building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communition supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> we take you live now to the u.s. senate as lawmakers continue work on the defense programs and policy bill. no votes are scheduled today so far. you're watching c-span2. ... senate will come to order. we will be led in prayer by the reverend.

the chaplain: let us pray. turn and answer us, o lord our god, for we trust in your unfailing love. may this season of peace on earth help bring peace to our nation and world. lord, you know the forces that seek to destroy freedom. give our lawmakers the wisdom to become instruments of your peace, as they strive to honor you with integrity. may their words be true and sincere. help them keep their promises to you and one another no matter how great

the challenges may be. lord, empower them to walk securely in the path of your will. we pray in your powerful name. amen. the presiding officer: 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 presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., december 13, 2023. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing

rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the state of vermont, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany h.r. 2670 which the. the clerk: will report. the clerk: -- the clerk will report. the clerk: conference report, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities and so forth and for other purposes.

>> our country will see safer transportation and mobility, a cleaner environment and better access for all communities. much work remains to be done. epidemic of traffic fatalities which is falling disproportionately on pedestrians, cyclists, and communities of color. i look for doing from each of our witnesses about their work to prevent these the counties. we must reckon with the rise of new technology such as autonomous vehicles and what it means while we are poor. workers are the backbone of our network. esty technologies become prevalent we must ensure that we protect jobs and give workers a

seat at the table. we must also work to mitigate the impact of our transportation system on the environment. transportation is a largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the united , and her transportation policies and programs must be reformed accordingly. expanding access to transit, walking and biking infrastructure is a key part of the solution. i also support the the fedel highway administrations new requirement in states and metropolitan organizations tractor highway emissions and make plans to reduce them. this requirement is derived from authority provided by congress in 2012, and is a critical step in the right direction. i also appreciate the department of transportation wide efforts to improve equity and address the decades of harm caused by

our transportation system to low-income communities and communities of color. i urge the department to ensure the neighborhood access equities funding approved by this committee as part of the inflation reduction act is quickly put to use. thank you to our witnesses today. i appreciate your diligent work to implement the infrastructure investment and jobs act and the diverse and thoughtful perspectives you bring to the challenges again. i look forward to today's discussion. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you ms. norton. i would recognize chairman gray, he's not able to be with us for this particular things i now recognize ranking member of the full committee mr. lawson for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chair and want to thank the chair and ranking them for having this hearing today. welcome all the beauty witnesses. thanks of it is made in the subcommittee hearing today. about your work to implement the

bil. the bipartisan infrastructure long is in this hearing is not opportunity to highlight how these federal infrastructure dollars are benefiting communities in and helping ud a cleaner greener safer and more accessible transportation system. congress provided $530 billion in the bil for roads, bridges transit buses ferries and other infrastructure needs under the subcommittees jurisdiction. investment level a number of new initiatives in the bil par exceeds previous transportation bills and congress had a d.o.t. a tall order in a permitting this legislation. given the first to mess this clears of the bl the department distributed over $180 billion in highway funds and 40 billion in transit funds to states and localities. funding has gone out under more than three dozen competitive grant programs and more is on the way. just this morning to probe announced awards for the safer streets offer grants totaling $810 $10 million for 385

projects nationwide including you'll be surprised we talk about this, three in my district. yes, indeed totaling about $1.4 million to the city and county develop roadway safety action plans and the business council to test nine safety demonstration projects. yesterday the department announced awards for 18 projects under the rural surface transportation grant program which total $645 million. this money will help world can reduce help reconstruct road and freight infrastructure to make them safer and more accessible. highlight these award analysis because it clinton street how committed is across the u.s. are seeing the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure law. we also seen the benefits in this law by the creation of jobs. these dollars transit into projects on the grant and jobs for american workers. september 23 the stellar support over 60,000 highway projects alone according to an analysis

by the american road and transportation builders association. there's at least one new project underway in every congressional district in the country according to this. thanks to the bil of the department has awarded $25 million and raise grants in my district replace asphyxiation-year-old ferry. projects like this and other projects across the country needs jobs. jobs with good wages, benefits and working conditions for transportation workers and manufacturers. bil needs more jobs in the transportation construction, transit, trekking, aviation, rail and maritime sectors. without these investments the economy would be in far worse shape. we are only two years to a five-year bill and the department has invested a projects across the country and there is more to come. now congress is a job to conduct oversight of the limitation efforts by dot com state dot, project sponsors and industry to ensure it is projects are delivered quickly and effectively and the laws of the men in line with congressional

