Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, we are doing a number of important things in the Senate this week.

Last night, we passed the Natural Resources Management Act. This is a bipartisan package of more than 100 individual bills that will help protect our natural resources, spur economic development, increase access to public lands, and much more.

I was very pleased that my Custer County Airport Conveyance Act, which I introduced with the other Members of the South Dakota delegation, was included in this bill. This legislation will give Custer County Airport full ownership of the land on which it operates and allow the airport to make improvements to its facilities.

Custer County Airport supports business and recreational aviation and fire suppression efforts in the Black Hills region, and I am pleased that this bill will increase the airport's ability to serve this area of South Dakota.

I am grateful to Chairman Murkowski for her leadership on this important lands package, as well as to Ranking Member Manchin and all of those who worked on these bills at the committee level. Nomination of William Barr

Mr. President, last night, the Senate moved forward on William Barr's nomination to be Attorney General. We will have the final vote on that nomination later this week.

The President made an outstanding choice with Mr. Barr. Mr. Barr is eminently qualified to be Attorney General. In fact, he has already been Attorney General--under President George H.W. Bush. He also served as Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice and as Deputy Attorney General.

He has won respect from both sides of the aisle. He has been confirmed by the Senate without opposition--not once, not twice, but three times. He was unanimously confirmed as Attorney General under George H.W. Bush in a Democrat-controlled Senate. Then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden described him as ``a heck of an honorable guy.''

Senator Leahy also spoke at that time, expressing his belief that Mr. Barr would be ``an independent voice for all Americans.''

Today, Mr. Barr continues to earn respect from Democrats. The ranking member on the Judiciary Committee noted in January:

He's obviously very smart. He was attorney general before. No one can say he isn't qualified.

Mr. Barr is extremely smart and eminently qualified. He would be a judicious, thoughtful, and independent Attorney General, whose allegiance would be to, as he said, ``the rule of law, the Constitution, and the American people.'' I hope the Senate will quickly confirm him in a bipartisan fashion. Government Funding

Mr. President, the final order of business this week is funding the government. I am very pleased and encouraged that Chairman Shelby and his counterparts have reached an agreement ``in principle'' to fully fund the government and fund important border security measures.

No one wants another government shutdown. I am very glad Democrats abandoned their efforts to force a cap on the number of individuals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could detain in the interior of the country. If Democrats' enforcement cap had been adopted, Immigration and Customs Enforcement would have been forced to release criminals already in detention onto our Nation's streets. I am pleased that Democrats decided to separate themselves from the radical anti- border-security wing of their party. Instead, the deal will now give Immigration and Customs Enforcement the flexibility it needs to address surges of illegal immigration at our southern border.

I am also very glad Democrats moved from their insistence on zero funding for physical barriers at the border. Barriers are an essential element of border security, and I am pleased this compromise will allow 55 new miles of physical barriers in the Rio Grande Valley's sector, which is a high-priority area for the Border Patrol. That is double the number of new miles provided in fiscal year 2018 and nearly three times as many as would have been available under a continuing resolution.

I thank Chairman Shelby and Members of both parties who have been working on a funding and border security deal, as well as the staffers who have worked nights and weekends, to help develop this agreement. I look forward to reviewing the final language and voting on a final funding and border security package later this week.

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