Senator Nelson: (6:06 PM)

• Spoke on the continuing resolution.
  • "I want to express my appreciation to the Senate that in the funding bill, it includes the money for Zika, $1.1 billion that has been so desperately needed, not only assisting local governments and state governments with things like mosquito control but also starting the trial on the Zika vaccine. The first trial is necessary. There will be a second and larger trial and hopefully at the end of that we'll have a Zika vaccine. This has gotten to the level of being quite uncomfortable. Over 2,000 pregnant women in the continental U.S. and our territories that have the Zika virus and we know from the CDC that up to 12%, it's likely that there will be a birth defect. So I want the Senate to know how much I appreciate this."

Senator Grassley: (6:08 PM)

• Spoke on the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act.
  • "This is the way it should be because, regardless of political party, all members of Congress should be empowering survivors of sexual violence. However, while Republicans were ready to move forward on this bill last week, Democrat leadership has been stalling Amanda's diligent efforts. This bill ensures that all survivors of sexual violence have equal access to all available tools in their pursuit of justice. This includes the proper collection and preservation of forensic evidence that is so vital in cases of sexual violence. This bill also guarantees these survivors a new package of rights. Like I said, this is a bipartisan bill, very noncontroversial. It has already passed this body 89-0. Each day, others like Amanda will fall victim to sexual violence. The Senate should not wait one more day to help these people seek justice."

Senator Shaheen: (6:11 PM)

• Spoke on the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act.
  • "The sexual assault survivors' rights act for the first time establishes a set of codified court-enforceable rights to address unique issues faced by sexual assault survivors. It also assures survivors the opportunity to enforce these rights in federal court. Last February, I introduced this legislation, but the real inspiration for the bill came many months earlier when I first met with Amanda Nguyen, a young sexual assault survivors who faced heartbreaking challenges after reporting her assault. As Senator Grassley said, she was really the moving force behind this legislation. She told me about the he repeated battles she had fought to prevent her rape forensic kit from being destroyed and she recounted the grueling process she and other survivors have endured in order to win justice."

Senator Grassley: (6:18 PM)

• Unanimous consent –
  • The Committee on Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 5578, the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  • The Senate pass H.R. 5578.
  • (Without objection)
• Spoke on the Senate Democratic leadership.
  • "I usually don't feel the need to address the Democrat leader's remarks on the floor, but he's decided to put partisan politics above rape survivors for the last week at least, so I cannot stand on the sidelines and let those remarks go unrebutted. The Democrat leader recently said right here on the floor of the Senate that - quote – 'Congress is floundering because of Republican inaction.' This could not be further from the truth. If you want to know what's really going on, it's that the Democrat leader is using political gamesmanship to hold up noncontroversial as well as bipartisan legislation, mostly by Republican members who are up for reelection this year. Why isn't the so-called objective media reporting on this?"
• Spoke on the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails.
  • "Releasing as much as possible to the public is the right thing to do, and I very much appreciate that Director Comey is complying with his legal obligations for transparency under the Freedom of Information Act. But these document controls imposed before the public release make it look like the FBI is trying to muzzle Congress and keep us from working with the information until after the FOIA process is completed. So you know what Congress is forced to do? Congress has to wait in line behind FOIA requesters before we get access to information in a way that we can actually use it as follow-up for our investigation. The way this process is working sets a very dangerous precedent that could undermine transparency, and transparency is essential for accountability in government. Frankly, this whole process is an end run around our constitutional oversight responsibility."

Senator Sullivan: (4:51 PM)

• Spoke on the budget.
  • "We just got through a continuing resolution, which is not how to run the government, and they were looking at opportunities for more delay. For example, at the very end of this discussion there was the idea of maybe adding additional funds for Flint, Michigan. Well, nobody cares about clean water as much as I do. My state has huge challenges with communities that not just have aging infrastructure like Flint, Michigan, but no infrastructure. I have over 30 communities in the great state of Alaska that don't have clean water and sewer, don't have flush toilets. Americans, if you can believe that. So I certainly wanted to focus on that. But that's what we did in the regular order through the EPW Committee with the WRDA bill. For Flint, Michigan, and the state of Alaska and other communities that have challenges with clean water, we're going to address those through the regular order. And that's what Senator Perdue is leading on right now in the Senate - through the regular order getting back to a budget process that can handle the enormous challenges that you've heard about on the floor here."

