[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 6, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5228-S5229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ISSUES BEFORE THE SENATE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I, too, am glad to be back. I appreciate all 
the people here whom we spend so much time with and all their good 
work. We have been gone for 7 weeks. Baseball season is about over. I 
wish it went year-round, but it doesn't. So all good things come to an 
end, and we will have that over with in about a month.
  Today, the Republicans return from the longest summer recess in more 
than 60 years. I am still stunned that the Republican leader decided to 
have a 7-week vacation, and it was more important to them than funding 
our Nation's Zika response or giving Merrick Garland a hearing or even 
meeting with him or keeping terrorists and criminals from buying guns, 
and as the New York Times reported in some detail on Sunday, climate 
change is here. Military installations--like those in Virginia as an 
example, but they are not the only ones--are in peril of surviving. 
Whole neighborhoods are under water. Highways and bridges to islands 
are unpassable for weeks at a time--but 7 weeks of vacation and not a 
word of debate on the rising seas, and they are here. Just ask anyone 
in Florida trying to pass a bond issue now for billions of dollars to 
raise the highways and the roads and the foundations of buildings.
  Now, because of the Republican leader's decision to recess for the 
summer, Congress is floundering because of Republican inaction. The 
Senate has a mountain of work to do and no time to do it.
  First and foremost, the Senate needs to fund efforts to combat Zika. 
It is a dreaded problem sweeping this country. Earlier this year, 
Democrats tried in vain to bring Republicans to the realization that 
Zika was imperiling the health of all but especially women of child-
bearing age. We accepted the Senate Zika compromise. Last May, 89 
Senators voted to pass that legislation. Republicans in the House said 
no, and then surprisingly, when we tried to pass it as a stand-lone 
here, the Republican Senate said we will not agree to what we agreed to 
a few weeks ago--stunning, to say the least.
  President Obama proposed a meeting with Senator McConnell, Speaker 
Ryan, Secretary Burwell, and Director Donovan to work on the Zika 
crisis. They said no to the meeting. Democrats offered to negotiate a 
compromise, but Republicans rejected our efforts to compromise. 
Republicans were more interested in attacking Planned Parenthood and 
flying the Confederate flag than protecting women and babies from this 
awful virus.
  As Republicans stalled, Zika spread quickly. Puerto Rico has been 
ravaged by the virus. Two thousand Puerto Ricans are infected each 
week--different Puerto Ricans. Remember, Puerto Ricans are citizens of 
the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
predicted that by the end of the year, 25 percent of Puerto Rico's 
population will be infected by Zika. That is 900,000 people.
  Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services declared a 
health emergency in Puerto Rico due to the Zika virus. Democrats 
pleaded for Republicans to cut short their 7-week break and return to 
the Capitol in order to pass emergency Zika funding. Republicans said: 
No, we are going to stay home some more.
  While the Republican Senate insisted on vacation, Zika spread to the 
mainland in the United States. Local transmission of Zika was confirmed 
in Florida and elsewhere. Last week, public health officials in Florida 
even trapped some mosquitoes carrying this virus. To date, nearly 
17,000 men, women, and children in the United States and its 
territories have been infected with Zika, claiming 1,600 pregnant 
women, and 16 babies have been born with the deforming birth defects 
caused by Zika.
  We still don't understand all the devastating effects of this virus. 
That is why we need more study. We know, though, about microcephaly--
the birth defect that inhibits brain development and prevents the skull 
from growing. We have all seen the heart-wrenching pictures of babies 
with tiny heads, but in recent weeks we have also learned newborns with 
Zika face other problems, such as hearing loss, vision impairment, and 
joint deformities. Because of Republican inaction, our entire Nation is 
exposed to this scourge.
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not have the 
resources to fight Zika. CDC Director Thomas Frieden told reporters:

       The cupboard is bare. . . . Basically, we are out of money 
     and we need Congress to act.

  We must stop the spread of this disease. We need to learn more. We 
need to pass a bipartisan funding bill that gives doctors, researchers, 
and public health officials the resources they require to understand 
and fight the spread of this deadly virus. We passed something here 
with 89 votes. As I said, it went to the House. They sent it back with 
all this strange, weird stuff in it. They cut funding for the Veterans' 
Administration by one-half billion dollars. They tried to disguise the 
fact that what they were trying to do was to eliminate Planned 
Parenthood. Remember, last year 2 million American women went to 
Planned Parenthood for help. Now, with this Zika virus frightening 
women all over America, they want to cut this off.
  As I said, they did other things. When I talk about flying the 
Confederate flag, I am not kidding. Part of the legislation sent back 
to us said they could continue flying the Confederate flag over 
military installations. Is that something we could vote for? Of course 
not.
  The continuing resolution, that has become the kind of thing we do 
around here since Republicans have perfected filibusters. Continuing 
resolutions are a way of saying we can't do our regular appropriations 
work, so let's do something that gets us through the year. We must 
focus on our efforts to keep the government open. Press reports 
indicate that Republicans want to pass a continuing resolution that 
extends into next year. That seems odd--strange. We just completed 7 
weeks of doing nothing--none of our country's essential business--and 
now Republicans are suggesting another 10 weeks of vacation. Speaker 
Ryan and Senator McConnell should understand that Democrats will not 
support 10 more weeks away from Washington. We have a lot of work to 
do. We cannot ignore the Nation's work any longer. President Obama will 
reject any continuing resolution that extends into 2017.

