Floor Statements

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I have 9 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Committee on Armed Services

The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing ``examine the chain of commands accountability to provide safe military housing and other building infrastructure to servicemembers and their families.''

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 12:30 p.m., to conduct a business meeting and hearing on the following nominations: Rita Baranwal, of Pennsylvania, to be an Assistant Secretary (Nuclear Energy), William Cooper, of Maryland, to be General Counsel, Christopher Fall, of Virginia, to be Director of the Office of Science, and Lane Genatowski, of New York, to be Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, all of the Department of Energy.

Committee on the Judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Joseph F. Bianco, of New York, and Michael H. Park, of New York, both to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, Greg Girard Guidry, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Michael T. Liburdi, to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona, and

Peter D. Welte, to be United States District Judge for the District of North Dakota.

Committee on Veterans' Affairs

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 2 p.m., to conduct a joint hearing.

Select Committee on Intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 2 p.m., to conduct a closed briefing.

Special Committee on Aging

The Special Committee on Aging is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Complex web of prescription drug prices, focusing on untangling the web and paths forward.''

Subcommittee on Security

The Subcommittee on Security of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``China, focusing on challenges for United States commerce.''

Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian

Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues

The Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues of the Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``United States-Venezuela relations and the path to a democratic transition.''

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Examining private sector data breaches.''

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 725, introduced earlier today.

I further ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 101, submitted earlier today.

I know of no further debate on the measure.

I ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I understand that S. 729, introduced earlier today by Senator Schumer, is at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading and object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, March 11; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Matey nomination; finally, that notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the cloture motions filed during today's session of the Senate ripen at 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 11.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, on another matter, in recent months our Nation has watched the Democratic Party take a sharp and abrupt left turn toward socialism.

A flawed ideology that has been rejected time and again across the world is now driving the marquee policy proposals of the new House Democratic majority, and nothing encapsulates this as clearly as the huge, self-inflicted, national wound the Democrats are agitating for called the Green New Deal.

Let's review a few of the greatest hits in this particular proposal.

Democrats have decided that every building in America needs to be either overhauled or replaced altogether. They are putting homeowners and small business owners on alert. The all-

knowing central planners here in the Nation's capital are raring to remodel the entire country.

Up next: ending all fossil fuel and nuclear energy production. Forget about coal and all of the jobs it supports in my State of Kentucky and around the country. Forget about the oil and natural gas industry and all of those jobs as well. The list goes on.

Oh, by the way, forget about nuclear, too--proving that this proposal doesn't even pretend to be a serious effort to reduce carbon emissions. It is just a statement of what sounds trendy in New York and San Francisco.

Anyone seriously concerned about carbon would know that nuclear power generates a majority of America's carbon-free electricity. You would think the carbon police would be glad that from 1995 to 2016, American nuclear power met the emissions equivalent of keeping 3 billion cars off the road.

Let me say that again. You would think the carbon police would be glad that from 1995 to 2016, American nuclear power met the emissions equivalent of keeping 3 billion cars off the road.

Oh, but alas, these Democrats will not let facts get in the way of what is fashionable.

Besides, why should America bother being a net exporter of energy when we could leave all of that economic potential to competitors like China?

Naturally, as background documents explained, this means eliminating all combustion engines--cars, lawn mowers, commercial airliners. Everything must go. Everything must go.

By the way, that backgrounder really helps clarify another goal behind all of this. It is providing ``economic security,'' even those who are ``unwilling to work.''

All of this and more can be ours for the low, low price of a staggering expansion of centralized government and--wait for it--upward of a mere $93 trillion. Ninety-three trillion is more than every dollar our Federal Government has spent in its entire history to date-- combined. It is more than the combined annual GDP of every nation on Earth.

As our colleague Senator Blunt and the policy committee have pointed out, this amount of money could rebuild the entire Interstate Highway System every single year--just for the heck of it--for 250 years, and you would still have a little left over--a little left over.

Or maybe Americans would rather have something nicer to drive on the roads we already have. For the comparatively cheap price of just $66 trillion, I am told the government could buy every American a Ferrari. What a great idea. For the comparatively cheap price of just $66 trillion, the government could buy every American a Ferrari. But, of course, everyone would have to get their driving in before Democrats ban the internal combustion engine.

To be clear, $93 trillion is just one number and one attempt to estimate the pricetag of this fantasy novel. The proposal is so lacking in details and math that it is almost impossible for analysts to even know where to begin trying to connect it to the real world.

Let's talk about where this money would come from. That is always a question worth asking.

If we spread that $93 trillion out over 10 years and over every American household, we get about $65,000 per household--$65,000 every year for every household. The median income in this country is around $60,000. So, like any good socialist plan, I am sure we would hear a lot about soaking the rich.

We always do. We would hear that wealthy Americans could pay for this whole thing, if only they were sufficiently civic-minded, but, of course, that is not even close to accurate. A huge share of the bill would land at the feet of the American middle class. There are not enough billionaires--there are not enough billionaires to pay the trillions needed for this massive government plan.

Even if Washington decided the IRS should grab every single cent of adjusted gross income above $1 million, all of it taken, it would only bring in a little over one-tenth--one-tenth--of what the Green New Deal is estimated to cost every year. Take all the money away from the millionaires, it would only bring in a little over one-tenth of what the Green New Deal is estimated to cost every year.

In fact, in order to break even on this proposal alone, the Federal Government would have to take $9 of every $10 that every single American earns. The Federal Government would have to take $9 out of $10 of everything every American earns.

You had better believe that families' last dollar would need to go toward keeping the lights on. By one analysis, middle-class families could see their power bills jump by more than $300 a month under the Green New Deal. That would take up the last dollar they had left.

I know Senator Ernst and several of our colleagues will be speaking at greater length on this issue later today, and I am sure each of them will point out that there certainly is one green thing about this sprawling proposal, one green thing: the huge, unprecedented pile of middle-class families' money that Democrats are itching--itching--to grab.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, the Senate confirmed one of President Trump's well-qualified nominees to the Federal bench and advanced the nomination of another.

That is what we will do today. With Allison Rushing's nomination confirmed, we will vote later today on the nomination of Chad Readler and then turn to consideration of Eric Murphy to join him on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Murphy is a graduate of Miami University and the University of Chicago Law School and now serves as the State solicitor of Ohio. He has held two prestigious clerkships on our Federal courts, including for Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

So I hope our colleagues will join me in advancing another wise choice for our Nation's judiciary.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time on the Murphy nomination expire at 12:30 p.m., Thursday, March 7; further, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; further, that following disposition of the Murphy nomination, the Senate resume consideration of the Fleming nomination, the cloture motion on the nomination be withdrawn, the time until 1:45 be equally divided in the usual form, and the Senate vote on the nomination at 1:45; finally, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading, and I object to my own request, all en bloc.