Floor Statements

Mr. President, it is an honor to remember the selfless and inspirational life of Sifu Charles Lin.

A lifetime master, Sifu Lin began studying the martial arts in his homeland of Taiwan.

He studied under many masters of the martial arts, earning the title ``Master'' or Sifu.

Sifu Lin moved to New Mexico in 1974 at the age of 23, with only $200 in his pocket.

For more than 40 years, Sifu Lin taught New Mexicans meditation and self-defense through the martial arts of Ch'i Kung, Tai Chi, and Chuan Kung Fu at Lin's Martial Arts Academy.

He and his wife also ran the Chinese Culture Center in Albuquerque, a place for the city's Chinese population to build community, learn Chinese language, and celebrate their culture.

The fireworks, martial arts demonstrations, and dancing dragons in the center's annual Chinese New Year festival put Chinese culture on display.

My thoughts are with his family during this time of mourning.

The lessons Sifu Lin imparted on all of his students will not be forgotten.

Mr. President, it is an honor to recognize Bobby ``Buckhorn Bob'' Olguin for his decades of serving the best green chile cheeseburgers in the State of New Mexico.

Over the years, the Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio became one of my favorite places to stop by and grab a bite to eat while driving through the State or after hunting trips with my sons Carter and Micah.

The Buckhorn earned international acclaim in multiple food and travel publications for its delicious burgers. When Food Network celebrity chef Bobby Flay tried to take on Bobby Olguin in a grilling competition in 2009, the winner was never in doubt. However, the real magic in going to the Buckhorn was not just in the burgers; it was Bobby's friendly conversations and the kindness he showed every single person who walked in his door.

After beating cancer, Bobby rightly wants to spend more time with his wife, children, and grandchildren. I am grateful that Bobby is healthy, and I wish him and his family all the best as they start this new stage in life. But speaking for myself, and many other New Mexicans, I am sure going to miss those burgers.

Mr. President, on October 11, 2018, I was unavoidably absent during rollcall votes Nos. 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, and 239. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on vote No. 238 and nay on rollcall votes Nos. 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, and 239.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. President, I am deeply saddened that the words I am about to deliver even need to be said in the first place, but I have to ask: How can we possibly continue to move forward or, as in the majority leader's own words, ``plow right through'' to confirm a lifetime appointment on our Nation's Supreme Court in the wake of both credible allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against the nominee Brett Kavanaugh and serious questions concerning his judicial temperament?

Republicans are ignoring very real questions about his credibility and are intent on hiding his record. Even worse, they are in such a rush that most of them did not even want the FBI to reopen Judge Kavanaugh's background check to help us get to the bottom of this, and when the FBI did reopen the investigation, the White House limited its scope so much it did not follow multiple credible leads.

Now we as Senators have barely 24 hours to review their findings before scrambling to a vote.

As the whole Nation watches, what message is the U.S. Senate sending to our children, to women, to victims of sexual assault about the values we stand for? Do they not matter? Is this the society that we want our sons and daughters to grow up in? We all know full well the weight of who fills this deciding vote on our Nation's highest Court.

Whomever we confirm as our next Supreme Court Justice will decide major cases that shape the daily lives of Americans for decades to come, but this is not a time for simply thinking about the judicial philosophies that we believe should shape opinions on the bench. I have made it clear that I oppose Judge Kavanaugh's nomination based on the substance of his views and the broken process being used to rush this nomination through the Senate on a partisan basis.

From the very start, Republicans have pushed this nomination through at a breakneck pace, hiding from the public Judge Kavanaugh's record and the dangerous consequences of his extreme views on many important issues. That willful blindness, the absence of a thorough vetting process, and the mad dash to hastily confirm their nominee at all costs before this fall's election has led us to the crisis that we face today.

This has now become an even more fundamental test of how seriously we as Senators take our duty of advice and consent on enormously consequential Presidential appointments.

Multiple women have come forward publicly to accuse Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. While we will never be able to adjudicate these allegations in the same way as a criminal proceeding, we have an obligation to weigh these accusations carefully and seriously as we consider Judge Kavanaugh's fitness to serve on the Supreme Court.

