Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate 12122017 20171212 : vimar

And direct their way, training them in your school of humility so that they will strive to bring glory to you. We pray in your holy name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the 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 the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington d. C. , december 12, 2017. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable ben sasse, a senator from the state of nebraska, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed orrin g. Hatch, president pro tempore. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell yesterday the senate advanced the nomination of Leonard Stephen grasz to be a judge on the eighth Circuit Court of appeals. Mr. Grasz has sterling credentials and strong support from the nebraska legal community. I proudly voted to advance his nomination and the senate will confirm him soon. Next well vote to advance the nomination of another well qualified individual, Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett to serve on the sixth Circuit Court of appeals. Justice willett respects the rule of law and foundational legal principles and he will be a strong addition to the fifth circuit. His story is an inspirational one, adopted at a young age and raised by a widowed mother in a town of 32 people. He was the first person in his family to grad yate from the graduate from high school. As our colleague senator cornyn said at the Judiciary Committee committee hearing, his life will reflect the best of texas and the best of america. From these humble beginnings, Justice Willett has led a remarkable career. After graduating from Duke Law School he clerked for judge williams. He has now been nominated to the package to join. He spints a short time in private practice before entering Public Service and then and then governor george w. Bushs administration as a legal policy advisor. When president bush entered the white house, Justice Willett joined him as a special assistant to the president. In that role he helped shape the domestic legal policy of the bush administration, especially in the president s efforts to increase charitable activities in neighborhoods across the nation. The next year he became Deputy Assistant attorney general in the justice Departments Office of legal policy. There he oversaw both civil and criminal policy initiatives, including what became the protect act of 2003 which increased law enforcements ability to prevent and prosecute Violent Crimes against children. Justice willett returned to texas to serve as the Deputy Attorney general for legal counsel. As the top legal aide to attorney greg abbott, he advised the office on a wide variety of legal matters. In 2005 he was appointed to serve as the justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Elected to a full term in 2006 and reelected in 2012, Justice Willett has served with distinction on the Texas High Court now for over a decade. During that time he has ruled fairly and impartially. Four of his former colleagues on the Texas Supreme Court wrote a letter to the Judiciary Committee supporting Justice Willetts nomination. Heres what they wrote. His demonstrated belief is the courts should enforce both the Constitutional Rights and constitutional limitations and uphold the rule of law but not enforce a personal agenda. On occasion they continued, we did not agree with each other or with him or his disposition of an appeal but we respected dons opinions and never doubted his devotion to principle. In addition, retired Texas Supreme Court Justice Wallace jefferson recommended Justice Willetts nomination writing that he will be a thoughtful, hardworking, diligent and influential member of the court of appeals for the fifth circuit. Justice willett has also been recognized for his excellence by the texas review of law and politics which named him its distinguished person of the year in 2014. So id like to commend President Trump for nominating Justice Willett to the fifth circuit. Under chairman grassleys leadership, the Judiciary Committee has done an outstanding job processing this nomination and many others. By joining the fifth circuit, Justice Willett will use his talents to continue to serve his state and his nation. I look forward to advancing his nomination and i would urge our colleagues to joining me in doing so. I ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to immediate consideration of calendar number 274, s. 447. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 274, s. 447, a bill to require reporting on acts of certain Foreign Countries on holocaust era assets and related issues. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i further ask the committeereported amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. 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, Leonard Stephen grasz of virginia to be united of nebraska to be United States circuit judge for the eighth circuit. Mr. Mcconnell i suggest th the absence of a quorum. 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 i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer mr. President , last week, the house and Senate Passed a shortterm funding bill to keep the government open as republican and democratic negotiators continue to work on a longterm spending deal. The negotiations are advancing well, but many issues remain to be resolved. First and foremost, we must resolve the issue of spending caps. If we do nothing, there will be painful and unnecessary cuts to both defense spending and programs that invest directly in jobs and Economic Development for the middle class in early january. We must lift the spending caps for defense and also those urgent domestic priorities in equal measure. That has been the basis of the successful budget agreements going back several years and as recently as april of this year. There was parity between defense and nondefense, and thats how it ought to stay. Thats what brought us home into a good agreement, no shutdowns in previous years. As the Opioid Crisis continues to rage, dimming the Bright Future of so many americans, we have a moral obligation to step up our countrys support for Addiction Treatment and recovery. I have had parents, a father, cry in my arms because his son was online waiting to get into a Treatment Program but it was too crowded, he had to wait, and the kid died of an overdose before he could get in. We cant have that in america. So many of our young people, the flower of our youth, are dying or being hurt so badly, addicted, with this Opioid Crisis. We cannot just sit by, just as we cannot sit by with foreign threats that plague our country. As veterans continue to struggle to find the Quality Health care they deserve after bravely serving this nation, we should be making additional investments in Veterans Health care and veterans hospitals. Just as we need to help our soldiers abroad, we need to help those who have fought for us, risked their lives for us, and now have health care problems. As hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of miners, truck drivers, construction workers, and Food Service Workers approach retirement age, we have to make sure that Pension Plans promised to them