[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8562-8570]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of S. 2943, which the clerk will 
report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2943) to authorize appropriations for fiscal 
     year 2017 for military activities of the Department of 
     Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
     activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military 
     personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other 
     purposes.

  Pending:

       McCain amendment No. 4607, to amend the provision on share-
     in-savings contracts.
       Reed (for Reid) amendment No. 4603 (to amendment No. 4607), 
     to change the enactment date.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Florida.


                        Mass Shooting in Orlando

  Mr. NELSON. Madam President, I have just returned from the command 
center of the emergency operations center, a temporary one that has 
been set up in the middle of South Orange Avenue, very close to the 
Pulse nightclub, not far from the hospital where so many of the victims 
have been taken, where 9 of the victims died in the care of the 
doctors, and where there are up to 50 people, some of whom are still 
fighting for their lives.
  Needless to say, Orlando is shocked. We didn't know a place that 
sometimes is called the happiest place on Earth could be one of the 
saddest places on Earth. Indeed, the morning's Orlando Sentinel, the 
entire front page is dedicated to a statement by the paper entitled 
``Our Community Will Heal.'' Will our community heal? Well, certainly, 
in what we see with the long lines snaking around the block at the 
blood donation center, where it is literally going around what would be 
the length of 2 blocks, and where there are people standing in the hot 
Sun with umbrellas to donate blood, that says something about how the 
community will heal. Indeed, when we had our office in Orlando opened 
on Sunday, the kinds of calls expressing grief and shock and just 
disbelief, along with the messages of comfort, has been quite a 
contrast to the 95 percent of the hundreds and hundreds of calls the 
Orlando office has received today. Ninety-five percent of those calls 
have been hateful.
  What does that say about us as a nation? Will we, in fact, heal? What 
does it say about us as a nation deep inside? Have we lost the 
teachings in almost all the major religions--clearly in the Holy 
Scriptures of the Old Testament and clearly in the New Testament, as

[[Page 8563]]

well as in the Koran. You will recognize these words if I say it in the 
old English: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Putting 
it in modern English, it means to treat others as you would want to be 
treated. Yet what we find is that in our society today there are folks 
who want to divide instead of unify, and this killer is a good example.
  I have spent two days with the FBI. I have been on the phone. I have 
talked to the Secretary of Homeland Security. I have talked to our 
intelligence community. It is this Senator's opinion that once the dots 
are completely connected--and they are being rapidly connected. The FBI 
is doing a great job. They are the lead in Orlando.
  By the way, talking about something good, what about the cooperation 
and coordination, which has been almost seamless, among local, State, 
and Federal Government officials, all represented down there in the 
command center, all being represented as a number of us went in front 
of the assembled cameras? It seems that is a good thing. That is unity. 
That is how we do things in America.
  Yet, as the dots are being connected, we will find out that, yes, 
this shooter was ISIS-inspired--and that is a whole set of issues--and 
how are we going to protect ourselves in the future? But we are also 
going to find that this shooter was inspired by hatred, and we are 
going to find that this hatred was directed, as his father already said 
in interviews, toward the gay community.
  So here again, we have another terrible tragedy. I have had a number 
of calls from my fellow Senators. One of those calls came from Richard 
Blumenthal. He is from Connecticut. He has reason to be sensitive about 
this because of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20 
children and some 6 adults were gunned down needlessly. Maybe that was 
a mental case. Maybe part of this one in Orlando is a mental case. But 
it is driven by hatred, maybe through ISIS, a hatred of America and of 
a free society being willing to be able to speak what you want without 
fear of persecution, or maybe it is a hatred about a group of people. 
It is exactly the opposite of what is taught in all of the Scriptures.
  So as we heal in Orlando, it will take a while. You can imagine those 
families of the ones who have been lost. You can imagine the families 
down in the Orlando Health hospital right now, grieving, hoping, and 
praying that those victims fighting for their lives are going to make 
it.
  So America, we are going to have to dig down deep and find out who we 
really are. You know, I really know who we are. We are a people with a 
character that is compassionate, generous, kind, and respectful. We as 
Americans are ladies and gentlemen. We can express ourselves as has 
been the tradition on the floor of this Senate in the heat of political 
debate. We can sharply differ, but we can be respectful of the other 
fellow's point of view. That is America, and until we finally come to 
the conclusion and insist that this aberrant behavior be stopped--until 
that happens--we will still be grieving.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Madam President.
  I rise to echo the sentiments of the Senator from Florida. His State 
has suffered an unspeakable tragedy. It is something that unfortunately 
brings together two terrible biases--one against the LGBT community and 
the other a religiously based radical attack inspired by ISIS at that 
nightclub. They all came together. To the Senator and to everyone from 
Florida, our deepest, deepest sympathies go to you.
  It was, of course, something that was understood in Massachusetts. He 
mentioned the Tsarnaev brothers as an inspiration to him. They struck 
on Patriots Day in 2013 in the United States. Mohamed Atta and the 
other nine hijackers were in Boston when they hijacked the two planes 
from Logan International Airport. So we know those people are out 
there. We know that their hate-filled message is intended to kill 
innocent Americans, and we saw it once again. Unfortunately, the target 
was a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
  But for us, I think we have to learn from this. This man had been 
investigated as a terrorist suspect, and yet we are blocked--the 
Senator from Florida and I and others--from passing a law that would 
prevent anyone on a terror watch list from buying a gun in these United 
States. It is not against the law. The National Rifle Association has 
enough power here on the floor of the Senate to prohibit someone who is 
on a terror watch list from buying guns in the United States of 
America. We need another vote on that issue here in the Senate. We need 
to give the protections to the American people for them to know that 
someone on a terror watch list cannot buy a gun in the United States of 
America.
  We also have to ban these military-style assault weapons, like the 
AR-15, which are the guns of choice for those who seek to inflict mass 
casualties on civilians. These are not weapons that belong on the 
streets of our country. They belong in combat overseas, not in our 
communities. They don't belong in Newtown, they don't belong in San 
Bernardino, and they don't belong in Orlando. They don't belong in our 
streets or in our schools or in a civilized society, yet we cannot ban 
these weapons from being sold in the United States of America.
  We have to prevent any known or suspected terrorist from buying 
firearms, and we have to make it impossible, as well, for them to buy 
these assault weapons. This is our challenge now.
  Once again, we are warned. Once again, we are told what the weapon of 
choice is. Once again, we know that they are going to target us if we 
make it easy for them to access these weapons. How many warnings do we 
need?
  The NRA really should stand for ``not relevant anymore'' in American 
politics. They should not control the agenda here on the floor of the 
Senate. We should be able to ban people on the terror watch list from 
buying guns. We should be able to ban these assault weapons from being 
sold at all inside of our country. The Senate leadership should stop 
banning a vote here on the Senate floor on ensuring that we do the 
research at the CDC on this relationship between mental health and the 
use of guns within our society.
  The bill that I have introduced calls for $10 million a year for the 
next 6 years. We can't even get the money to research gun violence in 
the United States of America.
  It doesn't have to be this way. We can change. We can learn these 
lessons, but we can't wait any longer to put those commonsense gun laws 
on the books. We cannot wait any longer to make our streets safer.
  So let's close the gun show loophole that allows anyone to go into 
one of these Kmarts full of killing machines and buy a gun without a 
background check. Let's close the loophole that allows domestic abusers 
to buy guns. Let's close the loophole that allows straw purchasers to 
buy guns and flood our streets with them. Let's repeal the Protection 
of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act and take away the gun manufacturers' 
immunity from civil liability. PLCAA should stand for ``protecting 
lives, creating arms accountability,'' not protecting these arms 
manufacturers from liability if these guns are used to kill innocent 
people in our society.
  So in the coming days and weeks, you can be assured that the National 
Rifle Association will be opposed to even these limited commonsense gun 
measures. The NRA has had a stranglehold over Congress for far too 
long. It is time to end its reign of power. It is time to end its 
viselike grip on the safety and security of our Nation. Those in 
Congress who do not support these commonsense measures are siding with 
those forces that make it easier for these massacres to happen. That is 
the bottom line of where we are. Now is the time to stand up for the 
families of Columbine, of Newtown, of Aurora, of Chattanooga, of 
Charleston, of San Bernardino, and now of Orlando, and of all of the 
cities across our country, which are saying: Enough is enough.
  I was so proud on Saturday to march in the Boston Gay Pride Parade. 
It was

