Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, a vote in relation to the motion to extend debate on the Pruitt nomination occur at 12:30 p.m. today, and that following disposition of that motion, there be 4 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form prior to a vote on the nomination.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following disposition of the Pruitt nomination, the Senate resume consideration of the following nominations en bloc: Wilbur Ross to be Secretary of Commerce, Ryan Zinke to be Secretary of Interior, Ben Carson to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Rick Perry to be Secretary of Energy.

I further ask unanimous consent that there be 30 minutes of debate on the

nominations, equally divided in the usual form, and that following the use or yielding back of time, the Senate vote on the nominations in the order listed with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, over the past several weeks, we have seen a historic level of obstruction from our Democratic colleagues on the President's Cabinet. Let me say that again--truly historic, unprecedented, harmful, and pointless obstruction. It is one thing to obstruct to get some outcome. Really, these are a collection of futile gestures not changing the outcome on any of these nominations.

They have postponed committee meetings as long as they possibly could. They forced unnecessary procedural hurdles, and they have even boycotted markups altogether.

So as I indicated, to what end? It hasn't prevented the Senate from moving forward with the confirmation of these nominees. And, by the way, it hasn't--and it won't--change the outcome of the election, either, which was back in November. I think it is pretty clear that that is what this is all about.

Instead, this Democratic obstruction has just kept many of our Nation's most critical agencies without a leader for too long-- needlessly delaying the President from fully standing up this new administration. It has led to what is now the longest it has taken to confirm most of the President's Cabinet since George Washington--what a record for our Democratic colleagues to hold.

Enough is enough. We need to put the rest of the President's Cabinet into place without further delay. Confirming these well-qualified nominees is what is best for our country. My goodness, isn't that what we should all want?

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the votes following the first vote in the series be 10 minutes in length.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote on the nomination, and I move to table the motion to reconsider.

Mr. President, let me begin by welcoming a true friend to the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting the Capitol later today. Over the years our nations have built a strong and enduring relationship--a relationship grounded in common values like democracy and individual freedom, a relationship guided by a clear-eyed view of the threats that face us.

This relationship has grown closer and more valuable as terrorism has become a constant threat to our homeland--something the Israelis have known, literally, for decades and as Iran has sought to expand its sphere of influence in an effort to remake the Middle East. I value our relationship greatly. I know President Trump does as well.

Now is the time to strengthen and affirm this important partnership as we move on from 8 years of often needless tension, as we turn the page on an administration that chose as one of its last actions in office to abandon our ally Israel, and in so doing to undermine any semblance of a peace process by encouraging the Palestinians to forego direct negotiations.

This afternoon I will reiterate to the Prime Minister my determination, which I know many in Congress share, to work with our new administration and underline America's commitment to achieving peace with the Palestinians through a negotiated settlement in a way that protects Israel's vital national security interests.

Our nations face many common threats. Strengthening this relationship makes each of us safer. I hope colleagues will join me in extending a warm welcome to Prime Minister Netanyahu on his visit to the Capitol later today.

Mr. President, the Senate has been acting to provide relief from harmful regulations by utilizing the Congressional Review Act, which provides the legislative tools needed to repeal them.

I am pleased to report that just yesterday the President signed the first of several regulation-relief resolutions we hope to send him. Later this week, he will sign a second resolution--a resolution identical to the one I sponsored in the Senate that can bring relief to thousands of mining families in Kentucky and across the country by overturning the problematic stream buffer regulation.

Today, we will send him another one. In a few minutes we will vote to protect the constitutional rights of Americans with disabilities. The resolution will provide relief from an overly broad and legally deficient regulation that threatens the Second Amendment rights of law- abiding Americans with disabilities.

Specifically, in the waning days of the Obama administration, the Social Security Administration issued a rule that the ACLU and disability groups across the country oppose because it unfairly treats many Americans with disabilities.

Under this rule, the Social Security Administration must report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System anyone who receives benefits for certain disabilities and whom the Social Security Administration believes needs a representative payee to help manage these benefits. As a result of being included on this list, many disabled Social Security beneficiaries are barred from lawfully purchasing a firearm, even though there has been no adjudication that the beneficiary is ``mentally defective,'' which is the standard under both the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 for being barred from buying a firearm.

