The presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, the yeas are 89, the nays are zero. The nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. All opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to executive session and consider calendar number 533. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, patrick j. Bumatay of california to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion. The clerk cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of patrick j. Bumatay of california to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit, signed by 17 senators as follows mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to executive session and consider executive calendar number 534. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, Lawrence Vandyke of nevada to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of Lawrence Vandyke of nevada to be United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit, signed by 17 senators as follows mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to executive session and consider calendar number 530. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, department of state, John Joseph Sullivan of maryland to be ambassador of the United States of america to the russian federation. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion. The clerk cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of John Joseph Sullivan of maryland to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States of america to the russian federation, signed by 17 senators as follows mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to executive session and consider calendar number 543. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, department of health and human services, stephen hahn of texas to be commissioner of food and drugs. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion. The clerk cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of stephen hahn of texas to be commissioner of food and drugs, department of health and human services, signed by 17 senators as follows mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to executive session and consider calendar 452. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, department of the interior, Aurelia Skipwith of indiana to be director of the United States fish and wildlife service. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion. The clerk cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of aurelia skipwit of indiana to be descror of the United States fish and wildlife service, signed by 17 senators as follows. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions be waived. The presiding officer without objection. The senator for louisiana. Last week, mr. President , of course, was thanksgiving, a day we all set aside in america to count our blessings, and as we do that we always say to ourselves, we ought to be thankful every every day of the year for the Many Blessings that have been bestowed upon us. I know i say that to myself. So i thought today for a few minutes i would mention two things that i am especially thankful for even though this isnt thanksgiving, but it is another day that the lord has blessed us with. The first thing and there are many things that we are thankful for, but the first thing that i am thankful for that i want to mention today is for the many Public Servants that care for and protect american taxpayer money. And i want to highlight one in particular. The chairman of our f. C. C. , mr. Ajit pai. And let me explain why i am thankful for this public servant, one among many who get up every day and work hard to protect taxpayer money. About two weeks ago the chairman of the f. C. C. Over many obstacles announced that he was going to hold a public auction for the cband. Well, why is that important . We all have a cellphone now. And many of us have ipads and computers. The internet has changed the world, changed our lives, made them more complicated, of course, but on balance i think the internet has enriched our lives many were about to move into a new phase of telecommunications called 5g, it stands for fifth generation. Its really just extraordinarily fast internet that can carry huge amounts of data. The ingenuity of the American People takes my breath away. Im pretty impressed with 4g, but 5g is going to make things possible like telemedicine where a specialist in a field of surgery through robotics and now an incredibly fast internet can operate on a patient thousands of miles away and save his or her life thanks to fining. Well be table to hook all of our devices to 5g through 5g, save time. It gives us more precious time to spend with our family. Driverless cars. Maybe i wont see them in my lifetime, but our assistants here, our pages in the senate will see them in their lifetime. And i could go on, but the point is to make 5g possible, and a lot of people to make 5g possible a lot of people have to Work Together. 5g is made possible through the airwaves. When internet devices talk to each other, data in the form of radio waves, the scientists call them electromagnetic radiation, but these airwaves go through the air from one device to another. We have all different airwaves. Its called spectrum. We have airwaves for radios and tvs. Well, 5g, fifth generation wireless, can be used in a number of different airwaves or different parts of the spectrum, but one part of the spectrum, one part of the airwaves are just perfect for 5g. Its called the cband. And that part of the airwaves is able to carry these 5g radio waves in a manner that can cover a huge geographical area, but also carry lots of data. Its called the cband, and it is perfect for 5g. Its its perfect. Its not too hot, its not too cold, its just right. Some swamp creatures, both in government and out, came that close that close to getting control of the cband, which is owned by the American People. Led by three farm satellite companies, they had almost convinced the powers that be to give them the cband just give it to them. And let them decide whos going to get to use that cband for 5g. Oh, and by the way, in picking the Telecommunication Companies that would get to use the cband that was going to be given to them for free by the powers that be, these Foreign Companies are going to get to keep the money money about 60 billion. Thats just the upfront money 60 billion. That would build seven miles of internet in this country. And not only would the Companies Get the 60 billion, they would get to decide who could use the cband, and they were that close. But the chairman of the f. C. C. Stopped them, and hes going to recommend next week and i hope the full f. C. C. Goes along with them. Im going to be there to watch. He recommended, and is going to recommend, that we have a public auction. Doing a public auction is nothing new for the f. C. C. The