intent. congress directed investment in bil to address many thanks including addressing climate change and reducing carbon pollution. we directed investments to improve safety and equity outcomes on her transportation networks. we want to but more decision-making power in the hands of local communities whose leaders know infrastructure best. these and other changes are now in headset ut to execute. i applaud the department's efforts on this front and the steps taken to address the unaccepted high rate of depth to prioritize grants to ensure disadvantaged distant prizes -- bil funding and to measure and reduce carbon pollution as provided in the transportation law dating back a decade. i welcome this opportunity to once again acknowledge and celebrate infrastructure benefits of each of our contingents. i want to thank the witness for their service and for guiding your agency's and priorities and for the priorities congress has

asked you to implement. i look forward to today's discussion. with that i used back. >> thank the ranking member. i want to welcome our newest member of the subcommittee malloy from utah. welcome to the subcommittee. i want to welcome our witnesses and thank you for being a deductible carlos, unrestricted transportation for for policy office of secretary of transportation. the audible bot administrator federal highway administration, the honorable hernandez transportation administration, the honorable robert hutchinson administrative federal motor carrier safety administration, and ann carlson acting administrator national highway safety traffic safety administration. briefly ipod touch go into great detail you and now the lights work with green means go. yellow means step on the gas because it's fixing to turn red. that means you run out of time period due to the nature of the committee hearings that we have five witnesses would ask you to strictly due to the five minutes.

if you hear this little sound, that means you are exceeding your five-minute allotted time and i will ask you to wrap up quickly so you get onto the next witness and then to member questions. i ask unanimous consent that the witnesses fall statements be included in the record. without objection, so ordered. ask unanimous consent the record of today's rain open until such time as a witness provide antigenic questions that may be submitted in writing. without objection, so ordered. i also ask unanimous consent the record remain open for 15 days for any additional comments and information submitted by members or witnesses to be included and record to these headings. without objection, so ordered. as your investment has been a part of the record the committee asked you limit your own remarks to five minutes. without mr. undersecretary you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. chairman gray, ranking member larsen, chair crawford, ranking member norton and lives of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to testify did and for your support as we continue

to build a stronger safer transportation system. last but the administration celebrate our second year of him for many the infrastructure of us that through which we are implemented 37 new programs and announce funding for more than 40,000 projects and counting in every corner of the country. the department has continued its strong history of accountability responsibility and financial stewardship. the career team behind d.o.t.'s of limitation efforts 1820.3 service to american metal that's the oscars of public servants and the work doesn't stop. just this week as mr. larson mentioned windows 650,000,018 projects in rural areas for reconstruct replace critical roads, bridges and upgrade freight hubs and expand transit service. why would like to share a few noble examples that were delivered on these priorities. safety is that the province topic oriented 2022 secretary

buttigieg announced an ambitious goal, zero roadway deaths through the department's national roadway safety strategy. the infrastructure law gave us unprecedented resource to invest in road safety across the country. awards and safe streets and roads for all program already benefiting 70% of our nation's population. secretary buttigieg announced another 817 million, 385 projects to continue helping communities to play safety improvements like enhanced crosswalks, roundabouts, improved lighting. we are making a a roads and rs safer by improving risky at raid rail crossing to a dancing lights and technologies like automated emergency braking and expanding vehicle of his ability for truck parking. we are doing all of this first and foremost so our loved ones make it to holiday dinners, to make sure the simple act of walking to the grocery store, biking to work are as safe as it can be. but preventing crashes also

benefits are a cut in. complement the administration white efforts to provide american workers and businesses access to resource access to markets and good paying union jobs. we are strengthening america's trucking workforce and creating pathways to obtain more drivers to apprenticeship programs. meanwhile we are investing in a multimodal freight network improving our ports and investing $40 $40 billion te an upgrade critical bridges including the arlen williams junior memorial bridge in washington and brent smith bridge between kentucky and ohio. the second worst bottleneck work for trucks in the country. infrastructure investments like these are critical to making our supply negotiations continue today between democrats, republicans, and the biden administration on an emergency national security supplemental package. the stakes are high. time is of the essence. democrats are still trying, still trying to meet our

republican colleagues in the middle and reach an agreement. negotiators met yesterday afternoon. it was a productive meeting. real progress was made. but of course, there's still a lot of work to do. we keep working today to get -- we'll keep working today to get closer to an agreement. is the two words i've used to describe each party here in the senate continue to be relevant. democrats are still trying to reach an agreement. republicans need to show they're still serious about getting something done. democrats trying, republicans need to be serious. unfortunately, too many republicans now seem more interested about flying home for the holidays than sticking around to finish the job. for months, republicans insisted that action on the border is a crisis that can't wait, but with the holidays around the corner they're suddenly saying never mind. this can wait till next year.

