Mark dayton announced he chose tina smith to fill senator al franken seat until the november election to complete the final two years of senator frankens term. We will likely hear remarks about senate designate tina smith on the floor of the senate today. Live coverage of the u. S. Senate here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Our father in heaven, thank you that our lifes pilgrimage is a process and discovery. Open our eyes today that we may see wonderful things in your precepts, gaining wisdom from your word. Help our lawmakers to strive to ensure that their thoughts, words, and deeds will please you. Today, we surrender to your providence, trusting you to order our steps. Lord, teach us to illuminate our world with the wisdom of your divine insights so that your will may be done on earth. Transform lifes deserts so that they blossom like roses. Bring Flowing Springs to the parched grounds of our lives so that we may live abundantly. We pray in your loving name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our 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. Mr. Mcconnell madam president . The presiding officer majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell this week the senate is continuing to consider President Trumps outstanding judicial nominees. Yesterday we confirmed a talented individual to be a Circuit Court judge and soon well confirm another. Next we will advance the nomination of james ho to be a judge of the fifth Circuit Court of appeals. Mr. Ho is another well qualified individual and like all of President Trumps judicial nominees, he is dedicated to upholding the rule of law and serving as an impartial arbiter on the bench. Similar to Justice Willett who i discussed yesterday, mr. Ho has an inspirational story. Immigrating to the United States from taiwan at the age of 1, he learned english by watching sesame street. He went on to graduate from the university of Chicago Law School with high honors and earned a clerkship with judge smith of the fifth circuit. In 2001, mr. Ho joined the department of justice as a special assistant to the assistant attorney general for civil rights and later worked in the office of legal counsel. In addition to his service in the executive branch, he worked here in the senate as chief counsel for the Judiciary Committees subcommittee on the constitution. Afterward he went across the street to clerk for associate Justice Clarence thomas. After his distinguished and successful legal career in washington, mr. Ho returned to texas joining a top law firm and specializing in appellate litigation. He then served as the solicitor general of texas succeeding our colleague senator ted cruz. It was while he was serving in that role that he won the Supreme Court best brief award for the national from the National Association of attorneys general. He went on to earn the award two more times. After his time in state government, mr. Ho returned to his private Practice Firm and currently serves as the cochair of its appellate and constitutional law group. Hes presented oral arguments in state and federal courts around the country, including the Supreme Court. Its clear that mr. Ho possesses impressive crew den shalls with the experience necessary to excel on the fifth circuit. He also earned the praise of prominent democrats who believe hell make an excellent addition to the federal court. Ron kirk, the obama administrations trade representative and the former mayor of dallas supported mr. Hos nomination to the Judiciary Committee. He wrote, jim possesses the temperament, integrity and intellect that neighbor, republican or democrat, should insist on in a federal judge. Hes wickedly smart, he continued and is among the most brilliant appellate lawyers in the United States. It is one thing that my liberal and conservative colleagues agree on is that jim just has it in his d. N. A. To be a great judge. A commissioner on the u. S. Commission on civil rights appointed by president obama also recommended mr. Ho in a letter to the Judiciary Committee. She knows him from his volunteer work with the National Association, the National AsianPacific American bar association. She wrote that he has strong reputation as an intelligent, reasonable, fair and principled lawyer. Id like to commend President Trump for another very strong nomination. Id also like to express my gratitude to chairman grassley and the members of the Judiciary Committee for their work to process the president s judicial nominees. I look forward to advancing mr. Hos nomination soon. Now, on another matter, one of the great advances of our time has been the development and expansion of the internet and Wireless Technologies. The internet connects people across the globe in an unprecedented way. It brings together producers and consumers, students and educators and even members of the senate with our constituen constituents. With our constituents. Its difficult to exaggerate the impact the internet has on our society and on our economy each and every day. Even a few decades ago the technologies many of us take for granted today would have been totally unfathomable. But the success of the internet wasnt an accident. Todays internet and all the innovations that utilize it arent the product of unnecessary, unburdensome government regulations that hindered growth. Instead they were the direct result of a bipartisan desire madam president , im having difficult with my voice this morning. So im going to ask unanimous consent that the balance of my statement appear in the record. 