Taken the Trump Administration by surprise. We knew the storm was coming. We knew for days that a category 5 hurricane was on a collision course with puerto rico, just as communities across the island were picking up after the pieces of irma. And we have known for years about the islands aging infrastructure like the downed power line pictured here. In short, all of us knew that Hurricane Maria was a recipe for disaster that would leave 3. 5 million americans in peril, disconnected, and in the dark. It should not have taken the administration 12 days to issue a disaster declaration, something i called for for 100 of the island, because as i saw on friday, there is no community in puerto rico that is untouched by this tragedy. Focused leadership would have had a threestar general on the ground the moment the clouds parted, not eight days after the storm struck. We needed medical evacuation vehicles and vessels, aid and relief delivery assistance on standby, the u. S. S. Comfort ready for immediate deployment, something that i called for. Instead, the administration told us that puerto rico is hard because it is an island in a big ocean. Its an island in a big ocean. But it happens to be an island of 3. 5 Million United States citizens. We have no more time to waste. Thats why it is so urgent that we take action now. If we can send 20,000 troops to haiti, surely we can get more boots on the ground saving american lives in puerto rico. We need more helicopters airdropping food and water to secluded communities. We need generators delivered and the repair of communication towers expedited. Now its up to the president to mobilize every resource possible to save lives, to get the lights turned on, to rebuild bridges, to reach secluded communities, to reconnect families. We cant afford to waste any more time, not when lives are on the line. Not when elderly residents in Nursing Homes grow frailer by the moment. Not when hungry American Children have nothing to eat. Not when communities are without clean Drinking Water for days on end. So we need to keep the pressure on the administration. The military needs to more quickly deliver resources to private sectors in need. Thats why my colleagues and i wrote to fema to urge the president to waiver Disaster Relief costsharing, because as the governor told me, i have no revenue coming in, i have no revenue coming in. And the likelihood of revenue coming in, certainly in the short term, is not there. So how do you acquire the 70 or 75 of the federal assistance if you dont have the 25 to put up . Thats why we have written the usda, asking that they use all available resources to get food to the people of puerto rico. This is an allhandsondeck situation for the federal government. But Congress Also has a responsibility to act. Thats why i sent a letter to leader mcconnell and speaker ryan urging they bring forward an emergency supplemental aid package and to Fund CommunityDevelopment Block grants for disaster recovery. Its up to us here in congress to immediately authorize not just the emergency funding needed to save lives in puerto rico, but also the assistance needed for a fullpowered recovery. We must give Puerto Ricans the tools to rebuild. That means making sure that puerto ricos financial control board gives the governor flexibility to spearhead this recovery. Board members of that control board should be on the island, assessing the damage, speaking to the survivors, allowing governor rossello to create a new budget that reflects puerto ricos postmaria reality. The damage by some experts could be as high as 90 billion, so adjusting expectations and enabling flexibility is absolutely critical going forward. Ive said it before and ill say it again. The people of puerto rico must come before wall street creditors, and as it turns out, this is one area where the president and i can find common ground. Just last night, he called for puerto ricos debt to be wiped out. I hope all of us, the administration, my colleagues in congress, and the fiscal control board, can Work Together to jumpstart puerto ricos recovery. And that must include enabling flexibility, addressing the islands crippling debt, and ensuring that pensions are protected and paid. Imagine not getting your pension in the midst no longer working, having no income, and then your pension is not protected. How do you make it . How do you make it . All of us here in the senate have a responsibility to stand with puerto rico. How we respond to this crisis will have profound consequences, not just for the americans who live in puerto rico today, but for generations to come. We need to pass a disaster package that matches the astounding damages suffered by the island. The photos i have brought to the floor today give you a glimpse of the full devastation on the ground. Its not enough to reconnect a faulty, ailing power grid. Its time to be proactive and rebuild puerto rico so its prepared for the next storm in the 21st century. Its time to fix the underlying disparities that have hindered puerto ricos success. Otherwise, we will simply be rebuilding a broken foundation. Let me close on saying that i remind my colleagues that Puerto Ricans are not just citizens of the United States, which in and of itself, in and of itself should speak to the compelling arguments that we should be engaged in helping puerto rico as our fellow americans, but they have fought to defend our nation, from world war i to the war on terror. Take a walk down on the vietnam memorial, and you will see puerto rican names engraved in that stone far in excess of the number of people proportion atly to the american population. Throughout our history, Puerto Ricans have given their lives so that they may remain part of the land of the free, and to this day, more than 10,000 Puerto Ricans serve in every branch of the u. S. Armed forces. Lets also remember that beyond the 3. 