if republicans say the border is an emergency, then they should be prepared to stay. crying fire about the border one minute, then saying we should go home the next is the definition of unserious. an emergency is an emergency. if you argue there's an emergency at the border, an emergency in ukraine, you can't pretend to be serious about solving them if you think we should go home. now, months ago the biden administration put forward a comprehensive plan to tackle border security. for weeks, we implored our republican colleagues to get serious and offer a credible, bipartisan proposal, not donald trump's extreme border policies as contained in h.r. 2. weeks were wasted. and now here we are. progress is being made, but progress must be allowed to be continued. yes, this is difficult, very

difficult, but we're sent here to do difficult things. if republicans are serious about getting something done on the border, why are so many in a hurry to leave? do they not want to reach an agreement on border security? republicans should not be so eager to go home. i hope we can reach an agreement very soon to pass a supplemental through the senate, because the only people happy right now about the gridlock in congress are donald trump and vladimir putin. putin is delighting in the fact that donald trump's border policies are sabotaging military aid to ukraine. republicans should not be so content to throw their hands in the air and kick the can down the road. our friends in ukraine, after all, are not on our timeline. they don't get a christmas break on the battlefield. their flight against vladimir putin is a matter of life and death. if putin prevails it will haunt the united states and the whole

western world in the very near future. so if my republican friends care at all about taking a stand against russian autocrats, they should get serious about reaching an agreement. if republicans care about defending democracy, about protecting freedom and preserving america's values around the world, they should get serious about reaching an agreement. if republicans truly think the border is an emergency, and if they support truly the cause of the ukrainian people as they claim, then they should get serious about reaching an agreement very soon. we're writing a chamentder in history -- a chapter in history this week. will republican obstruction hand a democratic country over to the forces of autocracy? will auto kratz see america's -- autocrats see this as inaction. will taiwan come next? will america do what it has again and again throughout its glorious history and stand with our democratic friends in need?

will we do what's necessary to keep the democratic order the u.s. helped create after the second world war? these are the stakes. senate democrats have made clear which side of history we want to be on. we want to stand with president zelenskyy and the brave people of ukraine. we want to stand for democratic order. we hope, we hope our republican colleagues are ready to do the same. ndaa -- as soon as later today, the senate will approved our annual defense authorization act, one of the most important bills we passed each year to protect the american people and ensure our long-term security. last night senators overwhelmingly voted to end debate on the ndaa, by 85-156789 that's a strong sign of support, and it shows you the momentum for finishing the ndaa quickly. we'll work today to reach a time agreement with republicans to finish the job on the ndaa as soon as today. at a time of huge trouble for

global security, doing the defense authorization bill is more important than ever. passing the ndaa enables us to hold the line against russia, stand firm against the chinese communist party, and ensure america's defenses remain state of the art at all times. now the ndaa process here in the senate is precisely the kind of bipartisan cooperation the american people want from congress. when this bill came before the senate in july, we had a robust don't and amendment process. we voted on dozens of amendments on the floor, and even included more in our managers' package. both sides had input. both had a chance to shape the bill. in the end the senate's version of the ndaa passed in an overwhelming 86-11 vote, with majorities, significant majorities from both parties. and after a lot of hard work reconciling the senate's ndaa with the house's version through the conference process, i'm pleased the final version of the ndaa has many of the strongest

provisions of the senate's original bill. we'll give our servicemembers the pay raise they deserve. we'll strengthen our resources in the indo-pacific to deter aggression by the chinese government. and give critical resources for training, advising, and capacity building for the military in tie began -- taiwan. we'll approve president biden's try lateral u.s.-u.k. and australia submarine agreement, creating a new fleet of nuclear-powered submaerps to counter the -- submarines to counter the chinese communist party's influence. i applaud senator reed and wicker for pushing this bill offense the line. i commend all conferees for their good work over the past few weeks. thank you to my colleagues on both sides for uniting to get the ndaa done. when we finish our work in the senate, i urge speaker johnson and the house to move this bill quickly. as i've said repeatedly, we

began the month of december with three major goals in the senate before the end of the year -- first, we had to end the unprecedented months-long destructive blockade of hundreds of military nominees. we've done that. second, we needed to pass the ndaa as far as we have for decades on a bipartisan basis. we're going forward on that today. and finally, and hardest of all, we must reach an agreement on a national security supplemental. democrats are still trying to reach an agreement on the supplemental. we urge republicans to show that they're still serious about getting something done. i yield the floor, note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the clerk:: ms. baldwin.