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, don r. Willett of texas to be Circuit Court judge, United States court of appeals for the fifth circuit. Mr. Schumer madam president . The presiding officer democratic leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer the senate is not in a quorum call. The senator is recognized. Mr. Schumer well, madam president , as you know, last night a democrat won in the state of alabama for the first time in a quarter century. Last nights election of doug jones was not only the repudiation of a candidate unfit to serve in this body, it was an affirmation of a candidate who represents the very best of public service. I read doug jones bio. One story stands out in my mind. As a secondyear law student, doug jones skipped class to attend the trial of the klansman ring leader of the 1963 bombing of the 16th street baptist church, an event as we all remember shook the coninsurance of our country and launch conscience of our country and helped launch a movement for civil rights. Though a young doug jones was moved by the disposition of justice in that trial, he was left with the impression that other members of the conspiracy had escaped the reach of the law. So 24 years later when doug jones became the u. S. Attorney in alabama, he pursued charges against two more klan members involved in the bombing, won their conviction, and delivered a long delayed but mighty righteous justice. Doug jones deserved to win that race last night. Hes a fine man, was an excellent candidate, and is going to make an outstanding senator for the people of alabama. I congratulate senatorelect jones and look forward to welcoming him to this chamber and our caucus. Two additional points in regard to the election that has a link to the chamber here. First, the election of a democrat in such a conservative state that hadnt elected a democrat since 199 that hadnt had a democratic senator since 1996 elected one in 1990, i guess, is a clarion call for bipartisanship. The American People are clamoring for us to work together, to and once again conduct our politics with civility, decency, and an eye to compromise. Thats what doug jones represented as a candidate. Its what he campaigned on, and his election should signal to all my republican colleagues that the American People from the deepest red states to the deepest blue states yearn for our politics to function again in a bipartisan way. The election of the democrat in such a conservative state is a clarion call for bipartisanship. Now, so the people of alabama have spoken and theyve sent a message asking both democrats and republicans to work together. Thats how doug jones campaigned bringing us together to solve our greatest challenges. Doug moore did not try to pursue any even scintilla of bipartisanship and it might have been one of the reasons he lost, particularly in the suburbs of birmingham and other cities. I hope we in this body will take this election in earnest and pursue a course of bipartisanship. Now, the election of doug jones should have another effect on this chamber as well. It would be unseemly and imper tent to rush a massive piece of partisan legislation in this chamber before doug jones is seated. To rush suj a such a huge piece of legislation when the people of alabama have sent us a new senator and try to jam it through before he gets here would be so wrong. Doug jones would be the duly elected senator from the state of alabama in a few short weeks. The governor didnt appoint him. The people chose him. It would be wrong for Senate Republicans, it would be wrong for Senate Republicans to jam through this tax bill without giving the newly elected senator from alabama the opportunity to cast his vote. The people of alabama deserve to have their representative in the senate to debate the biggest issues of the day, and the tax bill certainly falls under that category. So today we Senate Democrats are calling on leader mcconnell to hit pause on his tax bill and not hold a final vote on it until doug jones is sworn into the senate. Now, thats exactly what republicans argued when scott brown was elected in 2010. Referring to health care, leader mcconnell said here is what he said it would be gamesmanship, he said, to pursue bigticket legislation before scott brown was seated. He asked us to, quote, honor the wishes of the people of massachusetts. Leader reid, in fact, acceded to that wish and waited until scott brown was a senator before any further votes on health care. Quote we are going to wait until the new senator arrives until we do anything more on health care, he said. But as so too often has happened, senator mcconnell does one thing when republicans are in charge and a different thing when democrats are in charge. Heres another example. Mcconnell says, new senator, in that case, scott brown, slow down work on major legislation, and reid acceded. We are calling on senator mcconnell to do simply the same thing today. Lets see if he does. Were calling on senator mcconnell to do just as senator reid did honor the wishes of the people of a state that has newly elected a senator and wait to move forward on the tax bill until senator jones arrives. Now, if republicans insist on barreling ahead and i understand the pressure is on them from their hard right multibillionaire paymasters, they will be pouring gasoline on the fire. Their tax bill, written in back rooms, rushed through this chamber with such recklessness, which gives enormous breaks to the