[[Page 8564]]

a joyous occasion where love, community, and social justice were all 
celebrated with a passion and a real sense of progress. But as I woke 
up the next morning, I saw again how an individual armed with guns and 
fueled by extremist ideology can fuel violence and terror.
  We are a nation of hope, not hatred. After this tragedy, after this 
deplorable attack, let's denounce hate in all of its forms. Let's stand 
with the LGBT community and raise our voices with dignity, equality, 
and love. Let's say no to the rhetoric of hate that demonizes our 
friends and neighbors because of their faith, sexual orientation, or 
because of their country of origin. Let's recommit to justice and 
moving progress forward.
  The American people are begging, pleading for this institution to 
enact commonsense gun safety measures. My hope is that the Senate can 
succeed where it has recently failed and muster the political will and 
courage to deliver badly needed reform of our gun laws. Let's work 
together to do this and to help prevent yet another mass shooting in 
our country.
  I yield back.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Madam President, it is good to see the Presiding Officer 
this afternoon.
  This past weekend, Saturday, my wife and I went to New York City at 
the invitation of one of our sons. We visited the 9/11 Memorial in New 
York, literally erected on the site of the World Trade Center. I must 
confess it was emotionally charging, very saddening, and at the same 
time uplifting and inspiring.
  I never imagined that within the space of less than 24 hours we would 
see dozens of our young have their lives taken from them.
  I remember walking through the 9/11 Memorial--and for those who have 
not been, I urge you to go. For those who have, you probably remember 
going through parts of the memorial and literally seeing the faces of 
3,000 men, women, and some children whose lives were snuffed out that 
day some 15 years ago. Every one of them had moms and dads. They had 
grandparents. A number of them had children, spouses, brothers, 
sisters, cousins, nephews, and nieces. Those families struggle even 
today with their loss.
  The young people who died Saturday night, Sunday morning in a 
nightclub in Orlando, like those many folks whose faces we saw on 
Saturday, also have moms and dads, grandmoms, granddads, brothers, 
sisters, and cousins. Their families are mourning today just like 
others did 15 years ago.
  What I want to do is preface my remarks by reaching out across the 
miles to the families who are mourning, trying to deal with their 
losses, and let them know that we want to take you in our loving 
embrace. To the best of our ability, we also want to make sure we 
continue to take steps in this country to ensure we reduce the 
likelihood that these kinds of attacks are going to occur and that when 
they do, if they do, we are better prepared to deal with them.
  The killer, the man who took the lives of 49 people, demonstrated an 
act of hatred--in part, an act of terrorism but really an act of 
hatred. The question is, What do we do about it? Some would have us 
close our borders, the ability to come here even on a short-term basis: 
If you happen to be Muslim, we are going to keep you out. That is 
exactly what ISIS would like for us to do. There are 3.3 million 
Muslims in this country. The idea of somehow turning them against the 
rest of us, that is the kind of thing happening in some parts of 
Europe.
  Unlike Europe, we are a country where we accept the people who come 
to our shores. We accept them. When you were a stranger in my land, did 
you take me in? For us, for years, for decades, and for a couple of 
centuries, the answer has been yes. That doesn't mean we shouldn't very 
carefully check and test the backgrounds of the people who come here to 
make sure they are who they say they are, that they are not on a 
terrorist watch list. We have a bunch of those. We want to make sure 
our agencies and our terrorist watch lists are coordinated. We want to 
make sure our intelligence agencies are in close communication with one 
another.
  Part of the goal of ISIS is to make this a clash between the United 
States and the Muslim population here, 3.3 million people, and around 
the world. That is not what we should do. We should be smarter than 
that.
  One of the things we need to do is to continue the work that was 
begun from last year--I have said it often, I am going to say it 
again--to degrade and destroy those who would do us harm. Those who 
would do us enormous harm are trying to set up a caliphate. They are 
somehow using their religion, bastardizing their religion, and making 
it say things it doesn't even begin to say.
  What we need to do is make sure they get no further. The progress 
that has been made in terms of rolling them back was with the help of a 
coalition that includes 15 nations--16 nations. We are taking back a 
lot of the land and about to--I hope--take Fallujah and Mosul and 
continue there.
  When ISIS wannabes pop up in other countries, the idea is to work 
with our coalition in the countries that ISIS is trying to get a 
foothold in and make sure they are not successful. So it is a little 
like Whac-a-Mole--but it is not a game--and it is one we want to make 
sure they don't get a chance to get started there.
  If you look at the amount of money--ISIS used to make a lot of money 
selling oil. They take over oil refineries and oilfields, and they sell 
the oil on the black market. We have greatly diminished their ability 
to do that and greatly diminished their ability to make money. In some 
cases, we have figured out where they are keeping their cash stored, 
and we have gone in and destroyed literally hundreds of millions of 
dollars in their currency that they were harboring.
  There are a number of people coming from around the world to go to 
that part of the world--Iraq, Syria--who want to be ISIS volunteers. It 
is greatly diminished from what it was. It is down from 2,000 a month 
this time maybe last year to something that is just a fraction of that.
  In the United States not that long ago, early this year, maybe six 
people a month were going from the United States to the Middle East to 
be part of ISIS, and they are down to maybe one per month. It is still 
one too many, but we are headed in the right direction.
  The people who are being radicalized here by ISIS, ISIS is not 
sending people here to radicalize them. ISIS is basically trying to do 
this through social media, to use the Internet, and they are pretty 
good at it, but one of the things that will make them not so effective 
is once we demonstrate--and I think we are on our way to doing that--
that ISIS is a losing team. The people who are apparently claiming 
credit for it--or the killer in this case who killed all of our folks 
over the weekend, he was looking for a winning team. He is not a person 
who had a lot of wins in his life, and he wanted to be a part of a 
winning team. Our challenge is to make sure that anybody who is looking 
for a winning team or thinks they can, through radicalization, attacks, 
and terrorism--we need to make sure they know they are barking up the 
wrong tree.
  ISIS is a losing team. One of the ways we can do that is--the 
Presiding Officer along with me and a number of others on the Committee 
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs have been all over this 
issue for years. It led to the creation of the Department of Homeland 
Security. We continue to stay right on this issue, and we will probably 
be doing that for as long as any of us are in the Senate.
  Part of what we should be doing, aside from degrading and destroying 
ISIS--if we are smart, one of the things we need to do is reach out to 
the Muslim community in this country, unlike what has happened in 
places in Europe, where you have a lot of Muslim folks who are all 
segregated. They are not part of the culture. They are not welcomed so 
much in those countries. One of the things about us in America is we 
are a melting pot. We have been a melting pot forever. When I was a

