Generations. Your faithfulness sustains the seasons of our earthly pilgrimage. You are worthy of our praise. Infuse our lawmakers with reverential awe, as they remember you are the one constituent they absolutely must please. Because of you, they live and move and breath and have their being. Although they may plan, you alone decide what will or will not prevail. May our senators make you their refuge, their shelter in the time of storms. And, lord, we thank you for the inspiration of a stupendous world series. We pray in your glorious 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. Mr. Grassley madam president. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley i ask to speak as if in morning business for 90 seconds. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley today is halloween. This may sound a little candy corny, but this iowan wants to talk about the scary prices of Prescription Drugs. Since january ive joined with bipartisan forces to drive a stake in the heart of ghoulish price gouging. Senator wyden and i working to shut down the pranks, poisoning the drug supply chain, we need our fellow lawmakers to step up and nail the coffin shut on monstrous drug price increases. One example that cant masquerade as a nextgeneration drug is the 500 increase for insulin which helps americans with diabetes regulate blood sugar. This medicine was discovered 100 years ago at the time the first horror movie debuted. Theres no rhyme or reason for the terrifying price hikes spooking americans. The real horror story this halloween is whats preventing congress from doing its job. Big pharma is spending a frightening amount of money to kill drug pricing reforms. Lets fix the real injustice haunting the american people, which is sticker shock at the pharmacy counter. Every senator can be a super hero for halloween. All youve got to do is join us to dig a grave for batty Prescription Drug prices ending big pharmas pricing tricks would be a real treat for americans. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Mcconnell madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell to lead off, id be. The presiding officer were in a quorum call. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell to lead off, id certainly be remiss not to congratulate the 2019 world series champions, the Washington Nationals. This year our National Pastime came down to a dramatic finish. The nationals and the astros traded blows right up until the finalling innings of game seven. For the First Time Ever the away team won all seven games of the series and now stephen strasburg, max scherzer, Anthony Rendon and the rest of the 2019 nationals are bringing a world series trophy here to the Nations Capital for the First Time Since 1924. Back then, of course, the home team was officially the washington senators, although still often called the nationals. Now, thats a distinguished name for a team, but this squad has to be hands down the most athletic, most resilient, most teamspirited bunch of ballplayers certainly this city has ever had. These remarkable players, their manager dave martinez, the nationals front office, and the team owners, the Lerner Family i particularly want to mention ted lerner, the patriot remark, 94 years old. Many people thought he might not be around to see the Washington Nationals first championship, but he was. A great owner, great friend to the city, and it was fun to see him after the game revel in this great, great accomplishment. They really achieved actually a small miracle. For a couple of weeks, they gave us something that all of washington, d. C. Could unite around, a miracle indeed, something we could use around here these days. So congratulations to the champions. On to another matter later today were going to vote on something that should not be controversial, funding for our National Defense for supporting Service Members and their families or sustaining americas Global Leadership and strategic edge. This will vital priority is not something that can take a back seat to partisan dis dysfunction. Our men and women in uniform dont get to go on sabbatical while they get its act together. They have to stay vigilant, remain in harms way, stay at their post. Our commanders dont get to put critical operations on pause until washington does its job. Their objectives loom large, whether we give them a predictable Planning Foundation or not. And russia, china, and iran will certainly not take a water break if uncertainty leaves our nation left footed. Theyll keep growing defense spending. I hope our democratic friends would be able to put inteevment aside long enough to at least fund the department of defense. We heard public pronouncements from Speaker Pelosi and my colleague, the democratic leader, that they intended to work with us on substantial legislation. If anything qualifies as substantial legislation, its this. It meets the pentagons request for targeted investments in the u. S. Military of the future, new resources for expanded Missile Defense capabilities, trauma training, fleet maintenance, and key partnerships with allies around the world. But alas, the democratic leader announced at a press conference tuesday that he plans to filibuster the annual funding for our armed forces. This would put our colleagues across the aisle in quite an unusual position. The same democrats who recently rediscovered hawkish sounding positions on syria and the middle east are really going to filibuster a 755 million for the counter isis train and equip fund for iraq and for syria . And filibuster all the other broader