5 million citizens living on the island, there are five million Puerto Ricans living in our states, in our congressional districts and in our communities. In the aftermath of this unprecedented disaster, these americans deserve the same rights, the same respect and response from their federal government. Thats why i told leaders from new jerseys Puerto Rican Community earlier this week, assemblymen, women, mayors, community leaders, concerned citizens. We all remember how hard it was to secure the funding we needed to rebuild new jersey in the aftermath of super storm sandy. We had to fight tooth and nail every step of the way. Guess what . We had two u. S. Senators from new jersey, 13 members of congress, joined by our colleagues from new york, a whole host of congressional members, as well as connecticut, which is also affected, and it was an incredible time here to try to get relief. Americans in puerto rico have no vote in the senate. They have no votes in congress. And the fight to rebuild puerto rico will be that much harder. But as i have in the past, i intend to be their voice and their vote in the United States senate. Now is not the time to pretend like recovery will be a piece of sake. No one, not the governor, not the president , not any one of us should sugarcoat the Human Capacity playing out in puerto rico. Its time for honesty about the conditions on the ground, the challenges we face and the actions we must take. Yes, puerto rico is an island in the middle of a very big ocean. We are the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. We have the most advanced military capabilities ever known and the most skilled armed forces in the world. We have to be there for 3. 5 million americans who are in need. Were the United States of america. We do the impossible. We give our men and women in uniform any mission, and they rise to the occasion. If we conducted the berlin airlift, set up Tactical Operations in the mountains of afghanistan, built green zones in baghdad in the height of the iraq war, then surely we can save the lives of americans in danger, and surely we can save those lives and help rebuild puerto rico. We must not rest until every american is safe and the work of rebuilding is done. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor. And observe 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 georgia. Mr. Isakson i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Isakson mr. President , i would like to move that all time be yielded back on both sides. 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 rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of callista l. Gingrich of virginia to be ambassador of the United States of america to the holy see, 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 callista l. Gingrich of virginia to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States of america to the holy see shall be brought to a close. The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote . The presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . If not the yeas are 75. The nays are 20. The motion is agreed to. A senator mr. President . Frfer the senator from north dakota. A senator mr. President , i rise today to talk about whats really once in a Generation Opportunity and thats the opportunity we have right now to reform our outmoded and complex tax code. Mr. Hoeven and also most importantly provide tax relief for our nations families, farmers, and Small Businesses. The tax code has not been updated since 1986. You think about all that has changed over the last 30 years, you know that modern advances in technology have drastically revolutionized the way businesses businesses business is conducted today. The creation of the internet, substantially increased automation, instant communications has, you know, created dramatic changes and in many ways brought us closer in terms of communication and really interconnected our Global Economy in ways we could never have foreseen back in the 1980s when we last reformed our tax code. So it is past time its not time, its past time, to modernize our outdated tax code into the 21st century. We must do so in order to make sure american businesses can compete on the global stage and provide tax relief to hardworking, middleclass families who have been struggling to get and stay ahead over the last decade. The recently released Tax Blueprint proposes sweeping tax reform that will benefit working families and Small Businesses throughout the country while promoting job creation, Economic Growth, and global competitiveness. This country was built on hard work by individuals and families who strive each and every day to make ends meet, to provide for their loved ones, and to plan for retirement. The current tax code is complex. It has many loopholes that do nothing to help our hardworking families keep more of their own hard earned money. Our tax program would help individuals and families in my home state and across this country to get ahead by generating new jobs through sustained Economic Growth while lowering the overall tax burden putting