 26 lives that might have been spared if the shooter in suggest the land -- in sutherland springs has been properly entered into the database. rather than letting the perfect be the enemy of the good i implore my friends on both sides of the aisle to come together for the safety of our children. rather than resorting to recycled talking points, i ask my colleagues toed minority leader schumer's -- toed minority leader schumer's call to pass legislation that makes a difference. i call on republicans and democrats alike to surrender their rhetorical weapons for the good of the nation and the good of our children, all of us must look beyond the horizon of our political differences to find common ground. mr. president, is this legislation enough to solve the problem of school violence? no, quite frankly, it is not enough. but it is a start, and it's a start upon which we can all agree. we won't solve the problem of school violence overnight, but with incremental efforts such as the legislation i've proposed we can make a lasting difference and even save thousands of lives. so let's not delay any further. we owe it to our children and all of those affected by gun violence to take decisive action in those areas where we do agree. mr. president, this is important stuff, and we can't just throw in the sponge and act like we've got this problem solved when we still have work to do. so i hope that we'll take heed to what i've just suggested. i think it can be very helpful to us if we follow these suggestions that i've made here today. thank you, mr. president. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, it's with a heavy heart that i bring a report to the senate from marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, a suburb of fort laud her detail -- lauderdale. the teachers and the staff returned to school today, which is less than two weeks after a former student walked on to the campus with an ar-15, opened fire, all three floors of a classroom building. i've spent time this past couple of weeks in parkland visiting with some of the families. those of us who are parents can only imagine the grief and the anger that they are feeling, just like the grief and the anger after every one of these massacres. i've also spent time meeting with some of the courageous students who have turned this tragedy into a call for action. as i have suggested to them, their hope gives me hope. their determination gives me all the more determination. these students have told us over and over that they don't plan to stop until congress and the state legislators around the country start enacting commonsense gun reforms. they said they are not going to stop and neither am i. because what happened at that high school shouldn't happen anywhere in this country. it shouldn't have happened in columbine, it shouldn't happen in newtown, it shouldn't have happened in orlando, it shouldn't have happened at the fort lauderdale airport or parkland. it shouldn't happen, period. and now it's up to us to make sure it never happens again. this senator grew up on a ranch. i've always had guns. i've always hunted all my life. i still hunt with my son. but an ar-15 or an mcx, the gun that was used at the pulse nightclub, those guns are not for hunting, they are for killing. yet despite these horrific events, these devastating tragedies are occurring throughout our country over and over and congress refuses to act. why is it that we can't enact the most commonsense measures to protect the people we represent? we need a comprehensive background check on the purchase of a weapon, a commonsense background check that would not only include, if there was a criminal record or if someone had been adjudicated mentally incompetent, but all the other myriad things. was the shooter on the terrorist watch list? had the shooter been on the terrorist watch list? that would have caught omar matine because he was on the terrorist watch list. he was the shooter in orlando. and all the other things surrounding mental health, if that can be available in a background check. commonsense background check and we need to get the assault rifles off the streets. protect culling our fellow -- protect culling our fellow citizens should be a top priority. to make it possible for someone to brch a -- purchase a weapon of war will do that, why can't we get that done? why? well, i'll tell you why. because there are folks that are more concerned about an a plus rating from the n.r.a. than they are about providing those commonsense solutions to the problem. i want to read something that appeared in a national magazine, reprinted in the paper that is published in broward county where the shooting occurred. it's from a radiologist who is at the trauma center at the broward health, which is a hospital chain, organization -- chain organization in the area of broward county. her name is dr. heather share. she was working the day of the school shooting and she went to work in the trauma center on some of the victims. she's treated countless gun shot wounds in trauma centers throughout the year. but was the first time that she treated someone shot by an assault rifle like the ar-15, and here's what dr. sherr had to say. quote, routine handgun injuries leave enter and exit wounds and track it's through a body that are roughly the size of a bullet. if the bullet from a handgun does not directly hit something crucial like the heart or the acor thea -- aorta, the chances are we can save the victim. the bullets, however, fired by an ar-15 are different. she continues. with an ar-15, the