Vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or to change their vote . If not, on this vote the yeas are 79. The nays are 18. Threefifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. Cloture having been invoked under the previous order amendment number 809 is withdrawn and the motion to concur on the house amendment to the Senate Amendment to h. R. 601 with a further amendment. Is there a sufficient second . The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to change their vote . If not, the yeas are 80, the nays are 17. The motion to concur in the house to the senate, the amendment is agreed to. The majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to calendar number 175. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk motion to proceed to 2810, act to authorize appropriations for 2018 for military activities for the department of defense and for Defense Activities in the department of energy for such fiscal year and for other purposes. The presiding officer i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion. The clerk cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on calendar number 175, h. R. 2810, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for military activities for the department of defense and for Defense Activities for the dough d. O. E. And for other purposes. Mr. Mcconnell i ask that the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President , i have a request for one committee to meet during todays session of the senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Wyden mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden mr. President , in a few minutes im going to start sprinting to the airport to get home to listen to oregonians who have been clobbered by several mega fires unlike anything we have seen in my home state of oregon. On top of that, in addition to the mega fires, there are numerous other fires. Just up the road from my hometown of portland, eagle creek fire has merged with the indian creek fire and has spread over an area of 31,000 acres. And what we have seen again just staggering in its implications, the fire jumped the Columbia River into washington state. Its ravaging our iconic Columbia River george. Is this gorge. This is a treasure and beloved by people who visit it every year and people in my home state. Next to me is a shot of the fire that has been burning in the Columbia River gorge now for days. Although it appears the first sparks of the eagle creek fire were ignited by a young man, it is clear that the inferno was accelerated by the unusual heat in early september. Now the lives and the homes of gorge residents are under threat and a worldrenowned treasure in my home state has been devastated. Sadly, this wildfire devastation this month has rippled across oregon. A fire in southwest oregon has consumed more than 167,000 acres an area bigger than all of portland. The umqua fire and the mill fire in Central Oregon have torn through tens of thousands of acres each. I could go on. Mr. President , the point is my home state is getting pounded by these fires and the west is getting pounded by these fires. The sky glows orange at night as the flames burn on. Families wake up to ash on their windshields. Schools are closed and people have been warned to stay indoors because its not safe to breathe the hazardous air. On the air quality index map from the Environmental Protection agency, which i have here, you can see the effects of the nightmare that has settled in over most of oregon, idaho, washington, and large parts of montana. As i speak here, there are a million and a half acres of blaze across oregon, california, idaho, wyoming, nevada, and utah. Onethird of these burning acres are in my home state alone. This year is virtually guaranteed to be the worst fire season in history in terms of the total area burned. Mr. President , i served as chairman of the energy and Natural Resources committee for a time, chaired the forestry subcommittee. I sat in so Many Committee hearings and heard again and again about the dangers these fires pose to our states. The fact is the fires are getting hotter, theyve gotten bigger, theyve gotten tougher to fight and this is a yearslong pattern in the west. It gets hot. It gets dry. Theres been inadequate efforts to go in there and thin out the dead and dying material. Then we have a Lightning Strike in our part of the world. Then all of a sudden you have an inferno on your hands. This time, as i indicated, it seems some of the problem was due to that set of firecrackers. But this is a years long pattern in the west. And frankly, the same Warming Trends that have worsened the fires seems to have added fuel to storms that developed in the gulf of mexico and over the atlantic. My seat mate here, senator nelson, has been telling us about what his region is faced with. The victims of all these disasters and the communities that will continuing to face these growing threats need government to come up with smarter policies to try to prevent as much of this as possible. And thats why i wanted to wrap up my way my remarks by way of talking about the bizarre way in which the federal government budgets for fighting fire. And in the energy and Natural Resources committee, ive led a bipartisan effort for years now. Senator mike crapo, the senior senator from idaho, and i, we had 260 groups, forestry groups, scientists, environmentalists all join us in the effort because what has happened over the years is the federal government has shorted prevention and then because of the conditions being hot and dry and Lightning Strikes or what have