S3032 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 22, 2019 President Trump has been pursuing a Let me talk about my friends in the There are issues where our Demo- provocative and incomprehensible pol- House of Representatives first. I have cratic friends and my Republican icy of regime change in Iran, trying at great respect for them. I wish I had friends have more in common than we one moment to flatter and meet with served in the House. I would have loved don’t. We need to bring the bills to the President Rouhani to negotiate and to have had that experience. So far, our floor of the Senate. Everyone has their then the next moment threatening to friends in the House—at least the lead- own list, and everyone in the Senate obliterate Iran from the planet. Presi- ership—have done two things. No. 1, knows what I am talking about, wheth- dent Trump withdrew from that nu- they have passed bills they know have er they will say it or not. clear agreement and tried to starve not a hope in Hades of passing the U.S. What is one of the things that moms Iran of the agreed benefits it was to re- Senate. We call those bills messaging and dads worry about when they lie ceive from that deal. bills, as you know. They are not de- down at night and can’t sleep? The cost Let me be clear, there is no doubt signed for the next generation. They of prescription drugs. There is bipar- that Iran is responsible for dangerous are designed for the next election. tisan support for prescription drug re- conduct around the world, which I will They don’t do anything to make the form. never approve of, but an Iran with nu- American people any more secure or I just read a study in the Journal of clear weapons is dramatically more improve the quality of their lives, and the American Medical Association. dangerous than one without. The Presi- we all know that. They studied the U.S. healthcare deliv- dent doesn’t understand that basic The second thing that my friends in ery system and the healthcare delivery fact. Why not push back against Iran the House leadership have done—and I systems of all other wealthy countries. without withdrawing from the nuclear say this with all the respect I can mus- So it is apples to apples. In America, agreement? Why give them the pretext ter—is to harass the President. we pay about $1,500 for every man, for belligerence and undermine our Again, I say this gently, and I say woman, or child every year for pharma- credibility with the global powers that this, hopefully, constructively to my ceutical drugs. In the average rich joined us in that nuclear agreement? friends in the House leadership: The country, other countries pay $750. The tragic end result of this Presi- House leadership needs to urinate or I am not criticizing our pharma- dent’s incoherent policy in Iran is that get off the pot. The House leadership ceutical drug companies. What they do our allies are united against us, and needs to indict the President of the is marvelous. We live longer. They save Iran may restart nuclear activities United States, impeach him, and let us money. They keep us out of hospitals. within the next few weeks. President hold a trial—he will not be convicted— But why is everybody else paying $750 Trump’s policy at the direction of Mr. or they need to go ahead and hold in and our people are paying $1,500? There Bolton seems to have only increased contempt every single member of the are things we can do that will help regional tensions, incentivized Iran to Trump administration so we can move make the pharmaceutical industry bet- restart its nuclear weapons program, those issues into our court system and ter but also help consumers. Do you know what we are doing about it? and fomented a pretext for another get back to doing the people’s business. Middle Eastern war. Now, if they decide to go the court Nothing. We need to bring a bill to the This Congress, too often a route, I would caution my friends to be floor. I could give you another example. We rubberstamp for this President’s worst very, very careful because once it en- all know there needs to be reform of behavior, must do more in the next few ters the court system, it becomes a our National Emergency Act. We know weeks and months to stop this effort zero-sum game. One or two things are that. It is not about President Trump. based on the briefing we received yes- going to happen. Either the adminis- terday. Wars are so easy to get into It is about institutions, checks and bal- tration will win, in which case the and so difficult to get out of. When I ances, and Madisonian separation of oversight authority of the U.S. Con- hear our advisers, in general terms, powers. gress will be undermined, or the House talking about short wars, I think about We could do something together to leadership will win, in which case no Iraq, and I think about Afghanistan get rid of spam robocalls. I get about 12 American with a brain above a single- and the fact that, 18 years later, with a day. cell organism is going to want to run gravestones all across the United ROB PORTMAN has a great bill that for President of the United States, be- States, we are still paying the price for would end government shutdowns. We cause Congress will be able to find out decisions that were made so long ago. have more in common on that than we everything about your life, even the Let us think twice before we engage in don’t. direct military confrontation with any most intimate details, whether it is We need a supplemental disaster bill. country and, certainly, with Iran. relevant to your job or not and whether We have Americans who are hurting. In I yield the floor. it happened when you were President my State, after Katrina, we were flat The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- or not. on our backs. If it hadn’t been for the ator from Maine. What I hope happens is that my American taxpayer, we would have (The remarks of Ms. COLLINS per- friends in the House leadership and the never risen to our knees, much less to taining to the introduction of S. 1602 administration sit down and talk—not our feet. We have other Americans and are printed in today’s RECORD under talk like 8-year-olds in the back of a friends in Puerto Rico who need help. ‘‘Statements on Introduced Bills and minivan fighting but talk construc- We ought to be able to work it out. Joint Resolutions.’’) tively about how their behavior could I could keep going. Everybody has Ms. COLLINS. I yield the floor. impact important institutions in this their own list. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- country—and work it out. I don’t care whether we move a bill ator from Louisiana. I thank the Attorney General for through committee or whether we SENATE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA making overtures to the House leader- bring a bill directly to the floor of the Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I don’t ship to try to find common ground. Senate—I am in labor, not manage- have a speech prepared. I just want to Now, let me talk about the Senate. ment; that is above my pay grade—but share a few thoughts with my col- We need to do more. I am not saying we need to try. We need to try. leagues. What I am about to say I in- we haven’t done anything. We have I understand it is an election cycle. I tend to say gently and constructively, confirmed some very important nomi- get that. I say to the Presiding Officer, and that is this: We need to do more. nees to the Trump administration. It is I am a politician. You know that. But We need to do more. By ‘‘we,’’ I mean long overdue. They are fine men and we are always in an election cycle. the U.S. Congress. women. We have confirmed some very When are we not in an election cycle? We have completed almost 25 percent fine men and women to the Federal Ju- And I understand some of my col- of the time allotted to this current diciary, and I believe they will make leagues with a lot more experience Congress. And what have we done? this country safer and will make this than I have—and I listen carefully to Other than nominations, which are im- country better. I am very proud of that them, and I try to listen carefully to portant—and I will come back to effort. So let me say it again. I am not them—are thinking right now: Ken- that—we have done nothing—zero, saying we have done nothing. I am say- nedy, that is just not the way it is done zilch, nada. ing we need to do more. here.

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G22MY6.024 S22MYPT1 May 22, 2019 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S3033 Well, by God, maybe it is not, but It found shared post office mail drops, of its money came from those anony- maybe it should be. common contractors and officers mous and Koch brothers’ donations. I know some of my friends are think- across nominally separate entities, The National Review jumped into the ing: Kennedy, if we do that, we are tak- even common presidents of nominally fray and noted the Medium post on its ing too big of a political risk. separate entities. In these characteris- website. The nub of their criticism was Maybe we are. Maybe we will win. tics, it has some resemblance to money that although I was right, the Scalia I just think that there are bills that laundering and crime syndicates. Law School had indeed received mil- will make the American people able to What else did they find? They found lions in anonymous and Koch brothers’ live better lives, and we ought to spend dark money funders, anonymous adver- money. That money had gone to fund a little more time thinking about the tising, enormous pay packages for the scholarships, not to the anti-regu- next generation than the next election. operatives, and judicial lists prepared latory Center for the Study of the Ad- With that, I suggest the absence of a secretly. It found $250 million in dark ministrative State. quorum. money flowing through this apparatus. Let’s start by assuming that is true. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The The story turns up familiar dark I will tell you, if I gave $30 million to clerk will call the roll. money political funders like the Mer- my alma mater ‘‘for scholarships,’’ I The senior assistant bill clerk pro- cers and the National Rifle Associa- would expect a thank-you. I expect ceeded to call the roll. tion, but it also exposes groups that they would see a gift of $30 million in Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I are harder to spot, which may not have scholarships as a benefit to the school. ask unanimous consent that the order garnered much attention before but If they were asked ‘‘Has Senator for the quorum call be rescinded. serve central functions in Leonard WHITEHOUSE ever given you a gift?’’ I The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. COT- Leo’s court-fixing apparatus. would expect them to say ‘‘Yes, he TON). Without objection, it is so or- A few weeks ago I delivered remarks gave us a $30 million scholarship fund.’’ dered. on the Senate floor about the sweeping I might even expect a nice press re- THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY influence of Leonard Leo and the Fed- lease. So I don’t buy the ‘‘this was just Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, on eralist Society court-fixing scheme. I scholarships money’’ dodge around tell- Tuesday, the Washington Post pub- touched on one Federalist Society ing the truth to the Judiciary Com- lished an important piece of investiga- product of this scheme in particular: mittee. tive journalism. The journalists looked the newly confirmed DC Court of Ap- But look a little more. In 2016, into a very narrow, very wealthy group peals judge, Neomi Rao. I described George Mason University, indeed, re- of special interests seeking to control some pretty straightforward facts ceived a $10 million donation from the our Federal judiciary. It was a reveal- about Rao. Her connection to the Fed- Charles Koch Foundation and, indeed, ing story, one that matters a great eralist Society is no secret. Sitting on did receive a $20 million donation from deal to the Senate and to the people we the DC Circuit right now, her bio still an anonymous donor. Both gifts came serve. I come to the floor today to dis- appears on the Federalist Society with grant agreements, and these grant cuss that tightening special interest website along with the list of 26 times agreements were among the Virginia grip on our courts. she has been featured—26 times she has open records documents. So we can The central operative in this court- been featured at Federalist Society learn a little bit more. fixing scheme is Leonard Leo of the events. The grant agreements stipulate that Federalist Society, the organization at Before being nominated for one of the the money was intended to fund the center of this effort. As I described most influential courts in the country, ‘‘scholarships’’ but also specify that here on the Senate floor several weeks which some call the second highest gifts were conditioned on the school’s ago, there are three incarnations of the court in the land, she had never been a providing ‘‘funding . . . and support Federalist Society. judge, she had never tried a case. In- for’’—you guessed it—Neomi Rao’s The first is a debating society for stead, she had served as the Trump ad- Center for the Study of the Adminis- conservatives at law schools. They con- ministration’s point person for helping trative State. vene panels and forums for like-mind- big Republican donors tear down Fed- That is not all we found. Private ed, aspiring lawyers to talk about con- eral safety regulations. She did this as communications revealed with the servative ideas and judicial doctrine. the head of the White House’s Office of grant agreements show that the Koch That is all fine. Information and Regulatory Affairs, Foundation and their handpicked law The second is a flashy Washington, OIRA. That is not disputed. school administrators viewed all of this DC, think tank. They attract big-name Before that, she founded something money as fungible. lawyers, scholars, and politicians— provocatively called the Center for the I earlier said that if I gave $30 mil- even Supreme Court Justices—to their Study of the Administrative State at lion, I might expect a press release. events. They publish and podcast. They George Mason University’s Antonin The Antonin Scalia Law School did a hold black tie galas. I don’t agree with Scalia Law School. Her center is a cog press release. Its announcement of this the work they do, but I don’t question in Leonard Leo’s machine. funding stated: ‘‘The scholarship their right to do it. Let’s revisit Rao’s testimony before money will also benefit the institution The third Federalist Society is what the Senate Judiciary Committee about because it frees up resources that can was exposed in the Post article. It is the funding for the Center for the be allocated for other priorities, in- something much, much darker, both in Study of the Administrative State. She cluding additional faculty hires and its funding and in its function. It is a testified that neither the Koch Founda- support for academic programs.’’ vehicle for powerful interests seeking tion nor any anonymous donors had It didn’t end there. The documents to ‘‘reorder’’ the judiciary under their funded her center. Well, a trove of doc- keep telling us more. They include a control so as to benefit their corporate uments obtained by me, the New York progress report—a progress report—to rightwing purposes. It seeks to accom- Times, and others showed that was not the Koch Foundation. Under the head- plish by judicial power grab what the true. A Virginia open records request ing ‘‘most pressing needs,’’ Dean Henry Republican Party has been unable to had revealed that an anonymous donor Butler wrote to the Koch Foundation: accomplish through the open Demo- funneling its dark money donation ‘‘Cash is King (scholarships are cash).’’ cratic process. through Leonard Leo and the Charles In that same memo to the Koch Foun- This third, dark Federalist Society Koch Foundation in fact donated $30 dation—which, by the way, is kind of a understands the fundamental power million intended to flow to her organi- bizarre document to exist in the first through the Federal judiciary to rig zation, her Center for the Study of the place, unless this is kind of a front for the system in favor of special interests. Administrative State. Koch brothers’ political activities— So what did the Post find out about Well, my remarks drew quite a reac- Dean Butler also made clear that Rao’s how our judges on the most important tion. The center’s current director center had indeed received hundreds of courts in the country are selected? It took to Medium to post a 2,500-word re- thousands in funding from an anony- found a network of front groups. It buttal. He claimed I was all wrong mous donor, just as I charged, and fur- found shell entities with no employees. about the center’s funding—that none ther made clear that Rao’s center was

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