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stranger in your land, did you take me in? For years, we said the 
answer is yes.
  The Department of Homeland Security has asked for authorization to be 
able to create our community partnership, to reach out to Muslim 
communities across America, to meet with parents, with young people, 
not so young people, face the community, and make it clear they are a 
part of this country, make sure they say to their own people, their own 
young people: Don't do this. Don't do what this guy did over the 
weekend in Orlando. That is not part of our religion. It is not part of 
their religion. Don't go there.
  The third thing we can do and ought to be doing is to strengthen our 
defenses at home.
  We had an active shooter situation for hours into the wee hours of 
Saturday evening to Sunday morning, an active shooter situation. It is 
not the first active shooter situation we have faced. They are not easy 
to deal with.
  One of the things the Department of Homeland Security can do, is 
doing, and ought to be doing more of, if given the resources, is doing 
active shooter training in police agencies all over the United States. 
If they ever face a situation such as this, they know what to do and 
they are able to be effective and save lives.
  The other thing I would mention in terms of resources, as the 
Presiding Officer knows, we put a fair amount of resources toward a 
fusion center. Sometimes people used to call them confusion centers, 
but actually they are a fusion center. They give the ability to State 
and local law enforcement agencies to work with the Feds to better 
ensure that information gathered locally works its way up the channel, 
up through the chain of command, to be shared nationally with other 
States and with the Federal Government, and to make sure the converse 
is true, to the extent that we gather useful information at the 
national level, international level, that we bring it down and we 
funnel it back into individual States through fusion centers so they 
act on that actionable intelligence.
  We need to work with energy in this regard. We need to work with a 
sense of urgency. We need to make sure, as we go through the 
appropriations process in the Senate in the days and weeks ahead, that 
we are putting resources, financial resources, where they need to go.
  A number of folks have asked me in interviews yesterday and today: 
What should we be doing about gun control? How does all of this relate 
to gun control? The answer is, I am not sure how this is going to 
affect the way we view guns. I believe in the Second Amendment right. I 
am sure the Presiding Officer does, a former Army colonel, retired 
colonel. I am a retired Navy captain, a Vietnam veteran. My dad was a 
chief petty officer in World War II and served for a long time as a 
chief petty officer in the Reserves after that. My dad was a hunter. He 
came from a family of hunters and taught me to be a hunter and a 
fisherman. One of the proudest possessions I own is a shotgun my 
grandfather gave me before he died. When I was in the Navy, I used to 
go back on leave from Southeast Asia, go visit my parents near 
Clearwater, FL, and stay in a guest bedroom. In the guest bedroom, 
under my bed where I slept, were guns. I opened the closet in the 
guestroom for my clothes, and there were guns. My father, in addition 
to being a hunter, actually bought and sold guns. He would basically 
sell them to people he knew. He felt they were not people who were 
mentally unstable or people who were felons, but he believed in the 
Second Amendment right. My dad also believed in common sense.
  My dad is now deceased, but if he were alive and he heard that people 
who are on terrorism watch lists can literally buy weapons, including 
assault weapons, automatic weapons, he would say: That doesn't make any 
sense. If he found out we could go to a gun show, and a person who is 
mentally unstable, has a history of mental illness, and maybe someone 
who is a convicted felon could actually walk into a gun show and go to 
a federally registered gun dealer, be denied the ability to purchase an 
assault weapon, and then go to the next table over with someone who is 
not a federally registered gun dealer and purchase the same weapon they 
had just been denied, in terms of what makes sense and doesn't make 
sense to my dad and frankly to me--his son--those situations don't make 
a whole lot of sense. Those are areas we ought to agree on.
  One of our colleagues, as the Presiding Officer knows, Senator Enzi 
from Wyoming, likes to talk about the 80-20 rule. It is a great rule. 
It says there is about 80 percent of the stuff we agree on and maybe 20 
percent of an issue we don't agree on. What we should do is focus on 
the 80 percent we agree on. My hope is--most Americans get it, in terms 
of making sure that folks who are on the terrorist watch list don't 
have access to buy weapons. They get it. I think they also get the idea 
that this gun show loophole is something that ought to be closed as 
well.
  I close by saying, in a sense, this is a test of our character as a 
nation. I said earlier our tradition has always been that we welcome 
people from disparate places, in some cases people fleeing oppression, 
lack of freedom, lack of religious opportunities and freedom of 
worship. That is the way we operate as a country.
  You don't open and read the Constitution--it doesn't say Matthew 25 
because we decided we are not going to establish a religion here. If we 
did, Matthew 25 says: When I was hungry, did you feed me? When I was 
thirsty, did you give me to drink? When I was naked, did you clothe me? 
When I was a stranger in your land, did you take me in?
  I think we have a moral obligation to the least of these, including 
those who are fleeing oppression in other places looking for an 
opportunity for a new life. I think we have a moral obligation to 
welcome them, but we have a moral obligation to those who live here, to 
make sure that as we welcome people from other places, we do not 
imperil them by those who arrive from other shores.
  The last thing I would say is, we need the kind of leadership in this 
body that seeks to really do what it says right over the Presiding 
Officer's head, where the Presiding Officer is sitting. The Latin 
words--I don't know a lot of Latin words but ``e pluribus unum''--from 
many, one. Those are words that we would be wise to remember from this 
day as we go forward.
  I think that is pretty much what I wanted to say. As this week goes 
on, I ask that my colleagues and I find out as much as we can, learn as 
much as we can, find out what went right and what went wrong, and do 
more of what went right. And at the end of the day, let's make sure we 
are true to the values on which this country was built.
  I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coats). The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, first of all, let me thank our colleague 
for his words. I certainly join him in mourning the horrible, tragic 
loss of life this weekend in Orlando. Certainly I am committed, along 
with all our colleagues, to fighting terror wherever it exists and 
whomever it targets. This was absolutely horrible.
  Mr. President, I also rise today in support of a really important 
piece of bipartisan legislation that I have been working on with 
Senator Shaheen. I have introduced it to reauthorize the Small Business 
Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs--
two vital small business programs in the Federal Government. We have an 
opportunity to accomplish this--to fully reauthorize and improve these 
programs--in the context of this Defense authorization bill that is on 
the floor now. I am very hopeful we are going to do that as part of a 
managers' package to the bill.
  These two programs--the Small Business Innovation Research and the 
Small Business Technology Transfer Programs--are really vital and 
useful to the success of small businesses directly responsible for 
creating thousands, tens of thousands of new jobs.
  By funding small businesses and entrepreneurs in the critical early 
stages of R&D, these programs allow firms to drive the innovation 
sector of the economy with new ideas and technologies.

