Based in new orleans. Now live floor coverage 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. O lord our god, we are grateful for your marvelous works and power. Keep us from becoming weary in doing what is right, as you remind us about a harvest of blessing is certain. Give strength to our lawmakers and bless them with your peace. We praise you that you are the strength of our lives and we need not fear for the future. As you guid guide our senators h your wisdom create in them a hunger and thirst for righteou righteousness preparing them to be filled with your divine nourishment. Lord, thank you for not withholding blessings from those who walk upright. We pray in your great 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. The presiding officer 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, james c. Ho of texas to be United States circuit judge for the fifth circuit. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader is recognized. Mr. Mcconnell today the senate will continue another historic week confirming more of President Trumps impressive judicial nominees to the federal bench. Steven grasz confirmed, don willett confirmed, and soon well add james ho to the list by confirming him to serve on the fifth Circuit Court of appeals. Hes an exceptionally well qualified nominee whose career in Public Service and the private sector have earned him respect from both sides of the aisle. The former democratic mayor of dallas supported his nomination calling him among the most brilliant appellate lawyers in the United States. When we vote to confirm mr. Ho, well be adding another fair and impartial judge to the federal bench. By doing so, the senate will take another important step to ensure that the federal judiciary fulfilled its proper role in our constitutional system. Each of them will be an asset to our nations courts. Under chairman grassleys leadership, the Senate Judiciary committee has done outstanding work to move these judicial nominees to the floor. Im grateful for his efforts and i would urge all of my colleagues to join me in voting to confirm mr. Ho soon. Now, on another matter, our nation faces myriad threats from around the globe. Its the senates responsibility to provide the Service Chiefs with the resources to train and equip our war fighters. And provide them with the resources they need to keep us safe. The diverse challenges posed by iran, china, russia, north kor korea, isil, al qaeda, and its affiliates span the spectrum in war fighting and our force must be trained and prepared on sea, air, and land and in cyberspace. These challenges were only compounded by the obama administrations focus on reducing the size of our conventional force. Withdrawing our forward presence and placing unrealistic reliance upon allies and special operations forces. In stark contrast to the previous administration, this Republicanled Congress and Trump Administration have taken the initial steps to rebuild our military. Mr. President , im having some difficulty with my voice this morning. Im going to ask that the balance of my statement be included in the record. The presiding officer without objection. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call a senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from kansas is recognized. Mr. Moran i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Moran mr. President , thank you very much for the recognition. I come to the floor today to speak about business that is important to kansas and important to country, but especially important to the providers of health care for children and the children and their families who receive that coverage and care, and thats the medicaid chip program. It was established back in 1997. I want to call to the attention of my colleagues the importance of us acting here in the next several days in regard to reauthorization extension of that chip program. It has helped provide coverage to children of lowincome families in my state, and those are individuals who would otherwise be left without any insurance, and most likely in every case the funds necessary to Cover Health Care costs for the wellbeing of those young men and women. This program is funded through a multiyear authorization that requires congress to take action each time the Program Reaches the end of that authorization, and that end of that authorization occurred on september 30, now several months ago, and while i have been assured in my state that there is sufficient funds to get us through the end of the year, i get concerned, in fact the belief is that we may have enough funds to pay for our Insurance Program to march. That certainly is probably not the case across the states, and we need to respond, we need to act within a few short days. Certainly i hope that this is an issue that is addressed as the continuing resolution that funds the federal government expires on december 22. As we respond to that circumstance, we ought to respond to the expiration of the chip program that occurred on september 30. Waiting to reauthorize that program already has created, but if we waited any longer, it would create even more unnecessary burdens for families of more than nine million children that are currently receiving health care through that program. Temporary funding measures have kept the program solvent since the program expired, but again now is the time to act to provide some certainty and to make sure that the funds continue to be available. In kansas, in the absence of that, that would be leaving about 79,000 children without coverage or other good