among them senator tom udall of new mexico who accused the president of filling the swamp with some of the swampiest creatures ever. durson is slated to appear at a senate confirmation hearing on wednesday. >>> meanwhile the president is receiving a rash of criticism this morning after he paid a visit to prooko following the island's devastation after hurricane maria and making controversial remarks that raised more than a few eyebrows. >> i hate to tell you, puerto rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack. because we've spent a lot of money on puerto rico. and that's fine. we've saved a lot of lives. if you look at the -- every death is a horror. but if you look at a real catastrophe like katrina and you look at the tremend and hundreds and hundreds of people that died and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was totally overpowering, nobody's ever seen anything like this. >> those comments came after images of the president tossing paper towels to hurricane victims went viral. that action coming just after the president toured some of the hardest-hi

i urge support for the udall-heinrich amendment and yield back. the presiding officer: is there further debate? the senator for wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president, i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment, reluctantly. i always fought to make sure that rural communities can keep the lights on. approximately half the land in my home state of wyoming is under federal control and counties unable to obtain property tax revenue from a large part of the state. payment in lieu of taxes from pilt is compensation for the money they lose pause they are unable to tax federal lands within their borders even though they are required to provide services on those lands. however, there is a reserve fund so i find this amendment to be duplicative an unnecessary. furthermore, vote-a-rama is not the correct form to make a program permanent and mandatory, even one i have long supported. i look forward to working with my colleagues from new mexico on fiscallile responsible legislation to -- fiscal responsibility and equity for america's rural counties and their com

udall: thank you, mr. president. i would ask to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: mr. president, i'm joined today by my colleague from new mexico, senator heinrich. we thought we would come down together and talk about senator domenici, our former colleague that passed away recently. he was born to italian immigrants in albuquerque, new mexico in 1932. he was the grocer's son, worked in his parents' store, attended catholic school. he graduated from our own university of new mexico, pitched in college on the albuquerque dukes farm team and taught high school mathematics. went to law school and built a law practice. he got his start in politics on the albuquerque city commission, was elected to the u.s. senate in 1973 and became new mexico's longest serving senator. he was a us bansdz, father, and grandfather. he married nancy burke right out of law school and his beautiful wife of 59 years was key to his long and successful career. she was a good friend of ours and we spent an hour with her in albuquerque a littl

udall: thank you, mr. president, for the recognition this evening. mr. president, i rise to support the consumer financial protection bureau's arbitration rule that has been spoken about this evening very eloquently by my colleagues here on the democratic side. the new rule protects consumers from predatory financial practices. these consumers are our everyday constituents, service members and veterans, moms and dads, the elderly, students, working people. it protects these folks by limiting binding arbitration clauses. what is a binding arbitration clause? these clauses take away consumers' rights to seek relief in court when they are wronged. this rule puts money in the pockets of consumers who have been taken advantage of. the consumer financial protection board estimates the rule would mean $342 million per year in compensation to consumers. repealing the rule would take that money which should go to consumers and give it to some of the wealthiest corporations in this nation. when millions of consumers are scammed, what is the most logical remedy? mi

as an example, senator mccain's uncommon friendship with mo udall comes to mind congressman udall was a liberal icon yet he reached out to a young republican from his state as a friend and a mentor. the two men developed a close friendship that lasted until udall's death from parkinson's disease. although udall had one spin -- once been a month the most powerful leaders in washington almost none of his former colleagues came calling as he's laying ill at a veterans hospital not far from the capital. -- it was senator mcgrane mccain who visited them quite often. you would arrive at the hospital with newspaper clips and you would sit at your friend's bedside and read to him. you in he reached out to the beginning, you reached out to him in the and with empathy and withdrew compassion. story, it is once again so clear of the unique and unusual man we are speaking about, and what a dear friend he was to mo udall. but we must also see a man with a desire to embrace people's humanity regardless of their politics. this is no small feat in today's patriotic halls of our of ournce and quarters