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. Majestic god, your name fills the earth. In spite of our challenges, you continue to rule with your love, wisdom, and power. Grant that our lawmakers may not forget the many dangers, toils, and snares that you have already brought our nation through. Lord, give our senators the wisdom to know that you continue to direct the steps of the faithful and that we have nothing to fear. Spirit of god, arise within our hearts and prepare us for the task of this day. Surprise us again with your ability to transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows doing for us more than we can ask or imagine. We pray in your great name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting 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. Grassley madam president. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley id like to address my colleagues for one and a half minutes in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley i believe that i have developed a reputation among my colleagues and hopefully among my constituents for transparency in the issue of the publics business should be public. That applies to how the world bank loans u. S. Dollars. So the world bank is right now trying to sneak through a new policy that offends me. I received word that the world bank is planning tow to vote right now as i speak on a new Country Partnership framework with china. That framework commits the world bank to providing china with billions of dollars in loans indefinitely. Now, whats odd about this is that china is now the worlds secondlargest economy, and its per capita income is well above the levels at which countries are supposed to graduate from needing world bank assistance. In other words, china should stand on their own two feet without help from the american taxpayers or even indirectly through the world bank. It happens that our country is the world banks largest contributor and the spending bill that funds the world bank includes a provision for a big Capital Increase from the american taxpayers to the world bank. So with this legislation pending, we in the congress have an opportunity to weigh in, and we should take that opportunity to make sure that american taxpayer dollars dont go to china, particularly when chinas taking their own money and investing in the initiative to get influence around several countries on the face of the earth. Ill have more to say later on this topic. Thank you all very much. 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 madam president , are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer yes. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. The majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell well, for weeks now, republicans have been asking democrats to take off their impeachment blinders and let Congress Legislate for the American People. Weve argued that American Families deserve better than this partisan paralysis where democrats literally obsess over impeachment and obstruct everything else. This very morning, for example, the speaker gave a speech on National Television to push forward her rushed and partisan impeachment. Not one word, not one word on the outstanding legislation the American People actually need, nothing on usmca or the ndaa or funding for our armed forces. Its all impeachment all the time. Only in this town, madam president , only in washington does anybody think its okay for our armed forces to go unfunded and a major trade deal to go unpassed, because democrats are too busy hosting a panel of law professors. Hosting a panel of law professors to criticize President Trump on television instead of the things the American People actually need us to address. Now, the kentuckians i represent cannot believe our military commanders are being denied certainty, our men and women in uniform are being denied stable funding, and 176,000 new american jobs are being held up, all because Democratic Leadership thinks there is more political advantage in obstruction than in doing their job. Well, the Service Members and personnel in the Kentucky National guard at fort campbell, fort knox, and the Bluegrass Army depot arent going to simply stop doing their jobs. No, they are counting on us to pass critical defense legislation that reforms housing and spousal employment programs, invests in construction readiness and modernization, and locks in listen to this the largest pay raise in a decade. These bills touch every single state, and of course there are Major National and International Issues at stake as well, but democrats are Still Holding the ndaa hostage for a partisan wish list that is meant to appease trial lawyers, Public Sector unions, and their own far left base. Theyre holding up, holding up the ndaa over unrelated nongermane leftwing wish list items. And meanwhile, the speaker, the democratic leader, are withholding their assent from important bipartisan provisions like the caesar syria civilian protection act which has previously passed both houses and has been modified to resolve all concerns by the committees of jurisdiction. Unlike the Democratic Leaders rhetoric on syria in recent weeks, this bill would actually do something to stand up for the Syrian People and hold assad accountable. I hope the democratic leader will allow this important demonstration of our support for the Syrian People to go forward. In the meantime, as if to underscore the democrats top priority is Performance Art for coastal elites and not the peoples business. I understand the speaker of the house spent part of this weekend in madrid, in madrid, talking about climate change. She took an International Flight to discuss carbon emissions. So the speaker was in spain lamenting President Trumps decision to pull us out of the Paris Agreement. Maybe she pitched her conference Green New Deal, their socialist plan to hurt our economy while bigger emitters like china go roaring right by. As an aside, over the past 15 years, the u. S. Carbon emissions have actually fallen significantly. We appear to be on track for another decline in 2019. Meanwhile, Paris Agreement signatories like china and india continue to emit more and more every year. China already emits roughly twice as much as the u. S. , and theyre increasing every year. Kentucky and many other states know exactly what happens when washington democrats ignore these facts and decide America Needs to take on a unilateral economic pain for no meaningful change in global emissions. Were still trying to recover from democrats last war on coal. We certainly dont need Speaker Pelosi to promise the europeans she is going to start a new one. So, madam president , working americans and their families are not well served by democrats political Performance Art. What they really need, what they really need are results. The only path to results is Bipartisan Legislation. And fortunately, its a welltrodden one. There are 58 consecutive annual defense authorizations to prove it. Always in the past, we have been able to overcome these partisan differences and go forward. And theres a bipartisan bicameral agreement that the speaker and the democratic leader signed just a few months ago to help them find their way back to the table. The agreement needs to be honored. I hope they do so sometime soon. On another matter, while we wait for our democrat colleagues to let this legislation move forward, the senate used the time to confirm more of President Trumps impressive nominees for the federal courts. Some of my friends across the aisle complained that we devote too much time to nominations. Well, first id like to remind everyone that district judges are the kinds of nominations that historically sailed right through the senate in big groups on voice votes. If our democratic colleagues want to spend less time voting on district judges, they should take it up with the democratic leader who is forcing us to take cloture vote after cloture vote. As of this morning, we