Numerous disability rights groups oppose the regulation as unfairly stigmatizing the disabled. They agree with us on the need to stop the regulation. The substantive problem with the regulation is compounded, the groups note, by ``the absence of any meaningful due

process protections prior to the Social Security Administration's transmittal of names to the NCIS database.''

The National Council on Disability, the nonpartisan independent Federal agency charged with advising the President and Congress on policies that affect people with disabilities, opposes the regulation, too. The Council also urges us to use the Congressional Review Act to repeal this eleventh hour regulation ``because of the . . . constitutional right at stake and the very real stigma that this rule legitimizes.''

Our colleague from Illinois, the assistant Democratic leader, apparently disagrees with the ACLU, the National Council on Disability, and disability rights groups across the country. He came to the floor yesterday to discuss this issue. Like him, we are all deeply saddened by the senseless loss of life due to gun violence. It is alarming indeed that we have seen it increase in certain communities, like Chicago. But the way to address this problem is not to stigmatize the disabled or to deprive law-abiding Americans of their Second Amendment rights without due process of law.

The Department of Justice states that ``firearms violations should be aggressively used in prosecuting violent crime.'' The DOJ goes on to state that such violations are ``generally simple and quick to prove.'' Under the Obama administration, however, there was a 35-percent decrease in gun prosecutions as compared to the Bush Administration, when measured over a 10-year period. In fact, gun prosecutions decreased in almost every year of the Obama administration. I am hopeful that the new leadership at the Justice Department will reverse this alarming trend.

What is not helpful, of course, is the assistant Democratic leader's implication that the Senate is addressing this regulation as some sort of payback to the National Rifle Association. I would inform my friend that almost two dozen groups oppose this last-minute regulation, including nearly 20 disability rights groups.

Does he think the opposition to this regulation from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery, and the American Association of People with Disabilities is based on some sort of payback? The reality is that, like us, they believe this regulation is simply bad policy. It places an unfair stigma on those with disabilities and violates their constitutional rights, which is why a wide array of groups oppose it.

I am glad the Senate will now join the House in protecting the constitutional rights of Americans with disabilities by voting to undo the unfair stigma this regulation imposes on them.

I want to thank my colleague from Iowa, Senator Grassley, who has been a leader in addressing this regulation. He introduced the Senate companion of the bill we will vote on today, with over 30 cosponsors.

Mr. President, our Democratic friends are getting a lot of pressure from the far left to resist just about everything these days--reality, for one.

The responsible route for Democrats would be to have some real talk with the far left about how it is past time to come to grips with the outcome of the last election. Instead, our Democratic friends have allowed themselves to be pushed around by the fringes into a strategy in search of a purpose--a strategy in search of a purpose.

They really can't prevent the President's Cabinet nominees from being confirmed, and yet they have undertaken the most unprecedented obstruction of Cabinet nominees in modern history. They have postponed hearings repeatedly. They have boycotted committee meetings altogether. They have forced unnecessary procedural hurdles to delay as long as possible. It has resulted in this President's having the fewest number of Cabinet Secretaries confirmed on a percentage basis at this point of any incoming President since George Washington--and to what end?

It hasn't changed the results. What it has done is forced the American people to go on for an unprecedented length of time without leadership in some of the government's most important agencies.

We are determined to work through this pointless obstruction. We will take the next step in that process soon with a vote to advance a nominee to bring fiscal and regulatory sanity to our economy after 8 years of stagnation. Representative Mulvaney knows that making government more effective and accountable is conducive to economic growth, and he knows that getting our fiscal house in order goes hand in hand with compassion. As he put it:

Fixing the economy doesn't mean just taking a green

eyeshade approach to the budget. Our government isn't just

about numbers. A strong, healthy economy allows us to protect

our most vulnerable.

That is just the kind of attitude we need in the Office of Management and Budget. It is good to finally see new economic leadership in place atop Treasury and the Small Business Administration. Now we can chart a better direction for this important budgetary agency, as well, and after we do, we will continue working through this unprecedented obstruction to seat the rest of the Cabinet.

I would urge our friends across the aisle to work with us in doing so. Without cooperation, then, under the regular order we are going to end up working here well into the weekend.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2 p.m. today; further, that the time during the recess count postcloture on the Mulvaney nomination.

