Publicly commit that medicare reductions would not be triggered, given the amount of fear, anxiety, and misinformation that is out there. I wrote to the Senate Majority leader urging that we immediately remove the threat of an automatic cut in medicares funding. In response, i am pleased to say both the majority leader and the speaker of the house released a joint statement that pledged this will not happen. And that is the issue before us tonight. Medicare provides essential Health Care Benefits to our nations seniors. We must remove immediately the threat that an automatic reduction in the programs funding could occur which would affect Health Care Providers and diminish access that beneficiaries, including our seniors and disabled individuals have to the services that they need. Earlier this month, the aarp sent a letter to the house and Senate Leadership alluding and supporting my inquiry and Warning Congress of the potential consequences. The letter says, quote, the sudden cut to medicare provider funding in 2018 would have an immediate and Lasting Impact including fewer Health Care Providers participating in medicare and reduced access to care for medicare beneficiaries. Health care providers may choose to stop accepting medicare patients at a time when the medicare population is growing by 10,000 new beneficiaries each day. Furthermore, Medicare Advantage plans and part d Prescription Drug plans may charge higher premiums or costsharing in future years to make up for these cuts now. Mr. President , these potential cuts could have an enormous impact on our hospitals, our nursing homes, our home health agencies, and other essential Health Care Providers who play a Critical Role in providing Health Care Services and also as important economic drivers in our communities. It is critical for congress to act quickly, to act tonight before we go home so that seniors do not have the anxiety of wondering whether the tax bill would somehow negatively affect their health care. We connect tonight to remove we can act tonight to remove that ant and assure ant and a anxiety and assure them that it will not. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i would ask unanimous consent that the exchange of letters that i had with majority leader mcconnell and also the letter from aarp be inserted in the record at this point. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Collins thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. The senate will be in order. The majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask that the chair lay before the senate the message from the house. The presiding officer the chair lays before the senate a message from the house. The clerk the house agree to the senate to the bill, h. R. 1370, entitled an act to amend the Homeland Security act of 2002 to require the secretary of Homeland Security to Issue Department of homelandwide guidance and develop security programs as part of the department of Homeland SecurityBlue Campaign and for other purposes with an amendment. Mr. Mcconnell i move to concur on the house amendment to the Senate Amendment to h. R. 1370. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that senator paul be recognized for up to two minutes to make a budgets point of order, that senator collins or her designee be recognized for up to two minutes to make a motion to waive the point of order, that senator lai he leahy be recognized for five minutes and that the senate then vote on a motion to waive and following the disposition of the motion to waive the senate vote on the motion to concur with a 60 affirmative vote threshold all without any intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Paul mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from kentucky. Mr. Paul the question is due deficits matter . We have had a lot of debate over deficits. People complaining that tax cuts add to deficits. Tonight we will have a vote on whether or not we should honor paygo budget caps. Weve had these in place for six years. Congress has disobeyed their own rules 30 times as of tonight. These budget caps would keep spending in order and yet were going to have them waived tonight. My budget point of order would actually say we should not waive these budget caps, we should honor them because deficits do matter. We borrow 1 million a minute. The deficit this year will be over 700 billion. The overall debt is 20 trillion. We have a spending problem. We have rules to keep spending in check and we disobey our own rules. So with that, mr. President , i would like to make a point of order on the paygo scorecard, the statutory paygo scorecard that says we should spend within certain limits. This budget point of order to pursuant to section 306 of the congressional budget act of 1974. Ms. Collins mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from maine. Ms. Collins mr. President , we sim plip cannot allow we simply cannot allow these harmful, indiscriminate budget cuts. It is disturbing to see our seniors worried about the possibility of a 25 million cut in the medicare program. Thats a 4 reduction that would affect Health Care Providers and Health Care Services. There is no need for this indiscriminate cut to occur. It is critical that congress act tonight, act immediately so that seniors and our disabled citizens do not have the anxiety of wondering whether the tax bill will somehow negatively affect their health care. By voting to waive the point of