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Very rarely have government programs had such a clear and measurable, 
positive and stimulating effect on the economy.
  SBIR and STTR are also crucial to Federal agencies as they solve many 
of our biggest science and technology challenges. Giving small, 
innovative firms access to already appropriated Federal R&D funding is 
a win-win--a win for the small business sector and just as importantly 
a win for the taxpayer and those agencies.
  These programs exist to foster innovation, to facilitate public-
private partnerships, to give firms the funding they need to help 11 
Federal departments and agencies meet their R&D needs. These programs 
not only create jobs, but they also lead to a path for 
commercialization for many of these businesses, which is absolutely key 
to their success.
  These programs have been front and center in improving our Nation's 
capacity to innovate. Over the course of the SBIR Program history from 
1982 to 2014--the last year for which we have numbers--Federal agencies 
have made more than 152,000 SBIR awards to small businesses to develop 
innovative technologies, and the total dollar amount awarded--again out 
of existing R&D budgets--is $42 billion.
  In 2014 alone, SBIR gave nearly 5,500 Phase I and Phase II awards 
worth about $2.2 billion, and the SBA is currently reporting an average 
of 5,000 awards per year. These awards are directly responsible for 
some of the most popular technologies that are available to the public 
today.
  For instance, through an SBIR award from the Air Force, we have 
created a technology known as LASIK, originally to correct vision for 
pilots, but that is a widely used technology to correct vision for all 
Americans. That was an SBIR success.
  Military armor has been a regular success of the SBIR Programs. 
ArmorWorks is a great example. That created over 350,000 top-of-the-
line body armor plates worn by U.S. service men and women in the United 
States.
  Liftware Spoon--a spoon that stabilizes hand tremors for patients 
with Parkinson's disease and essential tremor--again is a clear, 
identifiable, and important SBIR success story.
  HydroMARK decreases patient discomfort with a minimally invasive 
breast biopsy procedure. With the HydroMARK, a mammogram is no longer 
necessary and the surgeon or radiologist can use an ultrasound to 
locate the tumor. This is a huge innovation that has dramatically 
improved thousands of women's lives and, again, directly out of SBIR.
  Bioseal reduces lung collapse rates after lung biopsies.
  iRobot's Roomba is something I can relate to. It is moving around at 
home when I am there on the weekend. This is the popular autonomous 
robotic vacuum cleaner that has reached major commercial success, 
selling over 10 million units. That is directly out of SBIR.
  These programs we are talking about, which have been so successful, 
are set to expire September 30 of 2017. As many of my colleagues can 
attest, it was a tumultuous process to complete the last 
reauthorization, so we are starting early now so we don't go through 
that tumultuous process again. Back then--the last reauthorization--
participating agencies and firms had to endure a process that took over 
3 years and 14 short-term extensions. In a bipartisan effort with 
Senator Shaheen, we have been working for the last year to avoid all 
that and to do this ahead of time so we don't have all of that tumult 
and uncertainty, which saps the effectiveness of the program for a 
significant period of time.
  Reauthorizing these programs this year will ensure stability, foster 
an environment of innovative entrepreneurship, and avoid that 
uncertainty by directing more than $200 billion annually to this R&D 
funding to the Nation's small business firms.
  As chair of the Senate's Small Business Committee, I have made this a 
real priority. Senator Shaheen, as ranking member, has done the same. 
So I thank all of our committee members who are solidly behind this 
effort. I also thank so many other Members of the Senate who have been 
cooperative.
  In the context of this Defense bill, we have cleared our 
reauthorization amendment with the Senate Committee on Armed Services, 
and I want to specifically thank Senators McCain and Reed for their 
leadership. We have cleared it with the Commerce Committee because 
agencies under the jurisdiction of that committee are involved. We have 
cleared it with the HELP Committee. They have the same tangential 
relationship. We are the authorizing committee, but some agencies 
involved are under their jurisdiction. We have cleared it with everyone 
in sight, so that means we have a real opportunity to have this in the 
managers' package--which it is, as I speak--and to pass it through the 
Defense bill as a full reauthorization.
  I am also proud to share that not only will our reauthorization 
annually direct more than $2 billion of Federal R&D to small firms that 
are most likely to create jobs and commercialize their projects, but it 
will also establish the Regional SBIR State Collaborative Initiative 
Pilot Program to help low-participation States attract R&D funding for 
their businesses.
  All of this reauthorization is a true consensus effort, so I am 
grateful to the more than 50 organizations that strongly support it--
among them the Small Business Technology Council, the National Small 
Business Association and the Defense Alliance, and 47 more. It is a 
true consensus effort. They all support the effort, as does the 
leadership of SAS; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and the 
Commerce Committee. So it is an important opportunity that we shouldn't 
let fall through our grasp.
  Again, I want to stress that reauthorizing this program is an 
effective way to meet national needs while jump-starting entrepreneurs, 
growing our economy, and creating jobs.
  With that, Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support this 
consensus amendment and help ensure that small businesses across the 
country can operate with long-term certainty and stability, which this 
amendment will provide.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.