you, you have a big fire. And then the federal government can put the fire out, borrows from the prevention fund, and the problem gets worse. And this is what we call fire borrowing. And the reason i call it bizarre is the idea of ripping off prevention which you need most just defies common sense. You have a dangerous worsening cycle known as fire borrowing, shoddy budgeting today leads to bigger fires tomorrow. And it needs to stop. And i remember not long ago, mr. President , because this does so much damage to Natural Resources policy, the distinguished minority leader of the senate, senator. Mr. Schumer er sign senator schumer signed on to our bill and we all wondered, well, whats the situation in new york . Turned out they had a problem with a bug and a baseball bat. And the Natural Resource agencies had trouble dealing with that challenge because so much of the funds had been frittered away with this broken system of fighting fire. Mr. Wyden thats why ive called on the president now to include a funding fix in any request for an upcoming disaster aid project a disaster aid package. Several of my western colleagues and i, senators from both sides of the aisle, are calling on leaders mcconnell and schumer today to include a fix in any disaster aid package that comes before this body. As ive said, mr. President , this battle has gone on for years. I think i mentioned to my friend from new mexico that this issue with respect to fire borrowing, this has been the longest running battle since the trojan war. It has gone on and on and each year wastes more and more money on a broken system of funding the fight against wildfires. Senator crapo has been an instrumental partner in this effort. He also has a proposal a proposal that in effect builds on what we have been working on for years in the banking committee. I support that proposal as well. So i want it understood that theres a lot that has to be dealt with here in the senate and some horrible disasters, houston and now the south with senator where senator nelson is going to wrestle with this weekend. Weve got a lot to do but when were take uking about western when were talking about western communities getting hit by a wrecking ball which is exactly what these mega fires do, i want it understood that we western senators, democrats and republicans, are going to be teaming up to make sure as we said in ourer today in our letter today to leaders mcconnell and schumer, that a fire fix thats based on common sense, sensible practices that try to prevent fires to the greatest extent possible have to be a focus of priority business here in the senate. Too many western communities, the kind im going to see this weekend are faced with destroyed homes, businesses, lost recreation dollars, lost timber revenue, cleanup costs and forest and range Land Restoration efforts. And the west cannot wait any longer for congress to break this dangerous cycle that defies common sense, short changes wildfire prevention, and does it year after year after year. What western senators are going to do is Work Together in a bipartisan way, which is what you have to do when your constituents are faced with these kinds of problems. I can tell you in oregon or montana or idaho, when you have one of these mega fires, nobody is sitting around waiting to hear about just the democratic approach or the republican approach. They want to have a response to what the federal government is going to do to help these hardhit western communities. Its absolutely essential that the senate act soon. Ive urged the president of the United States who campaigned as a champion for these communities and the workers who live in them, ive said, mr. President , do not ignore the west. And democratic and republican senators, given all the promises that have been made over the years, we are going to insist that with fires of this magnitude weve seen plenty of fires in the past. We havent seen the kind of thing ive just described that isnt very far from my hometown and across the state, given the urgency of this situation, western senators of both Political Parties are making it clear to leaders mcconnell and schumer and the president of the United States we need the federal government to act and we need it now. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Leahy mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from vermont leag mr. President , we had properly mr. Leahy mr. President , we had promises from the white house that they would treat Daca Recipients with great heart. I dont believe its great heart but protections for our nations dreamers. Its an unfortunate pattern. I hope it changes, but we see at the white house as the president faces historical low approval ratings, he rallies dwindling supporters by instilling fear and resentment. Now, that kind of conduct is shameful. Its unbecoming of the presidency. Its an office intended to represent our proudest ideals, not play to our basic instincts. Ive been here with every president since president ford, both republicans and democrats. We agreed on some things. Disagreed on some things. But the president s have always seemed to want to present and represent americas proudest ideals. I think its an unprecedented time when the president prefers to divide us rather than unite us. Instead of honoring the sacrifice, sometimes the sacrifice of lives made by transgender individuals serving in our armed forces, President Trump didnt ask are they helping our country. He decided to just ban them all from serving us. When White Supremacists violently rallied around hate in charlottesville, virginia, resulting in