Senator Daines: (4:57 PM)

• Spoke on the budget.
  • "There's no wonder we're $20 trillion in debt when you don't have a budget. There's an old saying in business, if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it. We do not have a budget here. What has that created? Twenty trillion in debt. In fact, when the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, issued its August 2016 report last month, it said this year's projected budget deficit now has increased from an already staggering $439 billion in its January report. They've raised it now to $590 billion, an increase of 34%. I can tell you this, if I was running a business, I could not get away with this. In fact, I would be out of business. In fact, serving on a board of a publicly traded company, we'd be firing the CEO, we'd be firing the board with results like these. Here's something to think about. Deficit spending is nothing short of age discrimination because this excessive spending is at the cost of our children and our grandchildren and that's what we are passing down."

Senator Heinrich: (5:06 PM)

• Spoke on the Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act.
  • "Our legislation will increase opportunities for working families through programs targeting parents and children together with support aimed at increasing economic security, educational success, social, capital, and health, and well-being. By aligning and linking existing systems and funding streams, our legislation will lead to improved outcomes for parents and children while improving the effectiveness of service delivery. Our legislation will make federal agencies coordinate more effectively through a new interagency council on multi-generational poverty. The council will align and link departments that are already working to address poverty in order to reduce the redundancy and the red tape we see, and to make sure that programs across different agencies are actually working in a complimentary fashion."

Senator Collins: (5:20 PM)

• Spoke on the Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act.
  • "Our bipartisan legislation proposes a fresh approach that is aimed at equipping both parents and their children with the tools that they need to succeed and to become self-sufficient. It marks an important first step toward reevaluating our approach to poverty-reducing programs and encouraging innovative, more effective uses of tax dollars, encouraging programs that allow us to tailor them to the needs of specific families, programs that will work. Too often today, our federal programs address certain issues in silos overlooking the fact that the needs of families in poverty are almost always interconnected. They shouldn't have to try to navigate the various programs that are available to put together the funding streams that they need to lift themselves out of poverty. Our bill would change that. It encourages an integrated, personalized approach."

Senator Coons: (3:40 PM)

• Spoke on the Solitary Confinement Reform Act.
  • "Today, Senator Durbin, Senator Booker, Senator Leahy, Senator Franken, and I are introducing a bill, the Solitary Confinement Reform Act, to codify into law many of the recommendations the Bureau of Prisons is working to put in place and to lay the groundwork for broader reform. This bill is grounded in two key observations. First, that our prison system has grown in population beyond any reasonable scope and that second, restrictive housing or solitary confinement is employed far too frequently for minor behavioral infractions, not as a sanction of last resort. This act will establish limits on use of solitary and require that it be limited to the briefest amount of time and under the least restrictive conditions that make sense in the setting."

Senator Booker: (3:50 PM)

• Spoke on the Solitary Confinement Reform Act.
  • "This is not a criminal justice system that reflects our highest values. It doesn't stand for moral right when you're exacting such cruel punishment that doesn't just do punitive damage but also puts an inmate in a situation where they can cause more harm and damage to themselves and others. And so the bill that Chris Coons talks about, the bill that we're introducing would substantially limit the ability the Bureau of Prisons to use solitary confinement in federal facilities. The bill would mandate that solitary confinement be limited to the briefest terms under the least restrictive conditions practical. And it would precluded the BOP, the Bureau of Prisons from placing vulnerable populations in solitary confinement like minors, like children, as well as people with serious mental illness, physical disabilities, and pregnant women. Critically, this legislation wants to promote more data collection."

Senator Perdue: (4:05 PM)

• Spoke on the budget.
  • "The dysfunction in the system is centered around this: The budget is not a law. It is a resolution. That means that the majority, with 51% of the votes in in this body, can pass its political statement. That's exactly what happened last year. Let me say this before we go any further. Everything you hear today is nonpartisan. This should be about a nonpartisan exercise that we have in funding the government. Yes, we're going to have debates based on our partisanship and based on our beliefs and principles. But the basic process should be a politically neutral platform that allows us to argue our differences out in the budget process, get to a budget, move to the appropriations, and fund the government by the end of the fiscal year. And we have only done that four times in the last 42 years. The dysfunction is centered around this: If you look at this chart, every year we just don't have enough time. It is not just time, but it is the process."

