Today on the nomination of the middle district of tennessee court, about to limit debate set forth by 30 00 easter. Live Senate Coverage now on cspan2. Senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal god, abide with us when other helpers fail and comfort flees strengthen our senators with your might. Provide them with a perseverance that completes the task, a courage to face every fear, and a fidelity that brings glory to your name. Help them to live such exemplary lives that they will infect others with the contagion of love of you, lord, give them the gentleness and symmetry to bring healing to our nation and world. Whatever they do, may they do it for you, the author and finisher of our destinies. We pray in your strong 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. Washington, d. C. , january 8, 2018, to the senate, under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3 of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable bill cassidy, ar senator from the state of a senator from the state of louisiana to perform the duties of the chair. Signed orrin g. Hatch, president pro tempore. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the Senate Majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell one million americans and counting will be starting 2018 with more money in their pockets thanks to tax reform. Special bonuses are on the way for employees all across a range of industries. Businesses throughout america are taking advantage of more competitive tax rates and passing the savings along to their workers. As a result, employees at companies at visa and at t to turning point brands in louisville, kentucky, are seeing results. For working parents in kentucky and all across the nation, it these bonuses and other permanent changes will make a big difference in family budgets. Of course in just weeks even more families will see the benefits of tax reform hit their paychecks. Lower tax rates will mean less money withheld for the i. R. S. And more takehome pay for hardworking americans. Im proud of the way that the tax reform will benefit americas farmers and ranchers. Later today President Trump is going to be speak at the conference. Kentucky is home to a vibrant farming community. I heard family farmers loud and clear. They said, we need tax relief, and thats what congress delivered. Thanks to our once in a generation tax reform law, it will be easier for farmers in kentucky and around the country to invest in new Capital Equipment and recover their costs. According to the Farm Bureau Federation, 93 of u. S. Farms filed taxes through the individual code. They will benefit from the major relief we secured for passthrough businesses. And especially important for farmers, this tax bill doubled the exemption from the death tax. It on the same dime. Now this burden will fall on fewer American Farmers and ranchers. Thanks to the work of senator robert, senator hatch and many others, we passed a tax bill that the Farm Bureau Federation and the Kentucky Farm bureau enthusiastically endorse. And now Farming Families throughout america will reap the benefits. On another matter, later today the senate will vote on the confirmation of William Campbell to serve as district judge for tennessee. Like the other three District Court nominees before the senate this week, he is well qualified. They are the kind of nominees who, until just recently, would have sailed quickly and smoothly right through the senate. So why will four nominations consume a week of the senates attention . Why do we need to file cloture on each and then exhaust the full 30 hours of debate . The reason, mr. President , is Senate Democrats are choosing for partisan reasons to make these nominations take as long as possible. Their goal is to waste the senates time and prevent the president from promptly filling judicial vacancies. 2017 was a historic year for controversial judges even for judges who went on to unanimous votes, democrats used every possible procedural roadblock to delay and drag their heels. 2018 is unfortunately starting off the same way. Mr. Campbell is a marine corps veteran, a wellrespected lawyer, his record is not partisan. His nomination was reported out of the Judiciary Committee, mr. President , on a voice vote. I look forward to the Senate Confirming him, albeit after all democratic colleagues waste more of the senates time. And i implore our democratic friends to turn the page on the needless obstruction and permit the senate to function smoothly so we can attend to more of the peoples business. Now, on a final matter, in the next 121 days 11 Days Congress needs to provide an agreement for the men and women in uniform. Both sides of the aisle spoke last week of working collaborative on a solution that will allow our armed forces to advance Critical Missions at home and abroad. Our democratic colleagues say that we should only increase fending if we increase nondefense spending in the same amount. This political talking point doesnt hold up. By now we all know that the budget control act hit defense spending much harder than it hit domestic spending. Since fiscal year 2013, to be precise, discretionary defense spending has been cut by 85 billion more than discretionary nondefense spending. This might sound like an abstract distinction, but it has very real, tangible consequences for our National Security. These disproportionate cuts have reduced the readiness of American Forces to meet and address emerging threats. Our military leaders have explained this over and over and over again. Just months ago the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general