[Pages S4873-S4875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

       PROTOCOL AMENDING TAX CONVENTION WITH SWISS CONFEDERATION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following 
treaty, which the clerk state.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Treaty Document No. 112-1, Protocol Amending Tax Convention 
     with Swiss Confederation.

  Pending:

       McConnell amendment No. 912, of a perfecting nature.
       McConnell amendment No. 913 (to amendment No. 912), to 
     change the enactment date.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.


                 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, after years of economic stagnation during 
the Obama administration, we are experiencing an economic revival. 
Thanks to Republican economic policies, the economy has taken off 
during the Trump administration. Unemployment is near its lowest level 
in half a century. June marked the 16th month that unemployment has 
been at or below 4 percent. For 15 straight months--15 straight 
months--we have had more job openings than Americans looking for work. 
Right now, there are roughly 1.6 million more job openings than 
Americans looking for work. That is the largest margin ever recorded. 
June also marked the 11th straight month that wage growth has been at 
or above 3 percent. Before 2018, wage growth had not hit 3 percent in 
nearly a decade.
  Importantly, the benefits of this economic growth are being spread 
far and wide. Ordinary Americans are seeing bigger paychecks, more 
jobs, and more opportunities. Over the past 3 years, pay hikes for the 
lowest income workers have grown the fastest. Huge numbers of new blue-
collar jobs have been created. Unemployment rates for minorities have 
decreased substantially. The unemployment rates for Asian Americans, 
African Americans, and Hispanic Americans are all at or near record 
lows.
  While our economy as a whole is thriving, there is one segment of our 
economy that is not fully enjoying the economic growth we have been 
experiencing. While our Nation's farmers and ranchers have seen 
benefits from tax reform, years of commodity and livestock prices that 
are below the cost of production, protracted trade disputes, and 
natural disasters mean our agricultural economy is trailing behind the 
economy as a whole.
  I am privileged to represent South Dakota farmers and ranchers in the 
U.S. Senate, and addressing the needs of these hard-working Americans 
is one of my top priorities.
  Recently, I was very pleased to be able to help persuade the 
Department of Agriculture to move the haying and grazing date to 
September 1 for this year for cover crops on prevent plant acres. This 
will allow farmers and ranchers in northern States like South Dakota to 
sow cover crops without worrying that they won't be able to harvest or 
graze them before winter weather sets in.
  Cover crops help farmers by improving soil health, which improves 
future yields, and they can save farmers significant money by serving 
as an important source of feed. That second benefit is particularly 
important for farmers right now. Due to last year's severe and lengthy 
winter, feed supplies disappeared, leaving no reserves. Cornstalks--a 
source of grazing and bedding--will be in short supply this year, and 
so will the supply of alfalfa due to winterkill. Cover crops will be 
crucial to alleviating this feed shortage.
  If necessary, I will be encouraging the Department of Agriculture to 
release Conservation Reserve Program acres for emergency haying and 
grazing this year to further address the feed shortage.
  The best source of information about what farmers and ranchers need 
is the farmers and ranchers themselves. Right now, producers are 
telling me that what they need more than anything else is market access 
for their products around the globe. Farmers and ranchers depend on 
trade. Our Nation's farmers and ranchers don't just sell their products 
here at home; they sell them around the world. In my home State of 
South Dakota, we export

[[Page S4874]]