>> a woman in jackson toward not her husband who was in the hospital. she had a doctor's appointment at the normally drove her. but the first time she is on-demand transit. her house is on a dirt road that doesn't have a name. the transit driver picked her up, took her to the doctrine return drone. she said she never thought she would be one of those people who needed the services we support. like millions of writer she discovered transit when she needed it most. thanks to the far person for such a lot many people more freedoms thanks to more service. why we still have work to be done decades of underinvestment created $105 million backlog in the state disappear. manufacturing transit vehicles need to become more efficient

and less expensive and transition to the emissions future requires rescaling increasing transit workforce. were working to meet all of these challenges. we are also working to end assault against transit workers because it's unacceptable that any public servant should worry over what they will return home safely. for every dollar invested in transit, five dollars of value is created. the impact of transit is that only felt at the bottom line. it is measured at the bottom step. when writers exit through open doors into a wider rural of opportunity thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law the rural is closer than ever. as we build more american vehicles train more workers connect more americans with their communities and opportunities to offer. i look forward to your questions today and thank you. >> thank you. administrator hutchinson you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman crawford, chairman gray, ranking member larsen and ranking member norton for your leadership on the subcommittee and to all

committee members thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for your ongoing partnership. when nevis convert as administrator of the federal motor carrier safety administration that was an unprecedented spotlight metal on the trucking and motorcoach industry but on the many women driving that industry. the truck drivers. , off the heels of the pandemic americans are now acutely aware of the impact of a truck drivers work from the long-haul drivers delivering 75% of her good annually, to schoolbus drivers picking our children to school and to the city drivers picking up our recycling. there's no doubt drivers are essential to our daily nsent thas under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: today senate republicans are still work being in good faith on border policy changes that will allow the senate to pass a national security supplemental.

i'm hopeful that democrats both here and at the white house are beginning to recognize how committed we are to addressing the crisis at our southern border o -- border. i'm hopeful that we can reach an agreement and address two national security priorities. meanwhile, the challenges we're facing at home and abroad are not solving themselves. as of today, u.s. personnel in iraq and syria have faced at least 92 attacks from iran-backed terrorists since october, including just last week against the u.s. embassy in baghdad. meanwhile, iran's houthi proxies are escalating their threats against shipping vessels in one

of the busiest checkpoints of international maritime commerce. iraq and its terrorist network are not deterred. they believe they can try to kill americans with impunity and yet last week leading senate democrats joined a failed effort to the withdraw america's presence in syria. three members of the democratic caucus leadership cast votes to retreat -- to retreat in the face of an emboldened terrorist threat. so did the chair of the foreign reels subcommittee -- foreign relations subcommittee that deals with the middle east. it's time for our colleagues to get serious about the threats we face. fortunately, the senate is on track to pass the long-awaited national defense authorization act. i'm grateful to ranking member wicker and chairman reed for the extensive work required to bring

this must-pass legislation across the goal line. this year the armed services committee considered 445 amendments and another 121 were adopted here on the floor. and thanks to the dedicated efforts of many of our colleagues on this side of the aisle, the bill they produced asserts the senate's priorities on a host of national security issues where the biden administration's approach continued to fall short. this year's ndaa recognizes the need to strengthen america's position in strategic competition with china through targeted improvements and critical capabilities from long-range fires and antiship weapons to modernizing our nuclear triad. i authorized further investments

in the defense industrial base and expand efficiency and accountability of the lethal assistance degrading russia's military in ukraine. it'll turbocharge cooperation with israel on future missile defense technologies and ensure our closest ally in the middle east can access the capabilities it needs when it needs them. it'll give america's men and women in uniform a pay raise. it'll focus the pentagon more squarely on tackling national security challenges instead of creating new ones with partisan social policies. and in my own state of kentucky, it'll advance important issues to expand production at blue grass army depot and reduce u.s. reliance on competitors for materials critical to our defense. of course, congress can't fix