I, for one, after reviewing all of the information that we have and after listening to the testimony last week before the Judiciary Committee, have to say clearly and forcefully that I believe Dr. Ford. When a victim of sexual assault comes forward to make a harrowing allegation like this, it takes tremendous courage, and it shouldn't be dismissed. Under incredible duress and at a great personal cost, Dr. Ford came forward to share the painful details of how Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her while she was in high school. I don't know how anyone watching her testimony could question her sincerity or the seriousness of her experience, but some Republicans seem to be following President Trump's lead here and are choosing to jeer and dismiss Dr. Ford rather than take her testimony seriously. As I have said before, all of the sexual assault allegations made against Judge Kavanaugh deserve a thorough professional investigation by the FBI before proceeding with any vote on his nomination to the highest Court in the land.

I was relieved to see my colleague Senator Flake of Arizona speak up and call for a delay to seek a more thorough FBI investigation. Unfortunately, once again, the rush to get a predetermined outcome has undermined the integrity of the process.

Dr. Ford told us that she was absolutely willing to participate in an FBI investigation to get to the bottom of Judge Kavanaugh's alleged assault, but according to her, she was not even interviewed by the FBI as part of this reopened investigation. The FBI did interview another accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who has alleged that Judge Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during her freshman year at Yale. However, dozens of others sought to bring evidence forward and the FBI ignored their willingness to offer testimony. Again, key witnesses, including Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford, were not even interviewed by the FBI. The FBI was so constrained by the White House in this matter that I would not call this an investigation.

This is unjust. This sends a harrowing message to women and girls all around the Nation who have been victims of sexual violence. We must not toss aside a fair and impartial process in favor of a hurried political endgame. Before we take one of the most consequential votes that any of us will ever take, shouldn't we want to get to the bottom of this?

Even beyond what we could learn from a real investigation, there is already reason to doubt Judge Kavanaugh's credibility and his candor.

Despite the fact that the White House tried to limit the scope of the FBI's work so drastically that I wouldn't characterize it as an investigation, the FBI's report still manages to raise very serious questions about Judge Kavanaugh's truthfulness. During his confirmation process, Judge Kavanaugh began by misleading the Senate on small things. He misled the Senate on consequential questions about his time in the Bush White House. Last week, when faced with serious questions about the sexual assault allegations and questions about his character, Judge Kavanaugh dodged, dismissed and ranted. He was not able to refute the serious accusations leveled against him, and neither did the FBI report. Based on what we have heard since from people who knew him at the time, there is substantial reason to believe that he was not being truthful about his conduct.

If Dr. Ford's testimony is the truth--and I believe it is--then Judge Kavanaugh should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court.

Once again, I fully acknowledge the stakes of this nomination. I understand how much my Republican colleagues want to appoint someone they agree with on important issues that may come before this Court, but we cannot--we should not--rush to confirm a man to a lifetime appointment to the highest Court in the land under such a dark cloud of credible allegations--not

to such a critical seat at such a critical time.

Last week's hearing should have been the beginning of looking into this serious allegation, not the end. If there is nothing to hide and if there is information that would exonerate Judge Kavanaugh from the accusations that have been leveled against him, then a real indepth investigation would help us reach those conclusions. Instead, Republicans continue to rush this process and press forward with a predetermined set of conclusions. It makes one wonder if my Republican colleagues actually want to know the truth.

We cannot allow these allegations to be swept under the rug. The message that would send to victims of sexual assault and abuse would be devastating. It would effectively state to them that even if they come forward, there will be no justice; that they will be ignored or, worse yet, mocked, in the case of the President. All people regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic background should have the same right to live free from domestic and sexual violence.

I am truly stunned that we are moving forward with this confirmation vote. If we can't pause to make sure we get this right, the institution of the Supreme Court will lose the public's faith as an embodiment of justice. So I will ask one more time: What are we doing here? Can we not do better than this?

I think we must. The integrity of the highest Court in the land hangs in the balance. What we stand for as a nation hangs in the balance.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Madam President, I rise today to call on each of us to take seriously one of our most important duties as Senators--our constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on Presidential appointments to the Supreme Court.