shooter does not have to be particularly accurate. the victim doesn't have to be unlucky. if a victim takes a direct hit to, for example, the liver from an ar-15, the damage is far graver than that from a handgun bullet injury. handgun injuries to the liver are generally survivable unless the bullet hits the main blood supply to the liver. an ar-15 bullet, however, to the middle of the liver would cause so much bleeding and so much tissue damage that the patient would likely never make it to the trauma center to receive ow care. -- to receive our care. she continues. as a doctor i feel i have a duty to inform the public of what i have learned as i have observed these wounds and cared for these patients. it is clear to me that an ar-15 or other high-velocity weapons, especially when fitted with a high capacity magazine have no place in a civilian gun cabinet. and she says, banning an ar-15 should not be a partisan issue. the senseless shootings are not going to stop until we change ourselves as a culture. and i believe with these students who have been so strong in their statements, so determined to make a change, that time might just be now. it didn't happen after sandy hook elementary. nothing happened. it didn't happen after the myriad of others. it didn't happen just two years ago after the orlando nightclub shooting. not again after the fort lauderdale airport shooting. is it different now? it certainly is time for us to come together and enact commonsense gun measures to keep our communities safe. so it's the time for us to come together, not as republicans or democrats, but to come together as human beings and to try to say that this time it's going to be different. you know, you hear so many different things. you hear about mental health, and that is certainly a part of it. you hear about school protection, and that's certainly a part of it. you hear about the miscues, not only in the f.b.i., and that's certainly a part of it, but the miscues in the florida department of children and families, a year prior, that had noted that this shooter -- all of those things ought to be a part of the solution, but you get right down to it, not as republicans or democrats, as human beings, we ought to come together and say if you want to solve the problem, the problem is commonsense background checks in order to purchase a weapon and get the assault rifles off the streets. so let's do this. let's use this tragedy as a catalyst to enact real change in our society, changes that are going to have a real impact. let's make what happened at marjory stoneman douglas high school a significant moment in this country's history, not because it was one of the largest mass shootings but because it was the last. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that before my remarks that i plan to make now are made and memorized by the clerk that i be able to say that my friend from florida, on behalf of the people of georgia that stopped me in the halls and corridors of my state and the grocery stores, and everywhere we went. the attack happened everywhere in america. not just in florida. the tragedy of school shootings has magnified it so much that everyone feels it. i want to share with you the prayers, the hopes, and the concerns of the people of georgia and pledge to work together with you and the other members of the senate so we can find common ground as we move forward to address this situation. i think on behalf of today after coming back after a week after and from the people i represent, the first and foremost thing on everybody's mind in georgia was what happened in georgia and our hearts and prayers go out to you and all those who survived the trauma. mr. nelson: i say to you halleluiah, that you have expressed that, and that your constituents in georgia have been emotionally touched by this whole incident, this terrible incident that we have gone through again in this country. i am grateful to the comments of the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: i thank the senator from florida. mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: mr. president, i rise today with a great sense of pride and honor to commend to my fellow senators today the name of elizabeth lisa branch, who has been nominated to be u.s. circuit court for the court of appeals for the eleventh circuit for the united states of america by president trump. there are significant reasons why i'm so excited to do this. the most significant to the last because it's personal. but at the beginning one of the things i'm so proud of in our constitutional responsibility for advice and consent on the appointment culls of the administration is that every time we appoint is -- somebody at the right time, and lisa is that for the court of appeals and for the bench in the eleventh circuit. she was a partner of smith, gambrel, and russell where she began her legal career in 1996. she moved on to work in the george w. bush administration from twowr to 2008 -- 2004 to 2008 for regulatory affairs at the office of management and budget. for one year as associate general counsel for rules and litigation and legislation of the united states department of homeland security. she served for two years as a law clerk of the u.s. district court. she got her b.a. degree from davidson college. and and law degree from emory university, one of the most renowned law schools in the united states of america. she's a great lady, a great lawyer, was named to the court of appeals in georgia by governor nathan neil and will serve in the circuit court of appeals with