[Pages S5029-S5031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following 
nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Stephen M. Dickson, of 
Georgia, to be Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration for 
the term of five years.


                               Tax Reform

  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, last week, Senator Cardin and I 
introduced our S Corporation Modernization Act. That brings the total 
of tax reform bills I have introduced so far this year to six.
  Obviously, 2017 was a banner year for tax reform. In December of 
2017, we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a historic, comprehensive 
reform of our Tax Code that put more money in American families' 
pockets and helped spur growth at American businesses.
  The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been a great success for our economy 
and for hard-working Americans, but there are still things we can do to 
strengthen our Tax Code even further.
  As I mentioned, last week, Senator Cardin and I introduced our S 
Corporation Modernization Act. S corporations are the most common 
formal business structure in the United States. There are nearly 5 
million of these businesses throughout the United States, including 
large numbers in rural America. Despite the popularity of S 
corporations, however, there have been few S corporation-related 
changes to the Tax Code since this business structure was created.
  There are things we can do to make it easier for these businesses to 
operate and raise capital. That is why Senator Cardin and I developed 
the S Corporation Modernization Act. Our legislation makes pro-growth 
reforms that will make it easier for these businesses to grow and 
create new jobs and opportunities in their communities.
  Change is a human constant, but with modern technology, the pace of 
change has seemed to accelerate. American workers and American 
businesses face very different situations than they did even a decade 
ago. It is important that our Tax Code keeps pace with the 21st century 
economy.
  In February, I reintroduced my Mobile Workforce State Income Tax 
Simplification Act along with Senator Sherrod Brown. Today substantial 
numbers of workers travel to different States for temporary work 
assignments on a regular basis, and they end up subject to a 
bewildering variety of State laws governing State income tax.
  Senator Brown's and my legislation would create an across-the-board 
standard for mobile employees who spend a short period of time working 
across State lines. It would ensure that States receive fair tax 
payments while substantially simplifying tax requirements for employees 
and employers.
  In March, I introduced two other bills focused on updating the Tax 
Code for the 21st century economy. The last decade or so has seen the 
rise of the gig economy--services provided by individuals through apps 
and websites like Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit, Postmates, Grubhub, and many 
others. These arrangements have stretched the boundaries of current tax 
law.
  My New Economy Works to Guarantee Independence and Growth Act, or the 
NEW GIG Act, as we call it, updates our tax law to provide clear 
guidance on the classification of this new generation of workers. It 
will ensure that Uber drivers, Postmates, Taskers, and others are 
treated as independent contractors for purposes of tax law if they meet 
a set of objective criteria. The certainty my bill provides will 
benefit not only these workers but also traditional independent 
contractors like freelance writers and delivery drivers.
  I also introduced the Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act in 
March with Senator Wyden. Our legislation is designed to prevent 
consumers from being faced with multiple taxes for downloading digital 
products.
  For example, right now, a digital purchase of a television series 
could hypothetically be taxed in up to three States, depending on the 
circumstances of the purchase. The Digital Goods and Services Tax 
Fairness Act would provide rules of the road for taxing digital goods 
and services and ensure that digital purchases could only be taxed in 
one State--the State in which the consumer resides.
  It would also prohibit States and local governments from taxing 
digital goods at higher rates than tangible goods. In other words, 
under our bill, that season of ``The Office'' that you want to buy 
digitally shouldn't be taxed at a higher rate than if you were 
purchasing the season on DVD.
  We have a proud history of charitable giving in this country. 
Americans care about a lot of worthy causes and are committed to 
helping those in need. That is why I have routinely introduced 
amendments to the Tax Code to make charitable giving easier, several of 
which have been signed into law.
  This year, I again introduced the Charities Helping Americans 
Regularly Throughout the Year Act, or CHARITY Act, with Senator Casey. 
This year's version of our bill builds on some of the provisions we 
succeeded in getting passed over the past few years and will continue 
to help make it easier for Americans to give--and charities to 
receive--money.
  Finally, this year I once again introduced legislation to repeal the 
punitive double--or triple--taxation known as the death tax. I have 
worked a lot on the death tax issue over the years because of the way 
it affects family farms and ranches. The death tax can make it 
difficult or impossible to hand off the family farm or ranch to the 
next generation.
  While we gave farmers and ranchers substantial relief from the death 
tax in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that relief is only guaranteed for 
6\1/2\ more years, which is why I am committed to passing a permanent 
death tax repeal.
  I am proud of the progress we have made for American businesses and 
American families with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and I will continue 
working on these bills and others to further refine the Tax Code to 
spur economic growth and to address the realities of the 21st century 
economy.