Senator Tillis: (4:11 PM)

• Spoke on the budget.
  • "Because when you have the world's largest and most complex entity that's ever existed, that can't figure out how much money it's going to spend or commit on more than about a 12-month cycle and sometimes over a few months, how on Earth can you save money and make long-term investments? We were in a committee hearing yesterday where we heard right now it takes an average of 15 years from the concept of a new satellite to the time that we're launching it in space. Well, how on Earth can you make those long-term investments when you can't even be clear that you're going to spend the money but every 12 months? This is a threat to our national security. This is a threat to our economic security. This is a threat to the security of every man and woman in the United States because they can't rely on a government that will provide businesses or individuals with any kind of certainty whatsoever. It's tough to make budget decisions. But they need to be made."

Senator Lankford: (4:16 PM)

• Spoke on the budget.
  • "But one of the key things that we have to have is an actual deadline. This town doesn't function on anything other than deadlines and pressure points, and when it's time that it has to be resolved, we actually get it resolved. But if we don't have to resolve it right now, this town just says tomorrow, we'll get it done next week, we'll get it done next session. So the focus is how do we create those pressure points? How about a simple idea that says if we don't get the budget done on time, the appropriations bills done on time, then it goes to an automatic CR so we don't have a government shutdown because government shutdowns waste money on the whole. So it automatically kicks in to last year's budget amount. But here's what changes. All the members of Congress, our budget, our staff, for how we function, our operating expenses, all of our committees, and the executive office of the White House - that's the three groups, the House, Senate, and the White House - all of our budgets drop immediately, let's say 4%, 5%, 6% the first day. And that does that for 30 days. Then if you still don't have the appropriations process, it cuts again another big percentage."

Senator Manchin: (1:24 PM)

• Spoke on opioid abuse.
  • "We have a lot of bills in the hopper right now - the LifeBOAT Act. If I hear one time a day, I hear ten times a day, there is no place to get treatment. I want my child to get treatment. I want my parents to get treatment. There is no place to send them. So I've said well, we need to do something about that. We need to get a permanent funding stream. So I have introduced a bill that says one penny for every milligram of opiates produced in the United States of America will go to a treatment plan. That means every part of the country that's been affected will be able to have treatment. They'll have a funding mechanism. Now, some people say well, that's a tax. We don't want to put a tax on. Well, I'm sorry. We do it on cigarettes, we do it on alcohol. We know that this is killing people all over the country, every state is not immune from that, but yet we're afraid to move forward."

Senator Cassidy: (1:38 PM)

• Spoke on the continuing resolution.
  • "Dollars to help that come sooner will have a greater impact than the same amount of money which comes later. Again, if the Rodneys had been able to take out four inches of wet baseboard, furniture, carpet, wood flooring, their home would have dried, they would have rebuilt, but because they could not, mold spread, the damage increased and now the whole house has to be remediated. So the same amount of money sooner has a greater impact than later. And that's the story of us seeking funding for Louisiana in this CR. Now, helping each other is a fundamental American value. So I ask all my colleagues to support this continuing resolution with the money for disaster relief for families, not just in Louisiana, elsewhere, but also in Louisiana who have been faced with natural disasters, to help families like this who have lost everything put their lives back together."

Senator Capito: (1:45 PM)

• Spoke on the continuing resolution.
  • "Five thousand homes in the state of West Virginia were identified as a loss. Twenty-three people lost their lives in the flood because it came so suddenly. In West Virginia we have beautiful hills but we've got some valleys as well. When the water rushes, it rushes fast and fills the valleys up quick. Unfortunately, some families had very, very tragic circumstances. Many families, thousands of them, lost everything. Small businesses are unsure if they can rebuild. Workers don't know if they have jobs, very, very concerned. Entire communities - I know the little town of Clendenin, 19 miles from where I live in Charleston, has a very uncertain future. That's why it's important that we get this down payment of emergency relief for our state and states like Louisiana and Texas."

Senator Mikulski: (1:51 PM)

• Spoke on the continuing resolution.
  • "There have been votes over the last several days where I've had to oppose it, but I think we have arrived at a place where both sides of the aisle can support this continuing resolution. Is it perfect? No. Is it acceptable? Yes. Is it necessary? Absolutely. The first thing we need to do is to make sure we do not have a government shutdown or a government slamdown. Those wonderful men and women who work for the federal government, those who are keeping our Social Security offices open, those who serve our veterans, those who are working at NIH right this minute on a cure for cancer or helping with people with Alzheimer's, they need to know that we're not going to play partisan politics with last-minute dramatic efforts to get one party or the other to stare each other down. In this continuing resolution that will be before our colleagues shortly, it meets three goals that we Democrats have laid out."