  Notably, Members of Congress received their pay during the 7 weeks we 
were out of Washington and would receive their salaries during the 
Republicans' proposed 10-week recess. Let's be clear. A funding 
resolution that stretches into next year is a permission slip for 
Congress to refuse to do its job for the rest of the year. The next 
Senate should not begin months behind because of this Republican 
Senate's failure to do its job. Once we have ensured that the 
government is properly funded, we must turn our attention to the 
important issues that the Republican Senate has failed to adequately 
address, and these are only some of them.
  How about the Supreme Court and judicial nominations? The Senate

[[Page S5229]]

needs to give the U.S. Supreme Court a full complement of nine 
Justices. The Republicans still refuse to give Chief Judge Merrick 
Garland a hearing or a vote. Orrin Hatch, who opened the Senate a few 
minutes ago, has said Merrick Garland is a consensus nomination. I 
don't know if he forgot what he said or didn't mean it at the time. I 
think he did mean it at the time. Republicans want to hold the seat 
open for Donald Trump to fill. If that doesn't startle you, I don't 
know what would.
  What more do you need to see from Trump to realize that he is 
dangerous and unfit for the Presidency? How can you hold a Supreme 
Court vacancy open for this man and his weird ideas?
  It is not just the Supreme Court. Republicans have deadlocked our 
entire system of justice because of the Republican Senate's 
dysfunction. This Republican Senate has confirmed the fewest circuit 
and district court judges in many decades. Republicans want Trump to 
remake the justice system in his image. What an image that would be--a 
Trump judiciary.
  To show the American people's disgust with how Republicans have 
treated Merrick Garland's nomination, starting today I am objecting to 
committees meeting for other purposes until the Judiciary Committee 
schedules a meeting to consider Judge Garland's nomination. If the 
Republican leader thinks there is a committee that needs to meet 
because of extraordinary circumstances, I would be pleased to consider 
his request. But in the meantime, as of today, we are objecting to 
committees meeting, in line with the rules of the Senate.
  In addition to ending the disgusting and repugnant opposition to 
Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court, we must also pass 
legislation to keep guns and explosives out of the hands of suspected 
terrorists and other dangerous individuals. How many more acts of gun 
violence must we witness before we need to do something about it? How 
many more slaughters must we witness? The American people agree with 
us. Eighty-five percent want to do something about this worsening gun 
situation. It is gun violence. Eighty-five percent of Americans support 
legislation to keep guns away from suspected terrorists. This is the 
case all over America. Sensible background checks--that is all it is.
  The Senate Republicans should listen to the American people and stop 
listening to the National Rifle Association. We must take a stand 
against violence.
  There are many, many other pressing ideas. We need to address the 
criminal justice system, which is in deep need of repair and 
renovation. The United States needs to help make college more 
affordable for American families. The United States needs to address 
campaign finance reform. We must keep dark money out of politics. It is 
here and getting bigger every day, principally because of two people--
the Koch brothers. The Kochs today are in hog heaven because they now 
can secretly funnel money to all their clandestine committees and 
groups. They are spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, 
funneling money to the Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle 
Association, and many other front groups that no one has ever heard 
of--none of us have--but they are out running those ads with this 
secret money.
  The U.S. Senate has much to do; I have mentioned only a few of the 
things. We have to use our time wisely. Sadly, for the last 7 weeks, we 
have not been using our time in a productive manner, and that is an 
understatement. That is why I was baffled to learn that the Republicans 
want to move to the Water Resources Development Act next week. I 
understand WRDA legislation. I have been chairman of that committee on 
two separate occasions. I know there is money in this bill for 
beleaguered Flint, MI. The people of Flint have waited months and 
months for this overdue relief.
  Also in this bill is the Tahoe Restoration Act, which I support. Last 
Wednesday I had my 20th and last summit on Lake Tahoe. It is a much 
better place because of what we have done over the last 20 years. Two 
billion dollars has been spent on that beautiful lake. There is only 
one other lake like it in the whole world, and that is in Siberia. I 
know how important this Tahoe Restoration Act is. The fact remains that 
the Republican House is not going to pass it anyway, but I am willing 
to do what I can to act responsibly by not blocking this bill, as the 
Republicans would do, but we will legislate very carefully. Staffs are 
working to find out if we can have a path forward. I hope we can.
  I appreciate the good work of Senators Boxer and Inhofe. I am hopeful 
that we can find a path forward on WRDA, as well as Zika, funding the 
government, and other matters about which I have spoken. In the 
meantime, the Senate has to prioritize. I know the Republican leader 
sets the Senate schedule, but he should acknowledge the situation for 
what it is. Now we have a logjam of important legislation that he 
created by recessing for 7 weeks--7 weeks, everybody.
  We have a mess, but the mess is of the Republican leader's own 
making. Now that the Republicans have finally decided to come back to 
the Nation's Capital, it is time we move forward on these important 
issues that have been ignored for 7 weeks. In short, it is time for the 
Republicans to do their job.
  Mr. President, I see no one on the floor. I ask that the Chair 
announce the business of the day.

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