And members will recess today from 12 30 to 2 15 eastern and we do hope to bring you leadership briefings and hear more about the plans for the senate. Live coverage. 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. Eternal god, we fix our minds on you, the author and perfecter of our faith. Remind our lawmakers that a heavenly focus brings joy. Give them the wisdom to see that those who have done the most good in this present world often have thought most about the world to come. May our senators permit the diligent focus of their hearts on heaven to preserve the vigor of their work on earth. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth even as it is done in heaven. We pray in your strong 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. Under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein with time until 12 00 noon equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. If no one yields time, the time will be charged equally. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. Mr. Mcconnell were one day closer to thursdays government funding deadline. Im pleased to report that our bipartisan talks are continuing to progress toward an agreement on spending caps and important priorities all of us are eager to address. But as we continue the negotiations, we have the opportunity to make Real Progress with an immediate step that every senator in the chamber should support, and that is passing a fiscal year 2018 defense appropriations bill. We can vote to remove the uncertainty that is hanging over our armed forces and secure the currentyear funding that our Service Members deserve. Funding cuts have fallen disproportionately on our men and women in uniform. Current funding levels are not adequate to support secretary mattis new National Defense strategy. And our military leaders have made clear that shortterm continuing resolutions are hardly the optimal way for congress to fund our war fighters. Senators on both sides of the aisle say they agree that our war fighters deserve sufficient, Stable Funding to fulfill the missions and tasks their country assigns them. Today each of us will have a chance to back that up with our vote. The senate will take up an uncontroversial measure that passed the house with a comfortable bipartisan majority. It presents an opportunity for us to unite and give our allvolunteer military a full fiscal year of reliable funding while we finalize our talks on other subjects. We should seize the opportunity and not delay any longer securing current year funding for the brave men and women who keep us safe. Mr. President , on another matter, we have been talking for weeks about the millions of americans who are already benefiting from tax reform. Already millions of workers have received tax reform bonus, pay increase, or other benefits. I understand that a 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 bonus might not seem like much to our colleagues from new york or san francisco. I understand why people who are already very wealthy might agree with my friends, the house and Senate Democratic leaders who said that these bonuses and benefits are merely crumbs. But look, i can assure them the working families i represent do not see a permanent raise or a multithousanddollar bonus as a crumb to sweep off the table. In millions of households, thanks to tax reform, paying the bills has already gotten a little less painful. Planning for the future has already gotten a little easier. And this is just the beginning. Soon, millions and millions more americans will see the impact of tax reform in their paychecks. I. R. S. Withholding is going down. Takehome pay is going up. Families everywhere will be keeping more of their hardearned money. And this is great news for middleclass americans, so why are our democratic friends afraid to acknowledge it . The reason is simple. Every single one of them voted against tax reform. Every democrat in the house and in the senate voted against these new benefits for American Workers. Every one of them voted against a pay raise for the 90 of American Workers who, according to a Treasury Department estimate, are about to see their takehome pay go up. I dont envy their position. I dont envy having to explain why they voted to keep more money in washington rather than give their constituents a raise. Tax reform bonuses and more takehome pay arent the only ways tax reform will help American Workers. The bill also includes a creative new solution to directly help the communities that are struggling the most. We all know that too few new jobs are were created during the obama years. Through heavy taxes and excessive regulation, washington had its foot on the brake of the u. S. Economy. Job creation and wage growth were weaker than they should have been, but another aspect of this often goes overlooked. Of the new jobs that were created from 20102016, according to one estimate, three quarters went to major metropolitan areas. Let me say that again. Of the new jobs that were created between 2010 and 2016, three quarters went to major metropolitan areas. Only 3 of those new jobs went to rural america. Across the nation, including my home state of kentucky, particularly the eastern kentucky, many rural areas, small cities, and suburbs were left behind in the obama economy. Its time to change that. Thats why my colleague, the junior senator from south carolina, made sure that tax reform included a provision to create Opportunity Zones across the United States. My republican colleagues and i were proud to support