To start the work week. Lawmakers are expected to continue working on allowing kelly kraft to upset the United States in the upcoming United NationsGeneral Assembly in new york. They moved to advance her nomination is set for 5 30 p. M. Eastern today. Now to live coverage of the u. S. Senate here on the. 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. Almighty god, sovereign of our nation and lord of our lives, thank you for infusing us with the confidence that you order our steps each day. Give our lawmakers courage and a strong resolve to glorify your name as they trust the unfolding of your providence. As they remember what you have already done to bless this nation, inspire them to march confidently toward tomorrows difficulties with a total dependence on your power. May they recommit themselves each day to faithfully fulfilling the awesome responsibility you have entrusted to them. Lord, be their strength and shield this day and always. We pray in your mighty name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The president pro tempore the Senate Majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell id like to welcome our colleagues back to the senate. I hope all of us took advantage of the past weeks that we spent in our home states and with our constituents. Washington is where we come to work but we come here to fight for our neighbors, the places we love, and are proud to hail from. The American People know this is a highly charged political moment but they havent sent us here to stage pitch battles or score political points. They elected us to make a difference for them and their families. We do that by taking care of the peoples business, by collaborating in good faith to complete our work, and attend to the pressing matters that are before us. While we were spread out across the country, we heard an unwelcome announcement from our dear friend and colleague, the senior senator from georgia. Senator Johnny Isakson has determined that his Health Challenges will lead him to conclude his distinguished 15year Senate Career at the end of december. Putting georgians first like always. His depr tur will be a significant lot for the people of georgia and for the 99 of us here in this chamber. Senator isakson is a tireless legislator. In particular, hes a dogged advocate for our nations veterans. But hes even more than that. Johnny is universally seen as one of the warmest, friendliest, most respectable and most collaborative members of this body. He has strong views and solid principles, but he knows that broad often bipartisan cooperation is the way to advance those very goals. So i hope that as the Senate Tackles the important matters before us in the weeks and months ahead, well not only make sure to savor our last few months working alongside of this great friend and colleague but also to embody his example in our work. And heres what that work will need to include. Right off the bat this week, the senate will begin working through a slate of nominations to important federal offices. The American People deserve to be governed by the government they voted for and every time we confirm another one of the uncontroversial qualified Public Servants whom President Trump has selected for these executive branch posts, we fulfill a constitutional responsibility and make manifests of peoples decisions. In the days and weeks ahead, the another duty before us is the appropriations process. Just like last year under the leadership of chairman shelby and ranking maybe leahy, im confident we can make significant progress on regular appropriations this month and then pass an interim continuing resolution to prevent any funding lapse while that work continues. So let me say that again. A major focus of the senate this month will be moving forward as many of the regular appropriation bills as possible and then passing a temporary continuing resolution for the outstanding parts of the government before the end of september. We have the parameters in place, thanks to the bipartisan Funding Agreement that President Trump signed last month. Now it is time for the rubber to meet the road and for the senate to pass appropriation bills this month. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. And 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, department of state, kelly craft of kentucky to be representative of the United States of america to the sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Mr. Grassley mr. President , i ask to speak in morning business as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley during august i continued my annual extra tradition of holding at least one q and a in every one of iowas 99 counties. I go to iowans where they work and live to hear whats on their mind so that i can better represent them in the United States senate. No matter the setting, my citizens of iowa set the agenda. On august 27 with a town meeting in spencer, iowa, i completed the 39th Consecutive Year of my annual 99county meetings. I look forward to continuing my dialogue with iowans throughout the rest of this year. Just to emphasize that i hold a lot more than just 99 meetings with my constituents every year. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call mr. Brown mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to dispense with the wrowrk. Quorum call. The presiding officer would you without objection. Mr. Brown i rise to honor officers knight, vincent carter, ryan nable and Jeremy Campbell. Last month, on august 4, sunday, august 4, people in my state woke up to devastating news, a shooter had opened fire overnight about 1 00 that sunday morning in dayton. In 3 1 seconds firing 40 bullets taking the lives of nine ohioans, injuring 27 more. Another senseless tragedy caused by gun violence. But as awful as it was, it could have been even worse were it not for the bravery and skill of the officers i mentioned. While others run from danger, these men ran toward it. They stopped the shooter within 31 or 32 seconds after the first shot was fired, saving certainly dozens of lives as the shooter was about to go into a very crowded nightclub. Had they not gotten to him in less than a minute, the shooter would have entered the door way he was headed toward to the Dayton Institution ned peppers which was filled with ohioans out on a saturday night. The Dayton Police chief said had this individual made it through the doorway of ned peppers with that level of weaponry, there would have been a catastrophic injury and loss of life. That didnt happen because these dedicated Public Servants did the job they signed up to do, to protect the people they serve. Over the past month, as we have mourned those ohioans we lost, weve also seen the incredible strength and solidarity of the dayton community. People from all over the city have come together to support the families of the victims and to support Law Enforcement officers, officials who threw themselves in harms way to protect their friends and neighbors. Chief beale reported that the Dayton Police department has received hundreds of emails, social media messages, and thank you cards all from people thanking them for what they did for this city. Dayton has faced so many challenges this year. Each time these officers and the entire department have risen to the occasion keeping the public safe when a kkk group held a hate rally, helping residents after the devastating tornadoes hit this summer, and now dealing with this awful gun violence, all kinds of tragedies that have fallen on this community. I thank my friend mayor nan whaley who is here in washington today helping honor these officers and held this community together. I think she put it best when she said dayton has had as i like to term it one hell of a summer and youve all been on the front lines of it. I met these officers at the Miami Valley Hospital three days after the shooting. The president of the United States was there to honor these officers and to see the victims and some of the injured daytonians who were victims of the shooting and their families. I said to the president the best way you can honor these Police Officers is bring the senate back into session and pass universal background checks. 