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, OCTOBER 23, 2019 No. 168 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was because of Senator Stevens’ service as our States. I offer these thanks not called to order by the President pro the President pro tempore, a position I only as the majority leader but as the tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). now hold. senior Senator from Kentucky, which f Senator Stevens was known for his has been hit hard by this epidemic. tireless work on behalf of the State of f PRAYER Alaska and their citizens. He had quite The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- a reputation for reaching across party REMEMBERING TED STEVENS fered the following prayer: lines to get the job done. Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, Let us pray. I am honored to attend today’s cere- later today, in the old Senate Chamber, Eternal God, give our lawmakers this mony adding Senator Stevens’ portrait family, friends, and former colleagues day the wisdom to know Your words to the historic walls of the U.S. Cap- of our late colleague, Senator Ted Ste- and obey Your precepts. As they follow itol. vens, will gather for the unveiling of Your leading, may they remember the I yield the floor. the Senator’s leadership portrait. many times You have delivered them I suggest the absence of a quorum. Senator Stevens’ likeness will join in the past. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The the storied ranks of the leadership por- Lord, give them the courage to not clerk will call the roll. trait collection—images of majority retreat from life’s battles but to faith- The legislative clerk proceeded to leaders, minority leaders, and Presi- fully keep their hands in Yours. call the roll. dents pro tem, which are proudly dis- Guide us, Great Jehovah. We are pil- Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I played around the building. grims in this land. We are weak, but ask unanimous consent that the order Our distinguished predecessors watch You are mighty. Guide us with Your for the quorum call be rescinded. over the corridors they walked, the powerful hand. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without rooms in which they debated, and the In the time of our distress, console us objection, it is so ordered. body they served. with Your merciful presence. f It is fitting that Senator Stevens is We pray in Your Loving Name. being recognized for his service as Amen. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY President pro tem. As we all know, un- LEADER f like the elected party leaders, that is The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- not a job which you can campaign or PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE jority leader is recognized. persuade your way into. The only way The President pro tempore led the f to become President pro tem is to per- Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: suade your home State, over and over, THE FIRST LADY I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the to rehire you, and Ted Stevens was United States of America, and to the Repub- Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, about the most dogged advocate for his lic for which it stands, one nation under God, first, I want to acknowledge two nota- home State that anybody could pos- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ble events taking place in the Capitol sibly imagine. He was Alaska’s son and The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. today. Alaska’s champion 24 hours a day and SASSE). The Senator from Iowa. As we speak, the First Lady of the then some. Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask United States is just down the hall for I look forward to honoring our unanimous consent to speak as in a special event related to our Nation’s former colleague’s memory this after- morning business. opioid epidemic, marking the progress noon. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without that Congress and the administration f objection, it is so ordered. have made in recent years and focusing H.R. 4617 f our efforts on the work still ahead. I will have more to say on the subject Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, on REMEMBERING TED STEVENS tomorrow, which will mark the 1-year another matter, later today, I under- Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, later anniversary of President Trump sign- stand the House of Representatives will today, I will attend the portrait unveil- ing our landmark opioid legislation vote on H.R. 4617. This is the latest in- ing of my former colleague and friend, into law. stallment in Speaker PELOSI’s cam- Senator Ted Stevens, who served in the I want to warmly welcome the First paign to expand government’s control Senate from 1968 until 2009. Lady to the Senate this morning and over America’s political speech. This portrait is being added to the thank her for her continued focus on It is a transparent attack on the Senate leadership portrait collection this crisis, which affects so many of First Amendment that has united an ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S6051 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23OC6.000 S23OCPT1 S6052 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 23, 2019 unlikely band of opponents across the private citizens’ names along with hate to cut taxes. But tax reform political spectrum. Everybody from their employers or businesses. In this passed, and the results are clear. It has hardcore conservatives to the ACLU is era of political harassment and online increased Americans’ take-home pay speaking out against this effort to mobs, the implication was clear as day. and helped generate one of the best erode Americans’ constitutional rights. From Twitter posts to partisan mes- economic moments for working fami- The proposal would give the Federal saging bills, House Democrats’ mission lies in a generation. Election Commission unprecedented li- is the same: Chill the exercise of free Since tax reform, 22 States, including cense to track and regulate Americans’ speech. Send a message to Americans my State of Kentucky, have set new political speech on the internet and de- with inconvenient views that speaking record-low unemployment rates. The cide what speech qualifies as political up is more trouble than it is worth. national unemployment rate has set a in the first place. This proposal will not do anything to 50-year low. But, alas, rather than ac- If it were not bad enough on principle stop maligned foreign actors—some- knowledge that the sky hasn’t fallen, to fill more Washington, DC, filing thing that every Member of this body our Democratic friends still want to cabinets with which citizens hold what cares deeply about. As three former undermine tax reform—and listen to beliefs, their bill would also deputize FEC Chairmen recently pointed out, where they have elected to start. Lis- media companies into this effort. They foreign adversaries like Russia are not ten to this. Democrats’ first target is would force publications to keep exces- going to stop their malign operations changing the Tax Code so that working sive records for any advertisement for fear of an FEC fine. Let me say that families across the country have to they accept not only for political cam- again. Adversaries like Russia are not subsidize wealthy people in States like paigns but on any issue of national im- going to stop their malign operations New York, New Jersey, and California. portance. for fear of an FEC fine. Here is the background. As part of When this regulatory burden has ‘‘Campaign-finance law isn’t the tool tax reform, in order to maximize mid- been tried on a smaller scale, it has to prevent foreign meddling. Ad- dle-class relief, the deductibility of frightened media platforms into reject- versaries won’t be scared off by civil State and local tax payments was ing political ads altogether. It is a penalties. This is a job for diplo- capped. Most middle-class taxpayers textbook example of policy designed to matic, national security, and counter- were more than compensated for this reduce the amount of free speech in our intelligence agencies. [This legislation] through other tax cuts, but for some country. Press organizations such as is a needless sacrifice to First Amend- wealthy people who elect to live in the Washington Post and the Balti- ment rights, not a serious effort to se- high-tax States, this represented a par- more Sun have already sued over simi- cure elections.’’ tial increase. lar regulations on First Amendment That is three former Chairmen of the Republicans didn’t think it was fair grounds and won in court. Federal Election Commission. I cer- that middle-class working families in House Democrats want to violate the tainly agree. It was focusing on defense States the Obama economy left behind First Amendment and harm journalists and counterintelligence, not attacking had to subsidize the tax bills of rich in order to give more control to the the First Amendment, that made the people in high-tax States without FEC. That would be the same FEC that 2018 elections go more smoothly than limit. We didn’t eliminate the State Democrats have recently tried to shift the 2016 elections. That is why the hun- and local tax deduction; we just capped from a bipartisan body to a partisan dreds of millions of dollars Congress it for high earners.