Hundred, many hundreds of businesses, those cumulatively employing well over two million workers have announced bonus, wage increases, expanded benefits, increased contributions to pension accounts. And they have cited the tax reform as the mechanism that has enabled them to do this for their workers. Whats so exciting about this, mr. President , is this is happening before the wave of new investment has even been able to begin. This is happening because Companies Know that with lower tax rates, theyre going to have more free cash flow, and theyre going to use some of that to invest in growing their business, but they have already announced that theyre using some of that to enhance the compensation for their employees. Let me just give you a few examples. These are just pennsylvaniarelated companies, just a handful of the ones that im aware of, and its really typical of Companies Across the country. Comcast, big employer based in philadelphia. They announced specifically as a result of the tax reform that they would make a 1,000 bonus payment to 100,000 frontline nonexecutive employees, and they committed to 50 billion of Capital Expenditure over the next five years. How many tens of thousands of jobs is all of that Capital Expenditure going to support . Its a big number. But thats not all. Out in pittsburgh, p. N. C. Financial services, a substantial bank, a large bank in pittsburgh announced right after the tax reform that they would pay 1,000 to 47,500 of their employees, and in addition, they would contribute 1,500 to each of their employees who are participating in their Pension Savings plan. Oh, and theyre also raising their base wage. Their minimum wage for employees at p. N. C. Goes up to 15 an hour. No federal government edict forcing them to do it. This is what they want to do so they can attract more and competitive employees. And they have increased their contribution to the foundation, their charitable foundation, 200 million to a foundation that supports Early Childhood education. Thats just p. N. C. It doesnt end there. Navient. Navient has 900 or so employees in wix borrow, pennsylvania. They announced that they are making a 1,000 bonus to their nonofficer employees. 98 of their employees. Not the top brass, those guys dont get it, but everybody else is going to get a 1,000 bonus. Customers bank, Bush Administration county, pennsylvania, wyomissing. They announced that as a result of the tax reform and the tax relief that theyre getting, theyre going to be able to offer people who have a Checking Account with them a higher rate on their deposits. Another benefit for consumers. Theyre going to increase their charitable giving. Next tier bank in Butler County in western pennsylvania. 1,000 bonus to all of their employees. And then of course walmart. We saw walmart employees in every state in the union. There are over 160 walmart locations in pennsylvania. Theyre giving a bonus of up to 1,000, raising their starting wage, expanding their paid leave policy and their Adoption Assistance Program for their employees, all in response to the tax relief and reform that they know is going to be good for their business, and they have already decided to make it good for their employees as well. Now, that, mr. President , is just a small handful of the companies that i know of in pennsylvania who have made public announcements about this. How many more across the country . Its a huge number, and its growing rapidly, and its fantastic. Well, i think its fantastic. I think its fantastic when the people i represent are able to earn more to support their family, get a bigger bonus, get a bonus that they might not otherwise have gotten at all. I think its great. I know that view is not universally shared. The House Minority leader pelosi , she doesnt think very much of this. In fact, she said, and i quote, in terms of the bonus that Corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers to kind of put the schmooze on, i think its pathetic, its so insignificant. I have to say, mr. President , i dont think its pathetic, i dont think its insignificant. I think a family thats struggling, a family thats working hard, a family that may be living paycheck to paycheck as most families do, these are not crumbs. This makes a difference. And for people who wonder, they heard so much from our colleagues on the other side that this is not going to help middleclass families, any mystery that people may think surrounds this will be resolved very soon because the i. R. S. Has already released new withholding guidance. The treasury has done their evaluation, and they have concluded, as the joint Tax Committee concluded, that over 90 of all individuals and families filing or paying taxes will see a tax cut, and so they are adjusting the withholding tables so that the takehome pay goes up, so that the money that workers pay to uncle sam goes down. But honestly, i have to tell you, mr. President , im convinced that the best in all of this is yet to come. The best is yet to come because its too early for us to have yet benefited from the wave of new capital investment. Weve made it more affordable for business to invest in their workers, to invest in their business, to invest here in america instead of somewhere overseas. We have made that more affordable, and so more of it is going to happen. And when it happens, people are going to get the benefits from the jobs that they have to provide those capital goods. Other people are going to benefit from jobs that are necessary to operate that capital equipment. Wages rise because workers become more productive. This is whats in store for us, and this is whats so exciting. Its not just my