f. C. C. Auctions off different airwaves all the time. In fact, the f. C. C. Has held around 93 public auctions where anybody who wants to, any company that wants to, competition, moral good can come in and bid on that part of the airwaves, and the good people at the f. C. C. Have brought in to the american taxpayer about 123 billion in the last 25 years by auctioning off these airwaves and giving everybody a fair chance in a fully transparent way in front of god and country. Thats the way it ought to be. But a lot of swamp creatures were pushing hard for this private sale. The american taxpayer only would have lost 6 not only lost 60 billion, we would have lost control of the cband, which according to the Telecommunications Act or communications act, rather. It doesnt belong to me, it doesnt belong to the businesses, its belongs it belongs to the American People. And we cant let our guard down. I learned here in my short three years that those swamp creatures, if they cant get in the front door, they will try to get in the side door and if they cant get in the side door, theyll try the backdoor. Weve got a lot of money at stake here so weve got to remain vigilant. But i just want to thank ajit pai for standing up. He made a lot of people mad. Thats easy to talk about, but thats hard to do. It takes courage. He did it and i wanted to single him out. The second thing i want to say im thankful for, among so many things, mr. President , i am so thankful for our our neighbors to the north, canada. One i visited canada so many times. Im so proud to call them friends. 37 Million People in canada, some of the finest people that god ever put breath in. We fought together in wars. We fought for freedom that we all take for granted. We trade with each other. Theres just i mean, the country is just its a wonderful country and just extraordinarily friendly, decent, godfearing people. Our leaders squabble sometimes. You know, thats just the way life is. Sometimes good friends have disagreements, but but and were having a few little disagreements right now. But on this on this beautiful thursday, i just wanted to come and say how espionage i how thankful i am that canada is our friend and how honored i am to call them friends and how grateful i am for all 37 million of the fine men, women, and children in that great country. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senator for iowa. Mr. Grassley i ask that the calling of the quorumming suspended. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley thank you, mr. President. I for the leaders no, for myself, i ask unanimous consent that angel, a state department fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the day. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley i come to the floor this afternoon to discuss two issues, one dealing with the world bank and another one dealing with the department of defenses inability to get clean audits. Today the world bank is releasing its Country Partnership framework with china. This reportedly includes 1. 5 billion of loans to china per year and 800 million to 1 billion in privatesector investment. Now, keep in mind that the world bank was created to help Economic Development in the worlds poorest countries. China is now the worlds secondlargest economy after the United States. Also, the United States is the world banks largest contributor. I think Many Americans would question why so Many American tax dollars are going to support lowinterest loans in china. In china, there is a large and growing body of evidence of human rights abuses including mass internment camps. Reports indicate that these camps are centers for social control and political indoctrination. Chinese authorities reportedly mistreat or even torture detainees while requiring them to engage in forced labor and to renounce their religion and their culture. And yet the world bank has supported a program called technical and Vocational Education and training projects in xinxiang province. This is wording very close to what the Chinese Communist party efemmistically calls its internment camps. Plus one reporter has uncovered documents that these schools purchase barbed way, tear gas, and body armor using other funds and, of course, funds are fungible. Institutions like the world bank have a great responsibility to further assess critical human right risk and religious freedom, such as those exhibited in any region where it lends money. The world banks own social framework standards state that when assessing social risk and impacts, the bank must assess threats to Human Security and impacts on the health, safety, and wellbeing of workers and projectaffected communities. The bank and other such institutions cannot adequately assess a projects full impact without monitoring and examining reports of widespread human rights abuses in any local area. Now, on november 16, we had the New York Times publishing leaked chinese records indicating a coordinated effort going back years directed by general secretary xi to detain hundreds of thousands of uighurs, kazakhs and other muslims in internment camps and to unleash the tools of dictatorship on the muslim population. Now, given these repeated reports about repression in xinjiang that date back even years, it is hard to see how any project in that region could meet the banks social framework standards. There needs to be a periodic internal review of Risk Assessment mechanisms to ensure that they are appropriately calibrated to capture changing risk profiles. So i question whether the banks oversight processes are adequate, given its own assessment. So on know issue with these internment camps that go by the professional name of technical and Vocational Education and training projects, and im referring particularly to those in xinjiang province. In a statement on august 29, the world bank stated that it had conducted supervision missions about twice a year since the project started and that these missions included a review of social safeguards and a monitoring and evaluation review. The world bank found and im going to quote from their document quote, no evidence from subsequent reviews that funds were diverted, misused, 0 or used for activities not in line with project objectives or World Bank Policies and procedures, end of quote. However now, just last month, the bank raised the environmental and social risk ratings from moderate, the secondlowest level, to substantial and then to high, the highest level. It is very disappointing that the very that very little happened in upgrading the Risk Assessments on this project until after the congressional attention, even with an internal whistleblower raising the matter. This, to me, seems like a failed process. When routine audits and a whistleblower complaint do not catch anything despite increasingly concerning reports in the media about mistreatment and abuse.