As we all know, over the last 3 years, the longstanding tradition of building bipartisan consensus in the Senate around nominees to our highest Court was flown into the ash heap of history. The majority leader and Senate Republicans completely dismantled the rules that made advice and consent real in the Senate--all to steal a Supreme Court nominee from our last President. By making nominations to the highest Court--perhaps the most consequential votes we take as Senators-- subject to only a simple-majority vote, Republicans rigged the system to make it possible for the most extreme nominees to make it all the way to the Bench.

Before they broke the rules, requiring 60 votes ensured that both parties would have a real seat at the table and that mainstream nominees would be nominated and confirmed with the advice and consent of the Senate. Now we have been told that we must accept the resulting new normal of a politicalized and completely partisan selection process to fill any new vacant seat on the Court.

I, for one, refuse to legitimize this broken process. Under these broken rules, the minority party--even in as closely divided a Senate as we currently have today--has effectively zero ability to say: Wait. Hold up. There is something about this nominee that is too extreme or too disqualifying for a lifetime appointment to the highest Court in the land.

That is not democratic. That is not what the Founders had in mind when they created the Senate as a deliberative body. This body was intended by the Founders to be the methodical answer to the fiery passions of the day, not an amplifier of them.

I fear that this broken system will create potentially disastrous consequences for the health of our democracy as a whole. It has already resulted in a crisis of confidence where the public no longer views our Supreme Court as independent. Frankly, the public is correct--not just because of the precedent it set and hostility that it created but also because of the nominee before us.

Because President Trump knew going in that he would not need a single Democratic vote, he went straight to a predetermined list of names given to him by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. That meant that the President only considered nominees who fulfilled all of the ultraconservative special-interest litmus tests. This ensures that each of the judges he considered opposed women's

healthcare, environmental protections, and workers' rights. You don't have to take my word for that; President Trump was very explicit on the campaign trail in saying that he would only choose from this list of extreme conservatives for the Supreme Court. Without real advice and consent, there is no counterbalance and no real voice for Americans who don't want to see the country unrecognizably changed forever by his ultraconservative Court-packing.

We have been asked to go through the motions of a broken and partisan confirmation process for a nominee with a troubling and dangerous track record. If confirmed, a Justice Brett Kavanaugh would be a deciding vote on so many important issues that I have no doubt will come before the Supreme Court. Would a confirmation process in which both parties had a real seat at the table produce a nominee who believes that polluters should be able to poison our air and water unchecked; a nominee who does not believe women have the right to make decisions about their own private healthcare needs; a nominee who has ruled against well-established rights of privacy? No. And that is precisely the point.

Judge Kavanaugh's hyperpartisan opinions formed over a lifetime as a Republican DC operative will influence his decisions from the Bench. He is out of touch with consensus views held by the American people, and his extreme views could drastically alter our daily lives.

Judge Kavanaugh is exactly the type of ideologue and politically motivated nominee we can expect to see not just for this seat but for all Supreme Court seats moving forward if we allow the Senate rules for providing advice and consent to remain in tatters. But I worry that by rushing this through on a completely party-line vote, we are enabling an even greater threat to our democratic institutions and to our Republic itself, and that is because, from what we do know about his judicial record, work experience, and writings, Judge Kavanaugh believes in giving a disturbing amount of deference to the executive branch and to the President of the United States.

Judge Kavanaugh has written and delivered very clear statements saying that he believes a sitting President should not have to face prosecution, criminal investigation, subpoenas, or civil litigation. To be clear, this judge believes the President is above the law. This is the United States of America. No one--I repeat, no one--is above the law.

It really makes you wonder why President Trump would pick him for a potentially deciding vote on the Supreme Court, doesn't it. Do I need to remind you that our President and members of his campaign team remain under Federal investigation for coordinating with the Russian Government's interference in our election?

Just yesterday, the President's longtime attorney and his campaign chairman were each declared guilty in eight separate Federal crimes. In his guilty plea for campaign finance violations, the President's former attorney, Michael Cohen, implicated the President himself in coordinating payoffs to women who alleged affairs in an effort to influence the election.