this policy. It allows state governors to designate economically depressed areas with special tax incentives that will make them more attractive places to invest and create jobs. It will empower communities that have been passed over time and time again. In effect, put up big neon signs that say were open for business. It will help these struggling communities reach their full potential. This congress is determined to reignite an economy that works for everyone. Thats why tax reform lets families across the country keep more of what they earn. Thats why tax reform makes america a more attractive place to create jobs and gives our businesses a fairer fight with foreign competitors. And thats why tax reform includes this Opportunity Zone provision which will help deliver targeted relief to communities that need it the most. To most americans, all this sounds like common sense. Republicans in congress thought so, too. We came together to deliver these historic achievements for the American People. Its too bad not one single democrat got on board with any of this, but at least the bigger paychecks, new bonuses, and new investments will continue to roll in. Our constituents know exactly who stood up for them. Mr. President , i understand there are three bills at the desk due a second reading en bloc. The presiding officer the clerk will read the titles of the bills for the second time en bloc. The clerk h. R. 1551, an act to amend the Internal Revenue code of 1986 to modify the credit of production from advanced Nuclear Power facilities. H. R. 2372, an act to amend the Internal Revenue code of 1986 to clarify the rules relating to veteran Health Insurance and eligibility for the premium tax credit. H. R. 2579, an act to amend the Internal Revenue code of 1986 to allow the premium tax credit with respect to unsubsidized cobra continuation coverage. Mr. Mcconnell in order to place the bills on the calendar under the rules, i object to further proceeding en bloc. The presiding officer objection having been heard, the bills will be placed on the calendar. Mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer just a brief note on taxes, in answer to what my friend, the republican leader, has said. The reason that 48 democrats voted against the bill, the reason at this point, despite huge amounts of ads paid for by the wealthiest of americans, that the bill is still unpopular with the American People is very simple. The vast majority of the breaks go to the very wealthy and big, powerful corporations and their lobbyists. Thats who wins on this bill more than anybody else. If a bill focused on the middle class, gave 80 of the breaks to the middle class, there would be loads of democrats voting for it, but we dont believe were happy there are a lot of wealthy people in america. God bless them. They dont need the huge tax break, the disproportionate tax break that our republican friends gave them. Thats why the bill is unpopular. Again, people like the Koch Brothers and the thousand very, very wealthy, many of them so greedy billionaires who dont want to pay any taxes. They put all these ads on tv. They have a whole propaganda machine. They still cant convince the American People. And our republican colleagues are afraid to talk about what they really mean in the tax bill, trickledown economics. When they talk among themselves, they say give the wealthy a lot of money, give the big corporations a lot of money, and everyone will do fine. They dont have an honest debate on this because theyre afraid to say it, so they act like they aim most of this at the middle class. Well, the only way this is aimed at the middle class is trickle down, give the money disproportionately to the wealthy, the big corporations, and the middle class will benefit. We dont believe that. We would rather give the money directly to the middle class and be sure that they are getting the benefit. Now, on the budget. Mr. President , as we continue discussions about another extension of government funding, Senate Negotiators are working on a deal to lift the spending caps for both defense and urgent domestic priorities. From the very beginning of the budget debate, democrats have made our position in these negotiations very clear. We support an increase in funding for our military and our middle class. The two are not mutually exclusive. We dont want to do just one and leave the other behind. The sequester caps have arbitrarily imposed austerity on both sides of the ledger. Defense and the nondefense programs that benefit middleclass people like education, infrastructure, medical research. The caps have hamstrung the pentagons ability to make reliable investments, no doubt, but they have also cut support harshly and unintelligently from middleclass programs. Now, we ought to get out from sequestration entirely because our men and women in uniform deserve the resources they need to keep our country safe, as do our veterans waiting for Better Health care, as do our young men and women, many of them veterans seeking treatment for opioid addiction, as do rural families waiting for highspeed internet to connect themselves and their kids to the world, as do hardworking pensioners who forewent salary increases and bonuses to secure a pension thats now evaporating before their very eyes. Thats why democrats have pushed consistently to increase funding to fight the scourge of opioids, to improve Veterans Health care, build rural infrastructure, shore up pensions, deal with child care. These are the kinds of things we are pushing for, in