dunford, told our colleagues at the Armed Services committee, quote, the u. S. Militarys competitive advantage against potential adversaries is eroding eroding. He cited budgetary instability as the key reason. At the same hearing, secretary of defense mattis added that, quote, no enemy in the field has done more to harm the readiness of our military than sequestration. No enemy, secretary mattis said, in the field has done more to harm the readiness of our military than question is arbitration sequestration. The men and women we trust to lead our military have made it clear that stat quso and defense funding let alone our failure to reach an agreement is handicapping our service members. So, mr. President , in the next week and a half lets put aside partisan rhetoric and start heeding the warnings of our nonpartisan military leaders. Lets give those who keep us safe the resources they need to do the job. The presiding officer under the previous order leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Thethe senate will proceed to executive session to proceed to the following nomination. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, william l. Campbell, jr. , of tennessee to be United States district judge for the middle district of tennessee. The presiding officer the clerk should call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Wyden mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Wyden mr. President , i come to the floor this afternoon to mark a milestone that no senator can be proud of. A milestone that every senator should regret. That milestone is it has now been 100 days since the congress failed to extend full funding to the Childrens HealthInsurance Program. And the congress has always looked at this in a bipartisan way. This is for the millions of families where kids walk an economic tightrope and their families, the families that balance the rent bill against the fuel bill, the fuel bill against the grocery bill. Mr. President , i have to say that there was present effective of time in the last congress to carry out the priorities of the multinational corporations. The people who are well connected, the people who are powerful. They got permanent substantial, really massive new tax breaks, and yet the nine million kids, including 80,000 in my home state who count on chip to stay healthy, what they got was a patch. They got something temporary. They got something that didnt resemble the permanent. You can count on a tax relief that the multinational corporations were celebrating at the end of the year. A sad statement about the priorities the congress at the end of last year, and one that i hope we will move now in the bipartisan tradition of this congress. In the bipartisan tradition, excuse me, of this program to pass on a permanent basis. The chip program was created in 1997 through a simple idea. No child, regardless of their income, family status, or geography should go without quality, Affordable Health care. It serves families who make too much to qualify for medicaid, but also dont have access to Affordable Health care through their employer. And a lot of these families go back and forth between chip and medicaid, depending on whether a spouse is out of work. Chip covers all kinds of essential health care for kids from Preventative Services to dental checkups to treatment for serious illnesses. For families across the country, thats peace of mind. Thats the chance to go to bed at night knowing that you arent going to get crushed by big medical bills in the morning. It means you dont have to have those heartbreaking rightbeforebed conversations about what youre going to do for your sick child. And it doesnt mean that you have to just plan on the unexpected, unexpected emergencies with nowhere to turn. All of that is at risk, because of the negligence of this congress, and i use that word specifically, mr. President. I talked about the skewed priorities at the end of the year, but right now states are stretching their Childrens HealthInsurance Program dollars to the breaking point. Theyre trying to make sure kids stay covered. And what were faced with is termination notices going out. Weve got to prevent those termr these families. As i said, congress put a patch on all this, contrasting this to the permanent relief of the multinationals, and the congress sent a small amount of money to the states to keep them afloat. But make no mistake about it, mr. President , it is not going to be long before bedlam sets in once again and there are real consequences for children and families. Now, i also want to note, mr. President , that i have been working closely with chairman hatch for months now to get chip across the finish line. Chairman hatch knows what it takes. He created this program. Our friend, senator rockefeller, the late great senator kennedy demonstrated that kids health was an issue that transcends ideological lines, and our country is the better for it today. Chairman hatch and i made an agreement in september that extends full funding for five years of affirms key protections for kids and their families, and gives states certainty they count on to plan their budgets. I note that the leader, senator schumer, is here who has been very supportive of this bill, sat next to pea to me for years, sat by rockefeller and myself, being supportive of the Childrens HealthInsurance Program, and our bill passed, the hatchwyden bill passed with a strong bipartisan vote in the finance committee, but again highlighting the priority where there was time for the multinational corporations to get that permanent relief, there wasnt any time to put the chip bill, one that had only one vote in opposition in the finance committee on the senate floor. And the house of representatives, they werent pursuing it like we did in the finance committee. They never could get past a purely partisan approach out of line with chips long bipartisan history. Now, obviously, after months of delay, its time to act. I want to wrap up with just a quick comment about whats going to happen if you dont move and move quickly. Just last week, the Congressional Budget Office announced that the cost of chip has plummeted from 8. 