theorizing on this, mr. President. Last week, the c. E. O. Of p. N. C. , bill demchek was quoted in the wall street journal. He said, and i quote, for all the Investment Decisions that companies make, the u. S. Just got that much more attractive. Its going to win more than it won before in terms of where People Choose to do Business Activity and to invest, end quote. I couldnt agree more. This is clearly going to be the result. We are allowing American Business to compete and to win in a competitive global economy. This is going to increase the supply of capital. It is going to increase the productive capacity of the american economy. Its going to provide better tools for workers when they have that capital that they can work with that makes them more productive. That enables them to earn higher wages. And with all of the need for more workers that this is going to generate, its going to continue to put upward pressure on wages because thats what companies are going to have to do in order to attract and retain the employees that they need. So i will say, mr. President , i think we are well on our way to seeing the fruits of this reform. I think it is going to be extremely constructive. I am thrilled that our legislation has already begun to have tangible benefits for the people that we represent, and im convinced that the best is yet to come. I yield the floor. Mr. Cotton mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from arkansas. Mr. Cotton its of the highest importance that we reauthorizations title 7 of the Foreign Surveillance act, especially section 702. Its one of the best tools we have for protecting and preventing terrorist attacks against our country, and it has a long track record of success. Its one reason, for instance, that azazi today is not a household name, but yet just another bin laden wannabe sitting behind bars. He was planning to blow up the new york city subway system but he never got the chance because our Intelligence Community and Law Enforcement professionals stopped him in his tracks. By information using section 702 collection. Thats how vital this program is, and thats why i will be voting yes on this legislation. Now, that being said, the bill were voting on today is not my ideal legislation. If i had had my way, we would be voting on a permanent reauthorization with no changes. That was the white houses position when i worked together with the administration and introduced a section 702 extension bill earlier this summer. And the administration has said all along they wanted a clean and permanent reauthorization. The people who rely on this program and who know better than anyone just how valuable it is believed it was good as is. And the way i see it, if the threats against our country wont sunset in six years, why would we sunset this Vital Program . But i understand we usually have to compromise around here. Im glad to see a provision i offered to increase the maximum penalty with the misuse of classified information included in this bill. So while i worry this bill might make it harder for our Intelligence Community and Law Enforcement professionals to protect our country, i am going to vote yes. As a result, you can imagine my surprise as i listened to the programs critics. Theres a lot of misinformation out there. I want to take this opportunity to set a few things straight. First off, there is nothing unconstitutional about this program. Section 702 targets foreigners on foreign soil, not americans, and it is specifically designed to protect americans against unreasonable searches. Dont take my word for it, though. Every District Court who has looked at this question has found section 702 to be constitutional. And that includes, by the way, socalled abouts collection. If youre trying to collect information about a foreign target. An american citizen mentions that target in an email, i would suggest we want our Intelligence Community to know about that. Now, does that mean that they incidentally pick up information about american citizens . Yes, but lets be frank here. The only way to prevent this kind of incidental collection is to prohibit any collection at all. If our Intelligence Community couldnt track an email address or phone number simply because they theoretically might pick up information about an american citizen, they simply could not do their jobs. And its difficult if not impossible to tell if many email addresses belong to a foreigner just by looking at it. For example, is 5675309 g 5675309 gmail. Com an american email address or not . Who knows . Now, did the National Security administration discontinue its collection at one point . Yes, but to me thats evidence that this program works. Contrary to what its critics would have you believe, the n. S. A. Voluntarily ceased collecting that information in the name of protecting privacy. The n. S. A. Respected the minimization standard imposed by the foreign Intelligence Surveillance court. The safeguards worked just like they were supposed to. And this bill says the n. S. A. Can continue socalled about collection only once it gets approval from the fisa court and from congress. So, yes, section 702 has a whole host of safeguards built in to protect americans privacy, and this bill adds more still. The f. B. I. Wants to review information collected under 702 on a u. S. Person or criminal investigation thats not related to National Security or foreign intelligence, it has to get a court order based on probable cause even though the constitution does not require that. Or the f. B. I. Wants to query 702 information and can do so only under fisa courtapproved guidelines. And finally, just to make sure the f. B. I. Is