Look, combine all of President Trump's ongoing legal troubles with his unbalanced and impulsive style of governing, and there are many plausible and even likely questions about the scope of the executive branch's authority that could come before the Supreme Court. Especially after yesterday's major developments, this is no longer purely hypothetical. We don't know enough about how Judge Kavanaugh might rule on these questions, but what we do know is deeply concerning.

Judge Kavanaugh has questioned whether Presidents should be forced to answer to civil lawsuits, criminal investigations, or questions from a prosecutor while they are in office. That, to me, is unbelievable. In another example before he became a judge, Kavanaugh said that he thought the Supreme Court had made an ``erroneous decision'' when it unanimously ruled that President Nixon needed to turn over White House tapes that ultimately proved the role that he played in covering up the Watergate scandal. Kavanaugh has also stated that he opposed the post- Watergate special counsel law and implied that nothing limits the President's authority to terminate a special counsel with or without cause.

It is easy to see how Judge Kavanaugh's views on Executive power are especially dangerous in the current times. This view of an executive branch untethered from the checks and balances that form the very norms of our political system should terrify Senators on both sides of the aisle who believe that the separation of powers is a cornerstone of our American democracy.

On top of this, we need to know more about Judge Kavanaugh's actions when he was in the executive branch. As a high-ranking official in the George W. Bush White House, Judge Kavanaugh served on the legal team and as Staff Secretary to President Bush during controversial abuses of Executive power. Senate Republicans have so far obstructed requests to review all of the records that would show what role Kavanaugh played in determining the legality of President Bush's policies. What side did he take as the Bush administration's CIA used illegal torture techniques, such as waterboarding? Was he aware of the Bush administration's warrantless mass surveillance of Americans' phone and internet records? These are unanswered questions until we are able to review relevant Presidential records--the same types of reviews we have been able to do for past nominees when there was real advice and consent.

The National Archives told Senator Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, that it cannot physically process all of the relevant records until October. Yet Senate Republicans have scheduled confirmation hearings and then a likely confirmation vote for Judge Kavanaugh to begin in early September.

We should never proceed on a confirmation vote for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court until we have done our due diligence in reviewing every relevant document on a nominee's record. We should not proceed on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination until we have clear answers to highly important questions about his actions in the Bush White House. Under a functioning confirmation process, the need to review these records would not even be up for debate. It is just plain common sense and part of our constitutional duty to carefully, to methodically review the qualifications of nominees as part of providing advice and consent.

Unfortunately, as is obvious to anyone watching this process unfold, the United States is no longer operating under rules that ensure a fair process. Instead, Republicans are rushing to push this nomination through at a breakneck pace so that they can confirm Judge Kavanaugh before this fall's election regardless of legitimate questions about his record, regardless of the dangerous consequences of his extreme views on so many issues.

At a time when our democratic institutions themselves are under attack--from undermining the free press to there being foreign influence in our elections--we should be very careful in weighing who sits on this, the Nation's highest Court.

Once again, I plead with my colleagues that we can do better than this. We must restore advice and consent in the Senate before we confirm any nominee who will be tainted by this partisan, broken system. I call on each of us to work together to create a better system and to restore a bipartisan process on which we can build consensus to see us through these politically turbulent times. Until we restore a fair confirmation process, I will fight alongside the American people, who are demanding that we do our jobs that they elected us to do and with the seriousness required to get this right.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, it is an honor to recognize Emily Holmes for her diligent service through the U.S. Senate Page Program.

During her placement, Ms. Holmes has been critical to the daily operation of the Senate.

Senate pages work long hours, dutifully delivering legislative material throughout the U.S. Capitol complex and assisting Senators and staff on the Senate floor.

Through her work, Ms. Holmes has demonstrated excellent professionalism and a commitment to the work of this legislative body.

Ms. Holmes's passion for public service is evident from her extensive involvement in her local community through organizations such as Los Alamos Teen Court and student council.

Ms. Holmes also participates in Model United Nations because she believes understanding both local and global issues is the best way to affect change in her community.

During her time as a Senate page, Ms. Holmes learned about the legislative process and experienced new ideas and perspectives.

I especially appreciate Ms. Holmes's commitment to bring what she learned in Washington back to New Mexico as she continues her education.