                       Tribute to Lynn Tjeerdsma

  Madam President, before I close, I would like to take a couple of 
minutes to recognize a staffer of mine who will be retiring at the end 
of this work period.

[[Page S5030]]

  Lynn Tjeerdsma first came to work for me in 2007 to help out on the 
2008 farm bill. After the bill passed, he headed back to the Farm 
Service Agency at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to serve as 
Assistant Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs, but I asked him back 
in 2011 to work with me on the 2012--which actually ended up being the 
2014--farm bill, and he has been with me ever since.
  I suppose it is possible that there is someone out there who knows 
the ins and outs of farm policy better than Lynn, but I have yet to 
meet that person.
  After working with Lynn in 2007 and 2008, I asked him back for the 
2012 farm bill because I wanted the best for South Dakota's farmers and 
ranchers, and Lynn is the best. There is a reason for that.
  Lynn has an impressive farm policy resume on both the administrative 
and the legislative side. In addition to working for me, he worked for 
Senator Larry Pressler on the 1990 farm bill, and he has extensive 
experience in the executive branch of our government.
  He worked for the Farm Service Agency at the Department of 
Agriculture for years as a county executive director in Moody, SD; as a 
county executive director in Cass County, NB; as a program specialist 
and later a branch chief; and then, as I mentioned, as Assistant Deputy 
Administrator for Farm Programs. He also worked for the nonprofit 
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
  As impressive as his farm policy resume is, that is not all Lynn has 
brought to the table. Lynn often says: ``The best ideas for a farm bill 
come from a farm, not from behind a desk in Washington, DC.''
  Lynn isn't just an agricultural policy expert; Lynn is a farmer--not 
was a farmer--although he farmed a large spread for 15 years before 
going to work for the Department of Agriculture--but is a farmer. Lynn 
still owns and operates a corn and soybean farm near Platte, SD. So he 
has a deep insight into the challenges facing farmers and ranchers and 
how we can meet their needs here in Washington, DC.
  I have talked a lot about Lynn's agricultural expertise. I have 
relied on it for almost a decade. South Dakota's farmers and ranchers 
are better off today because of the knowledge and insight Lynn has 
brought to the table. I also want to talk about Lynn personally.
  Every one of us in the Senate wants smart and knowledgeable staffers, 
but in an ideal world, our staffers aren't just smart and 
knowledgeable; they also have the kind of character that Lynn 
displays--dedicated, hard-working, cheerful, generous, humble, and 
unfailingly kind.
  He is the kind of public servant we all aim to be and a gentleman in 
the very truest sense of the word.
  I am not the only one who is going to miss Lynn. Every one of my 
staffers is going to miss him as well. He has been a mentor to many in 
the office, and, perhaps more importantly, he has been supplying the 
staff with doughnuts every Friday for years.
  After a tough week, everyone looked forward to Lynn's Friday morning 
email letting them know the Krispy Kremes were in the office. The 
doughnut notification email always included a list of things Lynn was 
thankful for that week, whether it was the weather or the fact that 
South Dakota farmers had gotten all their soybeans in the ground.
  Lynn and his wife Mary were generous hosts, as well, inviting 
staffers over for Easter egg hunts and cookouts. We will miss other 
distinctly Lynn things, too, like his impressive cowboy boot collection 
or how we had to prevent him from biking home in a torrential downpour. 
Lynn has logged more than 5,000 miles on his bike while working for me, 
traveling from his home in Alexandria to the Dirksen Building on a 
daily basis.
  And, of course, everyone will miss Lynn's stories--like the one about 
the day that a younger Lynn tried to bring a rattlesnake home in a 
burlap bag. As you can imagine, the snake did not appreciate the 
accommodations, so he got loose, slithering under the driver's seat of 
Lynn's car. Lynn's abrupt exit from the vehicle created quite a hazard 
that day, with the snake as the only occupant of the now driverless 
vehicle rolling down the gravel roads near his childhood home.
  When I talk about missing Lynn, I also have to talk about the farmers 
and ranchers in my State who will miss having him here in Washington. 
More than once, agricultural groups in South Dakota have asked Lynn to 
keynote during annual banquets. On one occasion, I offered to give a 
speech but was told that Lynn was the preferred speaker.
  Lynn will be sorely missed, but he has more than earned his 
retirement. I know how much he is looking forward to spending more time 
with his wife Mary and with their 5 children and 10 grandchildren. I 
know he and Mary plan to travel to Hawaii and Alaska and that it is a 
goal of Lynn's to visit as many national parks as he possibly can.
  I know he will enjoy sitting, watching the waves with Mary at their 
house in Alabama and, of course, continuing to farm his corn and 
soybeans in South Dakota.
  Lynn, thank you for your service and your friendship. May God bless 
you in your retirement.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cramer). The clerk will call the roll.
  The 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.


