May they live lives of obedience and abundance, as they follow where you lead. Lord, provide them with courage to do right as you give them the ability to follow your footsteps. Help them to make glorifying you their top priority. 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 senate will come to order. The clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington, d. C. , september 26, 2019. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable martha mcsally, a senator from the state of arizona, who will perform the duties of the chair. Signed chuck grassley, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to consideration of h. R. 4378, the clerk will report. The clerk h. R. 4378, an act making continuing appropriations for fiscal year to 20, and for other 2020, and for other purposes. The presiding officer under the previous order, the time until 12 00 p. M. Will be equally divided in the usual form. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. The senator is recognized. Mr. Mcconnell exactly one year ago, the administration announced the most significant trade deal in a generation. A landmark agreement with mexico and canada to strengthen two of our nations key trading relationships. The usmca is the most consequential updated trade policy on this continent in a quarter century. The huge opportunity to notch new proamerican policy victories and keep our north american neighbors close while we tackle other challenges such as china. But here we are months after all three countries leaders signed the agreement and were still waiting on House Democrats to let it move forward. Mexico has already passed it, canada is waiting on our move, the senate is ready and eager to ratify it, but the senate cant go first. The clock is ticking month after month, even as House Democrats have continually made vague statements that they support usmca and want to see it passed, we have yet to see any real progress. So canada, mexico, and millions of americans are waiting for Speaker Pelosi to remember that serving the Public Interest requires more than just picking fights with the president. It actually entails addressing the peoples business. Mexico and canada are vital partners at every level of the u. S. Economy. They provide enormous growing markets for americanmade products. Together they buy more than 500 billion in u. S. Goods and Services Every single year. A half a trillion dollar export market. Every state, every industry, every corner of our country is involved. For 90 of americas manufacturing sectors, mexico or canada rank as the number one or number two export destination. For American Farmers and producers, our two neighbors buy almost twothirds of all the agricultural exports we sell to all of our free trade partners combined. And we arent just talking about big business. Tens of thousands of small and mediumsized businesses count on their mexican or canadian customers to succeed. These realities affect americans real lives. In the last 25 years, as trade with mexico and canada has quadrupled, 12 million u. S. Jobs have come to depend on crossborder commerce. Many of those jobs belong to workers in kentucky where our Biggest Industries from auto manufacturing to bourbon production depend on this export economy. With so much at stake, the American People deserve to have an excellent trade deal in place, one that levels the Playing Field for American Workers and reduces the incentives to shift american jobs to mexico, one that expands American Farmers and manufacturers access to these neighboring markets. This is exactly, mr. President , what usmca delivers. It upgrades the Playing Field for American Workers, farmers, ranchers, and job creators. It builds on the progrowth, proinnovation policies that encourage their success here at home with an upgraded modern runway to markets beyond our borders. The usmca looks specifically at key sectors where outdated rules are or exploitive practices threaten american job security and hurt homegrown industries. It strengthens intellectual Property Rights to protect american innovation. It updates our digital trade policy. And usmca wins greater Market Access for u. S. Exporters. Opportunities to sell more dairy and poultry into canada, a better Playing Field for auto parts and investment. Enforceable labor standards so that hardworking americans arent unfairly priced out of their jobs. So what does all this add up to . Ill tell you. According to the independent u. S. International trade commission, the usmca would generate more than 68 billion in g. D. P. Growth and create 176,000 jobs right here in the United States. Frankly, there is very little else we could do here in congress that would deliver this kind of boost to the american prosperity and brighten prospects for so Many American families. And its a bipartisan deal. It includes changes that democrats have themselves clamored for, and the administration has bent over backwards to accommodate their concerns. But here we are, a year after all three countries announced the deal and the democrats heal dragging continues. Speaker pelosi keeps saying she supports the agreement in the abstract, with you the drip, drip, drip of small objections and stalling tactics keep on coming. Even as Speaker Pelosis moderate members publicly beg her to pass