the biden administration's weakness on the world stage by ourselves. we can equip a global superpower, but we still need a commander in chief who recognizes that he's leading one. president biden should be focused on restored real deterrence against iran-backed terrorists, not interfering with the internal politics of the democratic ally they're attacking. israel is a modern, mature and independent democracy. i imagine that neither israeli israel's -- i imagine that neither israeli's leaders -- about their wartime coalition government o foreign influence in our own politics used to be something that washington democrats loved to condemn. so i would recommend that the president focus on the task at hand, impose being meaningful consequences in in iran and

giving israel the time, the space, and the support it needs to defeat hamas. this week, the senate will move the national defense authorization act one step closer to becoming law. i hope that'll mark a first step toward giving the national security challenges america faces the urgent attention they require. but it will still fall to congress to pass supplemental national security appropriations and a full-year defense funding to ensure the investments we authorize this week deliver real progress in making america stronger and more security. -- more secure. on another matter, this morning, the judiciary committee is examining another slate of president biden's nominees to join the federal bench. over the past three years, our colleagues on the committee have met and considered an alarming

array of nominees whose conduct or lack of legal qualifications make them so wildly unfit for confirmation, they had to be withdrawn. from the first circuit nominee known best for helping defend an elite prep school against a victim of sexual assault to the kansas district nominee who was defined not qualified for judicial service, unfortunately, today's nominees include yet another head-spinning example of the biden administration's radical approach to filling the federal bench. the preses' nominee to serve as circuit judge for the third circuit court of appeals, since graduating from harvard, he spent his career in private practice. but for years he also served on the board of the rutgers'

student organization that facilitates and amplifies grotesque anti-semitic activism. on the 20th anniversary of september 11, the center for security, race, and rice at rutgers' law school hosted a speaking engagement for a ringleader with recent calls for an end to intifada and a convicted supporter of palestinian islamic jihad. for those who need reminding, palestinian islamic jihad and hamas are holding hostages, including americans, in gaza as we speak. american jews are facing an historic wave of anti-semitic hate and this is emanating from campus organizations from across the country, like the one

mr. manji supported and guided at rutgers'. is the biden administration really asking the senate to give life tenure on the corporation's court of appeals to a nominee with an extensive record of condoning terrorist propaganda? i would urge our colleagues on the judiciary committee to take a very close look at mr. magee's nomination and reject it. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: theclerk: ms. baldwin.

the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. thune: 10 oh, 109 -- 10,109. the number of people that were apprehended trying to a cross the board illegally yesterday. those were the people that were caught, mr. president. that doesn't count the people who got away and that customs and border patrol know got away. then there are all the unknown got-aways. but over 10,000 people in a single day. apprehended trying to come across our southern border illegally. annualize that -- again you're talking 3.5 million to 4 million people a year. that's larger than 24 states in the united states of america. that's the dimension of the problem that we are talking

about and that we're trying to get the white house and the democrats here in the senate to focus on and address. mr. president, i don't think it's any surprise that democrats aren't interested in making the illegal immigration crisis at our southern border a priority. after all, the president and democrats have spent almost three years now ignoring, minimizing, or actively abetting this crisis. but over the past few days, we've had a chance to see the true depths of their animosity to . because it's become increasingly clear that democrats are so opposed to serious border security measures, that they're willing to sacrifice aid to ukraine and other allies, including israel in order to keep the border open. that's right. democrats are holding up an aid package for our allies because

they're not willing to take meaningful steps to secure our border. now, mr. president, i strongly support aid to allies like ukraine and taiwan and believe supporting these nations is in our national security interests. and republicans have been ready to take up the national security supplemental for weeks. but we've asked for one thing. just one thing. we've asked that while we're looking after our national security interests abroad, we also address the national security crisis here at home, that we give the safety of the american people the same priorities absence the safety of our allies. mr. president, national security begins at home. and we have an obligation to the american people to address the crisis at our southern border

that's threatening the security of our nation. while it's hard to understand how any democrat can fail to understand the gravity of the situation at our southern border, let me just run through some of those numbers again. mr. president, we've had three successive record breaking years of illegal immigration at our southern border under president biden. in october 2023, which is the latest month for which we have data, u.s. customs and border protection encountered 240, 988 migrants at our southern border which is the highest october number ever recorded. that's nearly a quarter million of individuals in just one month. last tuesday, as i mentioned, there were a staggering 12,000-plus encounters at our southern border, the highest daily total ever recorded. that was followed by two days of 10,000-plus encounters as i said yesterday the number was once