As part of the next generation of changemakers, Ms. Holmes will play an important role in the trajectory of our State's future.

I am grateful for thoughtful young people like Ms. Holmes who seek opportunities to develop as both a citizen and a leader.

I commend Ms. Holmes for her excellent work in service of our Nation as a Senate page and for her dedication to public service.

It has been a pleasure to have Ms. Holmes working in the U.S. Senate, and I wish her the best in all of her future endeavors.

Mr. President, I just want to take a moment and, in particular, thank my colleagues from Kansas and Colorado, as well as my colleague from New Mexico, Senator Udall, and especially Senator Moran of Kansas, as well as Senator Roberts and Senator Gardner and Senator Bennet, all for their efforts on behalf of the Southwest Chief line.

Long-distance passenger rail routes, like the Southwest Chief, literally connect millions of Americans from across the country who live in rural communities to the rest of the Nation. They do that culturally, and they do that economically.

Each year, the Southwest Chief in New Mexico, for example, brings thousands of Boy Scouts from all across our great Nation to the Philmont Scout Ranch and generates economic activity in every community along the way, whether it is in Las Vegas or Lamy or Albuquerque--you name it. In many cases, long-distance routes provide the only affordable transportation alternatives to highways for rural residents, particularly the elderly and the disabled.

I thank all of my colleagues from these States for standing up for long-distance passenger rail, for working to reject any proposals that would suspend long-distance rail service and literally send rural residents back to the back of the bus.

We have a disconnect in this country between the rural and the urban economies, between the center of the heartland and the coasts in this country, particularly economically. If we are going to combat this, we have to invest in the transportation infrastructure and the information infrastructure that can make a difference in rural communities.

This is not the time to be turning our backs on rural communities with regard to passenger rail and transportation. That would be an absolute travesty for small communities all through the heartland, whether you are talking about Kansas or Colorado or New Mexico--or, really, from one end of the Southwest Chief all the way to Chicago, to the West Coast, in Arizona and California.

I thank all of my colleagues who have been fighting for this issue. It is incredibly important to so many of my constituents in New Mexico. I urge everyone to support the Moran-Udall amendment. It is absolutely critical.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. President, I thank my colleagues Senator Tom Udall and Senator Richard Blumenthal for joining me to visit the southwest border last week. We went to the border to seek answers and to demand accountability for the very real human impacts of President Trump's cruel and unnecessary policy of separating children from their parents.

The permanent trauma these policies are inflicting on parents and their innocent children, many of whom are refugees who are fleeing violence and seeking asylum, is inhumane and horrific. Taking thousands of children--some as young as infants and toddlers--away from their parents and detaining them as a form of punishment or deterrence is ineffective and morally indefensible.

After all, under the rule of law, refugees who flee violence have a right to request asylum. As of now, only about 500 children of the over 2,000 children in custody have been reunited with their families since President Trump signed an Executive order last Wednesday that ended his family separation policy. There is still no clear plan from the White House that ensures all children will be reunited with their families. This is simply unacceptable.

This crisis was born from malice, and, frankly, it has been inflamed by incompetence. As an American and as a father, I will not just sit by. What we saw last Friday along the border, which has been ground zero for President Trump's so-called zero tolerance policies, has had a profound impact on me.

We learned that there are over 250 teenagers who are being housed in a temporary tent city detention facility in Tornillo, TX. We met with families who are being held at a Border Patrol station in El Paso who told us about their difficult journeys and the violence they experienced in their home countries that they are desperately trying to escape. Let me share the story of just one of these families who was in the Border Patrol's custody.

I met a father who is in his midtwenties who came here with his, roughly, 2-year-old daughter, named Gabriella. He told us they fled here, seeking asylum, because his home country of Honduras was violent and unstable, and he wanted a better future for his daughter.

If he had arrived before President Trump's Executive order last week, just a few days earlier, his little girl would have been, literally, torn from his arms. I can't tell you whether Gabriella and her father will be granted asylum. I suspect that will be decided by an immigration judge, but at least we know he will be able to keep his daughter by his side through this difficult process. It is unforgiveable that thousands of families facing similar circumstances are still separated, with no knowledge of where their children are, with no knowledge of if or when they will be reunited--all because of the Trump administration.