a substantial portion of the agricultural products we produce. Right 
now, though, farmers and ranchers are facing a lot of uncertainty when 
it comes to trade.
  While farmers appreciate the assistance the administration has 
provided to offset the lower commodity prices resulting from current 
U.S. trade policies, they would prefer to receive a check from selling 
their products instead of from the government.
  Farmers are deeply concerned that their access to global markets, 
which has already diminished, will continue to erode, as U.S. 
agricultural products continue to be replaced by those from foreign 
competitors.
  That is why passing the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement 
and wrapping up the other trade agreements the U.S. is negotiating has 
to be a priority. I have repeatedly relayed this message to the 
President and key members of his administration, and I will continue to 
do so.
  While I strongly support the administration's goal of strengthening 
market access for our Nation's farmers and ranchers, the most urgent 
need right now is to get farmers certainty about what international 
markets are going to look like. Agreements with China, Japan, and the 
European Union all need to be concluded quickly to end current trade 
and market uncertainties.
  We need to pass the already negotiated United States-Mexico-Canada 
Agreement as soon as humanly possible. This agreement will preserve and 
expand market access for farmers and ranchers in two of our Nation's 
most significant agricultural export markets--Canada and Mexico. Of 
particular interest to the rapidly growing dairy industry in South 
Dakota, USMCA will expand market access for U.S. dairy products in 
Canada. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that the 
agreement will boost U.S. dairy exports by more than $277 million. The 
agreement will also expand market access for U.S. poultry and egg 
producers, and it will make it easier for American producers to export 
wheat to Canada.
  Senate Republicans are ready to pass this agreement as soon as the 
President formally submits it to Congress. We are just waiting for 
Democrats in the House, who have still not indicated they are ready to 
take up the agreement despite the significant steps taken to address 
their priorities. It is high time for the Democrats in the House to 
make it clear they are ready to approve this agreement and allow our 
Nation's agricultural producers to start seeing the benefits. I will 
continue to fight to get USMCA passed as soon as possible.
  I am honored to represent thousands of farmers and ranchers in the 
Senate. I am proud that Republican economic policies have been lifting 
Americans across the economic spectrum. I will continue to work to get 
our Nation's agricultural economy going again so that our Nation's 
farmers and ranchers can prosper and thrive.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.


                     Remembering John Paul Stevens

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, last night, we received the news, the sad 
news, that Justice John Paul Stevens passed away at the age of 99. He 
was a son of the ``greatest generation,'' a code breaker in the U.S. 
Navy at Pearl Harbor, a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, and a Shakespearean 
scholar. What a combination.
  John Paul Stevens was the third longest serving Justice on the U.S. 
Supreme Court in the Nation's history. The length of his tenure meant 
the jurisprudence of Justice Stevens left a mark on nearly every area 
of the law. Just as remarkable as the length of his tenure was its 
quality.
  Justice John Paul Stevens was a champion for civil rights, equality, 
and accountability, who devoted his life to the ideal of equal justice 
under the law. He worked to constrain the use of the death penalty, 
defend abortion rights, articulate the bounds of Presidential power--
very needed today--and believed that unravelling the limits on 
corporate campaign spending ``threatens to undermine the integrity of 
elected institutions across the nation.'' He was so right.
  The fact that Leader McConnell and all our Republican friends lead 
the charge in allowing so much corporate money--money of the very 
wealthy--to cascade into our system--well, Justice Stevens is in Heaven 
reminding them of what they are doing to faith in our democratic 
institutions.
  Stevens was at times an iconoclast. He was willing to buck 
conventional approaches and have his own views evolve. One constant, 
however, was his courtesy. During oral arguments, he would begin with 
the preface: ``May I ask a question,'' as if the counsel were doing him 
a favor. Out of respect for the respect he paid to everyone who came 
before the Court, on his last day on the Bench, lawyers and spectators 
throughout the Supreme Court Chamber wore his signature bow tie in his 
honor, a more fitting tribute than anything I could say on the Senate 
floor.
  Justice Stevens was a great man, a model jurist: wise, fair, 
compassionate, and caring about the little guy and gal. Our judiciary 
today needs more like him. There are too many on the Supreme Court who 
are virtually the opposite of what Stevens stood for. He will be sorely 
missed.


                       Senate Legislative Agenda

  Mr. President, on a different subject, it is certainly abhorrent that 
Leader McConnell has said we should move on from the President's 
comments this weekend without him even pausing to condemn them, but 
that is not the only subject Leader McConnell is stifling debate on in 
this Chamber.
  The size of Leader McConnell's legislation graveyard grows with each 
session. Leader McConnell has stood in the way of progress on a 
multitude of issues: healthcare, in his legislative graveyard; climate 
change, in his legislative graveyard; voting rights, in his legislative 
graveyard; gun safety, in his legislation graveyard; and paycheck 
fairness, in his legislative graveyard.
  When Leader McConnell refuses to even debate these issues and allows 
them to be amended, he hurts average Americans. He hurts Americans of 
all color and all creeds. He hurts Americans, whether their families 
have been in this country for 12 generations or they are new 
immigrants, new Americans, in this country.
  There are so many issues: healthcare costs going through the roof, 
drug costs going through the roof, and McConnell doesn't let us vote on 
them--preexisting conditions and the right to be protected if you have 
one. So if your son or daughter has cancer, the insurance company can't 
say: ``I am cutting you off'' and you watch that child suffer and you 
can't give him or her the healthcare they need. McConnell says: ``No 
debate, no change.''
  In fact, so many Republicans are silent on the lawsuit that President 
Trump and 19 Republican attorneys general filed that would get rid of 
preexisting conditions.
  Climate change. We know what is happening to our planet. Ask Senators 
from anywhere on the coasts, anywhere where we have had disasters, and 
talk to our farmers in terms of temperatures and predators, natural 
pests. The world is changing, and we are doing nothing about it. He 
will not let a single bill on that. There is also voting rights or 
people are being deprived of gun safety, where thousands lose their 
lives, and we could close loopholes that 90 percent of Americans 
support.