                     9/11 Victim Compensation Fund

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it is the morning after. This is a happy 
morning after because the 9/11 bill passed. Now it is on its way to the 
President's desk. My understanding is he is certain to sign it, and our 
first responders can breathe a sigh of relief. It is wonderful.
  I am filled with gratitude for a lot of people, above all for those 
who rushed to the Towers, those patriots, those brave men and women who 
put American freedom above their own safety, defending us at a time 
when we were under attack.
  God bless them. God bless those who have passed from the illnesses. 
God bless those who are suffering from the illnesses. God bless those 
who will get illnesses yet unknown and their families, their friends, 
their units--fire, police, port authority, the military, you name 
it. Yesterday, I met an FBI agent--I had not met her before--who was 
there and who was suffering from cancer. God bless them all.

  First and foremost, I want to thank so many people who made this 
happen, beginning with Senator Gillibrand, a champion for this issue 
like no other. She was constantly here on the floor buttonholing 
people--and she is persistent, those of us who know her--over and over 
again until she got names like Cotton and Cruz to support our bill, 
which was a big turning point. I also thank her legislative director, 
Brooke Jamison. She was sort of the quiet force behind all this, and I 
thank her as well as the rest of the Gillibrand staff.
  To our cosponsors in the Senate, every one of them, thank you.
  I thank the leaders in the House--Congressmembers Maloney, Nadler, 
King, and so many others.
  Then there were the great advocates, Jon Stewart and John Feal. Man 
oh man, they were the heart and soul of this operation, and they kept 
going and going and going until they succeeded--one of my great joys.
  My great sadness was meeting some of the widows. I knew the widow of 
Ray Pfeifer, for whom the bill is named. I met briefly the family of 
Detective Alvarez while at his wake, and that was a sad thing. But a 
happy thing was seeing the genuine smiles on the faces of Stewart and 
particularly Feal, who doesn't smile that much, but now he can. That 
was a joy.
  Suzy Ballantyne and Ben Chevat were just relentless.
  What about all the labor leaders and unions--and by the way, 
construction workers were another group who rushed to the Towers and 
suffered many losses; let's not forget them--the labor leaders and 
unions that organized with us every step of the way: the UFA, the UFOA, 
the NYPD and the Port Authority unions, the PBA, the DEA, the teachers, 
the laborers, AFL-CIO, AFGE, AFSCME, and so many more.