During our visit we also learned troubling details about the process facing asylum seekers who are attempting to enter our Nation legally at our ports of entry. At the Paseo del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, we learned firsthand how the Trump administration's actions are creating unnecessary delays on asylum claims for those fleeing violence and persecution. What is more, the mixed messages and outright lies coming from the White House and administration officials are creating real confusion and chaos on the ground for those actually responsible for carrying out the President's policies. There is not enough transparency from the White House or from Federal agencies. There is not enough oversight from this administration.

We absolutely need to know what is going on. That is why we are calling for immediate hearings on the Trump administration's inhumane border policies and accountability and oversight of those responsible for carrying those policies out. Anything short of accounting for every single child affected

by this policy is unacceptable and unconscionable. We must hold the White House accountable for adhering to our laws, to American values, and for executing a clear plan to right these wrongs.

It is important for us to recognize that the intentionally cruel separation of families that we have witnessed in recent weeks and months is only one piece of a larger systemic campaign by this administration to dehumanize our immigrant communities. These inhumane enforcement policies follow President Trump's discriminatory Muslim travel ban. They follow his refusal to offer refugee status to those from war-torn countries, such as Syria. They follow his cancellation of legal status for immigrants who escaped natural disasters and unthinkable violence in Haiti, Honduras, and El Salvador. They follow his unjust ending of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or the DACA Program, and his repeated efforts to derail any efforts in Congress to reach a bipartisan consensus on responsible immigration policies that would make smart investments in security at our borders, that would keep our communities safe, and that would recognize the dignity and vibrancy of those border communities.

Despite President Trump's continued determination to sabotage any good-faith efforts, I continue to believe that our Nation desperately needs Congress to pass comprehensive immigration legislation. That includes a visa system that meets the needs of our economy, a fair path to earn citizenship for the estimated 11 million people in our country who are undocumented, and a plan that ensures security at our Nation's borders. Rather than stirring up division and targeting law-abiding immigrants who are working hard to support their families and pay taxes, we should focus our enforcement activities and resources on violent criminals. We must also act with a sense of urgency to find a responsible way forward for the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who are just as much a part of our communities as any one of us. They are Americans in every way except on paper. I will not give up on them.

None of President Trump's callous actions on immigration represent the values of the America that I know and love--the America that welcomed my father and his family as they emigrated here from Germany in the 1930s. When I think about immigration, I always wonder how different my life would be if America had turned my family away, had turned my father away, or had broken his family apart.

Sadly, that is not an abstraction. It is not an abstract question for thousands of families still desperately hoping to be reunited now. Just like my father's family, these families are mothers, fathers, and children who are overwhelmingly people seeking to come to America because of the promise that our Nation represents. I take heart in the groundswell of decency that we have witnessed from thousands of Americans who have made their voices heard.

After we visited the border on Friday, Senator Udall and I joined hundreds of New Mexicans for a community event in Las Cruces. I want to share an image of a little girl who I saw at the event.

As you can see on this graphic, her sign reads: ``I love my family and I need them every day.'' That is really what this is all about. I am sure that the innocent children who have been separated from their parents and placed in detention facilities feel exactly the same way.

At the root of this often difficult debate, I believe we need to reaffirm the humanity of these children and their parents. We cannot stop fighting for compassionate and responsible immigration policies that respect the dignity of these families. We must not turn our backs on the ideals and fundamental values that made the United States both the most powerful Nation on Earth and a beacon of moral leadership. We must continue to make our voices heard and demand reunification for all of these children with their families.

I want to assure New Mexicans and all Americans that I stand with you in saying that this is not what we stand for. I will not rest until our country is once again seen as the moral leader of the free world.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, from June 4 to June 6, 2018, I was unavoidably absent during rollcall votes Nos. 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, and 117. I was in New Mexico helping to address the devastating wildfires. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on these rollcall votes.

Mr. President, I was unavoidably absent due to a death in my family for rollcall votes Nos. 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55. Had I been present I would have voted nay on all the rollcall votes in relation to S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. I would have also voted nay on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Kevin McAleenan to be Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, rollcall vote No. 55; PN1373.