honor and privilege in the united states of america. most importantly, on a personal note, as i make these remarks, i'm sure my father, ed isakson and his best friend harold russell are looking down from heaven today on this occasion and recognizing it for the following reason. when lisa went with the firm, she went to work with a firm that represented my father and his company, a firm that represented me. she's not unknown to me as a person, as a lawyer, as a litigator. she's a great individual in our state and has served a great service to our state, will be a great judge for the united states of america. but she also worked with harold russell, my dad's best friend. he represented any father for years in the business. so i know that today in heaven, they're looking down on this special occasion, when an outside georgia jurist, a lady of renowned in our state is about to be confirmed by the united states senate, nominated to the court of appeals of the 11th circuit of georgia. i commend to my colleagues in the senate, elizabeth lisa branch to be confirmed today and i urge your favorable vote to see to it that takes place. with that said, mr. president, i yield back the balance of my time. the presiding officer: the senator notes the absence of a quorum. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: i yield back all time on our side and ask that the bill be voted on. the presiding officer: without objection. 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 reuss of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of elizabeth l. branch of georgia to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit signed by 17 senators. 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 elizabeth branch of georgia to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule of the the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: have all senators voted? does any senator wish to change their vote? on this motion, the yeas are 72, the nays are 22. the motion is agreed to. the senator from north dakota. a senator: mr. president, i rise today to heroin the u.s.a. women's hockey team for their outstanding victories in the 2018 winter olympics. mr. hoeven: all told, the team won four games, including two 5-0 wins over finland and russia and finished as champions after a 3-2 victory over team canada. their achievement stands as a powerful example of hard work, perseverance, and collaboration. north dakota's proud to be represented among the talented members of this team by two athletes, the lamereaux twins, joycelyn and monique. these sisters are alumni of the university of north dakota where they played three seasons of ncaa women's hockey. this was their third trip to the olympics with team u.s.a., having won silver medals in 2010 and 2014, and of course now the gold in 2018. they have a tremendous record. they had a tremendous collegiate record, but just a tremendous olympic record now as well. across their olympic careers, they have scored 13 goals and provided 17 assists for a total of 30 points. they have displayed tremendous skill, tremendous work ethic, and just tremendous team spirit as leaders of just a great women's olympic hockey team. joycelyn holds an olympic record now as well, having scored two goals in less than six seconds in the match against finland. however, in the final game where the lamereaux twins really shined, it was a close game throughout. while team u.s.a. started out with the lead, team canada came back in the second period with a 2-1 lead. remember, canada had won gold in the last two olympics, and it was monique who brought the game to a tie in the final period, scoring a goal, and then joycelyn who scored the game-winning goal in the shootout. how great is that? just unbelievable. exciting. just such great representation of sportsmanship for our nation, coming back after twice, you know, seeing canada take the gold, ending up with silver, now coming back and winning the gold. so this ends canada's four-time gold medal winning streak in women's hockey. obviously, it was just a joyous occasion, certainly for my state of north dakota, but for our whole country. and just uplifting, all the things that you want the olympics truly to be. as you arrive home from south korea, we congratulate team u.s.a. on their historic victory and thank them for representing our nation with their incredible dedication, tireless effort, and tremendous sportsmanship. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: last month, ohio laid to rest two remarkable public servants, westerville police officers eric joring and anthony morella. together, these men dedicated decades of their lives to the police force, giving the ultimate sacrifice to keep their fellow ohioans safe. officer joring and officer morella were doing their jobs in responding to a desperate 911 call when they were tragically shot and killed. in the days since their passing, we have heard incredible stories of their service to their community, their fellow officers, and their families. both men with married with children. officer joring was 39, had three young daughters. his pastor reverend hammond spoke to the news about joring's dedication to his family. he said officer joring would do anything, anything for his daughters. he let them style his hair. he let them paint his nails. reverend hammond quipped i heard he drew the line at makeup. officer morelli was a 30-year veteran of the westerville police force. he had two children. his daughter is getting married this summer. his colleagues remember his infectious smile, his