Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate 11022017 20171102 : vimar

Ms. Collins mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from maine. Ms. Collins mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that proceedings under the call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Collins thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , today i rise with my colleague from new mexico, senator heinrich, in discussing the securing americas voting equipment act of 2017 or the save act which we introduced earlier this week. Mr. President , i know that youre well aware that the Senate Intelligence committee has been conducting an indepth investigation into attempts by the russians to interfere with our election last fall. What we have found is the russians active measures preceded last fall and they continue to this very day. We have election coming up in november of this year and a major election next year and both senator heinrich and i believe that it is so important that we act to assist states in protecting the integrity of their Voting Systems. Our bill seeks to facilitate informationsharing on the threats posed to state election systems by foreign adversaries to provide guidance to states on how to protect their systems against nefarious activity and for states who choose to do so to allow them to access some federal grant money to implement best practices to protect their systems. Now, mr. President , let me be clear that i know of no evidence to date that actual vote tabulations were manipulated in any state in the elections last fall. Nevertheless, as early as the summer of 2016, the f. B. I. Discovered that foreignbased hackers had gained access to Voter Registration databases in two states. The department of Homeland Security confirmed that russianlinked actors attempted to access vedder voter roles in those two states. But more alarming is the fact that further investigation revealed that many more states than just two were ultimately found to have had their Voting Systems probed by the russians. The department of Homeland Security notified Election Officials in a total of 21 states that their election systems had been targeted by russian governmentlinked hackers. Mr. President , if voter rolls were altered or voter equipment tampered with, a compromise of these systems could open the door to voter disenfranchisement and undermined Public Confidence and the integrity of our free and fair elections, a bedrock principle of our democracy. In response to these alarming threats, the safe act would assist states in hardening their systems. It does not aim to tell states how to conduct their elections. The responsibility for conducting elections would remain with each state, as been our countrys tradition since its founding. State and r and state and local elections alone, however, cannot be expected to defend against Cyber Attacks from foreign adversaries. That is why our bill seeks to bring to bear the unique authorities, capabilities, and resources that the federal government can offer to state and local Election Officials. Let me just briefly describe the heinrichcollins bill. First our bill would codify a decision made by both secretaries of Homeland Security, jeh johnson and john kelly to designate election systems as Critical Infrastructure. This designation allows d. H. S. To prioritize, providing assistance to election jurisdictions and to establish formal mechanisms to enhance information share and collaboration within the electoral sector. More than 30 states took advantage of d. H. S. s offer of assistance last year. Our bill also addresses a shortcoming that i raised during a hearing before the Senate Intelligence committee in june regarding foreign efforts to compromise american Voting Systems. During this hearing, mr. President , we learned that not a single secretary of state had been cleared to receive classified information before the 2016 election or in the six months since Voting Systems had been declared as Critical Infrastructure. This delay is truly inexplicable. We have to be able to share this critical information in order for state Election Officials to take the necessary steps to safeguard their systems. Our bill addresses this limitation on information sharing by authorizing the director of National Intelligence to provide security clearances to designated chief Election Officials in each state. That way the Intelligence Community can share appropriate classified information with states regarding foreign threats targeting election systems. Our bill also mandates that d. H. S. Conduct a threat assessment on physical and electronic risks to Voting Systems. Then in collaboration with stakeholders, the department will develop best practices to address those risks. A few simple measures can make a big difference. Best practices like relying upon paper ballots, such as the state of maine currently does, and conducting postelection audits to ensure that the tabulation by votecounting machines matches the results of the paper ballots can bolster both reel sill yens resilience and Public Confidence in the integrity of the voting process. Our bill creates a voting Grant Program for states to upgrade and safeguard the integrity of their systems by implementing the best practice its that have been identified. Mr. President , last year the russian government sought to disrupt our democracy by threatening the integrity of our elections. It is incumbent upon congress to assist the states and those charged with conducting elections at the local, state, and federal level to protect them from foreign interference, our bill would do just that. Im very pleased to work with the leader on this effort, senator senator heinrich, and i would urge all of our colleagues to join senator heinrich and me in sponsoring this bill. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. Heinrich mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. Mr. Heinrich thank you, mr. President. I want to start by just thanking my republican colleague from maine, senator susan collins, for her work on this legislation. In addition to her excellent work on the intelligence committee, her experience in Homeland Security and with Critical Infrastructure was absolutely critical to the drafting of this legislation. And with both of us as current members of the select committee on intelligence, we are continuing to work on the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 president ial election. You know, our Committee Heard yesterday we held an important open hearing where we had representatives from Companies Like facebook, google, twitter. We know that russian governmentlinked actors purchased online advertisements last year in order to influence voters, and frankly, to divide america. Russia used bots and trolls to do this through social media networks. While the president has labeled these reports and ads as a hoax, now that facebook has released many of those ads and acknowledged their extensive reach last year, i think we can all agree this is a problem we must solve before future election cycles. Ill called Election Officials on how new advertisement platforms can better prevent foreign nationals from elicitly spending in the future u. S. Elections. I hope to have the same sort of transparency for online political ads that we enjoy in print or radio ads. These are simple and straightforward steps we can can take. We also know based on intelligence assessments, that as part of russias larger hostile effort to interfere in last years election, russian actors targeted state election voter, and the heart of the infrastructure that we all rely on for free and fair elections. And these intrusions, in my view, demonstrate a troubling vulnerability to future Cyber Attacks and manipulation of our democratic process. Our democracy fundamentally hinges on protecting the rights of americans to be able to fairly choose their own leaders. And thats why im proud to be partnering with senator collins to introduce the bipartisan securing americas voting equipment act, or save act, to provide increased security for American Election systems. Im proud to join senator collins on the floor today to demonstrate our commitment to move forward in a bipartisan and pragmatic way to find solutions to protect the integrity of that voting process. Our Bipartisan Legislation would permanently designate staterun election systems as Critical Infrastructure. It would require the department of Homeland Security to create a federal Grant Program to help states upgrade the physical, electronic, even the administrative components of their election systems and develop the best practice its that senator collins mentioned in her speech earlier. The save act would also require the director of National Intelligence to sponsor security clearances to the officials responsible for the administration and certification of federal elections in each state. Usually our secretary of states. The director of National Intelligence would then share all appropriate classified information with those state officials to help them protect their election systems from these kinds of security threats. Finally, the save act would create a federal competition that would award Computer Programmer who discover vulnerabilities in nonactive Voting Systems so that the equipment and software surrenders can vendors can work to fix those vulnerabilities. The save act does not tell states how to conduct their elections or what policies or procedures or equipment that is best where they are. Rather, this bill is designed to facilitate the kind of information sharing with states and provide guidelines on how best to secure those systems to allow states to access funds to develop those solutions and implement those best practices in response to these threats. I consulted closely with my own secretary of state from new mexico, secretary of state maggie taluse oliver in drafting this legislation to ensure that it provides the security measures that state Election Officials need to keep our Voting System security. I commend secretary oliver for her effort for her effort to safeguard this at the state level. We are at a critical place where the public is beginning to see the tactical evidence of how the kremlin sought to divide or populous. Until we setup stronger protections of our election systems and take the necessary steps to prevent future foreign influence campaigns, our nations Democratic Institutions will remain vulnerable, but we have the tools to fix those vulnerabilities, and i look forward to working with senator collins and all of our colleagues on both side of the aisle to ensure we do that. Thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from colorado. Mr. Gardner i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to offer a unanimous consent agreement and complete my remarks prior to the vote. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Gardner i have four requests for committees to meet before the senate and have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Gardner we about to vote on allison eid to become the judge for the tenth circuit which is housed in denver, colorado. I have had the privilege and honor of knowing justice eid who serves on the Colorado Supreme Court for over a decade, since i was a young law student is how long i have known her. I know a lot of my classmates who had her as a professor, people who shared political perspectives far different from justice eid but they never criticized her teaching and found her to be open to debate and other views. Most importantly what justice eid will do once confirmed to the tenth Circuit Court is make sure she rules based on the law, not personal opinions or preferences but how the law dictates because thats the kind of judge she will be and continue to be from the Supreme Court to the district court. She will be somebody who is a guardian of the constitution as our founders were hoping we would see on our federal courts when they wrote the constitution. Mr. President , i have one final letter that i would like to ask unanimous consent to insert into the record from the National Native American Bar Association in support of eids nomination. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Gardner i ask for the support of my colleagues of justice eids nomination. The presiding officer the question appears on the eid nomination. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, the yeas are 56, the nays are 41, the n. O. M. Nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. There will be order in the senate. 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 Stephanos Bibas of pennsylvania to be u. S. Circuit judge for the Third 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 Stephanos Bibas of pennsylvania to be United States circuit judge for the Third Circuit shall be brought to a close . The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote quorum call vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . Seeing none, the yeas are 54, nays 43. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk Stephanos Bibas of pennsylvania to be United States circuit judge for the Third Circuit. Mr. Toomey madam president. The presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Toomey madam president , i rise to speak about the nomination of Stephanos Bibas, we just invoked cloture on his candidacy. Before i do that, i want to take a moment to observe a Big Development. We have a Big Development in that the house of representatives, the majority ways and Means Committee members, led by kevin brady and the speaker of the house, paul ryan, have unveiled a tax reform plan that is a very, very exciting step forward in our ambition to bring tax relief, a direct pay raise to hardworking americans that we represent and to create an environment where we can have much Stronger Economic growth and much more opportunity and rising wages for the American People. So i want to congratulate chairman brady and the members of the ways and Means Committee. I know this process has a ways to go, but they are off to a great start. I look forward to working with the members of the finance committee as we look to finalize this promiddle class, protax reform. Let me get, madam president , to the issue of the candidacy of professor Stephanos Bibas and say how enthusiastically i support his candidacy to serve as a judge on the u. S. Court of appeals for the Third Circuit. I want to thank the president for nominating professor bibas. I want to thank chairman grassley for moving professor bibas through the committee and thank leader mcconnell for bringing his nomination to the floor and i thank my colleagues who will vote later to vote this wellqualified man to the court. Professor bibas has a tremendous wealth of experience in the law as a legal scholar and practicing attorney. So much so that the American Bar Association voted to give him a unanimous rating of well qualified and let me tell you why. For one, he starts with really outstanding academic credentials. Professor bibas graduated from columbia university. He studied at Oxford University in england and earned his law degree from yale university. He clerked the highest levels of our court system. He clerked for the u. S. Supreme Court Justice Senate Intelligence<\/a> committee has been conducting an indepth investigation into attempts by the russians to interfere with our election last fall. What we have found is the russians active measures preceded last fall and they continue to this very day. We have election coming up in november of this year and a major election next year and both senator heinrich and i believe that it is so important that we act to assist states in protecting the integrity of their Voting System<\/a>s. Our bill seeks to facilitate informationsharing on the threats posed to state election systems by foreign adversaries to provide guidance to states on how to protect their systems against nefarious activity and for states who choose to do so to allow them to access some federal grant money to implement best practices to protect their systems. Now, mr. President , let me be clear that i know of no evidence to date that actual vote tabulations were manipulated in any state in the elections last fall. Nevertheless, as early as the summer of 2016, the f. B. I. Discovered that foreignbased hackers had gained access to Voter Registration<\/a> databases in two states. The department of Homeland Security<\/a> confirmed that russianlinked actors attempted to access vedder voter roles in those two states. But more alarming is the fact that further investigation revealed that many more states than just two were ultimately found to have had their Voting System<\/a>s probed by the russians. The department of Homeland Security<\/a> notified Election Officials<\/a> in a total of 21 states that their election systems had been targeted by russian governmentlinked hackers. Mr. President , if voter rolls were altered or voter equipment tampered with, a compromise of these systems could open the door to voter disenfranchisement and undermined Public Confidence<\/a> and the integrity of our free and fair elections, a bedrock principle of our democracy. In response to these alarming threats, the safe act would assist states in hardening their systems. It does not aim to tell states how to conduct their elections. The responsibility for conducting elections would remain with each state, as been our countrys tradition since its founding. State and r and state and local elections alone, however, cannot be expected to defend against Cyber Attacks<\/a> from foreign adversaries. That is why our bill seeks to bring to bear the unique authorities, capabilities, and resources that the federal government can offer to state and local Election Officials<\/a>. Let me just briefly describe the heinrichcollins bill. First our bill would codify a decision made by both secretaries of Homeland Security<\/a>, jeh johnson and john kelly to designate election systems as Critical Infrastructure<\/a>. This designation allows d. H. S. To prioritize, providing assistance to election jurisdictions and to establish formal mechanisms to enhance information share and collaboration within the electoral sector. More than 30 states took advantage of d. H. S. s offer of assistance last year. Our bill also addresses a shortcoming that i raised during a hearing before the Senate Intelligence<\/a> committee in june regarding foreign efforts to compromise american Voting System<\/a>s. During this hearing, mr. President , we learned that not a single secretary of state had been cleared to receive classified information before the 2016 election or in the six months