Mr. President, I want to start by thanking my colleague, Senator Collins of Maine, for her work in crafting this legislation and the language of this bill and, more generally, for her leadership, formerly on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and certainly for the time that I have been on the Intelligence Committee. Her contributions have not gone unnoticed, and she has been a pleasure to work with in trying to find reasonable places where we can make a material difference in the kinds of mass shootings we have seen.

I should start by speaking a little bit to the recent tragedy in Florida. As the father of two young boys, I can't begin to imagine the nightmare that families are living through as they mourn the loss of their children in the wake of yet another horrific mass shooting.

Frankly, no parent should have to live in fear of their child not coming home from school. It is pretty unthinkable.

Just last week, one of my own sons went through an active shooter training at his school. Sadly, that is now the new norm in schools all across our country. In fact, 91 Americans are killed each day by gun violence, and we simply cannot accept the status quo as the new normal when there are real

and concrete steps we can take to reduce gun violence while respecting constitutional rights.

Once again, Americans are looking to Congress to finally enact commonsense reforms to our gun laws, to protect our schools, to protect our children, to protect our communities. Like so many Americans, I have been deeply moved by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and young people all across this country who have spoken out after losing classmates and friends to demand that we as lawmakers take action to prevent future tragedies.

It is no secret to my constituents or even my colleagues here that I am a passionate outdoorsman, hunter, and owner of firearms. I strongly believe that law-abiding Americans have a right to own guns for sport and self-defense. I am teaching my own sons how to safely and responsibly use those firearms. The vast majority of Americans, including gun owners like me, know that Congress must take action to close loopholes and reform our laws to keep those deadly weapons out of the hands of those who would turn them against our communities.

Today I am quite proud to join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle--Senators Collins, Heitkamp, Flake, and others--to introduce one of those measures that should have broad bipartisan support. This is a poster child for the kind of policy that ought to get across the finish line even in these deeply divided, partisan times.

Our bipartisan legislation, the Terrorist Firearms Prevention Act, would deny firearms sales to individuals who appear on the Department of Justice's no-fly or selectee lists. These are the narrowest of databases, the kinds of lists one would have to work pretty hard to land on, and for good reason. Our legislation includes due process procedures for individuals to appeal their placement on those lists.

It seems pretty straightforward to most of my constituents that if the government and law enforcement have determined that an individual is so dangerous as to land on the terrorist watch list and is too dangerous to fly on a commercial airplane, that person should not be able to walk into a gun shop and purchase a gun. But unless we pass this legislation, this glaring loophole will continue to allow individuals identified as terror suspects to buy firearms.

It is time for those Members of Congress who oppose commonsense reforms like this to finally step up and tell us what they are doing to protect the public. It is time for all of us to listen to the student leaders across this country who are rejecting the unacceptable status quo of our Nation's gun violence epidemic.

Those of us in the Senate who know firearms well have a special duty to lead these efforts and to get the details right on any legislation to reshape our Nation's gun laws. Inaction simply won't cut it anymore. We all need to listen to these students, parents, teachers, and to our own children who are calling on us to be part of the solution.

New Mexicans can count on me, despite the odds, to continue fighting for real solutions to keep our children safe, to reduce gun violence, and to keep our communities safe. That is what our communities and our constituents deserve.

Thank you.

Mr. President, I want to start by thanking my colleague, Senator Collins of Maine, for her work in crafting this legislation and the language of this bill and, more generally, for her leadership, formerly on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and certainly for the time that I have been on the Intelligence Committee. Her contributions have not gone unnoticed, and she has been a pleasure to work with in trying to find reasonable places where we can make a material difference in the kinds of mass shootings we have seen.

I should start by speaking a little bit to the recent tragedy in Florida. As the father of two young boys, I can't begin to imagine the nightmare that families are living through as they mourn the loss of their children in the wake of yet another horrific mass shooting.

Frankly, no parent should have to live in fear of their child not coming home from school. It is pretty unthinkable.