93 of the American Public support universal background checks. The Congress Already passed it overwhelmingly. We could do it in a day. I want to thank sergeant knight, officer demlinger, officer carter and officer campbell and all of dayton Law Enforcement for responding far beyond the call of duty in saving the lives of so many people in the miami valley. I want to thank their families, many of whom are here today. We know how families sacrifice alongside Law Enforcement and service members, yet so often families dont get the recognition that they deserve. To the officers and your families, we are forever grateful. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senator from minnesota. A senator mr. President , today this the presiding officer the senate is in a quorum call. Ms. Klobuchar i ask the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Klobuchar today, this chamber once referred to as the greatest deliberative body must take action. We have people all over the country who want to see action, people who want to see change, people who are crying out for their leaders in washington to do their jobs. These days the United States senate has become a place where legislation goes to die, and the important issues of the day go ignored. In addition to inaction on major, major issues, significant issues like Climate Change and infrastructure and immigration reform, today i will focus on three things that are right before us. Three bills in the Gun Legislation area that are right now on the leaders desk. Two other areas, Election Protection and bringing down the cost of Prescription Drugs where we could literally take action immediately. I focus on these because they all involve bills that have passed the house where the senate could literally act today. I focus on these because in all three cases the timing is urge urgent. I am talking about inaction in the wake of terrible tragedies in dayton and el paso and in midland, odessa, all in just the last month. Inaction in protecting our elections and making it easier for people to vote. Inaction in response to serious issues of Health Care Costs and particularly Prescription Drug prices. First gun safety. Think about the courage, the incredible courage of the people who were in dayton and in el paso and in ow odessamidland. The mom who literally shielded her baby from death as she perished herself to gunshot wounds but she kept that baby alive. Or how about the grandpa who died shielding his wife and granddaughter or the offduty soldier who carried children away to safety. All that happened in that store. As we approach the anniversary of 9 11, i think also about the First Responders and all of these Mass Shootings. The ones in dayton, ohio, who got there in one minute, one minute but still we lost nine people in 30 seconds. But they were there in one minute and saved so many lives. That is courage. That is the courage of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And i believe in this place of extraordinary power that their courage must be matched. The courage must be matched to that mom, to that grandpa, to that soldier, to those First Responders. These are ordinary citizens that stepped up and saved lives. It is the least that we can do to match their courage. The American People cant afford more inaction, but over the past few years to me it seems that we have lost our resolve. Today i implore my colleagues, i implore the Republican Leadership to find the resolve once again and act with courage just like those men and women did in el paso and dayton and midland and odessa and gilroy and parkland and newtown and charleston and order and how and orlando. And how about all those families where they lose a loved one every single day to gun violence in homes, to gun violence on the streets. 1,300 children die from gunshot wounds each year. Thats a classroom of kids every single week. Yes, we are back today. Congress is back. I believe we should have come back sooner. We were in recess for mere hours when the gunman in el paso claimed the lives of 22 people. And for only a few hours more when the gunman in dayton claimed nine lives. I was among those who immediately called for the senate to come back from recess so that we could vote on gun safety measure, gun Safety Measures that had passed the house of representatives with some republican support. I said that we should come back for that vote back then on background checks, which, by the way, nine out of ten americans support, sensible background checks which the majority of hunters support sensible background checks, which the majority of voters who voted for President Trump support sensible background checks. I know the history here. As the lead sponsor of the bill to prevent perpetrators of Domestic Violence, perpetrators, people who have been convicted of serious Domestic Violence and stalking from possessing a gun and a long time supporter of universal background checks as well as the assault weapon ban and limits on magazines, i was invited to the white house right after parkland, right after all those kids died in that school. And i thought, well this is a moment where we can act. I was seated across from the president of the United States. And i had a piece of paper that i saved, and i wrote down with hash mashes how many times he said that we should pass the bill for universal background checks and stop that gun show loophole. Nine times he said it, nine times. I was seated next to the Vice President and across from the president. I told the president that i come from a proud hunting state and that when i look at proposals like this, i say to myself, do they hurt my uncle dick in the deer stand . Do they do anything to hurt our hunting tradition in our state . They dont. Thats why the vast majority of hunters support universal background checks and a lot of these other measures that we talked about that day in that Conference Room in the white house. It was on tv so people can see it. Theres a video of it. Theres evidence of it. I thought it was a done deal. But then what happens . The president the next day goes and meets with the n. R. A. And he folded. He folded despite the fact that on tv in front of the nation, in front of those kids, those surviving kids from parkland, in front of the families of the kids that had died he made a promise that he didnt keep. Thats the history that i know and ive lived. But it doesnt end there. I go back in time. I go back to the saddest day in the United States senate for me, and that was the morning of the vote on background checks. That was years before. That was after that sandy hook shooting. Those families were there, and i had been working with some of the senators who were leading that bill. And i had to tell them that morning those parents who had lost their kids, their Elementary School age kids in that school that we didnt have enough votes to pass that bill. And i remember one of the moms said to me, she said, you know, ill never forget that day. Ill never forget the last time i saw my son alive. He had severe autism so he really couldnt speak but every morning he would point at the picture of the school aide that he loved so much that would never leave his side because he loved her and he would point at her picture on our refrigerator. And thats what happened that last day when she saw him alive. And then he went to school and then just a few hours later she was waiting in that firehouse with all of those parents. And one by one those children came into that firehouse and pretty soon the parents that were left, they knew they would never see their babies again. And as she is sobbing in that firehouse, she has this fleeting moment where she thinks of that teacher, that school aide. And she knows at that moment that that school aide would never