addition, not to the exclusion, in addition to increasing defense. Some of our republican colleagues, particularly in the house, think only defense should get the help it needs, not the middle class. We democrats have stood against that for years and will continue to stand against it. House republicans continue marching down a very partisan road, proposing a cromnibus that will raise defense spending but leave Everything Else behind. And as i have said many times before, a cromnibus will not pass the senate. Speaker ryan and House Republicans keep running into the same brick wall. When will House Republicans learn they must chart a bipartisan course to get a bill through the senate. I dont think a single democrat that im aware of at least has been consulted on the republican bill. Its done because speaker ryans in a pickle. How is he going to pass a bill with just republican votes . Its not easy, so they come up with this distorted proposal, unfair proposal, unfair to so many people in the middle class who depend on our help. Hopefully, they will change their tune in the house, House Republicans, because even though a deal has eluded us for months, negotiators are now making significant progress. The republican leader and i have been working together quite productively. Of course, there are still some outstanding issues to be resolved, but we are closer to an agreement than we have ever been. And id like to express my appreciation to the republican leader in addition for his invitation to address the Mcconnell Center next week in louisville, which i have accepted. As leaders, the two of us can Work Together to get things done around here. And the best opportunity to Work Together is the budget. Its an opportunity not just for us but for our country, not only to escape the terrible damage of sequestration but to condemn it to the past, and we should seize that opportunity. Now, mr. President , a word on the russia investigation. Last night, the House Intelligence Committee voted to release the contents of the schiff memo. Now that the House Intelligence Committee has acted, President Trump should move in conjunction with the d. O. J. And the f. B. I. And release the schiff memo to the public. The American People deserve a chance to make their own judgment on the facts of this small piece of the broader case of russias interference in our election. The president decided the public deserved to see the nunes memo before he had even read it, so he ought to be just as eager for the American People to see this memo, which refutes effectively, devastatingly so much in the nunes memo. Given that the schiff memo is based on the underlying documents, the same underlying documents as the republicans partisan memo, there should be no question whether or not the president will approve its release. If he decides to keep the american sorry. If he decides to keep the democratic memo under wraps, the American People are going to be forced to wonder what is the president trying to hide . What is he afraid of . President trump should release the schiff memo quickly. It will illustrate what a sham the nunes memo is, and then we can all move on and let, as some of my good republican colleagues have had the courage to say not enough of them, but some let mueller do his investigation unimpeded, and lets see where the results end up. We need to move on. The nunes memo is only the latest in a long line of distractions manufactured by the most extreme elements of the Republican Party and the conservative media to distract from the Security Councils investigation. It started with conspiracies about deep state leaks and unmasking requests, phone taps at trump tower, uranium one. Now its this memo. They dont quit with all these conspiracy theories, with all these ridiculous foe meantation. They wont quit perhaps because a real investigation which mueller is doing and continuing to do will repeal. What the American People want to know are three simple things. One, what did the russians do to interfere in our elections. Two, were teleamericans involved . Three, what are we doing about this from 2018 and beyond. To that point americans should be more concerned about President Trumps tepid response than talking points. Any other administration, any other president , i believe, would have been made punishing putin and protecting our democracy a primary issue in the first term but this president began his career in office by down playing putins interference. When the administration tried to wiggle out of existing sanctions against russia, Congress Overwhelmingly and almost unanimously passed legislation strengthening the existing sanctions, adding new ones to address the interference. And were still waiting for President Trump to implement the new round of sanctions. Whats he waiting for . Why does he refuse to get tough with putin . We look to the president of the United States to stand up for our democracy against all threats. But unfortunately and sadly, bad for america, President Trump has abdicated this responsibility when it comes to putin. I yield the floor, and i know my good friend from illinois will have his usual thoughtful and articulate remarks to give. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i dont know if you want to announce the business for the day or if youve already done that. The presiding officer the senate is in a period of morning business and the assistant democratic leader is recognized. Mr. Durbin thanks, mr. President. I come to the floor today to speak of an issue which really defines america. W