since Voting System<\/a>s had been declared as Critical Infrastructure<\/a>. This delay is truly inexplicable. We have to be able to share this critical information in order for state Election Officials<\/a> to take the necessary steps to safeguard their systems. Our bill addresses this limitation on information sharing by authorizing the director of National Intelligence<\/a> to provide security clearances to designated chief Election Officials<\/a> in each state. That way the Intelligence Community<\/a> can share appropriate classified information with states regarding foreign threats targeting election systems. Our bill also mandates that d. H. S. Conduct a threat assessment on physical and electronic risks to Voting System<\/a>s. Then in collaboration with stakeholders, the department will develop best practices to address those risks. A few simple measures can make a big difference. Best practices like relying upon paper ballots, such as the state of maine currently does, and conducting postelection audits to ensure that the tabulation by votecounting machines matches the results of the paper ballots can bolster both reel sill yens resilience and Public Confidence<\/a> in the integrity of the voting process. Our bill creates a voting Grant Program<\/a> for states to upgrade and safeguard the integrity of their systems by implementing the best practice its that have been identified. Mr. President , last year the russian government sought to disrupt our democracy by threatening the integrity of our elections. It is incumbent upon congress to assist the states and those charged with conducting elections at the local, state, and federal level to protect them from foreign interference, our bill would do just that. Im very pleased to work with the leader on this effort, senator senator heinrich, and i would urge all of our colleagues to join senator heinrich and me in sponsoring this bill. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. Heinrich mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. Mr. Heinrich thank you, mr. President. I want to start by just thanking my republican colleague from maine, senator susan collins, for her work on this legislation. In addition to her excellent work on the intelligence committee, her experience in Homeland Security<\/a> and with Critical Infrastructure<\/a> was absolutely critical to the drafting of this legislation. And with both of us as current members of the select committee on intelligence, we are continuing to work on the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 president ial election. You know, our Committee Heard<\/a> yesterday we held an important open hearing where we had representatives from Companies Like<\/a> facebook, google, twitter. We know that russian governmentlinked actors purchased online advertisements last year in order to influence voters, and frankly, to divide america. Russia used bots and trolls to do this through social media networks. While the president has labeled these reports and ads as a hoax, now that facebook has released many of those ads and acknowledged their extensive reach last year, i think we can all agree this is a problem we must solve before future election cycles. Ill called Election Officials<\/a> on how new advertisement platforms can better prevent foreign nationals from elicitly spending in the future u. S. Elections. I hope to have the same sort of transparency for online political ads that we enjoy in print or radio ads. These are simple and straightforward steps we can can take. We also know based on intelligence assessments, that as part of russias larger hostile effort to interfere in last years election, russian actors targeted state election voter, and the heart of the infrastructure that we all rely on for free and fair elections. And these intrusions, in my view, demonstrate a troubling vulnerability to future Cyber Attacks<\/a> and manipulation of our democratic process. Our democracy fundamentally hinges on protecting the rights of americans to be able to fairly choose their own leaders. And thats why im proud to be partnering with senator collins to introduce the bipartisan securing americas voting equipment act, or save act, to provide increased security for American Election<\/a> systems. Im proud to join senator collins on the floor today to demonstrate our commitment to move forward in a bipartisan and pragmatic way to find solutions to protect the integrity of that voting process. Our Bipartisan Legislation<\/a> would permanently designate staterun election systems as Critical Infrastructure<\/a>. It would require the department of Homeland Security<\/a> to create a federal Grant Program<\/a> to help states upgrade the physical, electronic, even the administrative components of their election systems and develop the best practice its that senator collins mentioned in her speech earlier. The save act would also require the director of National Intelligence<\/a> to sponsor security clearances to the officials responsible for the administration and certification of federal elections in each state. Usually our secretary of states. The director of National Intelligence<\/a> would then share all appropriate classified information with those state officials to help them protect their election systems from these kinds of security threats. Finally, the save act would create a federal competition that would award Computer Programmer<\/a> who discover vulnerabilities in nonactive Voting System<\/a>s so that the equipment and software surrenders can vendors can work to fix those vulnerabilities. The save act does not tell states how to conduct their elections or what policies or procedures or equipment that is best where they are. Rather, this bill is designed to facilitate the kind of information sharing with states and provide guidelines on how best to secure those systems to allow states to access funds to develop those solutions and implement those best practices in response to these threats. I consulted closely with my own secretary of state from new mexico, secretary of state maggie taluse oliver in drafting this legislation to ensure that it provides the security measures that state Election Officials<\/a> need to keep our Voting System<\/a> security. I commend secretary oliver for her effort for her effort to safeguard this at the state level. We are at a critical place where the public is beginning to see the tactical evidence of how the kremlin sought to divide or populous. Until we setup stronger protections of our election systems and take the necessary steps to prevent future foreign influence campaigns, our nations Democratic Institutions<\/a> will remain vulnerable, but we have the tools to fix those vulnerabilities, and i look forward to working with senator collins and all of our colleagues on both side of the aisle to ensure we do that. Thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from colorado. Mr. Gardner i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to offer a unanimous consent agreement and complete my remarks prior to the vote. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Gardner i have four requests for committees to meet before the senate and have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Gardner we about to vote on allison eid to become the judge for the tenth circuit which is housed in denver, colorado. I have had the privilege and honor of knowing justice eid who serves on the Colorado Supreme Court<\/a> for over a decade, since i was a young law student is how long i have known her. I know a lot of my classmates who had her as a professor, people who shared political perspectives far different from justice eid but they never criticized her teaching and found her to be open to debate and other views. Most importantly what justice eid will do once confirmed to the tenth Circuit Court<\/a> is make sure she rules based on the law, not personal opinions or preferences but how the law dictates because thats the kind of judge she will be and continue to be from the Supreme Court<\/a> to the district court. She will be somebody who is a guardian of the constitution as our founders were hoping we would see on our federal courts when they wrote the constitution. Mr. President , i have one final letter that i would like to ask unanimous consent to insert into the record from the National Native<\/a> American Bar Association<\/a> in support of eids nomination. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Gardner i ask for the support of my colleagues of justice eids nomination. The presiding officer the question appears on the eid nomination. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, the yeas are 56, the nays are 41, the n. O. M. Nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. There will be order in the senate. 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 Stephanos Bibas<\/a> of pennsylvania to be u. S. Circuit judge for the Third Circuit<\/a>, 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 Stephanos Bibas<\/a> of pennsylvania to be United States<\/a> circuit judge for the Third Circuit<\/a> shall be brought to a close . The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote quorum call vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . Seeing none, the yeas are 54, nays 43. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk Stephanos Bibas<\/a> of pennsylvania to be United States<\/a> circuit judge for the Third Circuit<\/a>. Mr. Toomey madam president. The presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Toomey madam president , i rise to speak about the nomination of Stephanos Bibas<\/a>, we just invoked cloture on his candidacy. Before i do that, i want to take a moment to observe a Big Development<\/a>. We have a Big Development<\/a> in that the house of representatives, the majority ways and Means Committee<\/a> members, led by kevin brady and the speaker of the house, paul ryan, have unveiled a tax reform plan that is a very, very exciting step forward in our ambition to bring tax relief, a direct pay raise to hardworking americans that we represent and to create an environment where we can have much Stronger Economic<\/a> growth and much more opportunity and rising wages for the American People<\/a>. So i want to congratulate chairman brady and the members of the ways and Means Committee<\/a>. I know this process has a ways to go, but they are off to a great start. I look forward to working with the members of the finance committee as we look to finalize this promiddle class, protax reform. Let me get, madam president , to the issue of the candidacy of professor Stephanos Bibas<\/a> and say how enthusiastically i support his candidacy to serve as a judge on the u. S. Court of appeals for the Third Circuit<\/a>. I want to thank the president for nominating professor bibas. I want to thank chairman grassley for moving professor bibas through the committee and thank leader mcconnell for bringing his nomination to the floor and i thank my colleagues who will vote later to vote this wellqualified man to the court. Professor bibas has a tremendous wealth of experience in the law as a legal scholar and practicing attorney. So much so that the American Bar Association<\/a> voted to give him a unanimous rating of well qualified and let me tell you why. For one, he starts with really outstanding academic credentials. Professor bibas graduated from columbia university. He studied at Oxford University<\/a> in england and earned his law degree from yale university. He clerked the highest levels of our court system. He clerked for the u. S. Supreme Court Justice<\/a> Anthony Kennedy<\/a> and judge patrick hi gabotham. Professor bibas is an accomplished legal scholar. He served as law professor at the university of iowa school of law and university of Pennsylvania School<\/a> of law. He has been a prolific author whose academic writings are often cited by the u. S. Supreme court, courts of courts of appeal, and has focused on criminal law. He has expressed criminal Justice Reform<\/a> that i expect many of my democratic colleagues would share. For instance professor bibas criticize what had he sees as the overuse of plea bargains in the courts as being unfair toll criminal defendants who then never get their day in court. Theres no question that professor bibas has extensive academic credentials. But hes also an experienced attorney, and he served on both sides of our criminal Justice System<\/a>. Hes been a prosecutor and hes been a