passion for life. westerville police chap tan says morelli went to heaven and partied. these two leaders were laid to rest ten days ago at st. paul catholic church in westerville, drawing thousands of ohioans and fellow officers to pay their respect. these thousands of people waited in line in the cold and rain to enter the church. officers from around the country came to honor these men as they so often do. the church parking lot filled with patrol cars from illinois and texas, from west virginia and michigan, from so many other states. they had to use a tv at a gym next door as an overflow room to accommodate everyone. after the services, a long procession of police vehicles wound its way through westerville. ohioans lined the streets, waving american flags, wearing blue ribbons pinned to their raincoats. the tributes to these officers won't end with that memorial service. in times of tragedy, ohio always rises to the occasion. a donation page for the families set up by the local fraternal order of police has raised more than half a million dollars. the city of westerville will honor officers morelli and joring with a permanent memorial at first responders park. the westerville city council voted unanimously to retire officer joring's canine partner officer sam and send him home to officer joring's family. they were there last week to take sam home. one of joring's daughters wore sam's badge around her neck. otterbein university, a local four-year private distinguished university very nearby will offer full-time tuition and scholarships to each of the three joring girls. while none of these gestures can ever repay them or their loved ones for their service and sacrifice, today we honor their hero's memories, we lift up the entire westerville community and to them lift up all those who knew him. the best way for public servants to honor them is by supporting -- is for the public to honor these public servants is by supporting all ohio officers and working to give law enforcement the resources they need to do their jobs. from the bipartisan legislation we passed last year to speed up claims processing for the families of fallen officers to getting local police forces the resources they need to protect themselves as they fight the opioid epidemic, we must do all we can to support these women and these men who sacrifice so much. let's honor the memory of officer joring and officer morelli by recommitting ourselves to protecting and supporting their fellow officers and the families who sacrifice alongside them. mr. president, i ask that the following remarks be inserted at a different place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. the toy company hasbro announced that it's introducing a new version of the board game monopoly. in this version, imagine this, players get rewarded, not punished, for cheating. you know, it's wall street 2018. it might be fun to be the banker in this new rigged version of monopoly when you're playing with game pieces and pretend money, but it's not so fun when you -- if you were a wells fargo employee, not so fun if be you have been victimized by equifax, not so fun if you are one of the millions of people who have had to go through the process to get restitution from your bank. families get ripped off by shady payday lenders and get ripped off by big banks. families lose real money, not monopoly money. when you think about getting away with and even rewarding cheaters, pretty soon you might not have to use much imagination at all. they have always been -- there have always been shady corporations trying to get away with ripping off consumers. the difference is, the difference, mr. president, is now, now they have an ally in charge of the watchdog that's been -- that's supposed to be policing them. it's called the consumer financial protection bureau, a bureau that has done yeoman's work to prevent -- to protect consumers to get restitution for consumers when they have been cheated by wall street, when they have been cheated by a -- by a payday lender, when they have been cheated by some shady financial service operator. in a short time now heading the consumer financial protection bureau, mick mulvaney has done the opposite of what we used to see and the opposite of what we should expect of the person whose job it is to look out for consumers. remember, it's called the consumer financial protection bureau, not the let's protect wall street in one more way bureau. this month npr reported that a new memo -- in a new memo, mulvaney laid out a revised version of the vision of the bureau. what's that vision? these are npr's words. he is making radical changes to deter the agency from aggressively pursuing its mission, a mission designed to protect hardworking people from banks and payday lenders who look to cheat them. in his mem me -- memo he actually says, the consumer protection bureau should, quote, acting with humility and moderation. he's saying the consumer pur buu should be acting with humility and moderation. does he ever admonish wall street to act with humility and moderation? it would be laughable the way wall street often acts. we shouldn't want moderation when it comes to going after big banks and corporations who are cheating consum consumers. we should want aggressive action. humility and moderation are not the first two to come to mind when you think of the administration. the white house to the surprise of many, the white house now looks like a retreat for wall street executives. when you talk about humility and moderation, about this administration, it seems