following the law, this bill requires the d. O. J. Inspector general to speck check up on check up on the f. B. I. s compliance and report back to congress. Finally, the critics say the attorney general can just sneak past all these safeguards by designating an investigation into a Domestic Crime related to National Security or a transnational crime. That ignores the layers upon layers of oversight we have in place to prevent just that kind of abuse. Not only the d. O. J. Inspector general but the fisa court and congress will continue watching the f. B. I. s use of this program, and keep guard against such misuse. So i have to say i find the critics arguments to be wholly without foundation. Section 702 is constitutional and strikes a pretty good balance between security and privacy. Theres no good reason to let this program expire, and no good reason to hold this authorization up any longer. Lets remember, after all, that last year there were two terrorist attacks against new york city within six weeks. Not to mention a Christmas Eve plot against pier 39 in San Francisco that was disrupted. Also, admiral rogers, the director of the National Security agency, has testified that the Intelligence Community would not have been able to put together its intelligence assessment about russias interference in our 2016 president ial campaign without this Vital Program. We face a lot of threats terrorism, spying, Nuclear Proliferation are just a few. They arent going away any time soon and neither is the russian threat of meddling in our politics either. So its past time that we give this tool back to our Intelligence Community so they can continue the hard work of keeping our country safe. mr. President , i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from mississippi. Mr. Wicker thank you, mr. President. When we passed tax reform late last year, we knew it would be a win for American Workers and for the american economy. This win for our workers and families was long overdue after so many years of sluggish wage growth. Americans will see tax cuts very soon. Theyll be reflected in their paychecks next month. But tax reform is already making a positive difference. The response from our stkwrorb stkwrorb job creators, both small and large job creators has been overwhelming. Some 164 companies so far spanning Industry Sectors and geographical boundaries have announced employee bonuses, higher minimum wages, better benefits, new jobs, charitable deductions, charitable donations, and new investments. According to americans for tax reform, well more than two million americans will benefit from these bonuses. The National Federation of independent business says the tax cuts for our small businesses, the bread and butter of our economy, will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. I want to take a moment today to highlight how some of these job creators are giving back to the hardworking citizens of my state. They include mississippis single largest private employer, walmart, which has announced that it is raising its starting wage rate for hourly employees to 11. Walmart is also expanding its maternity and parental leave benefits as well as giving employee bonuses as a result of the new tax bill. Bancorps south in tupelo, mississippi announced it will give back to employees through pay raises and bonuses. Bancorp south says it plans to invest more than 10 million to the employees who work in its 234 locations across mississippi and seven other southern states. Another bank, renaissance, announced it will invest tax savings in 2,000 employees. At t is giving 1,000 employees to 2,000 tkpwhraoes. So are bank of america, american airlines, boeing and comcast. I could go on and on and on with bonuses benefiting hundreds of thousands of employees. Other americans will get new jobs. Last month television station wlox on the gulf coast of mississippi reported that the half shell oyster house plans to use its tax savings to open new restaurants and hire more employees. Isnt this what we want . Isnt this what we predicted . And isnt it wonderful to see this come to fruition. Kevin fish, a coowner, told the news station, and i quote, we passed up on opportunities in the past that we wouldnt have passed up on had we had this tax structure. So, mr. President , millions of americans might also see Lower Energy Bills from investorowned utilities. Utility Companies Across the country, including in mississippi are discussing how the law can help them Lower Energy Costs for our consumers. The message is clear across my state and across every state and across this country, the more money our job creators can save and the more money they dont have to send to washington in the first place, the more they can invest in the future of their businesses and the wellbeing of their employees. And this is proving true every day and will continue. These are the opportunities that we do not want our job creators to pass up. With every bonus, every pay raise, every expanded benefit, every lower energy bill, American Families have more money in their budgets to spend on the things they need most. Thank you to the leadership of the president , to the leadership of the house and senate for giving this outstanding benefit to the families, to the workers, to the job creators of the United States of america. Thank you, mr. President. And i yield the floor. And i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call a senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. A senator mr. President , i would ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Heinrich the senate will be voting soon on a bill to reauthorize the fisa amendments act. Mo