funding of our Armed Services . Really . The same democrats whose latest effort to impeach the president hinges on delay of military assistance to ukraine are themselves, are themselves going to filibuster funding for the exact same program the Ukraine Security assistance initiatives . Really . It looks like it. The Democratic Party is too busy impeaching President Trump for supposedly slow walking assistance to ukraine to fund the exact same program themselves. Madam president , these are political gymnastics performed at an olympic level. At an olympic level. The core message here is hard to miss. Our democratic colleagues have a priority list, picking fights with the white house is priority number one. Number one. And our men and women in uniform fall somewhat further down. So, madam president , it doesnt have to be this way, even in a time as politically charged as an impeachment inquiry, it doesnt have to be this way. Back in 1998, just days before the Republican House voted to begin its impeachment inquiry into president clinton, the house and Senate Passed a regular defense appropriations bill. Then some weeks later, even after the inquiry was under way, both chambers were still able to pass more bills to address the fundamental business of funding the government, and president clinton signed them into law during the impeachment. So if democrats follow through on their threat to filibuster defense funding later today, they will frankly be making even the 1998 impeachment period look like a clinic, a clinic in bipartisan cooperation. A democratic filibuster of defense funding is not the vote that the military families and military installations in their home states deserve. Its not the vote that our commanders deserve. And its not the vote that our National Security deserves. Now, on a related matter, speaking of past precedent, i understand this Morning House democrats will finally cast their first Impeachment Vote on an impeachment resolution which i understand they are afraid to actually call an impeachment resolution. As i mentioned yesterday, the democrats draft does not even come close to restoring the kind of customary Due Process Rights and protections that past impeachment inquiries included, either for President Trump or for their own republican colleagues in the minority. Heres what their resolution amounts to, madam president. This is basically what it says. No due process now, but maybe some later if we feel like it. No due process now, but maybe some later if we feel like it. This is not a fair way to treat any american, and it certainly is no way to conduct something as grave as an impeachment process which seeks to overturn the american peoples choice in a democratic election. So i hope the house of representatives sees the light and steps away from their unfair and arbitrary process. Now, on another matter, many of us have been concerned for some time about the trajectory of our strategy for our strategically important nato ally turkey under the leadership of president erdogan. Despite the hopes of the Obama Administration and others that he would be a model of islamic democracy, erdogan instead has used democracy to work toward undemocratic ends. Freedom of the press, secularism, and human rights have suffered under his rule, while corruption has flourished. Opposition to erdogan is growing but the political space for turks to express their opposition is shrinking. Obviously, in recent days, our concerns have centered on turkeys incursion into northeastern syria. Were angry about the damage turkey has caused for our local kurdish partners in syria. Ive spoken at length about my concerns on turkeys incursion and my opposition to withdrawing u. S. Forces from syria, but i believe we need to be guided by our strategic interests, not emotions, as we seek to contain the damage of turkeys incursion. Peel ankara away from moscow and urge better behavior abroad by erdogans government. I hope we will carefully examine whether a broad mandatory sanctions bill is really the best solution. We should think carefully about what specific effect we want sanctions to have, how turkey will respond to them and how russia and others may explore growing tensions between washington and ankara. Before targeting an economy that is highly integrated with europes economy, we should seek a better understanding of the specific Economic Impact that broad sanction also have on our economy, our european economy, and workers and job creators. We should reflect whether we would be better off working in concert with european allies to shape turkeys behavior versus abruptly forcing European Companies to cut ties to trowrk through a threat of to turkey through a threat of sanctions. Before using these kind of policy tools, the kind we use against iran and north korea against a democracy of 80 million people, we should consider the political impact that blunt sanctions will have on the turkish people. Well will sanctions rally them to our cause or to erdogans . Will more targeted sanctions perhaps avoid some of these unintended consequences . These are just some of the critical questions with which i hope our committees of jurisdiction and the administration are able to examine before we act. Now, on one final matter, i have postpone at length in recent weeks about the protests in hong kong and the situation in syria. I would like to close today by recognizing other important developments in the middle east that regrettably havent received much attention. Massive protests are currently under way in lebanon and iraq. Millions have taken to