E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 165 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 No. 181 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was crease of 4,000 from the previous year. at George Mason University’s Antonin called to order by the President pro However, the number of children wait- Scalia Law School. tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). ing for adoption also increased. That Even the American Bar Association’s f number rose to 125,000. Unfortunately, Standing Committee on the Federal teenagers, sibling groups, and those Judiciary, which has lately—lately PRAYER with medical challenges often wait made headlines for treating President The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- much longer to be adopted. Every child Trump’s nominees in a less-than-even- fered the following prayer: deserves a safe, permanent, loving handed way, has rated this nominee Let us pray. home, so I want to commend all those ‘‘well-qualified.’’ Eternal God, hear us when we cry to who have chosen to adopt children in Obviously, a majority of our col- You. You have been our help in ages foster care. leagues on the Judiciary Committee past and our hope for the years to If you wonder where I get the opinion concurred, and now the entire Senate come. that it is unfortunate that people want will have the opportunity to confirm You don’t keep a record of our trans- a permanent, safe, and loving home, all yet another outstanding jurist to the gressions but shower us daily with you have to do is listen to the kids in Federal bench. mercy and forgiveness. Great is Your the foster care system, and you always I urge each of my colleagues to join faithfulness. get this response: What I would like to me in supporting Steven Menashi’s As our Senators wait for the unfold- have is a mom and dad, and I would nomination this week. ing of Your powerful providence, give like to have a home. In other words, f them Your peace. Lord, may they cling they get tired of being shuffled around to Your promises knowing that You from one foster home to another foster TURKEY AND SYRIA will lead them to a desired destination. home, to another foster home. That is Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, now Give them the wisdom to trust Your where I come from in recognizing No- on another matter, today President unconditional love and Your willing- vember as National Adoption Month. Trump will host the leader of Turkey ness to save those who call on Your I yield the floor. at the White House. Although I have Name. f expressed concerns about granting We pray in Your mighty Name. President Erdogan such an honor in Amen. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY light of his recent actions, I hope the LEADER f meeting produces better behavior from The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- this important NATO ally. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE jority leader is recognized. We recognize Turkey’s legitimate na- The President pro tempore led the f tional security concerns about the de- Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: stabilizing conflict in Syria. Indeed, no NOMINATION OF STEVEN J. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the NATO ally has suffered more terrorist United States of America, and to the Repub- MENASHI attacks or hosts more refugees than lic for which it stands, one nation under God, Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, Turkey. Nevertheless, we have legiti- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. after we confirm Chad Wolf to serve in mate national security concerns of our The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. a senior position at the Department of own, and I know the vast majority of CRAMER). The Senator from Iowa. Homeland Security, the Senate will my colleagues share my concerns about Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask turn to President Trump’s nominee to Turkey’s recent behavior. unanimous consent to speak for 1 serve on the Second Circuit Court of It is important for the region and the minute as in morning business. Appeals. fight against ISIS that Turkey’s incur- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Steven Menashi’s nomination con- sion into Syria not further jeopardize objection, it is so ordered. tinues an already distinguished career the anti-terrorism campaign of the f studying, teaching, and practicing law. Syrian Democratic Forces. It is impor- After earning degrees from Dartmouth tant for Turkey’s 80 million people NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH and Stanford, he clerked for Judge that Turkey’s Government moves to Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, No- Douglas Ginsburg on the DC Court of restore its democratic traditions—free- vember is National Adoption Month. Appeals and Justice Alito on the Su- dom of the press, religious freedom, re- This year, we have very good news. preme Court. Mr. Menashi has held a spect for secularism and ethnic minori- In 2018, over 63,000 young people were research fellowship at the New York ties, and a robust space for civil soci- adopted from foster care. That is an in- University School of Law and taught ety. Despite the optimism from the ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S6515 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A13NO6.000 S13NOPT1 Sspencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with SENATE S6516 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 13, 2019 Obama administration and others that crowding out important legislation for The senior assistant legislative clerk Turkey, under President Erdogan, the American people. In the House, read the nomination of Chad F. Wolf, of would be a model democracy, in prac- Speaker PELOSI is more interested in Virginia, to be Under Secretary for tice, these important values have suf- taking away President Trump’s job Strategy, Policy, and Plans, Depart- fered under his tenure. than in creating 176,000 new jobs for ment of Homeland Security. (New Posi- As the Turkish people’s concern con- American workers by passing the tion) tinues growing, it is troubling that the USMCA. She is blocking this landmark The PRESIDING OFFICER. The political space for them to express trade agreement. Democratic whip. those concerns has seemed to shrink In the Senate, our Democratic col- IMMIGRATION further. At the same time, the United leagues have filibustered the funding of Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, if mem- States must recognize that the path to our Armed Forces. Despite promising bers of the American public came to addressing our concerns involves work- to forgo the poison pills a few months the Senate Chamber this week to wit- ing with this important NATO ally and back, Democratic leadership has run ness legislative activity, such as a aligning its interests with ours. the appropriations process aground so piece of legislation on the floor, Turning a cold shoulder altogether they can fight over immigration policy amendments, debate, votes, delibera- would be a major strategic misstep and with the White House. tion, or compromise, they are out of would jeopardize our national security Speaking of our Armed Forces, House luck. We don’t do that in the Senate and our interests. We do not need Tur- Democrats are also slow-walking the anymore. We are not going to do it this key to fall further into Moscow’s orbit. National Defense Authorization Act. week; we didn’t do it last week; and we I know my colleagues are looking to That is an essential bill that Congress didn’t do it the week before. Now, the Republican leader just said see whether a deal can be reached on has passed every year—every year the problem is impeachment. The prob- the S–400 air defense system. since 1961 like clockwork—every year, lem is not impeachment. The problem I share my colleagues’ uneasiness at on a bipartisan basis, for almost six seeing President Erdogan honored is the Senate is not a Senate anymore. decades, but this year House Demo- All we do in the Senate—all we do in down at the White House, but I urge crats broke with precedent and passed the Senate is this serial list of judicial this body to remain clear-eyed about their own partisan version and are now nominations, one after the other, after our Nation’s vital interests in the Mid- stalling the conference committee. the other, after the other. That is it. dle East and the fact that advancing These are the priorities that are lan- We don’t take up legislation. them will mean strengthening our rela- guishing as impeachment marches on. Yesterday there was a—right across tionship with this NATO ally, not f the street from this Capitol Building, weakening it further. in front of the Supreme Court, hun- f MEASURE PLACED ON THE dreds of people were there because of a CALENDAR—S. 2840 IMPEACHMENT hearing in the Supreme Court on the Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I issue of DACA, which was created by Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, on understand there is a bill at the desk President Obama, where 780,000 un- one final matter, today, almost 3 years that is due for a second reading. documented young people had a chance in the House Democrats’ quest to im- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The to stay in this country and was abol- peach the President and 7 weeks into clerk will read the bill by title for the ished by President Trump. Hundreds the inquiry that Speaker PELOSI pro- second time.