[[Page S5031]]

The union movement always protects its workers. We need them to be 
stronger in America. That is one of the reasons income is going up to 
the top and not going to the middle class anymore--because we don't 
have as strong unions as we should. But the unions, when they get 
behind something, God bless them.
  Finally, I need to thank the first responders who came here 
themselves and who delayed cancer treatments to testify at hearings, 
who wheeled the Halls of Congress in their wheelchairs to chase down 
legislators, who gifted lawmakers their NYPD badges and FDNY patches--
the sacred totems of their service--to remind those public servants to 
do the right thing. Many are no longer with us: James Zadroga, Luis 
Alvarez, and my dear friend Ray Pfeifer. Wherever they may now be, let 
them breathe a final sigh of relief knowing their friends are cared for 
and the job is well done.


                             Mueller Report

  Mr. President, on another issue, all eyes are no doubt on the House 
Judiciary Committee, where, as I speak, former Special Counsel Robert 
Mueller is testifying. His testimony is unquestionably of great 
interest and importance to the Nation. But even without the special 
counsel's testimony today, Congress must grapple with the report he has 
already written.
  The principal conclusion of the first section of the Mueller report 
was that Russia interfered in our 2016 elections, in his words, in a 
``sweeping and systematic'' fashion. What he described in that section 
of his report constitutes nothing less than an attack on our democracy. 
It is almost like going to war and hurting our men and women in the 
Armed Forces.
  This administration and this Chamber frankly have done not enough--
not nearly enough--to respond to that attack and to prevent such an 
attack from taking place again.
  I know we are going to have a great deal of debate on the obstruction 
of justice--I am appalled by what the President did there--but there 
should be no debate on, A, Russian interference in our election--that 
is unequivocal--and, B, that we must do a lot more about it to prevent 
it from happening in 2020.
  The Trump administration has been horrible on this issue--
unpatriotic, un-American, and almost letting America fall prey to a 
nasty, brutal foreign power: Russia. This administration has watered 
down or failed to fully implement sanctions against Russia for what 
they did in 2016, and in the Senate, as usual, our Republican 
colleagues bow down in obeisance.
  Leader McConnell--shame on him--has stymied progress and consigned 
bipartisan bill after bill to his legislative graveyard. These are 
bipartisan bills. There are so many Republicans who want to do 
something here. Leader McConnell doesn't. And that has nothing to do 
with Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative; that has to do with 
patriotism and defending America. Bipartisan bills to harden our 
election structure are languishing. The Republican majority has even 
blocked Democratic requests to provide additional election security 
funding to the States.
  Just yesterday, the FBI Director confirmed that President Putin 
remains intent on interfering in our elections, and we haven't done 
enough to deter that. Next to the brazenness of President Putin's 
assault on our democracy in 2016, the response of the Republican 
majority in the Senate has been tepid.
  I know there were great divisions about certain parts of the Mueller 
report. We are seeing it in the hearings going on now. But there can be 
no division--and I haven't heard any Republican on that panel so far 
contest the fact that Russia interfered in our elections in a strong 
way in 2016. Why aren't we doing something about it now? Let's forget 
the political divisions. Let's forget the pettiness of President Trump, 
who says: Well, my election may not be legitimate if I admit that the 
Russians interfered.
  President Trump, the Russians have interfered, and every American 
knows it. Let's not let it happen in 2020. Let's work together on this. 
It is vital to the future of American democracy.
  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. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                 Vote on Stephen M. Dickson Nomination

  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Dickson 
nomination?
  Mr. ALEXANDER. 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 bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Georgia (Mr. Isakson).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Georgia (Mr. 
Isakson) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), 
the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from New York 
(Mrs. Gillibrand), the Senator from California (Ms. Harris), the 
Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. 
Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 52, nays 40, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 225 Ex.]

                                YEAS--52

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--40

     Baldwin
     Blumenthal
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--8

     Bennet
     Booker
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Isakson
     Klobuchar
     Sanders
     Warren
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon table, and the President 
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________