this deal, its almost as though she is looking for reasons to duck it. Well, i certainly hope not. 176,000 american jobs hang in the balance. Tens of billions of dollars of new prosperity. And our relationship with two of our closest allies who have already taken difficult steps to get the yes on this agreement and whose support we need to preserve a system of free and fair trade from chinas aggressive efforts to rewrite the rules on its own terms. The United States of America Needs this deal. American workers and Small Businesses need this deal. The time for executives is over. Usmca needs to move this fall, and that cant happen until House Democrats stop blocking an enormous win for our country. Now, mr. President , on a totally different matter, as majority leader, im especially grateful for opportunities to offer the senates thanks to the remarkable men and women who work tirelessly to preserve and protect this great institution. On monday, well be saying a bittersweet goodbye to a particularly irreplaceable member of the Senate Family who has worked alongside us for 22 years. Ileana garcia was born in cuba and raised in puerto rico. She started working for the secretary of the senate in september, 1997, as a project accountant. Since then, she has built a remarkable Success Story here in this institution, rising through the ranks of Financial Management and becoming financial clerk of the senate in 2014. But with ileana, its not just about the impressive milestones. Its about the outsized impact shes had on this place and so many people. From the heavy lifting of getting a new Financial System online in the late 1990s to helping officers navigate Health Care Transitions and government shutdowns to the everyday challenges that come with a big complicated payroll like the u. S. Senates, she did it all with professionalism and attention to detail. At times my own staff observed that she was so attentive and quick to respond to their questions that they wondered if she was detailed exclusively to handle our office. Of course she wasnt. Thats just the job she does. But professionalism and excellence arent the only things ileana brought into the office every day. Everyone observed that she also brought a very big heart, patience, discretion, compassion, and an unflagging smile have been her calling cards. That was the case when she arrived 22 years ago. It remains the case today as she prepares to depart as one of the senates senior most administrative staffers. So were really sorry to lose somebody of ileanas caliber but we know shes excited to spend more time on planet garcia, which i understand is what she and her beloved husband ariel of 30 years call their clan, including their three sons. And i understand there might be some more time for competitive domino tournaments, not that she apparently needs any more practice. So i know my colleagues will join me today in wishing Ileana Garcia the very best in thanking her for a job so well done. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer now, mr. President , after Speaker Pelosi decided to open a formal impeachment inquiry on tuesday evening, there have been several developments. Yesterday the president released a memorandum of conversation of his july 25 call with president zelensky of ukraine. In plain text, plain text, no ifs,ands,or buts, the president pressured the leader of ukraine to investigate one of his leading political rivals confirming public reports. Yesterday as well the house and Senate Intelligence committees received the official whistleblower complaint that precipitated this series of events. I read the complaint yesterday afternoon and came away more concerned, even more concerned than when i had read the memorandum of the president s conversation. This morning the House Intelligence Committee made public the declassified portion of the complaint and the intelligence communitys inspector generals cover letter. That was the correct decision. The American People have a right to read the whistleblowers complaint for themselves, and i hope that they will. The whistleblowers complaint begins, quote, in the course of my official duties, i have received information from multiple u. S. Government officials that the president of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 u. S. Election. This interference includes among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the president s main domestic political rivals, end of quote. Those are his words. The complaint goes on to describe specific deliberate maneuvers by white house lawyers and officials to lock down records of the president ial communications in question, including and especially, quote, the official wordforword transcript of the president s phone call with president zelensky, the whistleblower complaint contains allegations of underlying crimes, campaign of soliciting the interference of a Foreign Government in an american election, using the power of an official government position for personal and political gain, as well as many allegations of attempted coverup. If this was all so innocent, why did so many officials in the white house, in the Justice Department and elsewhere make such large efforts to prevent it from being made public . Both sets of allegations are said to have multiple witnesses and multiple