order, we can remove that anxiety and prevent the indiscriminate cuts in medicare and other essential programs from occurring. So, mr. President , pursuant to section 904 of the congressional budget act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, i move to waive all applicable sections of the act and applicable budget resolutions for the purposes of the house message to accompany h. R. 1370 and i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will call the roll. Vote quorum call mr. Leahy mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Leahy mr. President , i ask consent that the call of the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Leahy mr. President , i yield back the time on this side. The presiding officer the question now occurs on the motion to waive. The yeas and nays were previously ordered. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote company. feoibj04b. Ecl vote vote the presiding officer on this vote, the yeas are 91, the nays are 8. Threefifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to, and the point of order falls. The question is on the motion to concur. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . If not, the yeas are 66. The nays are 32. The motion to concur is agreed to. The senator for vermont. Mr. Leahy mr. President , ill speak very briefly. While i voted for this to keep the government going, this is not the way to govern. The presiding officer the senator will suspend. The senate will be in order. The senator for vermont. Mr. Leahy the manager of the bill, i was willing to vote for it but it is not the way to govern. We should not be doing stopgap matters. Well be back here soon. Well have a relatively short time, a couple weeks, to finally do our work, the work we should have done the last six months. We have to address sequestration on both sides of the ledger, on defense and nondefense, and raise that. We have to speak to one of the greatest issues in our country today. That of the dreamers. And we have got to address that, have votes up or down. I intend to vote to protect dreamers. We have to vote on the Childrens HealthInsurance Program. There are so many others, and at my conclusion, i will put my full speech in the record. But i just want senators to know on both sides of the aisle, and i have talked to both republicans and democrats. Senator cochran and i and others have tried to keep the appropriation process going. We will do that. We will do that when we come back, or there will be no continuing resolution. I ask consent my full statement be made part of the record. The presiding officer without objection. The senate will be in order. The senator for texas. Mr. Cruz mr. President , as jet fumes swirl around the halls of congress and members head to the airports to head home for the holidays, i rise to remind my colleagues that there are still hundreds of thousands of people in texas and florida and in puerto rico who are still hurting from hurricanes harvey, irma, and maria, and who will be spending christmas not in their homes but in a hotel or with family and friends or in temporary housing. All across these regions, there are houses, businesses, schools, churches, Community Establishments that still need to be rebuilt, and they are waiting, counting on our help. It is wrong. Indeed, its maddening to those in the affected regions that the senate is not taking up legislation today to give them what they need to continue to rebuild and recover. In my home state, theres no doubting that texas gulf coast communities suffered tremendous losses in Hurricane Harvey, but the hurricane also brought out the best in texas. We saw texans standing together and lifting each other up, first through rescue and response, and now as we come together and rebuild our communities. The nation witnessed our iconic moments, from the thousands of texans who went out on boats to save their neighbors, to houstonians lining up of all ages to volunteer at Disaster Recovery centers embodying that cando texas spirit. Texas has worked diligently since august on cleanup and Recovery Efforts from Hurricane Harvey, but im sorry to say that the United States senate is now leaving town without delivering on its commitment to help texas, to help florida, and help puerto rico recover. Congress has passed two Disaster Relief bills already in the wake of these hurricanes, and in addition, congress has passed a bipartisan Disaster Relief tax bill that i was proud to offer. But there is still much more that needs to be done. Our colleagues in the house just hours ago passed a bill to further provide for emergency rebuilding efforts. This bill represents progress, but much more work needs to be done to make sure that it does enough, especially for texas, which was promised by both this congress and by the administration that texas would be given everything we need to rebuild. Early estimates from the supplemental bill that passed the house are that texas would be eligible for only a small percentage of the 81 billion in that legislation. That is unacceptable, and the senate needs to fix it. Texas experienced the worst flood event in United States history. Hurricane harvey was unlike any other storm we have seen before in texas. The number of people impacted, the scope. It brought 250 miles of devastation to our texas gulf coast as winds obliterated whole communities and rain flooded out parts of texas that had never flooded before. Due to the level of damage, the