to me -- it seems like they mean, translating this context, let's go easy on the fraudsters who are ripping off the american people. this is the consumer financial protection bureau. this isn't a wall street regulator that's captured by wall street where you see people from citibank and other wall street entities, the two-plus trillion dollar banks going in and out of revolving doors working for the regulators. this is the consumer financial protection bureau. its job -- its job -- it was created eight or nine years ago to fight just as hard for american families as wall street lobbyists fight for their big banks. believe me, these lobbyists don't exactly act with humility and moderation. since it was created this consumer bureau has returned $12 billion, that's 12 thousand million dollars -- $12 billion to 29 million americans who were cheated by banks, cheated by payday lenders, nod rating that now -- moderating that now is taking money out of the pockets of working families. because the bureau has been so effective, mr. president, the administration has now put the fox in charge of the chicken house. the consumer protection bureau which helped 29 million americans return $12 billion because the banks were cheating them is now run by mick mulvaney who clearly doesn't even think the bureau should exist. nothing in this memo that he wrote should surprise anyone who's watching mr. mulvaney over the past few months or, frankly, his career. though he's been running the cfpb on a part time basis, he's supposed to be overseeing the federal budget. so a little curious that the full time budget director and my friend from ohio, senator portman from my state used to run that bureau. he knows it's a full time job. the administration scooped him up. you keep doing that but you're going to run the consumer bureau. mulvaney had no real interest running the consumer bureau but he's managed to do a lot on behalf of wall street cheaters. his first action was to freeze payments from the civil penalties fund to families who were scammed by big banks and other financial institutions. think about that. the consumer bureau had levied these actions against people who cheated consumers. mulvaney walks in the door the first day, assembles a staff and said, freeze those payments. we're not going to pay that. these were actions taken by people who were looking out for consumers, actions they took to penalize these banks, to get restitution, these financial institutions that cheated the public. so his first day on the job, first week on the job, take back the hard earned money of the americans who had been ripped off. he followed that up by delaying a rule that protects consumers from predatory payday lenders, dismissing a lawsuit against those shady loan sharks. we know -- senator jack reed was out in ohio the other day. senator reed and i sit on the banking committee. he's a west point democrat, senior democrat -- west point graduate, senior democrat on the committee. right outside of dayton, the payday lenders that prey on these service men and women who are young and not as experienced perhaps as some in having a financial sophistication of dealing with some of these loan sharks. and he knows what -- he knows that payday lenders and others prey on these generally low paid, underpaid young men and women sacrificing for our country, including sometimes they initiate foreclosures on homes when people are overseas in service to our country. but the new director of the consumer bureau doesn't seem all that interested in this. so after delaying a rule that protects consumers from predatory payday lenders, after dismissing a lawsuit against these shady loan sharks, we're seeing -- we're talking about lenders who have been accused of deceiving customers. sometimes with payday lenders charging 900% interest, trying to collect departments people don't even owe. those people should be protected. you don't protect wall street. you protect people who have been defrauded by wall street. it's not that complicated but apparently at the consumer bureau, it now is. those payday lenders are getting an even better return on their campaign donations than they are on their predatory loans. mulvaney's put on ice another case that had been pending against wells fargo. this time for wrongly charging borrowers fees when they took out a mortgage earlier this month. at his day job running another federal agency, he proposed a budget that would defund the consumer bureau entirely for a year that would defund basically or -- he philosophically doesn't like the idea of somebody standing up for customers, standing up for consumers, standing up against wall street, standing up against the payday lenders, standing up against the loan sharks that he seems to be in alliance with. we shouldn't be surprised by any of this. the person heading the consumer protection bureau now, mr. mull vai -- mul mulvaney is a man who thinks the bureau doesn't exist. he said some time ago the consumer protection bureau is a sad, sick joke. he sponsored legislation to repeal it. how do you explain to americans who got $12 billion in restitutions because they were cheated, how do you explain to them that this is a sad, sick joke and shouldn't exist? it's no joke to the service members who rely on consumer bureau to fight for them against bank abuse. it's no joke to the three and a half million victims of wells fargo's fake account scam, or the 145 million americans, five million in my state alone, 1 4r5 million americans -- 145 million americans, that's pretty much half of the adult