the streets to demand more responsive, more transparent, and less sectarian governance and an end to rampant corruption. By all accounts, these protests are crosssectarian directed at an entire class of political leaders who have behaved undemocratically and unethically. The protests are also directed at iran. The Islamic Republic has long sought through proxies like hezbollah and iraqi militias to undermine the sovereignty of lebanon and iraq. Now even shiite communities that have typically been heavily influenced by iran are demanding politicians that represent their interests instead of tehrans interests. Unsurprisingly, the Iranian Regime is reportedly involved in violently suppressing peaceful protests in lebanon, iraq, syria, and, of course, in iran itself. The mullahs are showing the same fear as the Chinese Communist party. They are afraid of citizens demanding reform and speaking up for basic freedoms. The u. S. Should stand with the protesters. The administration should use the tools at its disposal to expose corruption and foreign interference in these nations, impose consequences for violent crackdowns on peaceful protests and work with the lebanese and iraqi leaders who are committed to doing right by their people. Now, madam president , for the information of the senate, in the managers package of amendments that was announced last night, amendment numbered 1121 was misidentified as a murkowski amendment. It was actually an amendment by senator whitehouse that senator murkowski cosponsored. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Mcconnell i understand there is a bill at the desk due a second reading. The presiding officer the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. The clerk s. 2755, a bill to require a report on the plan to secure the enduring defeat of the Islamic State of iraq and syria. Mr. Mcconnell in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceedings. The presiding officer objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. Under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h. R. 3055, which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 141, h. R. 3055, an act making appropriations for the departments of commerce and justice, science, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2020, and for other purposes. The presiding officer pursuant to the order of yesterday, the 45 amendments listed in the order are considered and agreed to en bloc and the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table. The clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the majority whip. Mr. Thune madam president , is the senate in a quorum call . The presiding officer yes, it is. Mr. Thune i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. He. Mr. Thune last weekend i attended a ceremony for the 112 112nd national guard. These men and women who served in the 147th field battalion were deployed to europe, a partnership with our allies in eastern and Central Europe developed in response to russias invasion of crimea in 2014. It allows the forces to hone their ability to conduct joint organses. Members of joint organizations. Members spent most of the year in europe working with partner forces. They participated in two multinational exercises and brought artillery to germany and hungary. These soldiers finally got home last weekend but they didnt leave atlantic resolve without south dakota support. Other members of the 147th Forward Support company and alpha battery of the 147th Field Artillery battalion headed for europe in september. Others, airmen from Ellsworth Air force base also deployed abroad recently. Four b1 bombers from the 34rd and 37th bomb quad rones at ellsworth made a trip to support u. S. Military presence there. The bombers flew from south dakota to saudi arabia, refueling six times in midair, once again demonstrating the incredible capability of this aircraft and of our Ellsworth Airmen. Madam president , atlantic resolve, the b1 mission, the death of isis leader albaghdadi during a raid conducted by u. S. Troops, theyre all a reminder of the vital work our u. S. Members are doing. A lot of military missions dont make a big splash in the news. We dont hear a lot about everything that our men and women in uniform are doing on a daily basis. We dont hear details of all the operations, the joint exercises with our allies, the countless training evolutions, the neverending aircraft and vehicle maintenance, the hours watching Radar Systems for contacts, the endless logistical work to support troops in the field or the painstaking weeks and months of intelligence gathering for a single mission. But every hour of every day members of the United States military are on duty working to keep the peace and to ensure the security of our nation. As members of congress, we have no greater obligation than to ensure that our troops have the resources that they need. We owe it to the men and women who get up each day willing to lay down their lives for us. And we owe it to every man, woman, and child we represent because the safety of our country depends upon the strength of our military. Madam president , ensuring that our troops have the resources that they need obviously means ensuring that they have adequate funding. But it also means getting that funding to them in a timely fashion. It means passing regular order Appropriations Bills instead of forcing our military to rely on temporary funding measures that leave the military in doubt about funding levels and unable to start important new projects. Getting military funding approved in a timely m