2 billion to just 800 million. Thats because premiums in the individual market are set to skyrocket after the repeal of the Affordable Care acts coverage requirement in the republican tax bill. Many of the families who currently count on chip will have to get their Kids Health Care on the private market at a higher cost. This Congress Needed more reasons to act. The Budget Office has demonstrated what is now at stake for kids and their families who are counting on quick action for Affordable Health care. Mr. President , there is a long history, as i noted, of the Senate Working on the Childrens HealthInsurance Program in a bipartisan way. We started building on that tradition in the finance committee, with virtual unanimity, but somehow at the end of the last congress, and your priorities can always be illustrated on what you find time to do. There was time at the end of the year for the agenda of the multinational corporations. There wasnt time for the youngsters and their families who walked an economic tightrope and depend every night when they turn the lights out on making sure theres a way to pay for health care if there is an emergency in the morning. I want it understood that we are working day in and day out now to make sure that quickly, quickly kids and their families get the certainty and predictability they deserve. They deserve the kind of certainty that the powerful got with the tax bill at the end of the year. So, mr. President , were going to be on this floor until this critical legislation is passed. It needs to be passed quickly. Mr. President , with that, i yield the floor. Mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the Senate Minority leader. Mr. Schumer thank you. I thank my dear friend. We got to congress together in 1980. I thank him very much for his leadership on the chip issue as on so many other issues that pass through the finance committee where he has done a terrific job. His caring for kids is unmatched, and hes a great asset to his state of oregon, to this body, and to our country. Now, mr. President , we have two weeks until funding for the government runs out. Alongside our talks about extending government funding, we have also been engaged in serious bipartisan negotiations on a number of issues that should coincide with that deadline. We have to lift spending caps, pass disaster aid, a Health Care Package, reach an agreement to enshrine daca protections alongside Additional Border security, and of course there is the issue of 702 as well. Those negotiations, although difficult, have been proceeding quite well. In fact, the four congressional leaders met with representatives from the white house last thursday and had an encouraging meeting. Unfortunately, following that meeting, the white house issued a series of unreasonable demands entirely outside the scope of our ongoing negotiations about daca and Border Security. Its part of a pattern of behavior on the part of this white house during sensitive bipartisan negotiations. Over the past year, the white house has much more frequently been a Disruptive Force rather than a unifying force. To throw down a list from the hard, hardline wing of the white house at the last minute is not a very fortuitous or smart thing to do. Now, i hope we can keep on track that we were on because the issues we are facing are mounting and a major deal requires dedicated bipartisan effort. Democrats are going to keep working towards a global agreement with our republican colleagues, one that lifts the spending caps for defense, that sends our men and women in uniform the support they need and puts down a package puts down a down payment on tackling pressing issues here at home. Opioid epidemic, Veterans Health care, shoring of pensions. These are every bit as important as helping our troops. Our troops are extremely important. But were a great country, and we dont have to say to help the troops we cant help the victims of opioid addiction. To help the troops, we cant help the veterans who once were troops themselves. To help the troops, we cant help working americans keep the pensions that they paid into year after year after year, and all these folks want is to retire and to a life of some degree of dignity. When the majority leader says this morning hes not for parity, hes saying we cant do both. Hes telling victims of Opioid Epidemic, many of whom are soldiers, who have had ptsd, hes telling pensioneers, some miners in his own state, hes telling veterans who have to wait on line for health care, that this country cant do both, cant protect our military, give them the funds they need, and deal with our domestic needs. When donald trump ran, he said weve got to pay more attention to america. What the majority leader is saying is not, well, thats not the case. So let no one be fooled. When the majority leader says hes not for parity, he is not for helping opioid folks to the extent they need. He is not for helping veterans to the extent they need. He is not for helping pensioneers to the extent