this morning, white house kushner kushner with mike pence and kiersten nelson and mick mulvaney who serves as budget director and acting chief of staff were at the white house complex. president tweeted this morning that he is meeting with top level staff of house and senate leadership. >> the u.s. senate met on thursday for the opening day of h congress. new and reelected senator's work sorted by vice president mike pence, who serves as president of the senate. we'll hear speeches from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and minority leader chuck schumer. >> the chaplain will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray.

eternal god, we honor your name. from you comes the help we need to face life challenges and setbacks. guide our lawmakers. lead them through the turbulence to the destination of your choosing. may they hold on to your firm hand, finding in your radiance the ability to transform bitterness, disappointment, and failure into redemptive opportunities. make our senators increasingly the kind of people whom you can use as instruments of your purposes for humanity.

bless the incoming senators of this 116th congress with your wisdom and might. we pray in your sovereign name. amen. the vice president: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the vice president: the chair lays before the senate the

certificates of election of 33 senators elected for six-year terms beginning on january 3, 2019. one certificate of election to fill an unexpired term and one certificate of appointment. all certificates, the chair is advised -- all certificates, the chair is advised, are in the form suggested by the senate or contain all the essential requirements of the form suggested by the senate. if there is no objection to the reading of the certificates, they will be waived and they will be printed in full in the record. if there is no objection, if the senators to be sworn will now present themselves at the desk in groups of four, as their names are called in alphabetical order, the chair will administer theiffice. the clerk will read the names of the first group.

the clerk: baldwin, barrasso, blackburn, braun. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president:

congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will call the names of the next group. the clerk: brown, cantwell, cardin, carper.

the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the third group.

the clerk: casey, cramer, cruz feinstein. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the fourth group.

the clerk: fischer, gillibrand, hawley, heinrich. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the fifth group. the clerk: hirono, kaine, king, klobuchar. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;

and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the sixth group. the clerk: manchin, mcsally, menendez, murphy.

the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the seventh group. the clerk: romney, rosen, sanders, sinema.

the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the senate will be in order. the clerk will now read the names of the eighth group. the clerk: smith, stabenow, tester, warren. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic;

that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will now read the names of the final group. the clerk: whitehouse, wicker. the vice president: please raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation

or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

the vice president: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the vice president:

the senate will be in order. a quorum is present. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved, and the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the vice president: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 1 submitted earlier today. the vice president: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: senate resolution 1, informing the president of the united states that a quorum of each house is assembled. the vice president: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the vice president: without objection. pursuant to senate resolution 1, the chair appoints the senator from kentucky and the senator from new york as a committee to join the committee on the part

of the house of representatives to wait upon the president of the united states and inform him that a quorum is assembled and the congress is ready to receive any communication he may be pleased to make. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of the s. res. 2, submitted earlier today. the vice president: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: senate resolution 2, informing the house of representatives that a quorum of the senate is assembled. the vice president: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the vice president: without objection. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 3, submitted earlier today. the vice president: the clerk

will report the resolution. the clerk: senate resolution 3, to elect chuck grassley, a senator from the state of iowa, to be president pro tempore of the senate of the united states. the vice president: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the vice president: without objection. if the senior senator from iowa will present himself at the desk, i will administer the oath of office. the vice president: please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that you will swear and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you

bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which you are about to enter, so help you god? mr. grassley: i do. the vice president: congratulations. the vice president: the president pro tempore is now invited to preside in the chair.

the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 4 snitted earlier today. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 4, notifying the president of the united states of the election of a president pro tempore. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 5, submitted earlier today.

the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 5, notifying the house of representatives of the election of a president pro tempore. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, then, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 6, submitted earlier today. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 6, fixing the hour of the daily meeting of the senate. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, then, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous

consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 7, submitted earlier today. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 7, to make effective appointment of senate legal counsel. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 8, submitted earlier today. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 8, to make effective appointment of deputy senate legal counsel. the president pro tempore: is there any objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, then, the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i serchedz to the desk en bloc 11 unanimous consent requests and i ask for their immediate consideration en bloc. i further ask that the requests be agreed to en bloc, the motions to consider be considered made and laid upon the table and that they appear separately in the record before the chair acts on my request, i would like to point out that these requests are routine and done at the beginning of each congress. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding to the unanimous request en bloc. without objection, then so ordered. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i have a resolution at the desk.