the murder of heather heyer, the president equated those who promote bigotry with those who oppose it. Theres no equation. Theres no equation. The bigotry shown there, the hate shown there was wrong. Now, this week the president targets another vulnerable population, dreamers. And dreamers are american by almost any definition. They came to the United States as children through no fault, by no choice of their own, children. Those of us who have children or grandchildren know they dont make those kind of choices. But they played by our countrys rules. They grew up. They have no criminal record. They seek only to contribute to their communities and make them better. America is their home. Often its the only country theyve ever known. Just as my maternal grandparents came from italy and found a home in vermont or my great grandparents came from ireland and found a home in vermont. They wanted that to be their home. That was the American Dream. But when you threaten the dreamers, you threaten the American Dream itself. And the president s attempt to justify his decision, indifference to congress, respect for our courts disingenuous at betion, the president at best, the president signed 19 executive actions in the first hundred days suddenly cares it a president who doggedly defends a muslim ban found to be unconstitutional by multiple courts is now cautious about the litigation risk of defending daca in court. Dreamers of our friends and neighbors, students at schools and universities in all of our states. They serve our country in the military. They are among the First Responders who come to say your who come to save your life when theres a fire. Consider, for example, contreras. He saved american lives. If wed thrown him out, he wouldnt have been there saving lives. The president s decision on daca is nothing but to rally the antiimmigrant voices while attempting to escape responsibility for deporting some of the most inspiring americans in our country. Mr. President , just on tuesday, i received a letter from dr. Dr. Juan hunday, a daca recipient, a resident of vermont. He was brought to the United States by his mother as a child. In 2007 his mother lost her life battling cancer. So he thought he should try to set a life to help Cancer Patients like her. He couldnt pursue his dream being an oncologist due to his immigration status, so he initial decided to pursue a ph. D. In cancer research. But dr. Conde went to wanted to treat Cancer Patients. He wanted to treat the patients with cancer, not just study the disease. And then when he received daca status, he was able to pursue his dream directly helping patients. He applied to and was accepted into the university of Vermont College of medicine. He is currently pursuing his medical degree. He hopes to spend his career here in the United States, treating cancer patient patient, researching the disease, which has taken the lives of millions of americans, including members of my own family. Dr. Conde is the face of daca. Dreamers have enormous potenti potential, determine nation to contribute to the only country theyve known since childhood. You deny them these opportunities because they were brought here as children by their parents, it would be cruel and inhumane, to be motivated more by the toxicity of this administration. Dr. Cond es story veals why a decision rescind daca is as senseless as it is callus. Now the fate of did a i now e of data can a is in the hands of congress. We can bring up a vote on this if the Republican Leadership will allow that in the house and the senate. And there are republicans who are spoken out against the president s decision. Its easy to speak out, act on it, vote on it. The democrats stand ready to protect our nation for the dreamers. Stand ready to defend the American Dream. I hope were not standing alone. I would invite my republican friends, stand up with us. Stand up for those dreamers. I guarantee you you have some living in your state. I guarantee you. My grandparents and my greatgrandparents, they can make america a better country. Mr. President , i see other senators on the floor. I would yield the floor but ask consent my whole statement be made part of the record. The presiding officer without objection. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from environment. Mr. Kaine i also rise to speak briefly about the news news this week that the president is terminating deferred action for childhood arrivals but also putting the burden on the shoulders of this body to find an appropriate solution. The president often said as a candidate and even in his early days as president that he understood some things about these youngsters. He called them incredible kids and he also said that they would be fine. He did not use that language often in talking about immigrants, and so those were positive phrases that led many to hope that he would continue the daca program. Many in his administration wanted him to, others in this body, the speaker wanted him to continue the program. But he announced he was terminating it in six months and asked congress to step up. I wanted to just tell you, mr. President , about a couple of youngsters that i was with last week. I had a roundtable on daca at Northern Virginia community college, which is one of the largest and most Diverse Community colleges in the United States. And i had this last week, and i had eight students. And there were a fascinating mixture of young men and women. I just wanted to come and share some things about their stories because it demonstrates how these young people, these dreamers are a source of strength for our co