more money back in the taxpayers pockets. We do this in a number. Ways. By doubling the standard deduction, by eliminating taxes on the first 12,000 earned by an individual, and 24,000 earned by a married couple, effectively establishing a zero percent tax rate as the bottom bracket, bottom tax rate. That means of the nearly 81 of north dakotans that claim the standard deduction, they could see a significant increase in their takehome pay. Thats true for other states across the country as well. Further, were consolidating and lowering the tax rates across the board while simplifying the tax code to make it fairer for everybody. At nearly 70,000 pages long, its no wonder americans currently spend more than 6 billion thats with a b six billion hours a year complying with the tax code. In fact, 94 of taxpayers choose to either pay someone else or to use software to prepare their taxes because of the complexity of our tax code. Our goal for tax reform is to allow the vast majority of americans to file their tax returns on a single page, simple simple calculation, something that they can do themselves. We want to reduce the cost and stress that Many Americans feel during tax season. Further, our tax reform provides more opportunities for Small Business owners, farmers, and others in helping them drive our economy, grow our economy, and be more competitive than ever before. While we focus on a business friendly state in north dakota, we have a very business friendly climate, the federal tax continues to place an undue burden on the nearly 71,000 Small Businesses that operate in our state which is more than 95 of all of the lawyers in the state. And again this is something that applies across the nation. It the driver of our economy, the backbone of our economy is Small Business. Theyre the job generators. Theyre the job creators. And we have to do more to help them do what they do which is create jobs and grow our economy. Same thing with our family farmers. In my state alone, more than 30,000 family farms and ranches across our state, their marginal tax rate can reach as high as almost 45 , nearly ties the average rate twice the average rate of the rest of the industrialized world. That creates real challenges. So this tax framework follows the example we have set in our state by restoring economic opportunity, by lowering the tax burden, and by enacting a progrowth tax code. Economists agree high corporate taxes reduce wages to workers, raise costs for consumers, and reduce returns on retirement savings. That affects all of us. Maintaining high tax rates does nothing to improve the fairness of our system. It only punishes everyday citizens and reduces Economic Opportunities for all americans. For far too long our tax code has incentivized American Companies to send jobs and investment overseas instead of keeping them here at home, keeping that investment, keeping those jobs here at home. Consequently, large multinational corporations now hold approximately 2. 6 trillion overseas, 2. 6 trillion overseas, money that could be repatriated back to the United States for investment in american jobs here at home. Our framework would end the loopholes and the incentives that keep foreign profits off shore by moving to a territorial tax system and encouraging repatriation of these offshore funds and bringing that investment back to america. This is about getting the American Economy going again, creating jobs and opportunity here at home rather than overseas. It is vital that we advance comprehensive tax reform that simplifies the i. R. S. Code and reduces rates, putting more money in the pockets of working individuals and families and empowering private investment will drive domestic job creation and increase wages through higher demand for labor and lower business costs. All the while we can ensure stable government revenues through a broader tax base, growing economy, and a more efficient tax system. That means we will continue to be able to fund our priorities and work to get our debt and our deficit under control. Ensuring u. S. Competitiveness in the global marketplace and providing tax relief to middleclass families will benefit both current and future generations. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to Work Together to get tax reform done for the people of my state in north dakota, for their respective states, and for americans across this entire country. With that, madam president , i yield the floor. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from mitch began. A senator madam president , the Childrens HealthInsurance Program in many ways has been an outstanding example of what a bipartisan democratic process can accomplish. Mr. Peters 20 years ago president bill clinton worked with a republican majority in both the senate and the house of representatives to successfully pass the Childrens HealthInsurance Program into law. That legislation passed with 85 votes in the senate, an overwhelming bipartisan vote to recognize the simple fact that all children born in this great country of ours should have Health Care Coverage. The Childrens HealthInsurance Program has more often than not seen great bipartisan support. As members of congress, we have always come together and understood the importance of these programs, and we have done everything that we can to ensure that quality, costeffective care is available to millions of americans. Unfortunately, as i stand here today, funding for both the Childrens HealthInsurance Pro