defense attorney. He has a balanced perspective from both sides of this part of our judicial system. He served as a federal prosecutor in new york city where he prosecuted over 100 criminal cases. Currently he is the director of the Supreme Court<\/a> clinic at university of pennsylvania. He has argued six cases before the u. S. Supreme court. He won a landmark u. S. Supreme Court Decision<\/a> for criminal defendants in a case that held that criminal Defense Attorneys<\/a> must advise their noncitizen clients about the deportation risks associated with a guilty case. That was a professor bibas case. He represented dozens of other clients before the Supreme Court<\/a> and most were pro bono clients, clients that he did not charge any fees because they couldnt afford experienced counsel. He voluntarily provided that service for them. Over the course of the work that hes done as a result of the work that hes done for the Supreme Court<\/a>, he has been praised by justices kagan and ginsburg. Justice ginsburg said he was among the best of lawyers presenting cases to the Supreme Court<\/a>. End quote. I hope that all of my colleagues will support professor bibas nomination. He has outstanding credentials, hes got a wealth of experience, and i hope everyone will see that in his background. Im disappointed that senator durbin, our colleague from illinois, has stated that he opposes professor bibas nomination. Senator durbin said that he opposes his opposition because of an unpublished being academir that professor bibas drafted in 2009. In that paper he proposed the consideration of Corporal Punishment<\/a> as an alternative for certain criminal events. But professor bibas stated unequivocally that he decided not to publish the paper because he realized that that idea was wrong and does not support Corporal Punishment<\/a> for criminals. He also testified that he fully understands and respects the difference between the role of a professor who considers theoretical questions on one hand whereas a judge handles a case that impacts the lives of real people. Mr. President , one of the most Important Reasons<\/a> that im an enthusiastic supporter of professor bibass is his clear understanding of the role of a judge in the american constitution system. From my review of his record and from my conversation with him, its clear that he understands the proper role of a judge is to apply the law, including the constitution, as written, not to make policy himself, and that his obligation is to treat everyone absolutely equally regardless of race, sex, wealth, political affiliation, political connectionings or anything else connections or anything else. Many of my colleagues believe that the constitution is a living document by which they mean that it really means whatever a judge decides it means. Under this view, changes to the law and constitution can be made by unelected, unaccountable judges who then substitute their policy preference for the preference of the American People<\/a>. Some who hold this view think that judges should take into account such factors as a persons race or sex or wealth or political affiliation in deciding cases. Mr. President , in my view, that is a deeply flawed view of the law and and it is fundamentally inconsistent with the principles of the separation of powers that is essential to our democracy, the sovereignty to the American People<\/a>, and the fair application to law to all people. Contrary to this view, professor bibas understands the proper role of a judge is to apply the law as written and to treat everyone who comes before him equally, not to impose his policy preferences or impose the law differently for different people. Finally, let me say a word about professor bibas temmerment temperament for the bench. Hes a man of character and of a temperament to be fit to be a judge. A Bipartisan Group<\/a> of 121 law professors from across the ideological spectrum stated, and i quote, his fairmindedness and consciousness are beyond question. End quote. We have no doubt that his judicial temmerment that he will apply the law fairly and evenhandedly in all matters before him. I am very pleased to support professor bibas nomination of the third are circuit. I am completely confident that he has the intellect, experience, the temperament and respect for the limited role of a judge in our system. Those attributes that are necessary for him to excel as a federal appellate judge, and i am pleased to speak on behalf of this highly qualified nominee, and i urge all of my colleagues to support his confirmation. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Toomey mr. President , i just ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22 all postcloture time on the bibas nomination expire at 1 45 today. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from maryland. Mr. Van hollen thank you, mr. President. I see my friend and colleague from pennsylvania on the floor and weve worked together on a number of things over the years, including now working together to impose and really enforce sanctions against north korea, putting together a bill modeled after the iran sanctions bill so that were serious about working to get china and others to bring to the table. I want to thank my colleague for his work on that. Where we disagree strongly is on the bill thats emerged from the house of representatives, the socalled tax reform bill. The senator from pennsylvania said people should be excited to see it. I can assure you, mr. President , that if youre a millionaire or billionaire, youre going to be really excited about the bill thats coming out of the house an supported by president trump. So i want to talk a little bit about tax reform because we need tax reform in america. We need to simplify our tax code. Its been gummed up over many, many years with special tax breaks that are there not because they make good sense for the American People<\/a>, but because somebody was able to hire a highpriced lobbyist to get them a break that the rest of the country did not enjoy. So we need tax to need to simplify our tax code and we need to reform our tax code. Unfortunately, what were seeing come from republicans today, supported by the Trump Administration<\/a>, doesnt do