the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 9 fixing the hour of daily meeting of the senate. the president pro tempore: is there objection to proceeding? mr. mcconnell: i ask for its immediate consideration and to send the resolution over under the rule. i object to my own request. the president pro tempore: objection is heard. the objection then -- the resolution will go over under the rule. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, as we begin the 116th congress, i'm glad to be welcoming back my friends and routining colleagues to what i hope will be a productive session. before we get to work, i'd like to note the arrival of eight new members who were just sworn in. the senate welcomed marcia black burning, mike braun of indiana, kevin cramer of north dakota,

josh hawley of missouri, mccaly, jackie rosen of nevada, and kyrsten sinema of arizona. in the coming days, rick scott of florida will join our ranks. i'd like to welcome each of our incoming colleagues as well as their families to the senate. today you're forming the newest links in a historic chain and continuing the rich traditions of this body in which we are so fortunate to serve. on a related note, i'm pleased that our new colleagues and entire senate will continue learning from the example of one of little most loyal stewards of our traditions, senator chuck grassley who's been elected today as our new president pro tempore. so congratulations to the senior senator from iowa on this tremendous accomplishment. so, mr. president, as we begin this new congress together, one fact is abundantly clear. the american people need democrats and republicans to work together.

today illustrates that very point. last november voters expanded our republican majority here in the senate but ensure that 60 votes will only attainable by working across the aisle. and incoming speaker pelosi will be leading a new democratic majority over in the house. this is the landscape in which we'll be operating. fortunately, the record of the 115th congress illustrates just how much is possible when both sides make bipartisan collaboration a priority. here in the senate, our good-faith efforts yielded a historic tally of legislative accomplishments on behalf of the american people. we passed landmark legislation to help heal the wounds of the opioid epidemic. we delivered measures to help lower prescription drug prices and expand access to save treatments. we reached a measured agreement to rebuild america's military

and designed v.a. reforms that will help our nation better keep its cool lemm promises to -- solemn promises to the brave men and women who have served. we brought about bipartisan scalpel to financial regulations so that fewer of main street's local lenders will get trapped in a maze of wall street's rule book. we reasserted a commitment to regular order appropriations. we laid the groundwork for rebuilding american infrastructure. we certainly -- we delivered certainty and predictability to farming communities across our country. so we know that the senate with the republican majority is fertile soil for big bipartisan accomplishments. the question is, will the newly democratic house join in this good moment tum or bring it to a standstill. it's a clear choice and will be clear to the american people watching all this at home.

good governance or political performance art? the public interest or political spite? policymaking or presidential harassment? so, mr. president, the first test is already upon us. just yesterday i was glad to join house and senate leaders of both parties in a meeting with president trump at the white house to discuss border security and outstang appropriations. this meeting included a briefing on the urgent crisis at our southern border, the facts on the ground are truly striking. as the border patrol chief testified before the judiciary committee a few weeks ago, the border patrol apprehended more than 800, 800 gang members just last year. a 50% increase over the previous year. methamphetamine seizures are up 75% since fiscal 2015.

importantly, we also know that in each of our four cbp sectors where physical barriers have been improved or expanded, illegal traffic has dropped by at least -- now listen to this -- 90% in areas where there are physical barriers, illegal traffic has dropped by 90%. these are the facts on which the entire conversation must turn. and yet as yesterday marked the 12th day of this ongoing partial government shutdown, our democratic colleagues seem less concerned with these facts than with their own reasonable political standoff with president trump. so for the benefit of all involved, let me restate the terms of engagement. in other words, where we are. we need a bicameral, bipartisan

compromise solution. we need an arrangement that can check these three boxes. pass the house, achieve the support of at least 60 senators, and get a presidential signature. it's not complicated. that's how you make a law. the legislation that house democrats reported -- reportedly plan to vote on later today is nrks my view, not a serious attempt to check all three of those boxes. in fact, it ignores the bipartisan conference negotiations and progress made on these spending bills over the last month. so i would call it political theater, not productive lawmaking. so i've made it clear on several occasions -- let me say this again, the senate will not take up any proposal that does not have a real chance of passing

this chamber and getting a presidential signature. so let's not waste the time. let's not get off on the wrong foot. with house democrats using their platform to produce statements rather than serious solutions. let's pick up where we left off and dedicate this 116th congress to the spirit of bipartisan collaboration to create more victories for the american people. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democrat leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now first, mr. president, allow me to welcome all of the new members who w just sworn in for the first time as u.s. senators. as well as my friends who were reelected to this body. we are entrusted with an awesome responsibility. to conduct the vital business of this country we all love.