                        Mass Shooting in Orlando

  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, the atrocity that occurred this past 
weekend in Orlando, FL, was an attack on every American, and my deepest 
condolences are with the victims and the families of this appalling 
attack. I am grateful for our law enforcement and the first responders 
who bravely put their lives on the line to save others.
  This attack--the deadliest in American history since 9/11--was 
carried out by a gunman who pledged allegiance to ISIS. There are 49 
families who received phone calls this weekend--phone calls we all hope 
we never receive. There are 49 families who are arranging for funerals 
this week. They never dreamed they would be put in this position--the 
tragedy, the sorrow of the mothers, the fathers, the aunts, the uncles, 
the brothers, the sisters, the grandparents, the cousins, and friends 
who will all be attending funerals this week.
  Additionally, there are more than 50 families dealing with family 
members who were injured, some gravely, who are fighting for their 
lives as I speak.
  Montana is a long ways away from Orlando, but I can tell you that 
last night across our State there were vigils in Great Falls, Helena, 
Missoula, Bozeman, Butte, and Billings, MT. We stand united with 
Orlando.
  This threat of ISIS is continuing to grow each and every day. We need 
a strong strategy to destroy the growing threat of Islamic extremism--
Islamic extremism on our soil as well. President Obama, what is that 
strategy?
  We need to aggressively go after radical jihadists who seek to 
destroy our way of life and disturb the peace in our communities. The 
senseless hate of ISIS and radical Islam will not defeat us but, 
rather, strengthen our resolve and commitment to freedom.
  We need to remember that this was an act of terror on American soil, 
that this is a threat we face from radical Islam and ISIS, and that the 
worst response would be to politicize this and

[[Page 8567]]

use this tragedy to restrict our constitutional rights and freedoms.
  We cannot allow dangerous terrorists to hide in our communities. We 
need to seek them out and ensure they aren't able to inflict harm on 
our neighbors, our friends, and our families.
  May God comfort those who have been profoundly affected by this 
tragedy, and may God protect our men and women who are defending our 
country both here and abroad every day. We are a strong nation, and 
together we will protect our country and ensure victory over the 
terrorists who want to take away our very way of life here in America.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I wish to associate myself with the 
remarks of the junior Senator from Montana. I appreciate his coming to 
the floor today.
  I rise today with a heavy heart. Since I first heard the horrible 
news about the senseless act of terrorism in Orlando, the victims, the 
partners, and the families have been at the center of my thoughts and 
prayers. But thoughts and prayers are not enough. It is long past time 
for the Senate to come together and have a conversation about what 
steps need to be taken to put an end to this violence and hatred. We 
cannot continue to be crippled by inaction. The Senate needs to come 
together to strengthen our national security.
  After attacks like Orlando, we hear folks say ``Never again,'' but 
actions really do speak louder than words. It is time that we work 
together to try to prevent these senseless acts of terror and violence. 
That conversation begins with our national security and what needs to 
be done to keep our families and our communities safe.
  There are actions we can take right now to bolster our national 
security. There is no question that we must pass legislation that keeps 
guns out of the hands of terrorists. We absolutely do need to secure 
our borders. And we need to continue to crack down on insider threats 
by reforming our security clearance process.
  Intolerance and hate have no place in this country, and as elected 
leaders, we have a responsibility to ensure that every American can 
live their life each day free from fear.


