[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 21, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3668-S3669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Requests for Authority for Committees to Meet

  Mr. President, I have nine requests for committees to meet during 
today's session of the Senate. They do not have the approval of the 
Democratic leader; therefore, they will not be permitted to meet today 
beyond 2 p.m. But I ask unanimous consent that a list of the committees 
requesting authority to meet be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
       Committee on Finance
       Committee on Foreign Relations
       Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
       Committee on the Judiciary
       Committee on Intelligence
       Subcommittee on Seapower
       Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, if I could take 30 seconds more--because 
my colleague from Louisiana is here--I, frankly, think the objection to 
nine committees meeting in the Senate is indefensible. I mentioned the 
three committee hearings we had this morning, but they are just an 
indicator of important issues, such as the investigation by the 
Intelligence Committee of Russian involvement in our election; the 
Judiciary Committee looking into

[[Page S3669]]

the role of MS-13, one of the most dangerous and violent street gangs 
in America, with about 10,000 gang members present in the United 
States. We are looking at things like trade and the importance of 
modernizing NAFTA and the 5 million jobs that binational trade supports 
with Mexico or the 8 million jobs with Canada.
  For our Democratic colleagues to object to our being able to meet in 
committees because of their pique over healthcare--which they have 
voluntarily taken themselves out of--is just beyond indefensible. I 
hope the American people realize exactly what they are doing. This is 
the temper tantrum I talked about a moment ago. This is not about 
having an open and honest debate and trying to solve a problem that, 
frankly, is not just our problem; it is a problem for all Americans. We 
ought to do better than that. We ought to hold ourselves to a higher 
standard than that. But this is the kind of temper tantrum, 
unfortunately, you get when a political party is not willing to 
participate in the debate and where they have no ideas that are 
actually workable, other than a single-payer system that will bankrupt 
the country and will fail to deliver quality healthcare to all our 
citizens.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Toomey). The Senator from Louisiana.