Senator McConnell: (12:29 PM)

• Spoke on aid for Flint, Michigan.
  • "Earlier than month, the Senate voted to help families affected by lead poisoning in Flint as part of the Water Resources Development Act, the WRDA bill. We're glad to see that progress is being made in the House as well to pass a WRDA bill that also includes help for Flint families. I've worked closely with Speaker Ryan and Leader Pelosi to encourage that progress, and I made it clear to them that I was extremely serious - and I just mention that again to Senator Stabenow - very serious about defending the Senate position in conference and ensuring that Flint funding remains in the final bill. We have a path forward to getting our work done, and if we keep working together, we will."

Senator Stabenow: (12:31 PM)

• Spoke on aid for Flint, Michigan.
  • "At the beginning of this week, there was a House bill that did not include anything for Flint or anything around lead contamination. We now have a commitment. There is going to be something in the House WRDA bill and a commitment that the final bill will include the work that we did in the Senate, so I just want to thank again Senator Inhofe, Senator Boxer, all of our colleagues. This is a very positive step forward and just remind people that folks in Flint are literally bathing with bottled water every single day, and the sense of urgency only grows, and so I'm anxious to work with our leadership to get this done."

Senator Boxer: (12:33 PM)

• Spoke on aid for Flint, Michigan.
  • "Yesterday, Senator Inhofe and I were on the floor here and I stated if I felt there was an iron-clad commitment to take care of the Flint, Michigan problem and lead and water across this nation, I would support the CR. I interpret the strong language from my leader, Harry Reid, and the Republican majority leader, Senator McConnell, as an iron-clad commitment. They spoke to the powers that be in the House. I know that Senator Inhofe and I are bound and determined to fix this, and believe me, I want to send a message to the people of Flint, to their senators here who have worked their hearts out: This will happen."

Senator Johnson: (12:34 PM)

• Spoke on the Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act.
  • "More than 50 patients and advocates for an effective treatment, something that has been proven to be effective to extend the muscle function of these little boys, the FDA had an advisory committee meeting, listened to testimony of over 50 Americans begging the FDA to allow and approve that treatment. The FDA advisory committee voted 7-3 and said no, we're not going to give you that right. We're not going to give you that hope. Now fortunately, I was overjoyed a couple of Mondays ago when the FDA overruled that advisory committee and approved that drug and provided some hope. If you want to understand how broken the promise is, let me just give you a couple of metrics. In the decade of the 1990's, it took about ten years from discovery to approval of a new drug. Today, that time period stands about 14 years. In today's dollars in 2004, it cost about a billion dollars for a successful drug to go through that approval process. Today, it costs about $2.6 billion to have a drug approved."
• Unanimous consent –
  • The Committee on HELP be discharged from further consideration of S. 2912, the Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  • The Senate pass S. 2912.
  • (Senator Reid objects)

Senator Reid: (12:43 PM)

• Spoke on the Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act.
  • "I understand the urgency of the patients but also we have a situation here, that there are ways to improve the access process so that it works better and faster for patients. My friend talks about 40 or 42 cosponsors, virtually every one of the Republicans are cosponsors but not Democrats. Why? Because first of all, we've asked that there be a hearing on this bill. No, don't have time for a hearing. So it hasn't been through the committee process as we were promised we would have with the outstanding issues dealing with this policy. There are major players in this that simply have not had an opportunity to tell us what's wrong with the bill. They told me personally. So I believe that we should do what we need to do here to have a good, responsible piece of legislation. And I also want everyone to understand that it's really difficult to comprehend when we have had seven weeks - we just finished a break."

Senator Reid: (11:08 AM)

• Spoke on the continuing resolution.
  • "But now I feel very comfortable in being able to say to the people of Flint, Michigan, I've had conversations with people and I've been given the assurance by the Republican leadership that something will happen in the lame duck. We've been waiting a long time to get this done, and it is going to happen. As I indicated a minute ago, I've had a number of conversations with Leader Pelosi this morning. And I would never want to say what someone said, but I can say that I felt comfortable in talking to her that the House feels comfortable with where they are on Flint. We feel comfortable here in the Senate. And I really appreciate the hard work of Senator Stabenow and Senator Peters, because they have been tireless, relentless in making sure the people of Flint, Michigan, get some help. So I think it should be a good day for the Senate. It should lead to our being able to move forward on this continuing resolution. There are a couple of other outstanding issues, but I think they should be able to be resolved."

