System is as secure as its ever before. The Registration System as secure as its ever before. Four years ago the obama administration, a little later than this, said there is a big problem and were going to declare the election structure a structure of National Significance and were going 0 it play a different role than we ever played before. No anticipation this was going to happen. Not much discussion. Election officials all over the country immediately said, oh, no youre not. Youre not going to just decide in october of Election Year that youre going to take over the election system and declare it a national a system of National Significance, a system of critical significance to the future of the nation. Of course it is. But it didnt become that in october of 2016. But the message was clear that we needed to build those stronger ties with local and state election authorities. We needed to do everything we could as we saw the efforts by some foreign actors and some people in their ba
Lawmakers expect today begin debate on tax treaties with switzerland and luxembourg and live nominations. Live to the floor of the u. S. Senate here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will open the senate with prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Mighty god, hear our prayers. Search our hearts and know our thoughts. Keep our lawmakers on your path, inspiring them to walk with integrity. Hear and answer their prayers, saving them with your might. Lord, preserve our senators as the apple of your eye, ordering their steps and bringing them to your desired destination. We love you, lord, for you are our strength. And, lord, we thank you for the life and service of retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul stevens. We pray in your great name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. The president pro tempore please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of t
Vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, the yeas are 54, the nays are 37, the nomination is confirmed. The clerk will report the next nomination. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, brian c. Buescher, of nebraska, to be United States district judge for the district of nebraska. The presiding officer the question is on the nomination. A senator i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote change the presiding officer are there any senators wishing to change their vote . The nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates actions. Mr. Merkley madam president. The presiding officer the senator from north dakota. Mr. Hoeven madam president , i ask unanimous consent that the senate pro
Through violence, attacks against commercial vessels in International Waters, sponsored attacks against civilian targets in the gulf and then last weeks unprovoked attack on our unarmed aircraft. So, madam president , we face a choice here. Will we legitimize and incentivize irans use of terror and aggression or will we stay resolute, applying appropriate and proportionate pressure until tehran respects fundamental norms of International Behavior . Last thursday President Trump consulted with a Bipartisan Group of l congressional leaders and National Security chairmen and Ranking Members. The president weighed advice from a number of sources. It is clear he was listening to congressional leaders, and clearly the president wants to avoid war. Hence the deliberate and judicious approach hes taken since the shootdown. Hence, his repeated efforts to give irans leaders an off ramp toward negotiations. Nevertheless, there is a general consensus that this act of aggression cannot stand. Tehra
The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Lankford mr. President , i want to be able to address this body to talk about an issue that we dont talk about enough, the deficit. Its an issue for whatever reason weve stopped talking about in washington, d. C. Were talking about tax policy, as we should. Were talking about Disaster Relief areas, which we should. Talking about health policies, which we should. A lot of other things. We have stopped talking about debt and deficit. I think thats a mistake for us. See, as the trend has moved, since 2011, at a high point when the deficit spending that year was 1. 3 trillion in overspending in a single year. Since that point, deficits have gone down a little bit each year until 2015. In 2016, our deficit number, thats a single year overspending started going back up. It went up in 2016. It went up again in 2017. Turning the wrong direction. As you will recall and as many people in this body would recall, deficits were a major topic for us starting in