have taken cloture votes on 81 district judge nominees. By this point in president obamas presidency, we had taken one, one cloture vote on a district judge nominee. Let me say that again. As of this morning, as of this morning, weve taken cloture votes on 81 district judges. By this point in president obamas presidency, we had taken one, one cloture vote on a district nominee, just one. At the comparable point in the five presidencies preceding president obama combined, combined, we had not taken a single cloture vote on a district judge nomination, not one. But three years into the trump presidency, 81 cloture votes and counting just on district judges. So theres your answer on floor time. But more broadly, i want to take a moment to help clarify why i and millions of other Americans Care so much about having federal judges who believe in the radical notion that words matter and that a judges job is to follow the law and the constitution. Take, for example, the subject of religious freedom. The liberty of conscience and the freedom to live out our faiths has been a foundational principle from the republics earliest days. Many of the first europeans who arrived in the new world came here fleeing religious persecution. James madison wrote that religion, quote, must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man and is the right of every man to exercise it as they may dictate. Samuel adams said in the summer of 1776 that america would be the last asylum for freedom of thought and the right of private judgment. So let me contrast the understanding of the founders with a couple of current events. Last month, new york state invents a district judge to throw out the Trump Administrations conscience protection rule for health care providers. This straightforward rule ensured Health Care Workers could not be forced, forced to perform or assist with medical procedures that profoundly violate their religious beliefs. But the radical democrats in new york could not abide this basic protection for people of faith. Instead, they want to force christians and other people of faith who work in health care to either assist in procedures like abortion or lose their jobs. So much for freedom of conscience. New yorks behavior is part of a disturbing trend. Powerful interests on the left want to shrink freedom of religion until it means freedom to go to church for an hour on sundays as long as it doesnt impact the rest of your life. They want to shrink freedom of religion until it means freedom to go to church for an hour on sundays as long as it doesnt impact the rest of your life. That shrunker interpretation is nothing like what our founders intended. And candidly, im not sure how much longer the modern Democratic Party will even believe in that. A few months ago, a democrat running for president told cnn that government should take away the taxexempt status of churches and religious institutions that disagree with leftwing positions. This, madam president , was not some french candidate. It was a guy who democrats and the Mainstream Media had likened to john f. Kennedy, ultimately suggesting the federal government should punish churches if liberals dont like their social views. How appalling. These disturbing signs have not been limited to the courts or to the Democratic Campaign trail. Absurd antireligious arguments have appeared right here, right here in the senate. In the last several years, some of our democratic colleagues have tried literally to impose religious tests on nominees for federal office. Just take the no religious test clause and the First Amendment and throw it right out the window, get rid of it. Judge brown buescher, now a district judge in nebraska, was attacked by two democrats on the Judiciary Committee for being a faithful catholic and a member of the mainstream worldwide catholic group, the knights of columbus. Attacked for being a member of the knights of columbus . In written questions, one senator called standard catholic teaching extreme positions and asked if he had would dial down his personal faith practice if confirmed. That happened in the Judiciary Committee of this senate. As our colleague, senator sasse, observed at the time, democrats were transparently implying that brians religious beliefs and his affiliation with his catholic religious from internal organization might make him unfit for service. Plainly unconstitutional. Judge amy coney barrett, now a judge on the seventh circuit, was likewise subjected to a religious test during her confirmation hearing. One democratic senator literally asked do you consider yourself an orthodox catholic . She was asked that in the Judiciary Committee. Another bizarre and ominous rye mark, the dogma lives loudly within you, and thats a concern. So, look, madam president , these warning signs on religious freedom are literally popping up everywhere the modern liberal left rears its head. Religious freedom in america has never, never meant and will never mean solely the freedom to worship privately. It has never meant to practice only a subset of face acceptable to some subset of politicians. What it means is the right to live your life according to the dictates of your faith and your conscience free from government coercion. If those statements strike anybody in this chamber as remotely controversial, that is exactly why President Trump, Senate Republicans, and millions of americans are focused on confirming federal judges who will apply our constitution as it was originally written. 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 executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, richard earnest myers ii, of North Carolina, to be United States district judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The presiding officer the senator from South Carolina. Mr. Scott thank you, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed scoat scott madam president. The presiding officer mr. Scott madam president. The presiding officer the senator from South Carolina. Mr. Scott first, democratic leader, thank you. As if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to calendar number 212, h. R. 2486. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 212, h. R. 2486, an act to authorize mandatory funding programs for historically black colleges. The presiding officer is there objection in proceeding to the measure . Without objection. Mr. Scott i ask unanimous consent that the alexandermurray amendment at the desk be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Scott i know of no further debate on the bill, as amended. The presiding officer if there is no further debate, the question is on passage of the amendment. Of the bill, as amended. All in favor say aye. All opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The bill, as amended, has passed. Mr. Scott i ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer madam president. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that the senators from South Carolina, tennessee, Washington State, and alabama well, but be allowed to speak for brief moments on this great job they have done and i be given back my leadership time at 10 50. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Alexander madam president. The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Alexander i want to thank the democratic leader for his courtesy and support on this. He and senator mcconnell made it possible for us to do this. I will limit my remarks for a couple of minutes and then to senator murray and then senator scott, senator coons, senator jones is here, and well finish by 10 50. Madam president , its hard to think of a piece of legislation that would have a more Lasting Impact on minority students in america than the bill that the senate just passed. I believe in doing so we have improved the provision in the house bill that was sent to us, thats what we did. We amended a house bill that were now sending back to them. Weve been working with leaders in the house to make sur