                           Veterans First Act

  Mr. President, this Nation has made a sacred promise to the men and 
women who have served in our Armed Forces. These folks answered a call 
to duty, and they made selfless sacrifices to protect the freedoms we 
all enjoy. These heroes stood up for us, and now it is time for the 
Senate to stand up for them.
  Two years ago, when reports surfaced that veterans were dying while 
waiting to receive care at the VA, the Senate acted swiftly, and we 
passed legislation to build the capacity of the VA to better meet the 
needs of veterans now and into the future. Also included in that bill 
was the Veterans Choice Program, which allowed more veterans to seek 
care in their own community when they were unable to get timely care 
from the VA. Unfortunately, the Choice Program is broken. We have heard 
this from veterans and community leaders, from veteran service 
organizations, from Republicans and from Democrats.
  The intent of the Choice Program was a good one--to get veterans care 
more quickly--but the rollout has been disastrous, causing far too many 
veterans to wait even longer for an appointment. But because of the 
leadership of Chairman Isakson and Ranking Member Blumenthal, the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee came together in May and approved the 
Veterans First Act, which includes provisions that I and Senator Burr 
authored to fix the Choice Program. It also includes critical 
provisions to hold the VA accountable, increase veterans access to care 
both inside and outside the VA, and better deliver on the commitment 
this Nation has made to the folks who have served.
  Since this bill was unanimously passed out of committee back on May 
16, it has fallen victim to politics as usual, and a combination of 
anonymous holds and the majority leader's decision not to bring it to 
the floor have put this bipartisan piece of legislation, this good 
piece of legislation for our veterans, in limbo. And now there are only 
21 days left until the Senate is set to recess for nearly 2 months.
  I am concerned that the clock is running out and that this bipartisan 
bill will fall victim to the Senate's inaction. We cannot let business 
as usual here in Washington, DC, derail critically needed reforms. 
Veterans will not and should not accept excuses for the Senate not 
acting.
  This is a good bill. It is a bill that gives the VA the flexibility 
to work directly with community providers to connect veterans to the 
care they need so that the VA does not need to work through a 
middleman. This bill also provides the budget flexibility necessary to 
ensure veterans are routed to care in a manner that makes the most 
sense for them. It imposes stricter rules to ensure the VA is 
reimbursing community providers in a more timely manner. It also 
includes critical provisions that I helped author to ensure the VA is 
able to more quickly fill leadership vacancies at VA medical 
facilities.
  That is why today I am calling on the Senate to put politics aside, 
put personal agendas aside, and get this bill to the floor for debate 
and for an up-or-down vote. The millions of veterans who are still 
being forced to wait more than 30 days to schedule an appointment 
deserve that vote. The veterans who are still kept on long wait lists 
deserve that vote. And the folks who have sacrificed so much to protect 
and defend this country deserve that vote.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                        Mass Shooting in Orlando

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, early in the morning this past Sunday, the 
worst mass shooting in America's history took place. Forty-nine people 
were killed and 53 more wounded at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL. 
We don't know all the details, but we know that this was an act of 
terror and that it was an act of hate directed at the LGBT community.
  I want to begin by expressing my condolences to the victims, to their 
families and loved ones, and to the city of Orlando. I thank the first 
responders who ran toward the sound of gunfire, who literally risked 
their lives to save the lives of others.
  I express my support and solidarity with the LGBT community in 
Orlando and throughout the Nation. Many of the patrons at the Pulse 
nightclub were members of that community. They were simply enjoying a 
fun night out at an establishment that welcomed them.
  June is Pride Month. It is a month where we should take pride in the 
advances we have made toward equality since Stonewall in 1969. The LGBT 
movement has come a long way in protecting Americans' right to love the 
person they love. Yet this weekend's shooting is a sobering reminder 
that this community still remains a target of vicious hatred.
  As we mourn those we lost in Orlando, we must not lose our pride in 
what the LGBT movement has accomplished. We must stand in solidarity 
with our fellow LGBT Americans who will not let the hate of a few 
overcome the love of an entire community.
  The shooter who perpetrated this horrific attack has been identified 
as a 29-year-old U.S. citizen who was living in St. Lucie County, FL. 
The shooter reportedly entered the nightclub at about 2 a.m. on Sunday 
morning, armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun. He opened 
fire on the patrons and engaged in a shoot-out with an off-duty Orlando 
police officer who was working security at the nightclub. The shooter 
apparently held a number of hostages in the nightclub for several 
hours, until a SWAT team swarmed the

[[Page 8568]]