storm caused homes and businesses and infrastructure. Hurricane harvey was the costliest disaster this year and may well prove the costliest Natural Disaster in United States history. According to the governor of texas, the damage to our state from the hurricane is well over 120 billion and could prove to be closer to 180 billion. Any bill to provide disaster funding brought to this floor should recognize the unprecedented level of damage wreaked upon the state and should provide the support necessary for texas to rebuild. I spoke this afternoon with Texas Governor greg abbott, and he expressed serious concerns that the supplemental bill coming out of the house does not direct nearly enough resources to the state of texas, given the magnitude of the damage, the magnitude of the suffering, Disaster Relief needs to focus where that suffering occurred, where the disaster occurred. So i am hopeful that when this body returns in two weeks, that we will Work Together in a bipartisan way to ensure that the promises made to the state of texas are fulfilled and that the resources are there to help our state rebuild. The Emergency Response is over, but recovery and rebuilding efforts go on. As we keep working to keep our promises, i remain determined to keep fighting to ensure that texas has the federal resources to which the state is entitled under federal law. The spirit of texas is strong. Some weeks ago, i tweeted out a picture that i think captured some of that spirit. It was a picture of a man in his living room. The sheet rock was torn down from all the walls. Nothing but studs in the walls. No carpet, the flooring was taken up, no furniture. He had a lawn chair. He had an igloo ice chest as a coffee table, and a tv screen. And he was wearing a Houston Astros jersey and cheering as the astros won the world series. The tweet simply said this is why it matters. Thats the spirit of texas. We need to remember that spirit, and we need to make sure the Disaster Relief responds to the real damage and real suffering that Hurricane Harvey visited upon the state of texas. I look forward to working with my colleagues hopefully from both sides of the aisle to deliver on that commitment that texans are under. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator for delaware. Mr. Coons mr. President , as we all too well know, the senate of the United States has an annual job to do adopt a budget and then to appropriate it, to lay out the framework for what we will spend, and then to make deliberate decisions in the Appropriations Committee and move forward by the end of the fiscal year. This may not be well or widely known, but the federal fiscal year begins october 1. Its by october 1 that were supposed to figure out what were going to spend and how were going to spend it and why were going to spend it. And as we all head home to celebrate the holidays on december 21, i just wanted to take a moment and go over the list of things that are unaddressed and unresolved at the end of this calendar year. The way this is supposed to work here and the way it is actually working here are strikingly different. In my seven years now in the senate, on both the Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee, i have seen people of goodwill of both parties try mightily and so far consistently fail to get us back to regular order and to end this process of moving crisis to crisis, continuing resolution to continuing resolution. And while i didnt hope that tonight the federal government federal government would the federal government of the United States would shut down, it is depressing, concerning, even alarming to me that we head home having not resolved so many issues. We have heard from other members here about the pressing needs of their home states. We have got concerns all over our country. The Childrens HealthInsurance Program known as chip, a literal lifeline to nine million lowincome children. Authorization and funding ran out months ago. Some states are already notifying parents their Childrens HealthInsurance Coverage will lapse. There are Community Health centers that 26 million patients rely on. The pressing need to fund the response to the opioid crisis. The need to fund veterans care, infrastructure, shore up pension plans, invest in education, and of course respond to Natural Disasters. From americans in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands to americans in texas and florida and louisiana, to those in california and the west, whether its hurricanes or forest fires, parts of our nation are literally flooding and burning, and yet we head home having not addressed their challenges. And, of course, i feel concerned we have failed to act to protect the dreamers here in our country. Young men and women brought here who have never known any other country. Young men and women that reflect the best in our country. I have met many in our home state of delaware. They are high school and college students. They are members of our military, parts of our neighborhoods and communities. But given the trump administrations decision, the president s decision to end an administrative policy allowing these young people to come out of the shadows and live without fear of being deported, we wait for bipartisan legislative action to give them the security they deserve and the ability to participate wholly in the american dream. I believe we can pass a bipartisan dream act that both protects dreamers and makes our borders mo