Floor Statements

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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 executive session for the consideration of Executive Calendar No. 250; that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

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

Mr. President, I have 1 request for a committee to meeting during today's session of the Senate. It has the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to Rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committee is authorized to meeting during today's session of the Senate:

committee on finance

The Committee on Finance is authorized to meeting during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 7, 2017, during the first scheduled vote on the Senate Floor, tentatively scheduled to occur at 12:30 p.m., in S-216, The President's Room, United States Capitol resume considering favorably reporting pending nominations.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Con. Res. 24.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and 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 H. Con. Res. 69, which was received from the House.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and 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 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 597 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time.

Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the bill.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 1165 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and 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 when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, September 11; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the Senate observe a moment of silence in remembrance of the lives lost in the attacks of September 11, 2001; further, that following the moment of silence, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; further, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 2810, with the time until 5:30 p.m. equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; finally, that notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 2810 occur at 5:30 p.m., Monday.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of Senator Blunt and Senator Whitehouse.

Mr. President, as I said yesterday, Congress has a number of pressing issues to address in the coming days. There are three critically important things before us that need to be done very quickly: pass disaster relief legislation to allow us to rebuild from Harvey and prepare for future disasters headed our way, such as Irma; prevent a default so those emergency resources can actually get to Americans who need them; and, of course, keep the government funded. These are the President's immediate priorities, these are my immediate priorities, and they are critically important to establishing credibility and stability as our country continues to recover from one record-setting storm and prepare for yet another. Harvey has already unleashed more rain than any other single storm recorded in the continental United States. Irma has already forced the entire State of Florida into a state of emergency.

I would like to repeat two quotes I shared that are even more relevant now given the further approach of Irma. This is the President's budget director:

Given the need for additional spending as a result of

disaster response and initial recovery from Hurricane Harvey,

the administration continues to urge the Congress to act

expeditiously to ensure that the debt ceiling does not affect

these critical response and recovery efforts.

That is the budget director.

That is because, as the Treasury Secretary explained, ``If Congress appropriates the money, but I don't have the ability to borrow more money and pay for it, we're not going to be able to get that money'' to the States, and they need it. The need for certainty now is incredibly important.

I have been having conversations with the Democratic leader on my view of the way forward on these issues, and this morning he and I, along with House leaders from both parties, will head to the White House for a meeting to discuss the issues further. It is good to see that Congress has already made steady progress.

I again thank the President and his team for working closely with us to ensure that families and States are able to get the help they need and for working with us to prevent a default or lapse in government service that could get in the way of that help actually being delivered.

As we work on these immediate priorities, Members will also continue working on other critically important items, such as tax reform, national security, and filling vacancies across the Federal Government. We clearly have a lot to do in the coming weeks and months, but we will all keep working to tackle these issues as soon as possible.

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 the Chair to lay before the body the message to accompany H.R. 601.

The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Resolved, That the House agree to the amendments numbered

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 601)

entitled ``An Act to enhance the transparency and accelerate

the impact of assistance provided under the Foreign

Assistance Act of 1961 to promote quality basic education in

developing countries, to better enable such countries to

achieve universal access to quality basic education and

improved learning outcomes, to eliminate duplication and

waste, and for other purposes.'' and be it further

Resolved, That the House agree to the amendment numbered 6

of the Senate to the aforementioned bill, with an amendment.

Motion to Concur with Amendment No. 808

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 601, with a further amendment.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk on the motion to concur with further amendment.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to concur with amendment.