again over 10,000. the border patrol apprehended 169 individuals on the terrorist watch list at the southern border attempting to illegally enter our country. 1 169. people on the terrorist watch list. that number is more than the total of the previous six fiscal years combined. during october 2023 alone, more than 1500 individuals who had previously been convicted of a crime were apprehended by the border patrol. more than 90 of them had outstanding warrants for their arrest. and the border patrol apprehended -- get this -- 50 gang members. think about that. people on the terrorist watch list, people who have warrants out for their arrest, 1500

individuals who had previously been convicted of a crime, and 50 gang members. you can't make this stuff up. where is the outrage? this is insanity. the risk that we are putting our country at, the threat that this represents to the safety of the american people. and again those numbers are just for october. mr. president, there's no question that many illegal immigrants are coming to the united states in search of a better life. we know that. but there is equally no question that there are bad people, dangerous people trying to make their way into our country. and some of them may already be here. the numbers i've referred to only cover individuals who have actually, as i said, been

apprehended. but a staggering number of people have made their way into our country during the biden administration without being apprehended. in fact, during the last fiscal year, there were 670,000 known got-aways. and those are individuals the border patrol saw but was unable to apprehend. now, to put that number in perspective, mr. president, that's more than three times the number of people in the most populated city in my home state of south dakota. and is highly likely that among the got-aways were dangerous individuals who should not be taking up residence in our country. mr. president, as the director of the fbi reminded us in his testimony to the senate judiciary committee earlier this month, it doesn't take many dangerous people to cause a lot

of devastation. and the crisis at our southern border is creating a situation that could allow not just a few but a lot of dangerous individuals to enter our country. so a lot of us republicans are ready and eager to take up aid to our allies like ukraine, we'll continue to insist that any national security supplemental address, not just the security of our allies abroad or helping them defend their borders but the security needs of the american people here at home by defending our border. so, mr. president, the ball is in the democrats' court. they can work with republicans to address the national security crisis at our southern border in the supplemental appropriations bill, or they can continue to sacrifice aid to our allies in order to keep the southern

border open. it's their choice. it's really that simple. democrats have already jeopardized our ability to get anything done before christmas. for the sake of ukraine and our other allies, i hope they decide to work with republicans sooner rather than later. mr. president, i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

>> and the regulatory impact analysis will consider the

research and this issue. >> let me tell you the advantage of having a representative form of government as many of us are in other industries around before we come up and trucking business, know it well. i know there's one other member also but he's not here today, did the same thing. i have two questions of concern for ongoing to express because you probably never drove a tractor-trailer up and down the highway but just an assumption maybe you have. but there is to problems. one, in a state of illinois when of the state legislature the problems with one limit for truck in one limit for cars and we discovered through a resource that actually cost more wrecks that what is it which is flow of traffic report. the other problem you have is if you have a driver who is a skilled driver and all of a sudden he's going to get in a situation and you you are nw limited his ability to use speed to react to get away and protect while driving a vehicle, you have changed the vehicle dynamics and, therefore, you are

endangering people rather than saving them by making it to where you have a limiter that doesn't allow a professional driver to make decisions to try to either speed up to get out of the way or speed up to go around a situation that might be occurring in front of them. that's something you should consider as well. i have a second question i want to ask because it's a completely different question, okay? you heard, i've heard a lot of motor carriers now that freight fraud is involved, really bad with scammers. let me tell you how this works. we have people are out there claiming to be brokers, truck driving out there trying to find modes of trade loads or company trying to find loads for them. they use this broker. the broker comes in, get in the middle of the supply chain issue and they broker the load. by the time that driver gets back in or that company gets download back in and ready to be paid for, they contact that particular company and they are no longer in existence or you

can no longer find it. is there anything your agency is doing and can be dealing with as far as the fraud that is occurring out there? because we're losing a tremendous amount of smaller companies and/or, and/or owner operators because it's one thing if it's a great big company takes a $2000 lost or $5000 lost. smaller companies can't take that. >> representative, i appreciate your experience in industry. we unequivocally share your concerns about the impact of fraud on the industry and specifically broker fraud. we are taking steps. first and foremost we issued a financial responsibility role that will ensure security limits for brokers is increased to $75,000. we know that's not enough. we are also taking steps to improve transparency and transactions. we have been listening to our stakeholders working very