population of our country, who had their date take breached by equifax and had equifax executives had little contrition, didn't really much apologize and they're skating free. what is mick mulvaney doing to help the people in this country, victims of equifax making sure it doesn't happen again? nothing, absolutely nothing. the consumer bureau was investigating this massive breach. mulvaney ordered them to close the investigation. this is malpractice or worse. we're talking about a data breach that exposed birthdays and social security numbers and addresses, people's identities could be stolen, their credit scores ruined. mr. mulvaney, did he care? apparently not because he was on the side of equifax when he wasn't on the side of wall street, when he wasn't on the side of payday lenders, when he wasn't on the side of scam artists and maybe he's on the side of all of them. but apparently he thinks it's more important to protect the corporations that let it happen rather than protect the american people he's supposed to serve. i guess we shouldn't be surprised. once again mick mulvaney and this administration are making it clear whose side they are on. over and over they side with wall street, they side with the largest corporations. they side with companies that shut down production and mansfield, zanesville and move their companies overseas. they said with them instead of hardworking americans who are struggling. we see the consumer bureau with mulvaney's protecting corps interests, we see it with other watchdogs putting americans at risk just to help wall street pad their pockets. understand, as you know, mr. president, that wall street, america's financial system has had a really, really, really good couple of years. even though we bailed them out ten years ago, this congress bailed out these huge banks, two trillion dollar banks, we bailed them out. they've been very profitable. congress passed a tax bill where 81% of the benefits go to the richest 1% of people in this country. the financial service industry, it's believed that better under that tax cut, that tax bill than anybody else in the country, any other industry. so we see -- now we see mick mulvaney and the consumer bureau doing even more for the banks by representing them instead of representing workers and consumers. the administration, as i said, it's increasingly clear whose side they're on. we see it with roll back of rules to protect americans from the fine print in contracts, the fine print that few of us read and even fewer of us can really understand. we sign up for credit cards. we sign up for a car loan. when we get a job and they make us sign -- when you sign a contract with your employer, these fine print forced arbitration clauses, you know what they did here? they denied customers and employees who were cheated their day in court. so you sign the credit card. you sign the bank document. you want to sue because they did something to you that simply you thought was against the law. you're out of luck. you've lost your right because you signed that document. we see it with bills right here in the senate to dismantle wall street reform, to make it easier for big banks to take big risks that can wreck the economy all over again. the ten-year anniversary of the biggest crisis since the great depression, there is already collective amnesia sented over this town. over and over the republican leaders in congress, the people down the hall, senator mcconnell's office, over and over they side with wall street over workers. it enyears ago we saw -- ten years ago we saw what wall street -- what the financial service industry, particularly wall street, did to our country. i live in cleveland, ohio, my wife and i. our zip code ten years ago 11 years ago had more foreclosures than any other zip code. i still see the blight because of the wall street abuse and the blight -- the loss -- lost retirement savings, lost jobs, the closed factories, foreclosed homes. i see all of that in my neighborhood. i see all of that throughout my state. we all see it in all 50 states. yet there's this collective amnesia in this body as if none of that ever happened to our country. this administration, republican leaders again and again and again side with wall street over workers, side with wall street over its customers. the lessons after decade ago are clear. you don't grow the middle class by letting big banks take massive risks or shady lenders prey on hardworking americans. that's why we passed wall street refortunately. that's why we created the consumer bureau to hold big banks and other bad actors accountable when they cheat to deter them from bad, risky behavior in the first place. we need a new, permanent director of the consumer protection bureau who will protect consumers instead -- instead of handing big corporations a get out of jail free card. a cheater's version of monopoly might sound like fun on game night. we've already seen what it looks like in real life. powerful special interests on with street win big every single time. everybody else loses. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: i ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded and i'm permitted to speak as if in morning business for ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. boozman: thank you. i rise to discuss the effect tax reform is having on my home state of arkansas. despite from what you may have heard from those who oppose the tax cut and jobs act including minority leader pelosi's description as the t

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