that. In fact, what it will do is provide fulltime employment for Tax Accountants<\/a> around the country because it creates all sorts of special provisions for powerful special interests. It will dramatically cut taxes for big Multinational Corporation<\/a>s and for millionaires and billionaires and everybody else is going to be left to pick up the bill in one way or another. So now we know why this has been cooked up behind closed doors for so long. People knew that it would have a lot of turbulence when it emerged, and secondly, we know why theres such a desperate effort to ram this huge tax proposal through the house and the senate because people dont want the American People<\/a> to figure out exactly whats in it because when they do, they are going to see that its bad for everybody but folks who are at the very top or who are very powerful. The good news is that people have scrambled to begin to look at this. In fact, certain groups like realtors now we all have realtors in all our neighborhoods. Theyre often very connected to our community. They know exactly whats going on. And so theyve been monitoring this republican tax plan and raising concerns about it. In fact, they said just a few days ago that because there was this effort to speed tax legislation through the house by thanksgiving and get it to mr. Trump by the end of the year, quote, we then feel didnt feel we could wait said the National Association<\/a> of realtors. They began to do analysis of the impact. And heres what they had to say today when they caught a glimpse of what was actually in the Republican Trump<\/a> bill. They say theyre reviewing the details, but at first glance it appears to confirm many of our biggest concerns about the plan. Eliminating or nullifying the tax incentives for homeownerships puts home values and middleclass homeowners at risk. Well be hearing more from them, but they did a study. It was commissioned by pricewaterhouse coopers. That concluded that if you have adjusted gross income between 50,000 and 200,000 and youre a homeowner, on average youre going to see your taxes go up. They also concluded that home values around the country would fall by 10 . Not sure when they would begin to recover. But they would fall by 10 . Home values down, taxes for middleclass homeowners up. Home builders, which are a really important part of our economy, theyre already against this strongly and have made it clear that this would hurt new Home Building<\/a> around the country, which as we know, is an important driver in our economy. And even the nfib, National Federation<\/a> of independent businesses, took a look at the bill and said, and i quote, it leaves too many Small Businesses<\/a> behind. Ill tell you, mr. President , exactly who this helps. This helps big Multinational Corporation<\/a>s. When you drop the tax rate to 20 , they get a 2 trillion tax windfall. Now id be happy to talk to my colleagues about Corporate Tax<\/a> reform that doesnt blow up the deficit, but this proposal is a 2 trillion giveaway to big Multinational Corporation<\/a>s. Under the theory under the theory that somehow when you give a big tax break to a Multinational Corporation<\/a> its actually going to increase the wages of their workers. Well, mr. President , we know that just isnt so. We know it from independent analysts. So the nonpartisan professional Congressional Research<\/a> office has looked at the claims of the proponents of this bill and say, no, this isnt going to be a big boost to workers. Its going to be a big boost to the owners of the corporations. And if you dont like nonpartisan analysis and you know, we have a new whole machinery of fake news around here and around this country why dont we listen to the c. E. O. s themselves. Heres what rioters reported in a headline reuters reported in a headline. C. E. O. Suggests trump tax cut may lift investors more than jobs. Thats what the c. E. O. We know from our own experience and our own observations that thats actually true because lets look at the real world. We have seen record increases in corporate profits over the last many years. Record increases. And did that extra money, did those bigger profits go to higher wages for American Workers<\/a> . They did not. They have been flat. They have been stagnant. Weve had a growing gap between rising corporate profits and the wages of the people who work for those corporations. And so now were going to give those same Multinational Corporation<\/a>s another 2 trillion windfall and think its going to somehow trickle down to the workers . It just isnt the case. Thats not how theyre using their profits. The owners of those corporations will pocket the overwhelming lions share for themselves. We know that because thats what they have been doing already and giving them another 2 trillion isnt going to change that pattern. But to add insult to injury, mr. President , not only is this going to be a tax windfall for big corporations who have record profits right now, but because of the way this is designed with respect to the International Tax<\/a> code, its going to create incentives for american corporations to move from baltimore, maryland, overseas or from any other place in the United States<\/a> overseas. And im not just talking about moving their profits to tax shelters, which you see happen today. You know, they park their profits in the cayman islands. They park their intellectual property in low tax havens. Because they of the way they design this, a 10 average international cut, youre actually encouraging american businesses and corporations to move their operations and their jobs overseas. Lets look at another part of the plan. We keep hearing from our colleagues that this is going to help folks in the middle class. Lets look at the estate tax. If youre an american couple today and your estate is less than 11 million, you dont pay one penny one penny in federal estate tax. Not one. And somehow it became an imperative of the republicans who put together this plan to give a tax break to people with estates of over 11 million. So first they lift that cap from 11 million to somewhere like 20 million, 22 million, and then they get rid of it altogether. That doesnt help a single American Household<\/a> with an