building, killing the gunman at about 5 a.m.
  Reportedly, the shooter called 9-1-1 to pledge allegiance to ISIS, 
even while the attack was under way. We do not yet know when and how 
this gunman may have been radicalized. Reportedly, he had been the 
subject of at least two FBI investigations in recent years regarding 
possible ties to terrorist groups. The shooter reportedly bought the 
two guns he used on Sunday within the last several days. He was able to 
buy these guns legally, despite the past investigations into his 
potential terrorist ties.
  Let's be clear. In America, our laws currently allow dangerous people 
to buy guns. That has to change. I respect the Second Amendment to our 
Constitution. That amendment protects the responsible use of guns for 
lawful purposes. But the Supreme Court has made it clear that it is 
constitutional to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Our 
lawmakers are simply not doing enough to keep guns out of the hands of 
dangerous people.
  Right now, the FBI cannot stop a known or suspected terrorist from 
walking into a gunshop and walking out with an AR-15, an assault 
weapon. The GAO found that between 2004 and 2014, suspected terrorists 
bought guns lawfully at least 2,043 times from American gun dealers.
  What are we thinking? Last December, when the Senate took up this 
measure, we failed on the floor of the Senate to pass legislation to 
close this terror gap loophole. The gap remains open, and we have 
failed to close the gaping loopholes in our own background check system 
that allow terrorists, criminals, and others to get guns without a 
background check from gun shows or over the Internet. Why do we make it 
so easy for people that we suspect of being involved in terrorism to 
buy guns--assault weapons, military-style guns?
  Last December, this Senate failed again to pass Manchin-Toomey, a 
bill that would close many of these loopholes. This was a bipartisan 
bill, yet we couldn't pass it on the floor of the Senate.
  We know our weak gun laws make us vulnerable, but we have not acted 
to strengthen them. In fact, almost every week we see efforts in 
Congress to further weaken gun laws in America.
  Hundreds of men, women, and children are shot every day in America, 
and on average 91 of those victims die. It is an epidemic of gun 
violence that has devastated families and communities in every State. 
No community has been hit harder than the city of Chicago--the city I 
am honored to represent and the city I love and a city where this past 
weekend, 44 people were shot, 7 of them fatally. More than 1,650 people 
have been shot so far this year in Chicago, with at least 282 victims 
dying from their wounds.
  The tragedy of Orlando is that it all happened in a few hours. The 
tragedy of gun violence in Chicago is that it happens almost every day.
  Across the Nation, we have seen Americans gunned down in nightclubs, 
elementary schools, churches, temples, movie theaters, health care 
clinics, malls, colleges, and our homes and our neighborhoods.
  We need to wake up and act to reduce this violence. Thoughts and 
prayers are important but not sufficient. We need votes and laws to 
keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Can't we agree on that? 
The responsibility lies right here. We have that responsibility and 
that opportunity.
  This weekend's act of hate and terror in Orlando has been condemned 
by Americans of all backgrounds and all faiths, and Orlando has 
received an extraordinary outpouring of support and solidarity from all 
across the United States and around the world.
  We do stand united against ISIS and its efforts to promote mass 
shootings and acts of terror. We stand in support of the LGBT 
community--the latest target of this terrorist attack. This solidarity 
is important. Our efforts to defeat ISIS and keep America safe from 
hate and terror are strengthened when our Nation and the world stand 
united. We must not let the actions of a hateful few divide us and 
prevent us from working together to combat this evil.
  We also must not let this act of hate and terror lead to hostility 
against the Muslim community in America. The American Muslim community 
has stood with all Americans in condemning Sunday's mass shooting. 
American Muslim leaders immediately spoke out and condemned the attack. 
Muslim Floridians donated blood and money to help the victims and 
survivors.
  In the coming days, there will be those who say we should respond to 
this attack by discriminating against innocent American Muslims and 
immigrants. But the solution to hate is not more hate; it is unity.
  In Orlando, they understand this. In a news conference after the 
shooting, a representative of Equality Florida recognized the unity 
between the LGBT and Muslim communities, stating that his organization 
``stands in solidarity with the Muslim and Islamic community in 
opposition to the intolerance, discrimination, and hate crimes that 
both of our communities experience.''
  That was a statement by the representative of Equality Florida about 
Muslims in Florida itself. It is unfortunate that the presumptive 
Republican Presidential nominee, Donald Trump, does not understand 
this. In response to the Orlando attack, Mr. Trump wasted no time 
calling again for a ban on all Muslims immigrating to the United 
States.
  General Michael Hayden is no softy, no liberal. He was Director of 
the CIA, and the National Security Agency under President George W. 
Bush. Here is what General Hayden said of Mr. Trump's response to the 
attack: ``Prejudiced, simplistic, and frankly inaccurate.'' General 
Hayden has pointed out that banning all Muslim immigration would not 
make us safer and actually helps ISIS recruit those who hate the United 
States.
  As we mourn those we have lost, we must also roll up our sleeves and 
get to work. We must pursue smart, commonsense reforms to keep 
dangerous, hateful people from getting their hands on dangerous 
weapons. America just suffered its deadliest mass shooting event in 
history--worse than San Bernardino, worse than Newtown, worse than 
Virginia Tech. If there was ever a time for Congress to do its job and 
keep guns out of dangerous hands, this is it.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to address the 
Senate as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, first and foremost, I wish to send my 
heartfelt sympathy to those who have lost loved ones in Orlando, FL, in 
Orange County, yesterday in a tragic event. I want to express my great 
appreciation to the people of Orlando who volunteered their blood, 
their families, and their houses to help support those victims; to the 
EMTs who rushed into harm's way to save lives--and they did save 
lives--and to the hospital trauma team that did an amazing job of 
responding instantaneously to a tragedy beyond anybody's comprehension.
  We are very sad in America today by the terrible attack that took 
place and those who would perpetrate it. I, for one, am going to roll 
up my sleeves and work to see to it that wherever radical Islamic 
terrorism is, I want to root it out and I want to destroy it. You 
cannot accept or tolerate what happened yesterday, and we must redouble 
our effort to follow it wherever it leads us and to wipe it out and to 
eradicate it. I, as one Senator, will promise to do that.


              Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Bill

  Mr. President, I am one of those guys who usually is very supportive 
of going to cloture and going on motions to proceed on just about 
anything because I think the Senate is the most deliberative body in 
the world and we ought to do that. But tomorrow, shortly after 11 
o'clock, I am going to vote no on the motion to proceed to the 
Commerce-Justice-Science bill. I want to memorialize why on the floor 
of the Senate tonight so everybody is clear and understands.

[[Page 8569]]

  There is report language in the Commerce-Justice-Science portion of 
the appropriations bill that directly interjects this Congress, this 
Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives into a tristate water 
compact misunderstanding among the States of Georgia, Alabama, and 
Florida that has gone on for 27 years.
  I know that is of no interest to the Presiding Officer from Indiana, 
nor to the Senator who just preceded me from Chicago, IL, nor anybody 
else, but what is of interest to you would be any time that Congress 
decided to interject its nose in your business. Tomorrow, if the motion 
to proceed brings it to the floor, it will be injecting 100 Senators 
into an issue among 6 Senators. That is not the right way to do it. In 
fact, the tristate water compact, which has been off and on in 
negotiations for 26 years, is at its closest point of being finally 
decided in a court of law. The judge and the special master recently 
notified us that they will hear the final case on the tristate water 
compact in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida this November. So the issue is 
going to be resolved.
  We have no place as a Senate or as a Congress to inject ourselves 
into a case that is pending litigation in the courts between States on 
issues that are purely theirs--except for the fact that over the years, 
for nefarious reasons and unpleasant reasons, sometimes Congress has 
from time to time thwarted water control manuals, thwarted the 
authority of the Corps of Engineers from doing its job, all over 
litigation of the ACF and AC basins in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.
  I want to bring a resolution. I want all the States to have an 
adequate supply of water. I want us to be cooperative and work 
together, and I want us to do it the right way. The right way is to not 
interject ourselves at the last minute in an appropriations bill with 
nefarious language that can't be touched that is in the report language 
but, instead, to pull that language out, as I will try to do with an 
amendment on the floor. If I am unsuccessful, I will try to do an 
amendment that counteracts that language, to see to it that Congress 
does not stick its nose in a place that it does not belong.
  I like to be cooperative. I like to move forward. I don't want to 
slow down progress. But I was sent here to represent 10.4 million 
people in the State of Georgia and, by golly, I am going to do it. If 
somebody is trying to inject themselves beyond the appropriate place, I 
am going to do everything I can to stop them. The way I will start that 
tomorrow will be to vote no on the motion to proceed to go to the 
Commerce-Justice-Science bill.
  I yield back my time.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                        Mass Shooting in Orlando