have enough in the bank to fulfill that promise. These people pay every month painstakingly into their plans. So did their employers. Often they forewent salary increases so they could make sure they are taken care of when they retire. And now that the pension funds, in good part because of the crash of 2008, dont have the money they need, these people should not be left out. Hardworking American Families deserve to retire with dignity and security that they have earned. And if we dont meet these pension obligations today, they are going to cost the government a whole lot more tomorrow. Thats why democrats are fighting for pension for a pension solution in the yearend spending bill. So, mr. President , these are all urgent priorities. There are more of them. They cant wait another day. Just as we must make sure our men and women in uniform have the resources and support they need to do their job, so lets do both in a bipartisan way. As democrats continue to push for desperately needed funding to combat the Opioid Crisis, improve Veterans Health care and shore up Pension Plans, well also be pushing to reauthorize chip, the Childrens Health Insurance Program, and Community Health centers, as well as dealing with Certain Health care programs that have expired. We have to do more for the americans in texas, florida, louisiana, puerto rico, and the u. S. Virgin islands who are still recovering from devastating natural disasters. Were in the process of negotiating with republicans to provide a significant investment in Border Security in exchange for daca. These talks continue to progress, and im hopeful we can preach agreement on that issue as well. So, mr. President , we have got a lot to get done before the end of the year. We dont have much time to do it. But with a concerted effort of both parties, negotiating in good faith, i believe we can reach an agreement acceptable, not to every member of either chamber, but to large numbers of members on both sides of the aisle so we can pass by a wide margin our agreement. Mr. President , i 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 the presiding officer the senator from south dakota. Senate is in a quorum call thune i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Thune mr. President , for more than two decades under both republican and democratic president s and republican and democratic congresses, the United States pursued a bipartisan, lighttouch approach to internet regulation. The internet as we know it today flourished under this lighttouch approach, much to the benefit of American Consumers and the domestic economy. It also made america the world leader in Internet Technology and positioned us to continue that leadership in the years to come. In 2002, Broadband Internet was classified by the federal Communications Commissioner of the f. C. C. , our nations regulator, as an Information Service under title 1 of the Communications Act. This classification exempted the internet from burdensome regulations contained in title 2 of the Communications Act which were designed in the depression era for the old telephone monopolies. Under the Obama Administration, though, we saw repeated attempts to bring the internet under greater government control. Finally, in 2015, at the explicit direction of president obama, the f. C. C. Did as it was followed and reclassified Broadband Internet Access Service as a title 2 service subjecting Broadband Internet to onerous commoncarrier rules and opening the door to further regulation, including price regulation. Not surprisingly, with heavier regulation came a decline in broadband investment. Indeed, we have seen private investment in broadband infrastructure decline over the past two years. This decline should not be mistaken as a sign that broadband infrastructure is not needed. In fact, the opposite is true as there are still 34 million americans who lack access to Broadband Services at home. In states like my home state of south dakota, encouraging broadband deployment continues to be critical to ensuring that rural areas have the same Economic Opportunity as their urban counterparts. The federal government should not be putting up barriers to broadband deployment. It should be removing them. Congress and the f. F. C. C. Need to ensure Regulatory Framework is in place that protects consumers but doesnt stand in the way of investment and innovation. Prior to the f. C. C. s 2015 actions to bring broadband under title 2 and for more than a decade under the lighttouch Regulatory Framework of title 1, we saw unprecedented growth that revolutionized our daily lives and allows us to stay better connected with our loved ones. The internet created new jobs and expanded opportunities for education and commerce. It became the greatest engine of innovation for our times. And despite the fearmongerring and doomsday rhetoric that continues to plague this debate, when the f. C. C. Moves forward with its order and restores the internet to its pre2015 regulatory status, the internet will continue to thrive and serve as an engine for future Economic Growth. Mr. President , i commend chairman pai of the f. C. C. And the commission for all the hard work over the last year that has gotten us to this point. I also commend chairman pai for his commitment to transparency throughout the process. For the first time in the history of the commission under chairman pais leadership, the public was able to view the restoring Internet Freedom item three weeks prior to the f. C. C. s vote. That is true of all documents to be considered by the commission, a major departure from the previous administrations actions which were often not made public until the very last minute. As a result of chairman pais commitment to transparency, the public has the benefit of not only viewing the item but also participating in the process. Despite amendments by those more interested in politicizing the issue and distracting from this debate, this item resulted in the most well informed and exhaustive record of comments ever submitted to the f. C. C. The f. C. C. Is now well positioned to move forward to ensure that the ger net is internet is open and free. Regrettably, however, mr. President , the debate doesnt end there. The outcry from opponents of the f. C. C. s proposal is that the internet will fall apart without adequate consumer protections. There is obviously immense passion that follows the issue of Net Neutrality. Americans care deeply about preserving a free and open internet as do i and so many of my colleagues here in the United States senate on both sides of the aisle. As i have stated repeatedly and i will say again today congressional action is the only way to solve the endless back and forth on Net Neutrality rules that weve seen over the past several years. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and those who claim to support Net Neutrality rules want to enshrine protections for consumers with the backing of the law, i call on you today to join me in discussing legislation that would do just that. While we are not going to agree on everything, i believe there is much room for compromise. So many of us in Congress Already agree on many of the principles of Net Neutrality. True supporters of an open internet should be demanding such legis