estate less than 11 million. Were talking about two out of every 1,000 American Household<\/a>s that benefit. That will apparently was a big priority of the Trump Administration<\/a> and republicans who put together this plan. So whos going to pay for it . Whos going to pay for the 2 trillion tax cut for big Multinational Corporation<\/a>s . Whos going to pay for the windfall tax break for big, big estates . Everybody else. Thats why the realtors are against it. Thats why the Home Builders<\/a> are against it. Thats why others are already against it along with lots of other groups, because middleclass taxpayers are going to have to pick up the tab. You know what they do in this bill, this republican bill . They eliminate the ability of americans to deduct their state and local taxes. Right . Except for property taxes, all those state and local taxes are now going to be paid on twice. Youre going to pay your state and local government. And then out of that same dollar youre going to pay your federal tax. Thats double taxation. Heres the irony. If youre a corporation in one of those states, you get to deduct your state and local taxes in whatever state it may be. Youre a corporation, you get to take that deduction. If youre workers, if youre home owners, you dont get to take that deduction. Youre going to pay more. And heres the, heres the really ironic thing here. After we provide these big tax breaks to Multinational Corporation<\/a>s and millionaires and billionaires and raise taxes on millions of middleclass families, theres still leaving this country with a 1 is. 5 trillion debt. Its written right into the budget. You know, i served as the senior democrat on the House Budget Committee<\/a> for a long time. Speaker ryan used to be the chairman of that committee. He talked at length about the dangers of Rising National<\/a> debt. You know what . This is a serious issue. I used to think my republican colleagues were serious about it, but now we discover they were only using that as a lever to justify their cause for cutting medicare, cutting medicaid, cutting social security, cutting education. Oh, the debts really high. Weve got to cut all these things. But tax cuts for big corporations and millionaires and billionaires, lets add that to the National Credit<\/a> card. 1. 5 trillion to be paid for by everybody else. Our kids and grandkids. And you know what will happen . Pass this tax cut for the special interests and powerful americans, then all of a sudden i assure you our republican friends will rediscover their concern about the National Debt<\/a>. Theyll rediscover it once they have been, get through with this windfall tax cut. And then theyll want to come around and cut medicare and medicaid and education. And you know how we know that . They already told us in the budget that passed this senate and the house, they called for cutting medicare by almost 500 billion. 473 billion to be exact. Cutting medicaid by 1 trillion. Cutting education investments very deeply. Cutting our investments in national infrastructure. So we know that once they blow up the debt by another 1. 5 trillion, theyre going to come right back and say to seniors on medicare or americans who rely on medicaid orchids whose education you want to invest in, sorry now weve got that National Debt<\/a> we want we to inv. Lets cut everything else. I hope everyone else will take a step back. We should not do something that will cause great damage to the country and great damage to the middle class just because of someones political imperative, to get something or anything done because the reality is that while we do need tax reform, we dont want to mess things up even worse than they are today. I would welcome the opportunity to work on a bipartisan basis for genuine tax reform and simplification of the tax code. But i will not support any effort that hikes our National Debt<\/a> by 1. 5 trillion in order to give big tax breaks to Multinational Corporation<\/a>s and millionaires and billionaires. We can do a whole lot better. We should do better. Thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley our Fourth Circuit<\/a> nominee this week, and im glass to speak in support of the nomination of professor bibas to serve on the third Circuit Court<\/a> of appeals. That court sits in philadelphia. Professor bibas is a highly qualified nominee. His background as a wellregarded legal scholar and Supreme Court<\/a> advocate will serve him well as a judge on that circuit. Additionally, professor bibas received a rare unanimously wellqualified rating from the American Bar Association<\/a>. My democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee<\/a> have expressed to me that the a. B. A. s ratings are very, very important to their evaluation of nominees. Yet all the members of the committee voted against professor bibas in the committee despite receiving the highest rating possible. This is consistent with their votes against professor amy barrett, justice joan larsen, and Justice Allison<\/a> eid, all of whom received wellqualified ratings. It appears that my democratic colleagues dont actually read the a. B. A. s ratings as particularly important when it comes right down to practice. Professor bibas is the son of a greek immigrant who came to this country after surviving the nazi occupation of greece. He boasts impressive academic credentials. He graduated from columbia university, age 19. He then received degrees from the university of oxford and yale law school. After law school, professor bibas clerked for judge patrick higgenbottom of the u. S. Court of appeals for the fifth circuit. Then for Justice Anthony<\/a> kennedy of the United States<\/a> Supreme Court<\/a>. Following these prestigis clerkships, professor bibas became an assistant u. S. Attorney, Southern District<\/a> new york. His experience as a prosecutor gave him a firsthand view of the problems and injustices in the american criminal Justice System<\/a>. He decided to pursue a career as an academic and focusing then on improving the criminal Justice System<\/a> for all involved. Professor bibas first stint as a professor was at my home state of iowa, the university of iowa college of law. 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