we come at it from many different perspectives and backgrounds and geographies but the hope is that we can come together and get some good things done. i hope that in this new year and throughout the new congress, the senate will prove ourselves worthy of the responsibility and faithfully discharge our duties to our states, our country, the constitution, and, of course, the well-being of the american people. but now sadly, mr. president, as i address you, this new congress is under the shadow of a government shutdown. only one person is to blame for this predicament, president trump. democrats made several offers to the president that would keep the government open over the holiday break. we even agreed to leader mcconnell's proposal to pass a clean, continue -- clean continuing resolution to avoid a

shutdown and it passed the senate unanimously. every single democrat, every single republican was for it. all indications were that president trump would sign it. but then it hounded by the far right, particularly the radio and tv commentators, president trump threw a temper tantrum at the 11th hour and demanded more than $5 billion for an ineffective border wall, knowing that it full well lacked the votes in the senate. after publicly rooting for a government shutdown for mounts, president trump finally got his wish. now, nine cabinet departments, dozens of other agencies are shut down. hundreds of thousands of federal workers are doing their jobs without pay. food safety inspectors are running out of resources. federal courts are running out of money. national parks are suffering.

in a few short months, the i.r.s. won't be able to issue tax refunds, so vital to so many families. so yesterday the president invited congressional leaders to the white house. speaker pelosi and i sought to have a sensible discussion about how to reopen the government. we proposed two bills that separated the wall fight from the government shutdown. let me repeat that. the two bills we proposed separate the wall fight from the government shutdown. you don't have to have one, even if you can't resolve the other. first, a six-bill minibus to provide appropriations for every cabinet department except homeland security. and, second, a 30-day continuing resolution for homeland security. the six bills are not democratic bills, as i heard some of the commentators, the right-wing commentators say. the six bills are the same bills

that republicans, including leader mcconnell, supported in the senate appropriations committee. the c.r. passed unanimously through the house -- through the senate last year, and four of the six bills came to the floor and passed the senate 92-6. the vast majority of democrats and republicans being for them. so these are not democratic bills. they were crafted in a bipartisan way by a republican-controlled senate appropriations committee and a republican-controlled senate. now, if these bills passed, they'd allow us to continue discussions on border security without leaving large portions of the government shut down. now, we obviously disagree about the best way to secure the border. we believe the wall is wrong on many counts. the wall is ineffective. most experts agree with that.

the wall is expensive. the wall was promised -- the wall, when promised by president trump -- he says it is a campaign pledge he must keep. that was not his campaign pledge. his campaign pledge was to i would about the wall and -- his complain pledge was to build the wall and have mexico pay for it. the president has no plan to deal with eminent domain. there are hundreds of landowners on the southern border who will go to court an fight every attempt by the federal government to expropriate their land. that will take years. and, by the way, the trump administration has not even spent the border security funding allocated by congress last year. so the wall is wrong. it's ineffective. it's expensive. mexico doesn't pay for it, has no plan to deal with eminent domain. they haven't even spent the

border security funding allocated last year. and one more point -- to so many americans, we do not want the wall to be a symbol of america, much preferring the statue of liberty be that symbol. symbolism is bad for the country, our our economy, for our security, for our ability to get along in the world. so democrats certainly support strong, effective border security -- fencing, drones, technology, roads -- but the -- what the experts say actually works, not a wall. we totally disagree on that. but even with that disagreement, mr. president, i repeat, there is no reason to keep unrelated parts of the government shut down because of those disagreements. today, if leader mcconnell tonight would put the bill that's passing the house on the floor, it would pass. after all, it was crafted by

republicans, especially those on the appropriations committee. so they're not opposed to it. so, i asked on multiple occasions yesterday at our meeting, i asked the president to give me one good reason why he should keep large portions of the government shut down while we have a separate debate about the border. he couldn't name one. he kept coming back and talking about the border. i said, no, mr. president. these six bills have nothing to do with the border. why can't we pass them? why must we hold millions of americans who depend on the services of these agencies that are closed, hundreds of thousands of workers who get paid by these agencies, why must we hold them hostage? why must a temper tantrum determine how we vote? and what happens in this government? anyone can shut down the government on anything.