options. Many of our nations best childrens hospitals serve a great deal of patients through that chip program. We are fortunate in our area to have childrens Mercy Hospital in kansas city, and, again, those hospitals and other providers rely upon that chip program to pay their bills as well. With all the costs associated with health care and with the inability of people to pay, the burden then falls upon hospitals and others to figure out how they survive. I would tell you that in kansas, almost every hospital, 127 of them in our state, continue to hang on by a thread, and some may not survive. This is another opportunity for us to strengthen and provide certainty that a mechanism will be in place that when they provide care to children of medicaid families, that they will be reimbursed. That benefits all of us in our Health Care Delivery system and provides more stability and more certainty in these challenging times for Health Care Providers across kansas. The house of representatives and im happy that this occurred reauthorization. They did their bill. Its now time for the senate to act. Our committee, the finance committee, has taken its actions, but this bill is still pending on the floor of the United States senate. At this christmas season, at this holiday time, parents should not have to wonder what they will do in the absence of this Insurance Program that allows their children to receive routine care, but in many instances lifesaving care. Continuing to delay action on this bill is not in the best interests of the American People. It would be nice, it would be appreciated by americans to see the United States senate work on a program that has broad bipartisan support, but still for some reason cant get across the finish line. That finish line, i suppose, was september 30, but i would say that finish line is now, the end of the year, and specifically december 22 with the c. R. Expiring at that point in time in time for congress to take action in that regard. My plea on the senate floor this morning is for congress, for the United States senate to take legislative action, reauthorize this program, provide certainty, and care for our countrys children who are without this program in very significant jeopardy of having absence of health care. Mr. President , i appreciate the opportunity to address the United States senate, and i yield back after noting the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Schumer mr. President. And i dont want to break up the conversation between two fine gentlemen. The presiding officer the democratic leader is recognized. Mr. Schumer are we in a quorum call, mr. President . The presiding officer the senator is correct. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i need to adjust this. Okay. Well, now were on, first, mr. President , on the yearend negotiations. Now, negotiations are making headway, thats good, but many issues remain to be resolved. We need to provide funding for Community Health centers, chip, and areas hit by disasters. We need to pass a bipartisan deal to pair the dream act with border security, and pass a budget deal that fully funds both our National Security and our Economic Security in the common parlance known as parity. If we dont lift the spending caps for defense and also urgent domestic priorities, jobs, the economy, both will come under the specter of scwais there has been parity between defense and nondefense for the three last budget negotiations. Thats how it ought to stay. Thats what averted shutdowns. Unfortunately, it appears that the Freedom Caucus in the house, which doesnt represent the mainstream of america or even the mainstream of republicans, is trying to derail another successful parity agreement. Unfortunately speaker ryan, as he is doing far too often to the country and his party, is following their lead. Last night the house posted whats called a krom any bus comnibus an extension for ar long a long longexpansion and will hurt health care and scientific research. All things the Freedom Caucus doesnt want the government to fund against the will of the overwhelming majority of americans. At this late hour its also an unfortunate waste of precious time. Earlier this week 44 Senate Democrats sent a letter to our republican colleagues explicitly warning them that democrats could not support such an approach because 60 votes are needed to advance a spending bill here in the senate, House Republicans should have known not to waste everyones time with a partisan spending bill that could never pass the senate. The cromnibus is nothing but a spectacle by the hard right who dont want government to spend money on anything, and it is a perilous waste of time as the clock ticks closer to the end of the year. Its time for our republican colleagues, especially in the house where the Freedom Caucus is like the tail wagging the dog, to get serious about working with democrats towards a real parity agreement. Every hour the house spends on the cr omnibus is an hour that we waste. If speaker ryan forces to go forward with the cromnibus it will fail in the senate and we can get back to an agreement that will fund the defense and middle class. Speaker ryan has gone along with this three times in a row. I think he was speaker for two of those three and chairman of the ways and Means Committee on the third. Right now speaker ryan is pursuing a dead end strategy. Instead we urge him to continue to work with democrats on a bipartisan, longterm agreement that will keep the government open and fund our major priorities, both defense and jobs and the economy on