I yield back all the time on this side.

Mr. President, I thank my friend from Delaware for his suggestion and giving me a moment here--I am not sure whether he is finished--but to just ask unanimous consent on a matter.

So for the information of all Senators, under the regular order, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the Pruitt nomination on Friday afternoon. All Members should plan to stay here Friday to complete consideration of the Pruitt nomination.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, over the past several weeks, we have seen unprecedented obstruction from our colleagues across the aisle. This made the confirmation of the President's nominees the slowest in modern history. It has left several key departments without a permanent secretary at the helm for far too long. What is the point of the needless delay? What is the point? Our friends are slow-walking votes, not changing outcomes.

We took several important steps last night to move the nominations process forward. We confirmed Steve Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary. After 8 years of failing economic policy, stagnant growth, and a tough job market, it is clear we need a new direction to get our country back on track. We need a new direction on regulations--smarter and pro- growth. We need a new direction on taxes--simpler and pro-jobs. If we are going to accomplish either of those goals, we are going to need new leadership at the helm of the Treasury Department. Secretary Mnuchin has real-world understanding of the private sector, and he is ready to work with both sides to get the economy moving.

Second, we confirmed Dr. David Shulkin as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The debt we owe our servicemembers and their families extends far beyond any program or benefit the government can provide, but through the VA, we should be doing everything we can to fulfill our commitments to veterans and their families, like the more than 300,000 veterans who call Kentucky home. Secretary Shulkin will be tasked with overseeing that our veterans in Kentucky and across the Nation receive quality and timely care. It is a heavy burden, but he seems up to the task. The chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Isakson, has a well-deserved reputation for working tirelessly on behalf of our veterans, which makes it notable that his committee voted unanimously to recommend Dr. Shulkin to the Senate and the full Senate confirmed him unanimously too.

We haven't seen much of that lately.

I am confident that Secretary Shulkin will work with Congress to build on the progress we have already made in expanding accessibility and improving accountability at the VA.

Third, I took the necessary procedural steps last night to allow us to confirm the rest of the nominees on the calendar: Representative Mick Mulvaney, the nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, who can help get our Nation back on track fiscally; Scott Pruitt, the nominee for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, who can bring much needed change after 8 years of heavyhanded, job-killing regulations; Wilbur Ross, nominee for Commerce Secretary, who can help promote job creation and economic growth; Representative Ryan Zinke, nominee for Interior Secretary, who can help improve our Nation's land use and conservation policies; Dr. Ben Carson, nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who can help reform HUD to better serve the American people; and Governor Rick Perry, nominee for Energy Secretary, who can help guide us toward smarter energy policies to grow our economy and strengthen national security.

Beginning with Representative Mulvaney, we can get each of these nominees confirmed soon. With cooperation from across the aisle, we can put them to work for the American people even sooner.

We will be able to put another important nominee to work just this morning, one who understands how to help businesses flourish. The last 8 years have been very difficult for our economy, for workers, and for small businesses. I am confident that the President's pick to lead the Small Business Administration, Linda McMahon, will prioritize growing jobs over growing government bureaucracy. In so many States, including mine, that is a welcome change of pace from Washington. Small businesses help drive America's economy, and they help drive Kentucky's economy as well. Almost half of all the private sector jobs in Kentucky--about 700,000--come from the more than 340,000 small businesses

across the Commonwealth. These small businesses not only grow the economy, but they also serve important roles in our communities.

Mrs. McMahon, who has built a company from the ground up, understands the many challenges small businesses can face. She certainly has come a long way from sharing a desk with her husband and leasing a typewriter. I commend her for her willingness to serve her country, and I look forward to her confirmation later this morning.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to H.J. Res. 40.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following leader remarks on Wednesday, February 15, there be 10 minutes of debate remaining, equally divided, on H.J. Res. 40; that the resolution be read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the joint resolution without intervening action or debate; further, that following disposition of H.J. Res. 40, there be 10 minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar 16, Mick Mulvaney to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and if cloture is invoked, time be counted as if invoked at 1 a.m. that day.

Mr. President, there will be no more votes this evening. We will have two votes tomorrow morning.

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

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.