Midnight. Members also expected to vote on the confirmation of the deputy secretary of state nomination. 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, the giver of every good and perfect gift, help our senators to listen clearly to your sacred word and find wisdom in your guidance. May they remember your teachings and courageously follow them. As you guide them along the right path, keep them from stumbling. May they live such exemplary lives that they will be like sunlight at dawn, growing brighter with the passing hours. Lord, give our lawmakers the wisdom to carefully guard their thoughts, to strive to speak truthfully, and to refuse to deviate from integrity. We pray in your great name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in 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 senator wyden and i received a letter from the michael j. Fox foundation for parkinsons research. Their letter endorsed our bipartisan Prescription Drug pricing reduction act. Trying to respond to what were hearing from our constituents about the public outrage over the big increases in Prescription Drugs. Now, it happens with par kin sons disease parkinsons disease, about one million americans have it. And it seems like up until now, theres no way to stop it or cure it. But thanks to modern medicine, the symptoms can be treated to help patients live a much better life. 90 of all individuals diagnosed with parkinsons disease are on medicare. Our bill, the bill to reduce Prescription Drug prices would help these seniors afford their medicine with a cap on outofpocket expenses. In other words, they would know at the beginning of the year they only had to spend x number of dollars on drugs, no more. Of course this brings me to what congress should be doing. Congress needs to act not only for those with parkinsons disease but for all americans who need our help. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Durbin madam president . The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin i ask consent to speak in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. The senate is in a quorum call. Mr. Durbin i ask consent to suspend the cowrk. The presiding officer without objection the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. The senator will suspend. 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, Matthew Walden mcfarland of ohio to be United States district judge for the Southern District of ohio. The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin thank you, madam president. This week were going to be voting on some appropriation bills. Its rather large. They call them minibuses but there will be six or eight appropriation bills bunched together and theyll include things other than strictly spending measures. One of the areas that will be addressed is the age that you must reach to purchase tobacco and vaiping materials and vaping materials in the United States. Its known euphemistically as t21 and i supported it for years. The notion of raising the purchasing age to 21 for these products to me just makes sense. We know that they are addictive both tobacco cigarette tobacco and vaping materials have nicotine in them, a highly addictive chemical. So raising this age of purchase across the United States to 21 makes sense. But im disappointed as well. Although i originally sponsored this bill, there have been several revelations in the last few months which call for us to move far beyond the idea of establishing a new age for purchasing these products. And let me be specific. One of the things weve been working on is trying to address the shocking increase in the use of vaping materials and e glets by young ecigarettes by young people across america. Its been called an epidemic not by a politician but by the commissioner of the food and Drug Administration. That commissioner told us as well as the Surgeon General of the United States that this is an issue that cannot be ignored. Today we estimate that nearly 30 of schoolage children are vaping, more than five million kids across america. A group of young High Schoolers came in to see me from new york last week and said, senator, youre all wrong. In our schools its a majority, a majority of the students are vaping not only outside of the school but even in the classro classroom. They have hooked up vaping devices to the clothing that theyre wearing and when the teacher turns his or her back on the class, theyre puffing on their vaping materials, their juuls and blowing the white air into the classroom. It sounds incredible but they told me its true and happens all over the school, in the rest rooms, in the cafeteria, in the classrooms. The reason its happening so many students are vaping now and it is an addiction. As the students continue to vape, their appetite for the product grows. Kids are using these products for many reasons, and i can get into the psychology of it for a minute. But let me dwell on the objection. The blaifers that they flavors that they are being sold on these vaping materials are designed for them, to attract children to joul juuls products. Unicorn, cool mint, moms sugar cookies and yes, menthol. According to the food and Drug Administration, more than 80 of children who vape start with a flavored ecigarette. The vaping industry says youve got it all wrong. You see, this is a nontobacco product which people can use to get off