[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7667-7668]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session 
to consider Calendar No. 52, Robert Lighthizer to be U.S. Trade 
Representative.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Robert 
Lighthizer, of Florida, to be United States Trade Representative, with 
the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination 
     of Robert Lighthizer, of Florida, to be United States Trade 
     Representative, with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and 
     Plenipotentiary.
         Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Mike Rounds, Orrin G. 
           Hatch, Thom Tillis, Steve Daines, Mike Crapo, Pat 
           Roberts, Thad Cochran, Luther Strange, John Thune, 
           Richard C. Shelby, John Hoeven, John Boozman, Rob 
           Portman, Jerry Moran, David Perdue.

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture motion be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Orders for Wednesday, May 10, 2017

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the 
Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m., 
Wednesday, May 10; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the 
morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved 
to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use 
later in the day; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate be 
in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak 
therein for up to 10 minutes each.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                Program

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, we 
expect to have a rollcall vote on the motion to proceed to H.J. Res. 
36, the methane CRA resolution of disapproval, at approximately 10 a.m. 
tomorrow morning.


                         Order for Adjournment

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come 
before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned 
under the previous order, following the remarks of Senator Sullivan.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Rubio). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The assistant Democratic leader.


                       Termination of James Comey

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the termination and removal of James Comey 
as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation raises a critical 
question as to whether the FBI investigation of Russian interference in 
the last Presidential campaign will continue and whether the 
investigation into any collusion or involvement by the Trump campaign 
will be investigated by the FBI. Any attempt to stop or undermine this 
FBI investigation would raise grave constitutional issues.
  We await clarification by the White House as soon as possible as to 
whether this investigation will continue and whether it will have a 
credible lead so that we know it will have a just outcome.
  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. 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.
  The Senator from Alaska.


                         Tribute to Sherry Bess

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, every week I have been coming to the 
floor to recognize someone in my State who has made a difference, 
someone who has devoted time and energy to making my State a better 
place to live for others. We call these individuals our Alaskan of the 
Week.
  As I have said repeatedly, I believe my State is the most beautiful 
State in the country. We have visitors. We want to welcome more and 
more visitors. Come on up. I guarantee it will be the trip of a 
lifetime.
  When you go to Alaska, one town that nobody should miss is Homer, AK. 
It is surrounded by the glistening waters of Kachemak Bay, jagged 
mountains, glaciers, and snowcapped volcanoes. Some people call it the 
Halibut Fishing Capital of the World. Others call it the Cosmic Hamlet 
by the Sea. Some, like me, call it a slice of Heaven.
  I was there a few weeks ago holding a community meeting. I thanked 
them then, and I want to thank them all today for the very warm welcome 
I received.
  I also wish to thank Homer for the very warm welcome they gave to 
Navy destroyer USS Hopper, which spent a few days in Homer before 
participating in a joint naval exercise with the Army in the Gulf of 
Alaska. The 300-member crew of the USS Hopper was greeted by hundreds 
of cheering, flag-waving Homer residents. The commander of the Hopper, 
J.D. Gainey, wrote that in his 24 years of naval service, ``I have 
never seen as much patriotism as we enjoyed in Homer.'' Thank you, 
Homer, from all of us. Alaskans love Homer.
  They see it for the landscape but also for the people. It is a tight-
knit community. They might not always agree with one another, 
particularly with regard to politics, but they look out for each other. 
Like any community with

[[Page 7668]]

a heart, they look out for their animals.
  This week I want to recognize a special person as our Alaskan of the 
Week, Sherry Bess, who spent nearly 30 years--three decades--taking 
care of Homer's animals as the manager of the Homer Animal Shelter. In 
1989, when Sherry began to volunteer at the pet shelter in Homer, there 
was one building, no phone, and only four cages to hold cats. ``It was 
basically a shack,'' she said. The snow would come in through the dog 
door. The drains in the water bowls would freeze. Sherry's hands and 
feet were always cold, and it was infested with mice. There was no 
bathroom. Oftentimes, when the shelter was too busy and when the 
animals needed extra care, Sherry would take them to her home, where 
she would care for them.
  Sherry and a handful of residents cared for over 1,200 animals each 
year in that little shelter. Along the way, she gathered both happy 
stories and heartbreaking stories about the animals she found that were 
abused and the ones she found homes for. In fact, one of the members of 
my team in Alaska took a puppy that had been abandoned in a crate in 
the woods near Homer, took him home, fed him, and Mick Fleagle on my 
staff now has a dog. His dog Sookie, 8 years old, has the full reign of 
the house. He is loved.
  Thanks to Sherry, stories like that abound throughout Homer. For 26 
years, she has worked night and day, 7 days a week, for the pets in 
that community. She recently stepped down from that job. She is taking 
care of her own pets, lots of them--her family she calls them--but she 
will always be known to so many people in Homer for what she has done 
for their pets and their animals.
  ``Over the years, those animals that came to me,'' she said, ``. . . 
unwanted and sad and depressed, and then you help them and you love 
them and they go to a home and they're loved. That's the most rewarding 
thing about what I did.''
  Sherry said over the years she has noticed that the residents of 
Homer and throughout the country have been kinder to their pets. Part 
of that is the result of what Sherry and others like her across the 
country do to educate the public on taking care of animals through 
vaccinations, neutering. Some of it is more and more because people 
like Sherry are considering pets as their families.
  So I want to thank Sherry, as our Alaskan of the Week, for all she 
has done and for all she has done for pets in our great State. Great 
job.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________