Senator Boxer: (6:38 PM)

• Spoke on the Water Resources Development Act.
  • "We're talk about making navigation better. We're talking about flood control. We're talking about coastal storm damage reduction, environmental restoration, relief for Flint, Michigan, improved notification when high levels of lead are found in drinking water anywhere in the country. It restores critical ecosystems, invests in innovative water technologies like desalination, water recycling. We're talking about drought assistance. We're talking about improving ports, repairing dams, and allowing states to issue permits for coal ash. This is a critical bill."

Senator Rubio: (6:39 PM)

• Spoke on the MilCon-VA/Zika appropriations bill.
  • "I continue to support supplemental legislation to fund the fight against Zika, but we cannot afford to wait any longer. And that's why I have requested that any legislation to fund the federal government beyond the 30th of September include additional resources to combat and, hopefully through a vaccine, eradicate the Zika virus. This is for Congress our moment of truth on this incredibly dangerous issue. We are going to continue to see more explosive growth in infections if people keep conspiring for political reasons in election year to do nothing. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers, in the House and Senate, now face a choice. Are the political points you hope to gain from posturing on this funding really more valuable than saving the lives and protecting pregnant women and preventing unborn children from being afflicted by this disease?"

Senator Brown: (6:45 PM)

• Spoke on the death of Dr. Donald Henderson.
  • "This country lost one of the heroes in the fight to eradicate smallpox: Lakewood, Ohio native, Oberlin College graduate, Dr. Donald Henderson. He passed away at age 87 on August 19. He left behind perhaps the most important public health legacy of anyone in the 20th century, along with Dr. William Foege, who is still alive and very active. Dr. Henderson helped lead the war on humankind's most feared disease, achieved one of the greatest public health victories ever, perhaps a very, very arguably, maybe the most important public health victory ever and that's the eradication of smallpox. Most Americans are maybe too young to remember the fear that smallpox struck in the hearts of people across the globe."

Senator McCain: (6:53 PM)

• Spoke on Obamacare.
  • "Our state of Arizona has the unique category of having a county without a single health care provider. Not one. And now our largest county, Maricopa County, is now down to one, from six. If there's ever an object lesson in the failure of Obamacare, it's right there in our home state of Arizona, where we have a very large aging population, we have a very large young population. And we're asking the young people to pay for the health care of seniors when the fact is that it was a flawed idea from the beginning. And the fact is that I stood on this floor until Christmas Eve morning fighting against Obamacare when it was rammed on a strictly partisan basis -- 60 votes they had, 60 votes they used. For the first time in history we had a major entitlement reform that was done on a totally partisan basis. And we said at the time that it would fail. It's unraveling as we speak."

Senator Flake: (6:58 PM)

• Spoke on Obamacare.
  • "You have no exchange to purchase. If you buy on another exchange, there's no federal subsidy attached to it so it's completely unaffordable for many of our constituents. Yet, if they can't buy the insurance and don't buy the insurance, the penalty still comes. The penalty still comes. And so I'm pleased that my colleague is introducing legislation. I'm glad to join him on this to make sure that in counties where there is no competition, that those penalties simply shouldn't apply. That's the first thing we ought to do. I have legislation as well that will say that the hardship exemptions that currently exist should be expanded, particularly for those who have no option at all. It's not getting better. It's getting worse. We have to sit down and say let's do some of these reforms now because people are hurting."

Senator Alexander: (4:18 PM)

• Spoke in tribute to a fallen Tennessee police officer, Kenny Moats.
  • "Last Tuesday, I attended a funeral for officer Kenny Moats, a Maryville, Tennessee, police officer who was killed in the line of duty responding to a domestic disturbance call. Kenny Moats was a young man. He has three young children. His wife Brittany and he are in their early 30's. Nothing has so touched our community that I can remember in a long, long time. Maryville, Tennessee, is a small town. Blount County is our county. Things like this are not supposed to happen where we live. An officer gets a call. He goes to deal with a domestic disturbance, and he's ambushed from the house where he's called by a person who is now in prison. There was a huge outpouring of support from our community not just for Kenny Moats, but also for the men and women in blue in the police department of Maryville and of the Blount County deputies who were there as well."