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to talk about the 
horror of Orlando, and I know so many Members of the Senate on both 
sides of the aisle have been thinking about those who lost their lives 
and talking about this horror that once again has impacted everyone 
from one end of America to the other.
  I won't speak for a long time tonight other than to say--which I 
think is plainly evident from the evidence we have right now at this 
point in the investigation--that this was first an act of terror and it 
was also an act of hate. I think both are significant because of the 
impact they have on our country over time.
  I think there is a strong belief that the first thing we must do is 
to express not just condolence but solidarity with the people of 
Orlando, the people of Florida, and to do what we can to help them and 
help those communities and families who lost so much in such a short 
timeframe. At last count, there are 50 dead and more than 50 injured. 
There will be some who say that beyond that, there is not much we can 
do, that we should just stay where we are now and not change the laws. 
I don't agree with that, and I won't dwell on a long list tonight, but 
I hope at some point we can begin to reengage on a number of issues and 
at least have a full debate and also a series of votes on a couple of 
measures which I think are common sense. These are issues that we voted 
on I believe most recently in 2013, and I was hoping we would vote on 
them after that.
  One of the votes had to do with a ban on military-style weapons. I 
think it would be appropriate to at least debate and vote on it. I 
would vote in favor of it, and some would not. We should certainly have 
a vote on the size of the clips, or the magazines. To put it plainly, 
how many bullets should one person have in their possession or as part 
of the weapon at any one time? Should someone be allowed to go into any 
kind of establishment and start shooting, thereby releasing rounds and 
rounds of ammunition and hundreds and hundreds of bullets? Should that 
be permitted to anyone at any time or anywhere? I don't think so.
  If someone is on the terror watch list and that person has been 
deemed so dangerous that we have labeled him or her as a terrorist or 
potential terrorist and he or she can't get on an airplane, certainly 
that person should not have a weapon. That seems to make sense. If they 
are too dangerous to get on a plane because of their tendency to commit 
acts of violence or engage in terror, they shouldn't be able to have a 
firearm. I think it would make sense to have a debate and vote on that 
issue.
  Another issue is background checks. That was one measure where there 
was a lot of consensus or substantial bipartisan support, but it didn't 
pass in 2013. I hope we can have another vote on that.
  If a person is not able to get through a background check due to a 
whole variety of reasons, such as having a criminal record or 
otherwise, you have to ask yourself, should someone with a criminal 
record have access to a firearm?
  Mr. President, today I have introduced the Hate Crimes Prevention 
Act, S. 3053. That is a new proposal to do what some States have done 
already. I think it is essential to add this to the other pieces of 
legislation that have been talked about and some that I just itemized.
  This bill, first of all, would define what a misdemeanor hate crime 
is because the intent of the bill is to say: If you are convicted of a 
misdemeanor hate crime, you shouldn't have access to a firearm. This 
category of misdemeanors would be under Federal, State, or tribal law 
that are found to be motivated, at least in part, by hate or bias 
against the victim's race, color, religion, national origin, gender, 
sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. In essence, these 
eight categories are what some would call, to use the more legal 
jargon, the protected classes. That is how we would define a 
misdemeanor hate crime.
  This bill, upon passage, would keep firearms out of the hands of 
those convicted of misdemeanor hate crimes. It would prohibit the 
purchase, possession, or shipment of a firearm by anyone convicted of a 
misdemeanor hate crime. That is the basics of the bill. Obviously it 
doesn't have direct application to what happened in Orlando; however, 
upon further investigation, we may find that it does. Part of the 
reason for this is because there has been a rise not only in hate 
crimes but in hate groups across the country, with hundreds more in 
just the last couple of years, and literally thousands more, if not 
more, hate crimes have been committed.
  Those issues I mentioned are among the many things we need to 
address. I also think that in addition to taking these steps on 
commonsense gun measures, we have to make sure law enforcement has the 
resources it needs to take on the challenge of not just criminal 
activity but increasingly almost

[[Page 8570]]

terroristic activity within our communities--the so-called lone wolf 
terrorist, the homegrown terrorist, the individual who is self-
radicalized, which seems to be part of the horror of Orlando. We have 
to make sure that if law enforcement professionals tell us they need 
more money in the COPS Program, we should appropriate more money. If 
the law enforcement professionals say: Please fund that program that 
has worked for so many years, such as the Byrne Justice assistance 
grants, we should make sure they have those appropriations. If you are 
tough on law enforcement--that is nice to say, but it is better to 
prove it by how you vote.
  Finally, of course, we have to continue to focus on what is a major 
component, of course, of Orlando and San Bernardino and so many other 
places, and that is violent extremism in communities across the 
country. We have to make sure we are working with local law enforcement 
and Federal authorities not only to give them the resources they need 
but to be able to coordinate and do our best to unearth plots before 
they transpire and to be able to take this fight directly to a 
terrorist, many of whom are in our midst here in the United States.
  We have a lot to do. It is not simply a question of what we do on a 
series of commonsense gun measures, it is also a question of what we 
are going to do to help our law enforcement and to work as hard as we 
can in a bipartisan way to debate and vote on measures that will keep 
our country safe and protect our homeland.
  Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more of a rise in these 
individuals who are, as I mentioned before, self-radicalized and 
sometimes categorized as a lone wolf. We have to make sure we are doing 
everything possible to identify them, apprehend them, and make sure we 
are thwarting these plots ahead of time. It may not work in every 
instance, but we have to take every measure possible. I think part of 
that is doing what I hope we can do as a matter of preventive steps. If 
someone is engaging in hate and taking action against others, even if 
it only rises to the level of a misdemeanor, they shouldn't have access 
to a firearm. We want to nip this in the bud, stop it long before that 
hate continues and develops into the kind of hate that leads to a much 
greater and more lethal attack on Americans.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________