Bills werent getting passed; and those that did get passed were frequently drafted behind closed doors with republicans and many rankandfile democrats shut out of the process, which of course means that the American Peoples voices were shut out of the process. When republicans duke control, we know when republicans took control, we knew that getting things working again had to be our first priority. We opened up debate so senators from both parties could make their voices heard. We started drafting legislation in committee again so that bills were the result of discussion and compromise instead of being dictated by Democrat Party leaders. And we got the Senate Passing real substantial legislation again a bawrkts appropriations a balanced budget, Appropriations Bills, the first major energy bill since the bush administration, the first Significant Education reform since 2002. Mr. President , im particularly proud of two bills that the committee i chair the Commerce Committee worked on a federal Aviation Administration bill with major Airport Security provisions and the first longterm transportation bill since 2005. The terrorist attacks in brussels andistanbul that occurred this year broadcast Airport Security problems. Those were problems that we have been working on in the Commerce Committee before the attacks. In july we passed an f. A. A. Bill that addresses them and more. The bill we passed requires the t. S. A. To look at ways to improve security checkpoints to make the passenger screening process more efficient and effective. And it significantly increases the security presence in unsecured areas in airports. It also improves vetting of airport employees to address the insider terrorist threat, the risk that an airport employee would give a terrorist access to secure areas. The Senate Passed this bill in july and the president signinged it into law signed it into law a couple of days later. Aim proud of this law, mr. President , which is the kind of substantial legislation we should be passing for the American People. Im also proud of the transportation bill we passed, part of which came out of our committee. When Congress Fails to provide certainty about the way the transportation funding will be allocated, states and local governments are left without the certainty that they need to authorize projects or to make longterm plans. Important investments in infrastructure that support the economy are shelved and jobs that depend upon transportation are put in jeopardy. The transportation bill that we passed changes all that. It reauthorizes transportation programs for the long term and provides five years of guaranteed funding. That means states and local governments will have the certainty they need to invest in big transportation projects and the jobs that they create. And that, in turn, means a stronger economy and a more reliable, safe, and effective transportation system. Mr. President , im proud of what we were able to accomplish over the past two years, but there is a lot left to be done. Some of the most important measures we passed in the 114th Congress Went nowhere thanks to opposition from the democrats and the white house. And obamacare an obamacare repeal, legislation to overturn some of the obama administrations most burdensome regulations, legislation to address the dangerous problem of socalled sanctuary cities, which refuse to work with federal immigration officials to deport Illegal Immigrants convicted of crimes. Im hopeful that with the republican well be able to address these h issues and many more in the 115th congress. Republicans have big plans for the 115th. If theres one thing that this election made clear, its that the obama economy is not working for American Families. And republicans are committed to fixing that. Growing our economy is going to be our numberone priority next congress. And there are a number of nings that we can and there are a number of things that we can do to get our economy healthy again. We can reform our tax code to reduce the burden on American Families and businesses. Right now our nations has the highest Corporate Tax rate in the world. More and more, American Companies are focusing their Business Operations overseas because the tax situation is so much better abroad. And that means that american jobs are going overseas with them. Weve lost our Competitive Edge in an increasingly global economy. Instead of pushing corporations out of that country, we should bring our nations Corporate Tax rate in line with those of other countries to keep more jobs here in the United States. Another big thing we can do is repeal some of the burdensome government regulations that are weighing down businesses. While some regulations are necessary, every administration has to remember that regulations have consequences. The more resources that individuals and businesses spend complying with unnecessary government regulations, the less they have to focus on the growth and innovation that drive our economy and create new opportunities for workers. The overregulation of the last eight years has left businesses with few resources to dedicate to growing and creating jobs. Another thing we need to do is address our national debt, which has nearly doubled over the past eight years. All that debt is a drag on the economy. It cellulose growth and it re it slows growth and it reduces economic opportunity. It is time to get our Government Back on a budget. Another way, mr. President , that we can help lift the burden on American Families is by repealing and replacing obamacare. I don i dont need to tell ee that the president S Health Care law is broken. That is i have goin way to the reality of it has given way to the reality of giant premiums. 80 of americans want major changes to obamacare or want the law repealed and replaced completely. Its time to give the American PeopleHealth Care Reform that actually works. Another priority, mr. President , for the 115th congress will be national security. Americans are rightly worried about the threat posed impi terrorist by terrorist groups like isis which has expressed violence and devastation not only in the middle east but across europe and beyond. Republicans are committed to defeating isis abroad and keeping americans safe here at home. Were also committed to keeping americans safe by securing our borders. We must have secure borders and policies that encourage Legal Immigration while discouraging ilLegal Immigration. And then there are other prierts we need and then there are other priewrts we need to address. Other priorities we need to address. Protecting religious liberty and the list goes on. Republicans are aware of the trust the American People have placed in us and we are committed to earning it. Were going to spend the 115th congress fighting for the American Peoples priorities. We have a real chance to get things done in the next congress, and i look forward to working with my colleagues here in the senate on both sides of the aisle to address the challenges that are facing our nation. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Leahy mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Leahy mr. President , i ask consent to be able to continue as if in morning business for ten minutes. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Leahy i thank the distinguished presiding officer, and i also ask consent that two items be included in the record on my behalf as though read. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Leahy mr. President , for the past two years the Republican Party has enjoyed solid majorities in both the house and senate. They control the schedule, and they control the process. They can decide which legislation to call for debate and, frankly, for all intent and purposes, they can actually decide whether anything gets done around here. A good example is the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. If he had been treated like all other Supreme Court nominees throughout the entire history of this country in a president ial election year, he would have received a hearing and a vote. He almost certainly would have been easily confirmed, just as he was when he was nominated to the d. C. Court of appeals. Instead, the Republican Leadership did not even give judge garland a hearing, much less a vote. Republican senators refused to do their job. And there are countless examples of this. It would behoove people in this country who complain about the donothing congress to remind themselves that it is a congress controlled by the republicans, both house and senate. They can make it possible for work to get done, if they want to, or they can make it impossible. And their track record for the past two years speaks for itself. Instead of a congress stheatz a standard for instead of a congress that sets a standard for the world worlds democrate have been treated to an example of how not to get things done. The latest example is the Appropriations Bills. I went back and reviewed the record. For months the Republican Leadership extolled the virtues of regular order, and i totally agreed with them on that. They spoke with great optimism and confidence about passing Appropriations Bills, individual bills, not even an omnibus bill that has become the norm. I agreed with the Republican Leadership. They said over and over that they were going to do their job and pass these bills the way we used to, and we on the democratic side fully supported republicans in that goasm we negotiated in that goal. We negotiate 12d individual Appropriations Bills that were reported with one exception the bipartisan majorities. Senator Lindsey Graham and i wrote the fy 2017 state and foreign operations bill. As we always do we wrote a balanced bill. As reported it was reported unanimously by the Appropriations Committee by a vote of 300. Our staffs have been meeting for weeks with our house counterparts to hammer out a conference agreement that the house and senate can vote on and the president can sign. We could easily be finished by december 9 when the current funding resolution expires. So whats the problem . Its simple donald trump was elected president , and now the Republican Leadership has a different idea. Forget all those uplifting speeches about passing Appropriations Bills, forget about socalled regular order, forecast about do our jobs. Whats forget about doing our jobs. Whats the new plan . Throw ten months of work in the trash can. Now were going to punt the ball down the field for another 12 months . Thats not doing your job. Theres no way to predict. For members of congress who may not be familiar with the intricate operations of the federal agencies and would prefer not to think about it, the idea of another four month s fourmonth continuing resolution may not be a big deal. For those of us who do know, it is an example of government at its worst. Funding the government by continuing resolution means putting priorities and budgeting decisions on autopilot. It stops us from having any kind of a voice in what our government does. It negates the hard work that has gone into reevaluating priorities from one year to the next. It negates the careful process of looking at federal agencies account by account to make adjustments as needed. It means largely being a carbon copy of earlier bills regardless of changed circumstances or compelling need to modify earlier priorities. I could give all kinds of examples in Appropriations Bills. But let kne but let me give u an example. A continuing resolution will provide 433 million less than senator grahams and my bill for economic development. Governs and security programs like the power africa initiative. It will mean 59 million less for programs to counter violent extremism. Can you imagine cutting money to counter violent extremism . These programs have strong bipartisan support and did in the Appropriations Committee because theyre Building Blocks for starmt, where we have stability where we have Critical National security interests that affect all americans. A continuing resolution will provide 162 million less in our bill for global health, including for maternal and Child Health Programs like vaccines for children and to combat malaria and tuberculosis. These programs literally mean lifeordeath for millions of people, which is why theyve had bipartisan support. Or at least they did before the Republican Leadership scrapped the Appropriations Bills that we had passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. In fact, one of the things that well do with a continuing resolution is provide 450 million less than our bill for security for u. S. Diplomatic and consulate personnel. For security upgrades for u. S. Embassies at facilities overseas and for cybersecurity programs. I mention that because the republicans in the other body spent tens of millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money decrying the lack of security at our embassies, even after they had already voted to cut money for security for embassies and now theyre going to cut 454 million less. They stopped their talking points about how terrible it is were not doing enough for our security . Of course they wont because they hope the American People wont look at the fact that theyve cut nearly 500 million out. So when the Republican Leadership blames others for not doing enough to protect our embassies and diplomats, as they have a habit of doing, they need only look in the mirror and see they have not done their own work. In fact, the continuing resolution then provides 538 million more for u. S. Contributions to International Financial institutions, the amount senator graham and i put in our bill. That is because the 2016 omnibus provided 220 million for the strategic climate and green technical funds which is not needed in fy 2017 because the u. S. Will not be contributing to any of those funds. The balance of 18 million is not needed because of u. S. Contributions to several Financial Institutions are lower than fy 2017 and fy 2016. It boggles the imagination to cut out money for our security of our people abroad and our embassies, but then you put in 5million more for contributionn 500 million more for contributions that we dont need. In fact, the continuing resolution provides 161 million more than senator grahams and my bill for contribution to interNational Organizations. We dont need to pay that additional amount because of reductions in Exchange Rate costs. It would be nice instead of putting this money in that were not going to spend and dont need, wed actually put the money in to secure our embassies we saw by happenstance, escape from a devastating blast in the philippines within the last few hours. The continuing resolution will provide 90 more than our bill for assessed contributions to international peacekeeping. Again, we dont need to pay that additional amount because of reductions in several peacekeeping missions. These are just examples for state and foreign operations. Every appropriations bill has its own laundry list of reasons why a continuing resolution makes no sense, it wastes taxpayer dollars, wreaks havoc for the agencies that run the government. The continuing resolutions beyond a few months are illogical, wasteful and harmful. We end up spending less for things both republicans and democrats strongly support and we waste money on things we dont need and nobody wants. It is bad government 101. Its just what the Republican Leadership ten months ago said they wanted to avoid, and we all agreed with them. But that was then, this is now. Its whoops, forget what we said before. We changed our mind. Lets waste the money. Lets go with the continuing resolutions. I heard senator mccain, the chairman of the Armed Services committee, denouncing his colleagues for abandoning the regular appropriations process. He knows what its going to mean for the u. S. Military. He knows that the leadership of his own party in stopping regular Appropriations Bills hurts our military. Senator mikulski, the vice chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, has called it absolutely outrageous. She called it procrastinating