Just last week, one of my own sons went through an active shooter training at his school. Sadly, that is now the new norm in schools all across our country. In fact, 91 Americans are killed each day by gun violence, and we simply cannot accept the status quo as the new normal when there are real

and concrete steps we can take to reduce gun violence while respecting constitutional rights.

Once again, Americans are looking to Congress to finally enact commonsense reforms to our gun laws, to protect our schools, to protect our children, to protect our communities. Like so many Americans, I have been deeply moved by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and young people all across this country who have spoken out after losing classmates and friends to demand that we as lawmakers take action to prevent future tragedies.

It is no secret to my constituents or even my colleagues here that I am a passionate outdoorsman, hunter, and owner of firearms. I strongly believe that law-abiding Americans have a right to own guns for sport and self-defense. I am teaching my own sons how to safely and responsibly use those firearms. The vast majority of Americans, including gun owners like me, know that Congress must take action to close loopholes and reform our laws to keep those deadly weapons out of the hands of those who would turn them against our communities.

Today I am quite proud to join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle--Senators Collins, Heitkamp, Flake, and others--to introduce one of those measures that should have broad bipartisan support. This is a poster child for the kind of policy that ought to get across the finish line even in these deeply divided, partisan times.

Our bipartisan legislation, the Terrorist Firearms Prevention Act, would deny firearms sales to individuals who appear on the Department of Justice's no-fly or selectee lists. These are the narrowest of databases, the kinds of lists one would have to work pretty hard to land on, and for good reason. Our legislation includes due process procedures for individuals to appeal their placement on those lists.

It seems pretty straightforward to most of my constituents that if the government and law enforcement have determined that an individual is so dangerous as to land on the terrorist watch list and is too dangerous to fly on a commercial airplane, that person should not be able to walk into a gun shop and purchase a gun. But unless we pass this legislation, this glaring loophole will continue to allow individuals identified as terror suspects to buy firearms.

It is time for those Members of Congress who oppose commonsense reforms like this to finally step up and tell us what they are doing to protect the public. It is time for all of us to listen to the student leaders across this country who are rejecting the unacceptable status quo of our Nation's gun violence epidemic.

Those of us in the Senate who know firearms well have a special duty to lead these efforts and to get the details right on any legislation to reshape our Nation's gun laws. Inaction simply won't cut it anymore. We all need to listen to these students, parents, teachers, and to our own children who are calling on us to be part of the solution.

New Mexicans can count on me, despite the odds, to continue fighting for real solutions to keep our children safe, to reduce gun violence, and to keep our communities safe. That is what our communities and our constituents deserve.

Thank you.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. President, as the Senate takes to the floor to debate a long-overdue, bipartisan solution for Dreamers--young immigrants who came to our country as children--I would like to tell you a story about one Dreamer in my home State of New Mexico to illustrate what is at stake here this week.

Immigrants have long helped to write the economic, social, and cultural story of my home State of New Mexico and, for that matter, our entire Nation. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants. Over the last centuries, our Nation's foundation and the enduring American spirit were built by the hard work and the dreams of so many striving young immigrants.

When President Trump made the outrageous decision last fall to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program--DACA--he threw hundreds of thousands of Dreamers deep into fear and uncertainty. Two weeks ago, I was proud to welcome Ivonne Orozco-Acosta, one of the estimated 7,000 Dreamers from New Mexico, as my guest at the State of the Union Address.

Ivonne's family immigrated to the United States when she was 12 years old. She learned English through middle school and graduated from high school in Estancia, NM. It was during these challenging years of learning that Ivonne was encouraged by her teachers to grow and to learn. Ivonne knows the power that educators hold to create positive change in students' perspective of themselves.

Ivonne attended the University of New Mexico, where she earned her BA in secondary education with a concentration in Spanish. It is estimated that somewhere between 500 and 1,000 students at the University of New Mexico right now are Dreamers like Ivonne. These are some of our brightest students, and they are our future leaders. Since she graduated from UNM 4 years ago, Ivonne has been teaching Spanish at the Public Academy for Performing Arts, a charter school in Albuquerque,

Mr. President, I was unavoidably absent due to a family medical emergency for rollcall vote No. 28. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on the confirmation of Andrei Iancu, of California, to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.