Monday, Sep. 12, 2016

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Month Day List

Wrap Up (The Senate Stands Adjourned), Johnson

Wrap Up

Sep 12 2016

Tomorrow –

  • The Senate will convene at 10:00 AM.
  • Following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 2848, the Water Resources Development Act.
  • At 12:30 PM, the Senate will recess until 2:15 PM for the weekly conference meetings.
  • Note: All time during recess or adjournment will count post-cloture on the Inhofe/Boxer substitute amendment #4979 to S. 2848.
  • Note: On Monday, cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5325, the vehicle for the continuing resolution.

 

Senator Johnson: (6:15 PM)

  • Spoke on a fallen Wisconsin soldier, Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Vail Thompson.
    • "I come to the floor today to pay tribute to an American soldier who has given his last full measure of devotion to this nation and to the noble pursuits of liberty and peace. Twenty-eight-year-old Staff Sergeant Matthew Vail Thompson grew up in Brookfield, Wisconsin and was a proud member of the Army Special Forces. Tragically, on August 23, 2016, he became the second American this year to lose his life while on combat duty in Afghanistan. Staff Sergeant Thompson was truly one of the finest among us. I had the honor of attending a memorial service for Matthew at his family's church in Brookfield where hundreds of his friends and family members paid their final respects. They loved him, of course, but they also admired him. They told stories of a generous young man, adventurous, and always ready to make friends."

Grassley, Inhofe

Water Resources Development Act (S. 2848)

Sep 12 2016

Senator Grassley: (4:10 PM)

  • Spoke on the FBI's investigation regarding Hillary Clinton's emails.
    • "Today I want to discuss my very serious concerns about the FBI's selective release of Clinton investigation material and especially how the Senate is handling the unclassified but not-yet public information provided by the FBI. On Friday, before our holiday weekend, the FBI chose to release to the public only two of the dozens of unclassified documents it provided to the Congress. Director Comey said - quote -- 'The American people deserve the details in a case of intense public interest and unusual transparency is in order.' He is right. The people have a right to know. But actions speaker than words. Right now, the public only has a very narrow slice of the facts gathered by the FBI. The FBI has only released its summary of the investigation and the report of the interview with Secretary Clinton. However, its summary is misleading or inaccurate in some key details and leaves out other important facts altogether. There are dozens of unclassified reports describing what other witnesses said, but those reports are still hidden away from the public."

 

Senator Inhofe: (5:08 PM)

  • Spoke on the Water Resources Development Act.
    • "Last week, I spoke about what we will lose if we don't pass this important legislation. There are 29 navigation, flood control, and environmental projects that are just not going to happen. There will be no new corps reforms to let local sponsors improve infrastructure at their own expense. I'll talk about this in a minute because this is really significant. They're willing to spend their own money, and yet it is not a legal thing for them to do. We correct that. There will be no FEMA assistance to states to rehabilitate unsafe dams. There will be no reforms to help communities address clean water and safe drinking water infrastructure mandates. You know, this is something that those of us from rural states -- in my state of Oklahoma we have a lot small communities, and there's nothing that horrifies them more than an unfunded mandate."

Cornyn, Durbin, Nelson

Water Resources Development Act (S. 2848)

Sep 12 2016

Senator Cornyn: (3:17 PM)

  • Spoke on the continuing resolution.
    • "But this year our Democratic colleagues stopped the regular orderly process of passing appropriations bills, and you might ask, for what purpose? Well, it's pretty obvious that their purpose was to make sure that they had maximum leverage in order to force the federal government to spend more money. Not just on national security matters, which would enjoy a lot of support on this side of the aisle, but to use any increase in national security spending to leverage more non-defense discretionary spending, breaking the caps that have been agreed upon in a bipartisan way previously. So this is the reason why we find ourselves here in this distasteful and unpleasant position: Democratic obstruction."
  • Spoke on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
    • "This is a straightforward piece of legislation. It simply provides the mechanism to help victims of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil find the justice they need. The American people, through their elected representatives, have been clear in their support for this legislation. Unfortunately, President Obama has already threatened to veto it, and for what reason I simply am at a loss to say. But I want to point out, this veto threat isn't about a president and his soured relationships with Congress; it's about the victims of 9/11 who've made clear that they deserve to have this avenue of justice made into law."

 

Senator Durbin: (3:30 PM)

  • Spoke on the continuing resolution.
    • "Well, if the senator from Texas wonders why the appropriations process broke down, don't blame the Senate Appropriations Committee. For the most part, they've done their work. Don't even blame the Senate itself. When it came to voting for the military construction bill, we voted on a bipartisan basis to go forward. The process fell apart across the rotunda with the House Republicans. So if we're going to get this done - and I hope we do -- we'll need a short-term spending bill."
  • Spoke on Obamacare.
    • "I think it's time that America hears at least some part of the other side of the story. I'd like to take a moment and talk about what's happened in this country since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Since the Affordable Care Act became law, the uninsured rate has declined by 43% in America, from 16% uninsured in 2010 to 9.1% in 2015. Put another way, the number of uninsured people in the United States has declined from 49 million in 2010 to 29 million in 2015. Stated another way, more than 20 million people have gained health insurance because of this law - 20 million."

 

Senator Nelson: (3:55 PM)

  • Spoke on the Zika virus.
    • "We're in the midst of a public health crisis, and it should be treated like the emergency that it is. And so as we await the final details of this possible deal, it's important to remember that no one agency or state or leader is going to solve this crisis alone. Those who saw this virus as a political opportunity are the ones who got us into this mess of delay month after month. So the virus is not a political opportunity. It's a public health emergency. To stop the spread of the virus, we are going to have to do what we did months ago: Come together in a bipartisan fashion. And so as the Congress comes together to finally act, we're going to need leaders across the country to act prudently and expeditiously to put these funds to use as quickly as possible."

McConnell, Reid

Opening Remarks

Sep 12 2016

Today –

  • Following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 2848, the Water Resources Development Act.
  • At 3:30 PM, there will be a filing deadline for all first-degree amendments to both the Inhofe/Boxer substitute amendment #4979 and the underlying bill, S. 2848.
  • At 5:30 PM, the Senate will VOTE on the motion to invoke cloture on the Inhofe/Boxer substitute amendment #4979 to S. 2848.

 

Senator McConnell: (3:03 PM)

  • Spoke on the continuing resolution.
    • "Members on both sides have been working toward an agreement to responsibly fund the government. We have made a lot of important progress already. I expect to move forward this week on a continuing resolution through December 9 at last year's enacted levels and include funds for Zika control and for our veterans. Talks are continuing and leaders from both parties will meet later this afternoon at the White House to discuss the progress and the path forward."

 

Senator Reid: (3:05 PM)

  • Spoke on the continuing resolution.
    • "My staff has been working diligently to work with the majority to come up with a way to go forward on the spending. Especially we need to take care of that but also Zika funding. I'm not going to lay down any markers here today. We're still trying to work something out, but I do want to say this. The Republicans need to get away from their vendetta against Planned Parenthood. We're not going to have any funny games funneling the money someplace else."
  • Spoke on the Koch brothers.
    • "Indeed, it's no exaggeration to say that the Republican Congress is bought and paid for by the Koch brothers. These two brothers, who are worth $100 billion, are going to spend any amount necessary to ensure that their interests are represented in city halls, state houses, and even the very Capitol which we find ourselves now. Last year, at one of their secret planning meetings, the Kochs and their cronies vowed to spend unlimited monies to exert influence in this year's elections. I have been disappointed that this Republican Senate has done nothing to stop the Kochs' crooked oligarchy agenda."