cigarettes. Well, that sounds pretty noble, doesnt it . We want people to move away from something more dangerous like tobacco cigarettes but when you look at the incidence of people using this product, it is minuscule in terms of adults with a tobacco addiction moving to vaping products. And the number of children, Young Students moving from nonvaping to vaping is dramatic. As i mentioned the official figures are 30 of high school students. According, as i said, to the food and Drug Administration, one of the things that is luring young people to this behavior is the flavoring. The flavor pods. Does anyone believe these flavors are intended for some 50yearold chain smoker who wants to give up on tobacco cigarettes . Flavors like farlys farly sauce, bubble purp by chubby bubbles, blue ras by candy king, cotton candy by disompg zonk. Some 50yearold is attracted to cotton candy by zonk . We know better. These are made to attract kids, get them started, get them hooked, make theme lifelong customer them lifelong customers. I pressed the food and Drug Administration and the white house for years to put an end to these kidfriendly flavored pods. Well, the tobacco giant eltrio, used to be Philip Morris if im not mistaken, stepped in and bought the lion share of the stock of joule. Altria knows this business and how to attract kids because they used to make marlboro cigarettes. Remember the cowboy designed to appeal across the board, particularly to young smokers . Now they have a new gig. Its called vaping, ecigarettes and altria has bought in a big way. They have taken out ads to support raising the age to purchase Tobacco Products to 21. Wait a minute, a Tobacco Company wants to raise the age for purchasing product . S they do. They see it as inevitable but its also part of the market strategy. Its the same policy ive supported and i thank my colleague senator schatz and senator kaine for joining in this effort along with senator romney but what weve seen is that altria has invested 13 billion to acquire a 35 stake in joule which controls more than 70 of the vaping market. Tobacco is big in vaping. Altria and joule together believe if the only thing we do is raise the tobacco age to 21, theyll be in the clear, that they can avoid the scrutiny for their targeted efforts to hook kids on ecigarettes. I disagree. Ive made clear that any t21, tobacco 21 policy must be coupled with meaningful provisions to get rid of the ecigarette flavors now addicting our kids. Theyve turned to one of their allies, senator mcconnell in this effort who was an original sponsor on t21 but whose party resisted the effort to join the banning of flavor pods for ecigarettes as part of the t21 deal in our appropriation bill. I fear that the spending bill of that come before us will include just the t21 policy, and that, of course, doesnt address what is happening with vaping among children in america. If we are serious about sparing americans, particularly our kids, from addictions to nicotine, it has to reach beyond tobacco cigarettes to vaping. Its a mistake not to do so. The Public Health community agrees with me on that. Any serious solution to skyrocketing rates of youth ecigarette use must include the removal of kidfriendly flavors, not just the tobacco industrys preferred policy, and i will continue to work with members on both sides of the aisle in pushing to do so. And finally, let me say, madam president , on this subject, on september 15, President Trump held a press conference in the oval office on this subject of vaping. Sitting next to him, the first Lady Michelle obama, melania trump. She first lady of the United States melania trump. She decided to speak out against vaping. I thanked her, i praised her along with the president. They did the right thing. On a bipartisan basis, we should thank them, but now were not sure where the president is on this subject. Were not sure if he is going to continue his effort to end this scourge of evaping and ecigarettes. I hope the president comes back to the position he announced in september. We need his help to ban these flavor pods. The recent appointee as f. D. A. Commissioner, steve hahn, has told me personally and many of my colleagues, he thinks this is a serious issue. I believe he ought to be given the authority to exercise his legal right and power to stop these pods and stop these devices as quickly as possible. Madam president , 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 are were in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell well, mr. President , all eyes today are on the house of representatives. The country is waiting to see whether these House Democrats will give in to the temptation that every other house in modern history has managed to resist and misuse the solemn process of impeachment to blow off partisan steam. Ill have more to say on this subject if House Democrats do in fact proceed. But yesterday i came to the floor to discuss one initial aspect of this that concerns our senate process. Over the weekend, my colleague, the democratic leader, began asking the senate to break from precedent, break with the unanimous template from 1999 and begin choreographing the middle of a potential trial before weve even heard opening arguments. Back in 1999, all 1 100 senators agreed on a simple pretrial resolution that set up a briefing, opening arguments, senators questions, and a vote on a motion