wealthy and corporations while it raises the taxes on millions, many of them in the middle class, is being roundly rejected by the American People. Poll after poll shows by ratios equal to, a little less than, a little more than 22 that the American People reject this bill. They dont know whats in it, they dont know all the details, but they know it favors the wealthy and powerful over them, over the middle class. They know that even if they are getting a small tax break, the vast majority of the tax breaks go to the most wealthy and the most powerful, and they dont like it. And, above all, they know this tax bill will clobber the suburbs, drastically cutting back on the state and local deduction and other deductions that they cut back on will be a gut punch to millions of middleclass and upper middleclass americans who live in the suburbs. The very same people who are turning away from President Trump, who helped propel doug jones to victory last night and helped propel mr. Northham to be governor of virginia when his opponent gillespie was calling for a 10,000 tax break for the middle class. The longer this bill sits behind closed doors, the worse its getting. Rather than improving it for the middle class, they are cutting the rate further on the wealthiest of americans, according to all reports, to reduce the top rate another 2. 5 , only going to people who make over 300,000 a year while raising taxes on the middle class, what is going on in the heads of our republican colleagues . Why would they do something that seems so wrong for america and so against what the American People want . We know why. The koch brothers. The club for growth funded largely by billionaires and millionaires. And all these other groups are fanatic. Just cut taxes on the rich. I dont even hear them arguing for helping the middle class, except in tv ads that are deceptive, in my judgment. But theyre doing it for that reason. Our republican colleagues, by trying to appease these very wealthy small number of greedy people are writing their political doom, in my opinion. The longer this bill sits behind closed doors, the worse its getting. Its not improving things for the middle class. Its making it worse. So instead of learning from their mistakes, instead of heeding a lesson, one of the lessons of the election last night, republicans are doubling down on helping the wealthy and powerful and doing nothing if not harming the middle class. In 2010, leader mcconnell said on the floor of the senate, quote, we need to move in a new direction, a dramatically new direction. He said that is the message of virginia. That is the message of new jersey. That is the message of massachusetts. You could replace massachusetts with alabama and say the exact same thing today. So, madam president , in sum, on process, on policy, and on politics, pausing this tax bill and going back to the drawing board is the right thing for republicans to do. I hope for the sake of this country theyll do just that. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call a senator are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Ms. Cantwell i ask the tworl be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Cantwell today we are closing in on a critical decision that will have a Lasting Impact on innovation and the innovationdriven economy of the United States. The fairm of the f. C. C. Has decided to repeal a critical Consumer Protection known as Net Neutrality. This is a wrongheaded move, its misguided and being driven by big cable interests that want to continue to gouge consumers and charge them more as they charge for slowly making sure that consumers either pay or have their internet lines slowed down. This decision turns the success of what has been an essential 21st century innovation over to those in big corporations instead of making sure that main street innovators continue to do what they do best. I dont think the American People want Cable Companies to be the gatekeeper on the internet. They want to have the f. C. C. Continue to play a role in making sure that an open internet is there for all so that Small Businesses that entrepreneurs, that innovators can continue to build on the success of communicating with their consumers and their Business Partners without having artificially slowed down lines. Who would this impact if the f. C. C. Moves forward . Seniors would be impacted on telehealth medicines. Families accessing educational tools for their children could also see charges. And the highway that has been so important to making sure that new internet businesses are started could be impacted. The numberone reason we have to fight this and to make sure that we do everything we can to stop the f. C. C. From implementing this rule and making sure we give consumers the protection of Net Neutrality is that it will harm our internet economy. Last summer we had a town meeting about this and heard from many of my constituents about this, incenting business cases to chairman pai so he would understand why this impacts us so much. But let me make sure that we understand whats happening. The f. C. C. Has had rules that prevented companies from throttling or blocking, and they have paved the way to many great successes. We have in the United States fortune 500 companies and a Tech Industry that is responsible for 7 of our nations g. D. P. And 6. 9 million jobs in the United States of america. Why would you change the rules now . Why would you leave making sure critical protections are in place and instead replace the