Judicial nominations, including District Court nominees for arkansas and pennsylvania, as well as Appeals Court nominations for the 9th circuit covering the western u. S. And the 2nd circuit which includes connecticut, new york and vermont. And now to live coverage of the u. S. Senate here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal god, thank you for not leaving us alone in a challenging world. You remain our refuge in every storm. We call you when troubles arise, and you rescue us even from selfinflicted wounds. You clean up our debris, restoring us to your sweet fellowship. As our lawmakers commit this day to you, help them navigate through its turbulence. May your spirit impinge on their minds, guiding them by the light of your truth. Be the resource they need to be faithful stewards of your unfolding providence. We pray in your gracious 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 the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley id like to speak one minute as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley oh, boy. I have to scratch my head about hearing some criticism of the finance committees Prescription Drug reduction act from supposedly fiscally conservative and protaxpayer organizations, to mention a couple, like Freedom Works and americas for tax reform. The grassleywyden bipartisan bill should have a lot of support. It will save taxpayers 100 million. You would think that fiscally conservative organizations would want to back that. Of course some of these fiscally conservative organizations receive substantial funding from big pharma. I cant think of a better opportunity to enact bipartisan entitlement reform that would significantly lower the debt and help rein in entitlement spending bill, and this bill happens to be judged by the congressional budget office, a Nonpartisan Group working for the congress as a whole saying it would save a little over 100 billion. So i think reining in entitlement spending is a goal that i campaigned on and nearly won every one of my republican colleagues have campaigned on that same platform. So nows a chance to carry out those campaign promises. In other words, stand on the platform you run on. In an era of gridlock and partisanship, do supporters of Less Government spending and balanced budgets really think their goal can be achieved without bipartisanship . Because nothing gets done in the United States senate that isnt somewhat bipartisan. The good news is that my legislation is bipartisan and support for the bill is growing every day. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell yesterday, the Senate Confirmed david tapp of kentucky to serve on the u. S. Court of federal claims. Today we will turn to more of President Trumps impressive nominees for the federal judiciary. Last week, Senate Republicans had hoped to proceed to their urgent priority of funding our national defense. But for the second time in two months, Senate Democrats filibustered defense funding. They blocked the senate from funding our armed forces. Over the summer, the speaker of the house and my colleague, the democratic leader, both signed on to a bipartisan, bicameral budget deal that democrats hammered out with President Trumps team in order to avoid exactly, exactly the kind of partisan stalemate that were now experiencing. And avoid a 12bill omnibus. The agreement laid out specific topline numbers and ruled out poison pills. The agreement we all reached just a couple of months ago with respect to president ial transfer authorities, the agreement specifically stated that we all agreed to two months ago, the agreement specifically stated, quote, current transfer of funding levels and authorities shall be maintained. The present transfer authorities as they relate to border funding or anything else were to remain exactly as they existed in current law. This is the deal we signed off on just two months ago. The deal just simply preserved the status quo that was established by Bipartisan Legislation last fiscal year. The same transfer authorities, by the way, would also be preserved if democrats tank the appropriations process and we end up with a continuing resolution. So that was the deal. Democrats were on board. I entered the terms into the congressional record, and both the sprerk and the Senate Democratic leader posted the terms of the deal in their press release. Oh, but now our democratic counterparts have gone back on their word. Contrary to the agreement, democrats are now insisting on poison pills and thus blocking the resources and certainty our men and women in uniform need. And while Senate Democrats block defense funding, House Democrats continue to hold up usmca and the 176,000 new american jobs it would create. All their time and energy seems to go into House Democrats threeyearold impeachment journey and the unprecedented breaking process by which the house has conducted its inquiry so far. Last week, House Democrats cast their first votes on impeachment and codified their irregular process. They passed a resolution that fails, fails to provide President Trump the same rights and due process that past president s of both parties have received. Heres what democrats resolution effectively said. No due process now, maybe some later, but only if we feel like it. No due process now, maybe some later, but only if we feel like it. Well, mr. President , while we wait for our democratic counterparts to come back to the table and allow this body to complete urgent Bipartisan Legislation, were going to continue confirming more of President Trumps impressive nominees, and giving the American People the government they actually voted for. Now, on another matter, i have come to the floor frequently in recent months to warn about dangerous antispeech, antifirst amendment headwinds blowing out of washington, d. C. Ive warned about proposals from our democratic colleagues that seem tailor made to chill the Free Exchange of ideas and make it more difficult for americans to engage in political speech. Just a few days ago, on october 23, i explained how the threat of heavy Regulatory Burden has already, quote, frightened media platforms into rejecting political ads altogether. Its a textbook example of policy designed to reduce the amount of free speech in this country, end quote. And then, mr. President , seven days later, heres what happened. Twitter announced their platform will ban all political ads. The Online Platform is banning advertisements for candidates for office and political campaigns. What is more, they say they are also banning issue ads which do not even reference a specific campaign but merely seek to give one perspective on a subject. Twitters leadership has tried to produce a rationale for banishing paid political speech, but the argument boils down to the same misunderstandings that have been used to undermine free speech for decades. Heres what twitters c. E. O. Said. Quote, we believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. This kind of surface level argument may sound good at first, but it quickly gives way to an arbitrary process of picking winners and losers in the competition of ideas. Heres what i mean. Twitters new rules would seem to forbid either a small liberal nonprofit or a small conservative nonprofit from putting money behind an issue ad to amplify their perspective. But what about the press . Will media corporations large and small remain free to buy paid advertising to promote editorials and opinion writers . Will Cable News Networks and National Newspapers remain free to advertise their political speech . It would seem, mr. President , that twitter will either have to ban opinion journalists and the press from advertising their own work or else create an enormous double standard that would suggest just amplify the already privileged speakers who already possess multimilliondollar platforms. It would just help clear the field for those elites by denying the same tools to fledgling speakers who are not already famous. So consider this. Back in july, the c. E. O. Of twitter praised two democratic president ial candidates in a twitter post of his own. This gentleman has 4. 