Senator Cardin: (11:13 AM)

• Spoke on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
  • "We cannot in good conscience close the courthouse door to those families who have suffered unimaginable losses. I have confidence in the American jurisprudence system that we will get this right in order to respect the lawful acts of governments but also to hold those who sponsor terrorism accountable under our system of justice. The legislation restricts the application of this exception. It only applies to acts of terrorism on U.S. soil. It establishes a standard that is greater than negligence in order to be able to have an actionable claim. There is an ability for the government to stay the proceedings to negotiate a settlement so that the U.S. government can intercede. I think these exceptions were put in, negotiated in order to try to deal with some of the legitimate concerns that were initially raised. As ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I recognize that there are risk factors in terms of how other countries may respond to the enactment of JASTA."

Senator Grassley: (11:19 AM)

• Spoke on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
  • "But what this claim ignores, of course, is that this bill does not allow lawsuits against individuals. It only allows it against foreign governments, and this bill expressly prohibits lawsuits arising from acts of war. So any claim by the president that this is all about protecting U.S. personnel from being hauled into foreign courts just doesn't hold water. The second most common argument some are making is that if Congress stands up to the president, the Saudis and their lobbyists, and this legislation becomes law, the argument goes then the Saudis will respond by pulling their money out of U.S. securities. Well, let's set aside the fact that this appears to be an empty threat. It's highly unlikely that they would follow through on it, but even if they did, there will be plenty of buyers for those securities. But more importantly, is this really how we should be deciding policy? What kind of a message would that send to other foreign governments?"

Today –

• Following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 5325, the vehicle for the continuing resolution, until 10:00 AM.
• At 10:00 AM, the Senate will resume consideration of the veto message to accompany S. 2040, the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, with two hours of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.
• At 12:00 PM, the Senate will VOTE on the veto override on S. 2040.

Senator McConnell: (9:33 AM)

• Spoke on the death of Shimon Peres.
  • "We were saddened to learn last night that Shimon Peres, the ninth president of Israel, has passed away at the age of 93. He leaves behind a remarkable legacy of service on behalf of the people of Israel and a lengthy resume to match. The Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, Peres earned them all. In fact, I was honored to be a part of the ceremony to award him that gold medal just a few short years ago. His political career is one that spans nearly seven decades and encompasses just about every high office imaginable."
• Spoke on the continuing resolution.
  • "Last week, the president vetoed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. At noon today, the Senate will vote on whether to override his veto of that legislation. And after this vote, members should be prepared for votes on the continuing resolution. Our colleagues in the House made good progress last night on a way forward to help the people of Flint in the Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, which, as we said, is the proper vehicle. The Senate already voted overwhelmingly 95-3 to pass assistance for Flint families as part of our WRDA bill. And both Chairman Inhofe and I have pledged to continue to pursue resources for Flint once WRDA goes to conference. As a result, we're hopeful that we will soon reach an agreement with our Democratic colleagues to move forward on the clean CR/Zika package today."

Senator Reid: (9:36 AM)

• Spoke on the death of Shimon Peres.
  • "I join the people of the world in mourning the passing of this good, kind, inspirational man. I send my deepest condolences to his family and the people of Israel. And I'm so happy that the delegation of people that come to his funeral will be led by the president of the United States, Barack Obama. I will miss Shimon Peres. The world will forever miss this good person."
• Spoke on the continuing resolution.
  • "I'm happy to see the progress that's been made in the House of Representatives with respect to Flint, Michigan. This is a step in the right direction, toward advancing funding for the people of Flint in a lame-duck. But I do have some concern. The statement of my Republican colleague, the leader of the Senate, just said that he and Senator Inhofe would work toward funding. This should be pretty easy. Why can't they just say they'll do it? This is not deficit spending. This is money that the people of Michigan have allowed - Stabenow and Peters - to give up. It's Michigan money that's going to be used in a different way. The money is already there. We overwhelmingly supported that. So, as I've said before, we'll continue to exercise caution moving forward, but I'm glad to see progress has been made."