sides, but atf the end of the dayt i believe we have reached the budget deal with either side loves that both sides can be proud of. that is compromise. that is governing. that is what we should be doing more of in this body and it is my sincere hope that the republican leader and i will continue to work together in this way to get things done for the american people. now course we must finish the job. later this week let's pass this budget into law alongside an extension of government funding, i hope the house will follow suit and president trump will sign it. i also hope that speaker ryan will do what senator mcconnell has agreed to do, allow a fair and open process to debate the dreamers bill on the house floo floor.

this budget deal will be the best thing we've done for our economy, our military, our middle class for a long time. i yield the floor. >> can b you believe the medicaid money that was given to puerto rico in a lump sum called a block grant is going to end, it's going to run out next mont month, but, the $4.8 billion in supplemental for puerto rico's medi medicare program along with the 100% federal match for two years, we can guarantee that a million of our fellow u.s. citizens on the island won't be denied healthcare coverage when they needed it the most. otherwise you're going toot run out next month. it's long overdue.

we can finally provide some much needed relief for disaster affected areas. so, please let's pass this aid bill this week and let's send it to the president. mr. president, i yield the floo floor. >> the senator from t florida. [inaudible] we want to come here to work together on the issues that we can work together on and on that front, i must say the ability to work with senator nelson on thi this, it's been invaluable to have senators from two different parties singing from the same song

sheet about the priorities that are critical to our state, and what's unique about the disaster relief is at the impact on florida wasn't just the impact on florida. it was also the impact. [inaudible] on puerto rico. [inaudible] the last two months has been the ability to work here in the senate, not from the cameras, not through a series of press conference, but the way legislation is put together and thee way we were able to work together to come out with a concise, unified position on the needs of florida and puerto rico, working the leadership of the democratic party on the side

and republicans onar ours and i've gotta tellf you, the place where it's very hard to get 60% of what you want, and that's a win, when you start to go through some of the to be in this relief package, it would be hard complain. perhaps with the small exception here or there are virtually all of the things that are critical for disaster relief in florida and as well as puerto rico will be included in this. while a lot of us are very concerned that we should've done this for weeks ago or three weeks ago, there are other reasons why. this was being held back until other things were agreed on, but now we will be able to move forward and i just have to say while no one wants to have a hurricane and no one wants to have a natural disaster, i think this is a response that we t should be happy about. think it's a c testament to the sorts of things we can achieve in the senate when we can put aside our differences on other issues and work together on

this. by the way, i want to say, i don't want anyone to read into that. senator nelson i've operated on a host of things from judges to anything that impacts. [inaudible] and i hope we can get to do that more as a senate, not just in florida. maybend senator and nelson i just always in a good mood because it doesn't snow in florida and it's warmer everywhere else is cold but i think people of florida should be pleased that our ability to work together. i'll start withh the puerto rico partnership. so when we still see the impact of on a regular basis. me just, as aside, this is important. the resident commissioner, basically the member of congress representing puerto rico and house is an extraordinary advocate for

puerto rico. not a good one, not a great one, an extraordinary one. she is tireless, nonstop. i'm talking sunday evening, sunday night, early monday morning, constant work. an incredible partner in this endeavor. she has beenat able to achieve, because even got angry but on a lot of this in the senate we had to go to jennifer and asked for her help to make sure leadership on the house would be on board. the respect the house leadership has for her was in instrumental. no matter what we agreed to hear, we couldn't do it. her ability to get the house go along with these changes is invaluable and i just need to say that publicly. so much of this is due directly to her. she is the voice of puerto rico in washington. to the extent that these things are happening above and beyond what has already happened it's in large respect due to having her here. she's just phenomenal. senator nelson talks about the

medicaid crisis that they face and last year we were able to fill the gap for one year. we're replicating that model. there is money m in disaster relief to repair hospitals and communitys. health centers and displaced college students. there are over $11 billion to the fund which will go directly to puerto rico and the virgin islands also gets 2 billion. there's 45 million tourists door in san juan and job core centers you smuggle drugs into