cocollaborators. If confirmed, the allegations contained in the whistleblower complaint are nothing short of explosive. The complaint unquestionably validated Speaker Pelosis decision to open an formal impeachment inquiry into these matters. Mr. President , were living in an incredibly delicate time for our democracy. We have a responsibility now to corroborate the facts in the whistleblowers complaint, solicit testimony from those involved, and pursue the relevant avenues of inquiry that arise. We have a responsibility to consider the facts that emerge squarely and with the best interest of our country, not our party, in our hearts. We have a responsibility not to rush to final judgment or overstate the case, not to let ourselves be ruled by passion, but by reason. For if the house at the end of its inquiry sees fit to accuse the president of impeachable offenses, we in the senate will act as jury. And our role as the solemn jurors of democracy demands that we place fidelity to the constitution above else. Now on the Appropriations Committee. The business of the American People and the responsibilities of congress do not pause while the house perhaps to formally begin an impeachment inquiry. Today, for example, the Senate Must Pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open through the end of november and give appropriators time to complete the 12 appropriation bills. I expect the continuing resolution will pass this morning and head to the president s desk. Thats the easy part. The hard part is getting the bipartisan appropriations process back on track here in the senate. Senate republicans unilaterally departed from our bipartisan negotiations earlier this month by proposing to divert as much as 12 billion from military construction and Health Programs to the president s border wall. Obviously that was a nonstarter with democrats and the republican leader and the leaders of the Appropriations Committee on the republican side had to know that. And, as yesterdays vote for the National Emergency declaration showed, its a nonstarter with a doubledigit number of republicans as well. Now the that Republican Leaders have shown the president they tried to get his wall again, now that the senate has taken two proxy votes on the wall again this work period, neither of which came close to passing, its time for leader mcconnell, chairman shelby, and our republican colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to sit down with democrats and get a bipartisan process moving again. Finally, on the slee nomination scalia nomination. Today the senate will consider the nomination of eugene scalia. Mr. Scalias nomination is a slap to the face of labor because mr. Scalias life work has been utterly opposed to the mission of the agency to which hes nominated. He has sided repeatedly with the large corporate interest against the working people. If any working person doubts that President Trump does not have their interest at heart, look at who hes nominated. This guy shouldnt even make if for secretary of commerce let alone secretary of labor, which is supposed to defend and protect the working people of america. President trump could have chosen a cardcarrying union member for the job. He could have chosen someone who understands the needs of workers and unions, the history of the Labor Movement and the established right of workers to collectively bargain for better wages and safer conditions. Instead, President Trump nominated mr. Scalia, a corporate lawyer who has spent his entire career protecting the interest of c. E. O. s, big corporations and the wealthy elite. Not workers, not labor. Worse, he proactively fought to weaken worker protections. He opposed minimum wage increases, even opposed protections in the americans with disabilities act. Its a disgrace. My guess is if every working person knew mr. Scalias record and that President Trump nominated him, mr. Trump would hardly get the vote of a worker. This shows who President Trump is. This shows who our republican colleagues are. They talk about the rights of workers but vote for somebody, hope they wont, but in all likelihood will vote for somebody who is antiworker up and down in the very bones of his body. Mr. Scalias part of a larger pattern. President trump has claimed to be a champion for working americans, but he has filled our government with millionaires and c. E. O. s and folks like scalia who work for them with proven records of putting corporate interest before worker interest. Anyone who thinks that President Trump is is a friend of a working person should look at scalias nomination. The republican majority, rather than using its advise and consent powers to check the president when he does the wrong thing rolls over and approves these nominees. Do all these republicans here oppose the americans for disability act . Do all these republicans oppose increasing the minimum wage . Well, if youre against those kinds of thing, vote for him. But weve gotten a lot of double talk. People who say they are for those things and then vote for nominees who oppose them and rip them apart. We should not confirm mr. Scalia as secretary of labor, and i urge my colleagues to oppose this nomination. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , we are a proud nation of immigrants, and have benef