any leader, any president. that's not the way to do thing. so the president couldn't name a single reason that made any sense about why he should keep the other agencies closed, not homeland security but the others. and that is the best indication of why there's a shutdown. president trump is holding the government hostage over his wall. president trump is holding the government hostage over his wall. using the well being of millions of americans as hostage in a futile attempt to get what he wants -- a concrete border wall. so where do we go from here? well, we have a new congress, several new senators were just sworn in. the house of representatives, of course, will change control and democrats will seat a healthy

majority. the new house majority is poised tonight to pass the two bills we offered the president. the senate republicans, leader mcconnell ought to take it up here on the floor of the senate. let me be clear about a few points. the six-bill minibus is completely silent on the issue of border security. it would solely fund the eight cabinet departments not named homeland security at levels agreed to by both parties and signed off on by the overwhelming majority of republicans on both the appropriations committee and in the senate. there is absolutely nothing in those six bills that my republican friends oppose. let me repeat -- there is nothing in those six bills that senate republicans oppose. all but six voted for the four of them that came to the floor,

and every single republican on the appropriations committee, including leader mcconnell, voted for them in the appropriations committee. so when leader mcconnell calls this some democratic proposal, he's absolutely wrong. leader mcconnell, you voted for it. leader mcconnell, you supported it. -- on both the floor and in the appropriations committee. it is not a democratic proposal. in fact, the house democrats went out of their way to pass a proposal that republicans supported. and senators graham and moran and lankford and murkowski voted for those bills as chair of their appropriations subcommittees. they put them together. so even if there are disagreements about border security, why not pass the six noncontroversial bipartisan

bills? that's the question i would ask every one of my republican colleagues. that is the question the american people are asking every one of my republican colleagues. and, above all, they're asking that of president trump. what's the rationale for keeping eight cabinet departments shuttered for an unrelated dispute over the wall? there is none. we can continue to debate the best way to secure our border. we have disagreements on those. but let us reopen these cabinet departments and ensure hundreds of thousands of federal workers receive their paychecks and, even more importantly, that these departments get back to work for the american people. as i mentioned, the house will also pass a 30-day continuing resolution for the department of homeland security. again, there's nothing in that bill that senate republicans don't support. the senate passed it unanimously before christmas break. the only thing that's changed between now and then is that we will have a house speaker who

will pass this bill as well. and once the house passes these two bills, leader mcconnell should put them on the floor, where i believe they will receive strong bipartisan majorities. it's going to be very hard for a lot of republicans to vote no on the same bills they supported just a few months ago. now, the leader says he's waiting for white house approval. well, unfortunately, the white house is all over the map. we don't know where the white house stands on any of these things. yesterday president trump publicly rejected an offer made to democrats a week ago by his own vice president. there's no telling where the president will come down on any given day. surely leader mcconnell knows that after passing a c.r. through this chamber thinking it had the president's support, that if we rely on the president alone, we can be shut down for a long time. at this point, we need to take the lead here in congress in the

hopes that we can show president trump the sweet light of reason. we've given our republican colleagues a way out of the shutdown based on republican-approved proposals. all leader mcconnell needs to do to reopen the government is to bring to the floor the legislation that he and nearly every other republican senator already supports. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

>> there's live coverage of c-span for the senate. >> c-span, where history unfold daily. in 1979, c-span was created in public service by america's cable television companies and today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress. , the supremese court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable and satellite provider. >> senator elizabeth warren makes her first trip to the early caucus state of iowa since announcing the exploratory committee and this weekend to plans to visit five cities in iowa including organizing event in des moines. you can see that tomorrow morning