puerto rico and you're in the united states its customs from that point forward. doesn't apply to puerto rico? transportation funding, particularly improvements to the faa, and the airports in the federal highway. it's everything that there's more to do. in addition that separate to help puerto rico recover from the storm but to set itself up for long-term economic success and i look forward to unveiling that. this is good news for them since the storm hit. i justp want to say it's due to the partnership of senator

nelson and myself an extra night assistance from my party and senator mcconnell and the appropriations staff and both sides of the aisle. we don't often come to the floo floor. this will be an incredibly large effort for the secretary of agriculture to administer this but i know i speak for florida's growers when i say this is important work. feeding our nation is important work and i stand committed to working with the secretary and our commission of agriculture who is aware and has been instrumental in together this

package. there is important funding for the protection program. emergency conservation program. role development and food system. funding to prepare, those of the facilities i will innovate what we need to save florida in the long term for there's money for education, particularly educational and for structural repairs, to help displace students and hire new teachers. this is especially important we've seen thousands of students that have come from puerto rico to florida to get their education. there is money to help the higher education, to rebuild facilities that were damaged in the storm. money to help displac displace tire education student. project serve as an education related expense for local education agencies and higher education institutions to help them recover.

there's 25 million to assist homeless students and 650 million for headstart. there are at least. [inaudible] community block funding. the list goes on and on. there's more that we will be putting out more details. the army corps has a lot of important projects but there's one in particular, there's over 600 million to repairs. there's coastal emergency funding and everglades restoration projects that were damaged by the storm including these large retaining ponds that are basically lakes of water. someut of them are flooded and damaged in this helped.

the dike is critically important to people living in the lake community, this expedites that. this wasn't part of the budget in the beginning. it was alreadyec been authorized and the ability to move forward is critical because it helps with all the other projects restoring the everglades. let me wrap up with the spread there is one in particular, the south atlantic comprehensive study. it's a federal project that basically looks at vulnerabilities and sea level rise and coastal levels and things like that. that will be a part of this because in theth future we will the threat see that this poses to the storm surge and the like. there is some language in their modeled after bill that

i had filed, it gives the assistant secretary for preparedness and response authority to ensure that hhs has the necessary emergency medical personnel to respond in a natural disaster because the hurricane season is about five months away. there is 60 million for community health center repairs and 28 in florida and hundred and puerto rico. 50million from nih for grants and infrastructure repair. within the top line numbers for fema there will be a total of 33 billion for staff and reimburse make costs. are involved in ongoing discussions with the administration which is responsible for recording with the governors in the states. this should be more than enough to pay the unmet cost for hospital repair and medical services etav cetera. several more points. we have a massive debris problem, particularly in monroe county. this has money in there to

help clean up. local governments have run out of money and they can't do it. this repairs coast guard facilities damaged by the storm. it funds 1.65 billion for small business ministration loans. the national park service. i toured the everglades. this has $207.6 million worth ofh construction for repairs on the destroyed facilities by the national park service. funding under theri department of transportation, $140 billioncl for florida. that includes 8 million for fa a facilities. 100million for florida for the highway administration. 27million for florida transit administration. and under fema, theo disaster relief fund will make sure fema has the release support needed to prepare and respec restore damage in florida and puerto rico. i just hope that we can get support for this. : suffered terribly,

virgin islands suffered, california has had the fires. but i would say that it took longer than we wanted to. but i think the people of florida should be very pleased with the disaster relief package that the senate is about to present and hopefully will pass and pass in the house and this is good news. and i was grateful to be a part of it. i want to thank my staff that work incredibly hard to help advance this and we've been waiting for this day. we're excited this day is finally here. it makes our service here really meaningful when you can take your actions and turn it into progress and results. this >> and turn into progress. this is one of the reasons why a ran for reelection. to come back and make a difference and today i know with working from so many others including the house and the leadership in the senate we are about to make a real difference that makes our time

here rewarding. i look forward to doing more. with that i yield the floor. [applause] >> thank you. you know better. i'm not sure, thank you. something is