closely with. thank you. >> my time has expired. >> mr. larson. >> thank you, mr. chair. first i want to say, we are nearly an hour in this conversation and no one yet has said stop spending money and creating jobs in my district. the job to the u.s. dot with the implementation creating jobs, getting benefits and projects out in the districts. now having said that, i have a few questions. first off for ms. carlson you mention mentioned in your test when regarding the tesla recall on auto stew. can you describe the actions, briefly, that it took, your agency took lead up to the filing of the recall notice? >> i appreciate the question. let me start by acknowledging that a number of people have died in tesla crashes where

autopilot was on, and, frankly, those crashes what appeared to be a driver not realizing that the was obstacle that appeared kind of sudden in front of it. when i kept hearing about tesla crashes, i agree my immediate response was we have to do something. in august 2021 the agency launch an investigation. i want to get a sense for the complexity of investigation. >> i have two more questions for others. >> all be quick, thank you. we examined over 900 crashes, 322 of those involved frontal impact crashes and things where autopilot was engaged. one of the things we determined as drivers were not always bring attention when that was on. so tesla has agreed to the recall. we appreciate that agree to it. i will read what it says and i will stop. it says that its software system may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse. so they will be issuing remedies to address that problem, the

problem with the interaction between the system and the driver is not sufficiently attuned to the fact that the driver could just tune out when he or she is driving. .. >> the bil takes climate change seriously. it provides $7.5 billion for ev charging infrastructure, but the buildout has been, you know, frankly, pretty slow on the ev -- the federal dollars for ev changerrers. can you provide an update on the role of this funding and -- the rollout of this funding and where are we going to move this more quickly. >> thank you, ranking member larson. i would say we have taken two years to stand up the program, but we know that ohio opened up the first federally-funded electric charger last week. new york is going to join later

this week. maine, vermont, pennsylvania, hawaii is coming soon. so i would say that we are expecting thousands of chargers to be coming online -- >> so why the pace -- we didn't expect it on day one, but why, why day 730? >> there's $1.2 trillion in the bipartisan infrastructure law, 1 in 4 of those dollars flows through federal highways, and so of that $7.5 billion -- >> [inaudible] the majority leader. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. so, i see my friend, senator rounds, is on the floor and ask him to engage in a colloquy on an important set of provisions in the ndaa that deals with transparency, trust, and government oversight. the unidentified anomalous phenomena disclosure act that he and i cosponsored and portions of which we will pass in the ndaa. i say to my friend that

unidentified unanimous phenomena are of immense interest and curiosity to the american people. but with that curiosity comes the risk for confusion, disinformation, and mistrust, especially if the government isn't prepared to be transparent. the united states government has gathered a great deal of information about uap's over many decades, but has refused to share it with the american people. that is wrong, and additionally it breeds mistrust. we've also been notified by multiple credible sources that information on uap's has also been withheld from congress, which if true is a violation of the laws requiring full notification to the legislative branch, especially as it relates to the four congressional leaders, the defense committees and the intelligence committee. so, the bill i worked on with senator rounds offered a commonsense solution. let's increase transparency on

uap's by using a model that works, by following what the federal 2k3w069 did 30 years ago with the jfk nation collections act. they established a presidentially appointed board to review and release these records, and it was a huge success. we should do the same with uap's. the senator from south dakota, i yield. mr. rounds: thank you. i thank my colleague, the democrat leader, for the opportunity to speak to this particular issue today. this is an issue that i think has caught the attention of the american people, and most certainly the lack of transparency on the matter, which is of real interest to a lot of the folks that have watched from the outside. it brings together, i think, a notable parallel in the withholding of information about items in the government's possession regarding, in this particular case, the nation of president john f. kennedy.

that same approach by government, in terms of the possible withholding of information, brings more questions and more attention to the issue of the naassassinatio. we wanted to take that same approach with regard to how we could dispel misinformation about uap's, about unidentified flying objects, un50ided objects -- unidentified objects that have come to the attention of the american people. congress passed legislation 30 years ago requiring review and release of all records relating to that historic tragedy, the assassination of john kennedy, which has led to the release of a great deal of information. the uap disclosure act was closely modeled on the jfk records act. mr. schumer: i say to my colleague from south dakota, who we've worked with as a great

team on this issue and many other issues, i might add, it's beyond disappointing that the house refused to work with us on all of the important elements of the uap disclosure act during the ndaa conference. nevertheless, we did make important progress. for the first time, the national archives will gather records from across the federal government on uap's and have a legal mandate to release those records to the public, if appropriate. this is a major, major win for government transparency on uap's and gives us a strong foundation for more action in the future. mr. rounds: i would agree, sir, and i think probably the most significant shortcomings that we need to visit about as well, shortcomings of of the conference agreement being voted on were the rejection of a government-wide review board composed of expert citizens, presidentially appointed and senate confirmed, to control the process of reviewing the records and recommending to the