to dismiss. Senators reserved all other questions such as witnesses until the trial was under way. That was a unanimous bipartisan precedent from 1999. Put first things first, lay the bipartisan groundwork and leave midtrial questions until the middle of the trial. Id hoped and still hope that the democratic leader and i can sit down and reproduce that unanimous, bipartisan agreement this time. His decision to try to angrily negotiate through the press is unfortunate. But no amount of bluster will change the simple fact that we already have a unanimous, bipartisan precedent. If 100 senators thought this approach was good enough for president clinton, it ought to be good enough for President Trump. I hope House Democrats see reason and pull back from the precipice, but if they proceed, i hope the democratic leader and i can sit down soon and honor the template that was unanimously agreed to the last time. Now, mr. President , on another matter, in the meantime, the senate is busily completing the legislation that our country actually needs. Yesterday the Senate Passed the ndaa conference report and put it on President Trumps desk. Thanks to the diligence of chairman inhofe and Ranking Member reed, this critical legislation to support our Armed Service will become law for the 59th consecutive year. Tomorrow well vote on government funding bills the house passed yesterday. A lot of hard work brought this appropriations process back from the brink. Here are some of the important things that will happen as a result. Stable, fullyear funding for our armed forces, including research and modernization. The largest pay raise for our troops in a decade. And more support for key alliances like nato, close partners like israel, and highpriority areas like hong kong. The bills also deliver on vital domestic priorities as well. It funds infrastructure and transportation projects. It repeals even more of obamacare by cutting out more harmful taxes. Every single state wins in this bill. By way of example, here are a few ways my state will benefit. This bill keeps the decadeold promise of a new, modern v. A. Medical center with a special emphasis on care for women veterans. Their support for fighting invasive asian carp in west kentucky. Central kentucky role in hightech agricultural research. Kentucky has a hugh stage in our nations battle against opioid and substance abuse. I am eproud these bills Fund Treatment programs established by my career act and help those in longterm recovery reenter the workforce. Speaking of addiction, im especially proud that this legislation includes my t21 legislation to raise the nationwide age for purchasing tobacco and vaping products to 21 years old and help roll back the explosion in tobacco and nicotine use of our nations youth. Im proud to work with senator kaine and others on both sides to ensure that legislation was drafted and became law this year. Senator todd young of indiana was also deeply involved in this as well. And im proud that these bills include direct bipartisan action that i urged to shore up the looming pension and Health Care Crisis faced by Coal Communities in kentucky and across the nation. These are some examples from kentucky this legislation touches in fact all 50 states. This is why fullyear funding bills are better than chronic c. R. s. This is why the senate should pass these bills this week and send them to the president s desk. I suggest the absence of a quorum. 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 . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Thune i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Thune im looking forward toest going home to south dakota for christmas. Before we leave well wrap up this years spending bills including the defense spending bill. Yesterday we passed the National Defense authorization act to authorize funding farrow military and National Defense. Ill pleased to report that this years bill authorizes the full request for development of the b21 bomber which will be coming to ellsworth in the nottoodistant future. The news that Ellsworth Air force base had been selected was exciting news this year. Ellsworth air force base has been a priority of mine since i first came to the senate and worked with a lot of dedicated people to prevent ellsworth from being closed by the Brac Commission in 2005. Since then ive worked with the other members of the south dakota delegation and the air force and Community Leaders to make sure the base never again finds itself in the same position. Among other things, our efforts resulted in the expansion of the Powder River Training complex into the largest training airspace in the continental United States. And its undoubtedly partly thanks to this airspace that ellsworth was chosen as the first home for the b21. Ellsworth is going from strength to strength, and im honored to advocate for our National Security and the airmen at ellsworth in the United States senate. Mr. President , agriculture is the lifeblood of our economy in south dakota, and our farmers and ranchers are always at the top of my priority list here in the senate. Thanks to natural disasters, protracted trade disputes and several years now of low commodity prices, farmers and ranchers have had a tough few years. This spring farmers and ranchers were hit with heavy rainfall and flooding. By the time the soil dried out, it was too late for many