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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, THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019 No. 54 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was Week’’ in Iowa. That goes beyond just ward to meeting with the Kentucky called to order by the President pro a flooding situation; it is because of emergency management director later tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). the catastrophic flooding throughout today to get the latest updates. f our State and to tell everybody that it Unfortunately, my State is not is not over. The National Oceanic and alone—far from it. Many States are PRAYER Atmospheric Administration has currently bearing heavy burdens in the The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- warned of significant spring flooding wake of powerful natural disasters. fered the following prayer: yet to come. Families in Florida and the Carolinas Let us pray. We are seeing increased flows in the are still picking up the pieces from a King of our lives, we acknowledge Missouri River, the Mississippi River, damaging hurricane season. In Ala- Your sovereignty, believing because of and their tributaries. Iowans should re- bama and Georgia, recovery is just be- You we live and move and have our view their insurance policies for gaps ginning after vicious tornadoes. The ef- being. and consider flood insurance. That is fects of serious flooding remain across Show our lawmakers how to use this one of the things Governor Reynolds is the Southeast. In places in the Mid- day’s fleeting minutes to accomplish suggesting. Also, it would be good to west, such as Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Your purposes on Earth. Make our Sen- have a plan in case it is necessary to and Nebraska, many Americans are ators Your instruments of deliverance, evacuate, including important personal still waiting, praying, and working to causing justice to roll down like waters belongings and pets. FEMA’s website, mitigate the destruction from dev- and righteousness like a mighty ready.gov, can help you with that in- astating flooding. Many communities stream. Sanctify their thoughts, words, formation. are still literally under water. and deeds throughout this day and all Iowans know severe weather, includ- I know right now the entire Senate is of their tomorrows. Lord, provide them ing massive snowstorms, flooding, tor- especially mindful of the destruction in with goodness, grace, and wisdom for nadoes, and heavy winds. The key is America’s heartland, so I am grateful the living of these days. that we prepare, help our neighbors, for the efforts of several colleagues to We pray in Your Holy Name. Amen. and stay vigilant. bring forward a package of supple- f I thank Governor Reynolds for alert- mental disaster relief funds to address ing people to the future, as well as wor- the most urgent needs. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE rying about the past. The legislation we are considering The President pro tempore led the Thank you. this week would help growers and pro- Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: I yield the floor. ducers with storm-related crop losses. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the f It would help local infrastructure— United States of America, and to the Repub- from roads to schools and hospitals— lic for which it stands, one nation under God, RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY resume full operation. It would help indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. LEADER our Nation’s military restore readiness f The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- at bases and installations that were jority leader is recognized. caught in harm’s way. RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME f Thanks to Chairman SHELBY, Sen- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. ators ISAKSON, PERDUE, SCOTT, RUBIO, HYDE-SMITH). Under the previous order, DISASTER FUNDING and others, we will have the oppor- the leadership time is reserved. Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, tunity to deliver critical resources to The Senator from Iowa. in recent months, my home State of the communities facing the long road Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I Kentucky has been hit by severe back to normal. I hope each of our col- ask unanimous consent to speak for 1 weather. Over half of our 120 counties leagues will join me in supporting this minute as in morning business. have reported flood damage. Governor measure, which will do just that. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Bevin has placed the entire Common- objection, it is so ordered. wealth under a state of emergency and f f mobilized resources to help with recov- ery. Local, State, and Federal emer- THE GREEN NEW DEAL FLOODING IN IOWA gency officials have started assessing Mr. MCCONNELL. Now, Madam Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, the flood damage. My staff and I are President, on an entirely different mat- Governor Reynolds designated this monitoring the progress to provide as- ter, this week, the American people week as ‘‘Severe Weather Awareness sistance wherever we can. I look for- saw our Democratic colleagues go on ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S2063 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Mar 28, 2019 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A28MR6.000 S28MRPT1 rfrederick on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with SENATE S2064 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 28, 2019 the record on a truly astonishing pol- our laws and Constitution the way they SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS icy proposal—a truly astonishing pol- are written instead of how partisans ACT, 2019—MOTION TO PROCEED— icy proposal. might wish they were written. The far Resumed After months of enthusiastic declara- left wants to forget about all of that The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under tions of support, after tripping over because Democrats would rather re- the previous order, the Senate will re- one another to prove their devotion to write the rules. sume consideration of the motion to the far-left core of the new Democratic So out of the ash heap of history proceed to H.R. 268, which the clerk Party, the vast majority of our col- came this talk of ‘‘court-packing’’—a will report. leagues across the aisle were unable to notion that would threaten the rule of The senior assistant legislative clerk vote against even an obviously ludi- law and our American judicial system read as follows: crous proposal to tank the U.S. econ- as we have long understood it. It is a Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 15, H.R. omy and to leave American workers truly radical proposal that has been 268, a bill making supplemental appropria- out in the cold. dead and buried by bipartisan con- tions for the fiscal year ending September 30, You might think that after their rad- sensus for almost a century. But now 2019, and for other purposes. ical proposal met with such an inglo- President Obama’s Attorney General, The PRESIDING OFFICER. All rious end, my colleagues might choose Eric Holder, says: ‘‘We should be talk- postcloture time has expired. to pause and take stock. Well, think ing even about expanding the number The question is on the motion to pro- again. Just yesterday, our Democratic of people who serve on the Supreme ceed. colleagues introduced a Senate version Court, if there is a Democratic presi- The motion was agreed to. of Speaker PELOSI’s sweeping legisla- dent.’’ One of our Senate colleagues, f tion to rewrite the rules of American who is currently running for President, politics to benefit one side—new Wash- called this an ‘‘interesting idea that I SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ington rules for how citizens can exer- would have to think more about.’’ The ACT, 2019 cise political speech, new Washington New York Times reported that at a re- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The systems to funnel taxpayer dollars into cent campaign event, another Demo- clerk will report the bill. the pockets of political campaigns, and cratic candidate said that he is open to The senior assistant legislative clerk an unprecedented Washington intru- the idea after being asked about it by read as follows: sion into State and local election law a member of a new far-left group that A bill (H.R. 268) making supplemental ap- all across our country. is literally named—this is their name; propriations for the fiscal year ending Sep- As I have argued before, it conven- listen to this—‘‘Pack the Courts.’’ tember 30, 2019, and for other purposes. iently turns out that the vast majority I hope the lion’s share of our Demo- Pending: of their proposed changes seem tailored cratic colleagues will speak out force- McConnell (for Shelby) Amendment No. 5, to help more Democrats get elected fully against exhuming this thoroughly of a perfecting nature. and stay elected; hence my name for discredited idea. I hope my colleagues Schumer Amendment No. 6, of a perfecting this legislation: the Democratic politi- will have the courage to look these far- nature. cian protection act. left agitators in the eye and tell them Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, Apparently, our friends are under the that some traditions and some institu- I ask unanimous consent to withdraw impression that if Democrats aren’t tions are more important than partisan Amendment Nos. 5 and 6. winning as many elections as they point-scoring. But given that we have The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without would like, then the entire process by already seen Democrats rush headlong objection, it is so ordered. which we elect our representatives to embrace schemes like the Demo- The amendments were withdrawn. must certainly be broken. If Democrats cratic politician protection act, Medi- The PRESIDING OFFICER.