Senator Leahy: (4:27 PM)

• Spoke on U.S. assistance to Laos.
  • "I have always thought the United States should do more. So I'm very pleased that President Obama, who was the first American president to visit Laos, announced earlier today the U.S. will increase its support for UXO programs in Laos. The president pledged $90 million over the next three years to continue clearance and victims assistance, risk education programs, at the fiscal 2015 level of $15 million annually. The balance of the $45 million is going to be used to support a national UXO survey. The survey is extremely important. As I said, the land area is about the size of Utah. But this will establish a baseline for contaminated land. That land remains to be cleared."
• Spoke on the Supreme Court vacancy.
  • "I can assure you that Americans, certainly Vermonters, have not forgotten. They have not forgotten the fact that Senate Republicans have refused to hold a hearing for Chief Judge Garland, and they have not forgotten that this unprecedented - unprecedented -- step in not allowing a hearing, this means the Supreme Court continues to be hindered by the lack of a full bench of justices. Chief Judge Garland's nomination has been blocked by Republicans in the Senate for 174 days. No time in the history of our country has something like this been done."

Senator Nelson: (4:49 PM)

• Spoke on the MilCon-VA/Zika appropriations bill.
  • "It ought to be common sense and how many times have folks like me and the senator from Maryland come and pled with our colleagues, let's stop this monkey business. Let's stop these political games. Let's stop these political riders. Let's do what the Senate did three months ago when it passed bipartisan by 69 votes $1.1 billion in emergency funding and send it down to the House and tell the House to stop playing these games. And so seems to me we're going to go through another exercise now having multiple times. We're going to vote this down at 5:30. What's going to happen next? I hope reasonable heads will prevail."

Today –

• Following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2577, the MilCon-VA/Zika appropriations bill.
• At 5:30 PM, the Senate will proceed to up to two VOTES on the following:
  • Motion to invoke cloture on the conference report to accompany H.R. 2577
  • Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5293, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act

Senator McConnell: (3:04 PM)

• Spoke on the MilCon-VA/Zika appropriations bill and the DoD appropriations bill.
  • "But these issues have certainly not gone away. In fact, this summer brought even more cases of Zika with mosquitoes now spreading the virus in some counties and health officials issuing travel warnings to pregnant women to Miami. This summer also brought with it even more ISIL-inspired or directed terror attacks from France to Turkey as well as more concerns of growing aggression from countries like North Korea, which recently test launched another missile. These instances from the summer further underscore the urgency of the challenges facing us and why it's imperative that our colleagues end their respective filibusters of these bills. So today we'll give Senate Democrats another opportunity to follow through on their own calls for action on Zika, to support our veterans who deserve the treatment and benefits they've earned, and to provide for our service members who sacrifice so much to protect the country and the people we love. I hope our colleagues will join us now to finally end their senseless filibusters and help us do our part to address these serious issues."

Senator Reid: (3:08 PM)

• Spoke on the MilCon-VA/Zika appropriations bill.
  • "The Senate has a mountain of work to do and no time to do it. First and foremost, the Senate needs to fund efforts to combat Zika. It's a dread problem that's sweeping this country. Earlier this year, Democrats tried in vain to bring Republicans to the realization that Zika was imperiling the health of all, especially women of childbearing age. We accepted the Senate compromise. Last May, 89 senators voted to pass that legislation. Republicans in the House said no, and then surprisingly when we tried to pass it as a stand-alone here, the Republican Senate said we don't agree to what we agreed to just a few weeks ago. Stunning to say the least."
• Spoke on the continuing resolution.
  • "President Obama will reject any continuing resolution that extends into 2017. Notably, members of Congress received their pay during their seven weeks we were out of Washington and would receive our salaries during the Republicans' proposed ten-week recess. Let's be clear. A funding resolution that stretches into next year is a permission slip for Congress to refuse to do its job for the rest of the year. The next Senate should not begin months behind because of this Republican Senate's failure to do its job. Once we've ensured that the government is properly funded, we must turn our attention to the important issues that the Republican Senate has failed to adequately address."