the other side. By the way, even on the other side of the ledger are things that affect our security like the border, the f. B. I. , all these kinds of things are funded on the nondefense side, and youve got to have security in every way in this terrorismridden world which we live in. Now, a word on the republican tax bill. On both process and substance, it appears that the Republican Conference Committee is making all the mistakes that the republicans made when they passed it their bill in the first place. Even though there is still not a final agreement on the text of the tax bill, republican leader propsed a vote as early as monday of next week. Im not sure my colleagues have enough time to read and digest the bill that passed a week ago, let alone the many changes. It is the same rushed process as before and can only result in mistakes and unintended consequences that could wreak havoc on the economy. Why are our republican colleagues rushing this bill through . I think they are ashamed of it. Every day people know about the bill, the more they dont like it. Just polling data today shows the popularity of the bill continues to plummet and a poll out today said not only do people not like the bill, but those who vote for it would be affected at election time. The poll today asked people if they were more or less likely to vote for a congressman who voted for this bill to vote for a senator who voted for this bill, and the public many of the public said they would be less likely to vote for a congressman who votes for this awful bill. The public knows its awful. Why . Well, they know that republicans are doubling down in this new proposal on the core mistake of their bill by tilting it even further in favor of the wealthy. You though you know, i saw on tv this morning the guy from the club for growth and the guy from i forgot the name, but another group. These are narrow, narrow groups with very little support funded by the hardright group of billionaires who want to see their taxes cut. They dont even talk about what is in the bill. They try to talk about its a job creator, but they dare dont say, like so many of my republican colleagues dont say, how disproportionately it goes to the upper income and not the middle class. And amazingly enough, behind closed doors, they made a bad bill even worse. One of the most significant changes made by the Conference Committee would be to lower the top tax rate 2 . Lets help those millionaires get a lower tax rate than they have now. They are doing so poorly. This is crazy crazy. There are a lot of wealthy people in america. God bless them. I dont resent their wealth, but they dont need a tax break. On the other hand, there are hundreds of millions of struggling middleclass people, they could use that kind of money, and yet millions of people in this bill who are middle class, upper middle class, struggling to be middle class get a tax increase. Why not use the money instead of raising the money for the higher income people, use it for the middle. Despite the concerns about raising middleclass taxes, making the bill as unpopular as i just mentioned, despite the concern about raising middleclass taxes, the one big thing that republicans go back and change is to lower the top rate, the rate paid by the wealthiest of americans even less. They lowered it to be even less. When it comes down to a choice between the middle class and wealthy, middle class and big corporations, the republicans just instinctively in a kneejerk way choose the wealthy and powerful over the middle class. Thats why they are struggling. I believe thats were President Trumps numbers are as low as they have ever been. People are getting a feel, a smell that President Trump talks about the middle class, but when he acts, like in the tax bill, its to help the most powerful. I see Dick Blumenthal is coming to the floor and i believe he will talk about Net Neutrality. Again, help the big Cable Companies and corporations and make it harder for the middle class when it comes to Cable Service and the cost of cable. Now, republicans claim that lowering the top rate is an attempt to address tax here, that would tax hikes that would cut the state and local deductions. But reducing the top rate only helps the wealthy. They are already the prime beneficiaries of the tax plan. I have a feeling that President Trump was hearing from his wealthy friends who pay a lot in state and local taxes, a lot are in my home state of new york, and decided, ill lower their taxes more. 99 of state and local deductions are taken by americans with incomes under 1 million. More than half of taxpayers taking the salt deduction make less than 100,000. It does not help the 99 of taxpayers, it only helps the top 1 , but this is what it seems the president and our republican colleagues in the house and senate keep doing. As i said from the start, eliminating or cutting the state and local deduction would hurt the middle class across the country, it would raise taxes on millions, lower home values for millions more, and gut our state and local programs, education, Law Enforcement, infrastructure, none of those programs were addressed in conference. Instead the richest americans will likely get an even bigger tax break. Mr. President , theres no reason to rush the bill through the senate. Last night, as our presiding officer so knows, we had an election in alabama. This chamber is waiting for the seating of a new senator. Shouldnt the people of alabama have their voice in the senate present for a vote on the tax bill. Again, i ask my friend, the majority le