                               Healthcare

  Mr. President, there are so many issues. Let me dwell on one of them, 
healthcare, where Leader McConnell's graveyard hurts every American: 
immigrant, nonimmigrant, Black, White, Brown, every religion, and every 
creed. Healthcare is the No. 1 issue in the minds of most American 
families. Millions of families across the country are still struggling 
with how to afford healthcare and how to afford prescription drugs, but 
at the moment, as I have mentioned, the Trump administration is 
actively supporting a lawsuit that would dismantle the healthcare 
protections we have today.
  The consequences of the lawsuit are mind-boggling: tens of millions--
tens

[[Page S4875]]

of millions--would lose coverage and see premiums rise. Up to 133 
million Americans--close to half of us--who have preexisting conditions 
would see their protections vanish. Yet Leader McConnell has not 
allowed this Chamber to vote on whether the Senate can intervene in 
that lawsuit, let alone on any legislation that would improve our 
healthcare system. Astonishingly, many Republicans--many Senate 
Republicans--are publicly rooting for the Trump administration's 
lawsuit to succeed, even if it means plunging our country into a 
healthcare crisis.


                             Climate Change

  Mr. President, as I mentioned, healthcare is far from the only 
subject Leader McConnell has prevented the Senate from debating. Later 
today, my friend from Hawaii Senator Schatz will host the first hearing 
of the Senate Democrats' special committee on the climate crisis, 
bringing mayors from across the country to talk about how their cities 
are combating climate change.
  This Senate, because of Senator McConnell's graveyard, will sit on 
its hands and do nothing, but our cities and States have no choice but 
to do something. They are closer to the people. They are doing stuff. 
We will hear about it today.
  Climate change is the greatest threat to our planet, and Leader 
McConnell will not even let the Senate debate the issue. This will go 
down in history poorly for all of our Republican friends who back that 
up, which is just about everyone.
  We had to form our own committee because Republicans wouldn't join a 
bipartisan committee to discuss this. In his time as majority leader, 
Senator McConnell has brought forward exactly one bill to address 
climate change, and it was so his party and he could vote against it--a 
sham, a ruse, a trick, which flopped.
  Many Republicans don't support every Democratic idea to address 
climate change. I understand that, but Leader McConnell has provided no 
way for the Senate to even debate the matter. How are we supposed to 
compromise or make progress if the Senate leader refuses to allow us to 
debate any legislation? How can America make progress, even when the 
House moves forward, when the Senate has become a legislative graveyard 
for so many issues?
  On climate change, healthcare, and so many other issues, Leader 
McConnell's legislative graveyard is standing in the way of progress 
for average American families.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask that the 11 o'clock vote series 
start now.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the amendments to 
the treaty are withdrawn.
  The amendments (No. 912 and No. 913) were withdrawn.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution of 
ratification.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read the resolution of 
ratification as follows:

       Resolution of Advice and Consent of the Protocol Amending 
     the Convention between the United States of America and the 
     Swiss Confederation for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with 
     Respect to Taxes on Income, signed at Washington on October 
     2, 1996, signed on September 23, 2009, at Washington, as 
     corrected by an exchange of notes effected November 16, 2010 
     (the proposed Protocol) (Treaty Doc. 112-1), and a related 
     agreement effected by an exchange of notes on September 23, 
     2009 (the related Agreement).

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the resolution 
of ratification.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Georgia (Mr. Isakson).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet) 
and the Senator from California (Ms. Harris) are necessarily absent.
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 95 and nays 2, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 210 Ex.]

                                YEAS--95

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     McSally
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--2

     Lee
     Paul
       

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Bennet
     Harris
     Isakson
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). On this vote, the yeas are 95, the 
nays are 2.
  Two-thirds of the Senators having voted in the affirmative, the 
resolution of ratification is agreed to.
  The resolution of ratification was agreed to, as follows:

                          ____________________