Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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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 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 163 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2017 No. 95 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, at 12 p.m. Senate MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2017 The Senate met at 3:01 p.m. and was APPOINTMENT OF ACTING The legislative clerk read as follows: called to order by the Honorable TODD PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE A resolution (S. Res. 176) commemorating YOUNG, a Senator from the State of In- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. diana. clerk will please read a communication to the Senate from the President pro The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- f pore. Under the previous order, the tempore (Mr. HATCH). time until 5:30 p.m. will be equally di- The legislative clerk read the fol- vided in the usual form. PRAYER lowing letter: If no one yields time, the time will be The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- U.S. SENATE, charged equally. fered the following prayer: PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER Let us pray. Washington, DC, June 5, 2017. The Democratic leader is recognized. Mighty God, the source of all life and To the Senate: the light of all seeing, lift our thoughts Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, LONDON TERROR ATTACK from the smallness of our labors to the of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, let me appoint the Honorable TODD YOUNG, a Sen- first express the profound sadness that greatness of Your majesty. ator from the State of Indiana, to perform we all felt this past week about the ter- We pray for the victims of the ter- the duties of the Chair. rorist attacks in London. My heart is rorism in the United Kingdom. ORRIN G. HATCH, with the people of that great city and Teach our lawmakers to love in the President pro tempore. with the victims of this string of at- presence of hate, to forgive in the pres- Mr. YOUNG thereupon assumed the tacks and their families. They are all ence of injustice, and to illuminate in Chair as Acting President pro tempore. in our prayers. the presence of darkness. Make them f The morning after the attack, I was light bearers in the midst of darkness walking down the street in New York, RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME as they strive to live lives that reflect and I saw a husband and wife—they Your glory. Lord, may the promise of The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- looked like out-of-towners—with three Your love be experienced in all their pore. Under the previous order, the beautiful little girls, and the girls were relationships. leadership time is reserved. skipping along happily. When they are Be for us all a helper and a shelter in f with their parents when they are little, the time of storm. they get so happy. I thought: God, CONCLUSION OF MORNING And Lord, we thank You for the life what if a bomb blew up and killed BUSINESS and legacy of Jim Bunning. them. It just got to me. We pray in Your righteous Name. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- So we really feel for these people who Amen. pore. Morning business is closed. were just taken from us much too soon f by vicious, almost inexplicable vicious- f ness. COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNI- In this moment of trial for one of our PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE VERSARY OF THE REUNIFICA- fiercest friends and allies, the United TION OF JERUSALEM The Presiding Officer led the Pledge States also stands shoulder to shoulder of Allegiance, as follows: The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- with the citizens of the UK in our joint I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the pore. Under the previous order, the fight against terrorists and those who United States of America, and to the Repub- Senate will proceed to the consider- support them. lic for which it stands, one nation under God, ation of S. Res. 176, which the clerk We wish a swift recovery to the in- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. will report. jured and comfort to the victims and ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S3235 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Jun 06, 2017 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A05JN6.000 S05JNPT1 S3236 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 5, 2017 their families. We certainly hope the That is the Republican Senator from ligence Committee. I am glad he is perpetrators are swiftly brought to jus- Wyoming, saying an infrastructure doing so in the open and on the record. tice. proposal that involves privatization ig- I hope he is as forthcoming as possible. INFRASTRUCTURE nores a huge portion of the United Transparency and openness is abso- Mr. President, on infrastructure—an- States—rural areas—where infrastruc- lutely vital if we are to get to the bot- other matter—we know President ture investment is greatly needed. tom of the events of the past few Trump will spend this week unveiling When a Republican Senator says that, months. Knowing James Comey a little his infrastructure proposal in several we all ought to pay attention at both bit, transparency and openness have al- phases. We will have to wait and see ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. ways been his way. what the full details of the plan are be- Privatization also ignores the ongo- I would expect that Mr. Comey’s ap- fore we judge it, but we Democrats wel- ing maintenance needs of many of our pearance before the Senate Intelligence come a discussion on infrastructure. Nation’s more populated areas. Sure, Committee will not be his last appear- We believe the Federal Government maybe if the toll is high enough, a pri- ance before Congress. I know the Sen- ought to invest more, not less, in re- vate company could build a shiny new ate Judiciary Committee has made a building our roads, bridges and high- bridge, but they won’t do anything to similar request of Mr. Comey. I support ways, our schools, electric grids, and fix the crumbling railroad switches, their request, and I hope he will go be- our water and sewer systems. We potholes, and water main breaks that fore them as well. should be investing in expanding are plaguing so many of our cities, par- PARIS AGREEMENT broadband, which is so vital for our ticularly in the older areas—the North- Finally, Mr. President, a few words rural areas and a number of urban east, the Midwest. about the Paris climate accord. I was areas that are still underserved. One aspect the President highlighted deeply disappointed by President So we have several concerns about today is privatizing our air traffic con- Trump’s decision last week to start the the President’s upcoming proposal, trol systems. This would put the same process for withdrawing the United considering the President actually cut airline companies that have added bag- States from the Paris Agreement, an infrastructure investment significantly gage fees and change fees and shrunk agreement signed by every sovereign in his budget proposal to Congress. leg room in charge of the air traffic nation, except Syria and Nicaragua— How can you be for infrastructure and control system. Worse still, it would Nicaragua, by the way, because they then cut all of these proposals in your let the airlines charge consumers even thought the agreement didn’t go far budget? That is what he did. more than they charge now. enough. Now, unfortunately based on recent If air traffic control is privatized, The decision will ultimately be reports, the entire focus of the Presi- where are the protections for con- viewed—the decision by Trump to pull dent’s infrastructure proposal this sumers? What will prevent costs of fly- out of the Paris climate accord—as one week is on privatization, which sounds ing from going way up? Under a private of the worst decisions of the 21st cen- like a nice word. But when you scratch system, what stops airlines from rais- tury because of the huge damage it will beneath the surface, it means much ing fees and taxes on consumers? do to our economy, our environment, less construction and far fewer jobs, So privatization, whether it is for the and our geopolitical standing. particularly in our rural areas. It also construction of roads and bridges or in Pulling out of the Paris Agreement doesn’t put America first. It puts means Trump tolls from one end of aviation, often leaves the average America alone and last. It puts Amer- America to the other. American with the short end of the If President Trump wants the private ica last in recognizing science, in being stick and gives big corporations way sector to finance the construction of a world leader in protecting our own too much power. infrastructure, it is going to demand a So, again, we will wait and see what communities and working in concert price. That is how the private sector the President proposes. We want to dis- with the family of nations in safe- works. The financiers will look to turn cuss infrastructure. We want to work guarding the planet we all inhabit for a profit. Let’s remember that there is future generations.