3 million followers. It seems fair to conclude that these subscribers have not followed him solely due to the standalone merits of his commentary, but in part because they are interested to hear from a powerful person who runs a hugely influential company. And, of course, twitter has worked hard and spent money for years to grow its business and make itself famous, efforts that have raised the profile of their c. E. O. Nothing wrong with that. But it illustrates the impossibility of any topdown standard to determine who has earned an audience, who has earned an audience. How many millions of dollars go into publicity campaigns for hollywood actors or musicians or media personalities . How many millions of dollars in advertising and Corporate Strategy have made cnn, fox, msnbc, and the New York Times into what they are today . When these people and these institutions speak out on politics, are they using megaphones they have earned or megaphones that have been bought . Obviously, such distinctions are impossible to draw. This is exactly why the act of free speech is not separate from the resources that make speech possible. Let me say that again. This is exactly why the act of free speech is not separate from the resources that make speech possible. Twitters announced policy would not level the playing field. It would only reinforce echo chambers. It would prevent a local candidate on a shoestring budget from using a small amount of money to promote a tweet so more of his neighbors can learn about his campaign. And it would seemingly reserve a special privilege for major media corporations while denying nonprofits the same opportunity. Such a policy would not bolster our democracy. It would degrade democracy. It would amplify the advantage of media companies, celebrities, and certain other established elites while denying an important tool to the americans who disagree with them. My personal view is that the American People do not need elites to predetermine which political speakers are legitimate and which are not. I believe that holds true whether the elites live in washington or Silicon Valley or anywhere else. Obviously, twitter can set whatever policy they want, this is a private sector company, but Companies Respond to incentives. Its easy to see the influence of washington and leading democrats behind this announcement. Pretty easy. My democratic colleagues have threatened to impose huge regulatory liability on platforms that run political ads, and now a prominent platform has preemptively decided that allowing certain kinds of political speech is more trouble than its worth. So, mr. President , it does not serve our democracy for Democratic Leaders to chill or suppress the Free Exchange of ideas through federal policy, and it does not serve our democracy for private sector leaders to take away a crucial tool that helps less prominent speakers make their case to the American People. Now, i understand there is a bill at the desk due a second reading. The presiding officer the leader is correct. The clerk will read the title. The clerk h. R. 4842, an act to authorize the secretary of state to provide funds for a United States pavilion at expo 2020 dubai and for other purposes. Mr. Mcconnell in order to place the bill on the calendar under 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 proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, lee phillip rudofsky of arkansas to be United States district judge for the Eastern District of arkansas. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Thune mr. President. The presiding officer the majority whip. Mr. Thune is the senate in a quorum call . I would ask unanimous consent it be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Thune mr. President , last friday was an exciting day. I was home at sue falls, south dakota, to mark a huge milestone for the city and for south dakota. The unveiling of sue falls first 5g small cells. By the end of this month, sioux falls will have a limited albeit working 5g network, one of the first cities in the entire country to have one. Most people take Internet Access for granted these days. We assume anywhere we go we will be able to access our g. P. S. , check facebook, or text message, but the truth is there are still areas of the United States where it can be difficult to get reliable Internet Access. Some of those areas are in south dakota. And thats why expanding access to Broadband Internet in Rural Communities has been a priority of mine since i came to the United States senate. While it can be nice to turn off our phones and to take a break, in this day and age, americans need reliable Internet Access. More and more of the business of daily life is being conducted over the internet, from scheduling appointments to figuring out the shortest way from point a to point b. The internet has also become an integral part of commerce. Small businesses and farms in areas without dependable Internet Access miss out on a lot of opportunities that most businesses take for granted. Both as chairman and as a member of the Senate Commerce committee, i have had the chance to draw attention to the state of Broadband Access in Rural Communities. I have conducted numerous hearings with testimony from Rural Broadband providers, farmers, tribal representatives, and federal officials, both here in washington and in my home state of south dakota. Over the past several years, we have seen the number of americans lacking access to broadband decrease significantly, but theres more work that needs to be done. With the advent of 5g technology, we now have to expand our efforts to make deploying 5g technology to Rural Communities a priority. Mr. President , most of us think todays internet is pretty fast. We get traffic updates that are basically in real time, we receive emails seconds after they have been sent, and we stream our favorite shows at home or on the go, but 5g, 5g, mr. President , will make 4g look like dialup. It will deliver lightningfast speeds up to 100 times faster than what todays technology delivers. Thats hard to imagine. After all, as i said, todays technology seems pretty fast, but 5g will enable nearinstant responsiveness from our phones and other devices. However, 5g is about a lot more than streaming more shows on more devices or receiving emails instantly. In addition to being up to 100 times faster than current speeds, 5g will be vastly more responsive than 4g technology and we would be able to connect 100 times the number of devices that can be connected with 4g. Because of this, 5g will enable massive breakthroughs in health care, transportation, agriculture, and other key industries, and it will bring new opportunities and benefits to Rural Communities in particular. 5g will pave the way for the Widespread Adoption of precision agriculture, which uses tools like robotics and Remote Monitoring to help farmers manage their fields and boost their crop yields. The u. S. Department of agriculture estimates that precision agriculture will reduce farmers operational costs by up to 25 per acre and increase farmers yields by up to 70 by the year 2050. 5g will also make it easier for residents of Rural Communities to access business and Educational Opportunities in longdistance health care. Mr. President , the technology for 5g is already here and is actually being implemented, as fridays event in sioux falls demonstrates, but theres mo