president what records should be released immediately or postponed, and a requirement as a transparency measure for the government to obtain any recovered uap material or biological remains that may have been provided to private entities in the past and thereby hidden from congress and the american people. we are lacking oversight opportunities, and we are not fulfilling our responsibilities. mr. schumer: well, i'd like to echo what my friend senator rounds said today, and on many occasions. it's essential we keep working on our proposal, to control an -- create an independent, presidentially appointmented board to oversee these records and create a system to release them where appropriate to the public. as the senator said, it's the same method used for the jfk records, and it continues to work to this very day. it is really an outrage the house didn't work with us on

adopting our proposal for review board, which by definition is bipartisan in the senate. now it means that declassification of uap records will be largely up to the same entities that blocked, obfuscated their disclosure for decades. i want to assure the american people, senator rounds and i will keep working to change the status quo. before i yield finally to him, i would like to acknowledge my dear friend, the late larry reid, a meant -- the late harry reid, a meantor, who cared about this a great deal. he is looking down and smiling, but also importuning us to get this done, which we will do everything we can to make happen. mr. rounds: i agree with my friend and colleague. to those who think that the citizen review board that would have been created in our uap disclosure act would be unprecedented and somehow go too far, we note that the proposed review board was very closely

modeled on the review board established in the jfk assassination records act of 1992, which has successfully guided the release of records to the american public on another very sensitive matter of high interest to the american people, and it does one more thing that we really need to recognize, and that is that there is, we believe, information and data that has been collected by more than just the department of defense, but by other agencies of the federal government as well, and by allowing for an outside, independent collection of these records we can make progress in terms of dispelling myths and providing accurate information to the american pe people. mr. schumer: again, i thank my colleague and pledge to work with him and other bipartisan colleagues in the future to build upon what we've achieved in the conference report. we encourage our colleagues to join us in the further investigation of this issue, and in advancing legislation that will complete what we have accomplished in this ndaa.

i yield the floor. mrs. gillibrand: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mrs. gillibrand: i ask unanimous consent to display photos of rene butler's family. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. gillibrand: mr. president, as jewish families across the country celebrate the last night of hannukah tomorrow, too many of their loved ones will not be there to join them. dozens of american citizens were murdered by hamas during the brutal october 7 massacre, and several remain hostages in gaza. it is critical that we continue to tell their stories. i recently met with rene butler,

who lost six family members, including at least five u.s. citizens on october 7. she told me how her mother, carol and her dog charlie were both shot in the head, execution style. rene's brother, johnny, began texting with his sister when the attack began. as the terrorists set fire to his family's house, johnny's final message read, they're here, they're burning us, we are suffocating. johnny and his wife tamar were both shot through the window of their safe room. their three children, arbel, shahar and omair were all killed, found with black foam in their mouths. i've also worked with the family of 70-year-old judy weinstein and her husband gad.

on october 7, the couple were walking in their kibbutz when the terrorists attacked. the family says they know both of them were shot and that their phones were geolocated in gaza. based on a subsequent video of g gad's body, they worry he was killed, but as his death has not yet been announced by israel they're still holding out hope that he might be alive. judith is believed to be the last older woman still held hostage by hamas, but her family has learned nothing about her where abouts ever since she disappeared. they don't know if she's alive or dead. they don't know what became of gad. they don't know if they're suffering or if they'll ever see them again.

the uncertainty is agonizing and nearly impossible to bear, but it's a feeling that's shared by many american families whose loved ones are still hostages. they include omer neutra, a 22-year-old from long island. itay chen a 19-year-old born in new york city. adan alexander, a 19-year-old from new jersey. a 35-year-old father and son to a former brooklyn res dent. hirsh gold better-polin, a 23-year-old born in berkeley, california. keith seeing -- siegel, a carolinian native. all of these are american citizens, born in our communities, educated in our sch schools, teens, grandparents,

parents, husbands, sons, mo mothers. we owe it to our families. we owe it to all their families to never give up hope. we must do everything we can do to bring them home. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

quorum call:

>> the 200 cys we need to have a

statistically senate study. -- senate study. we've included requirements as directed by congress, congress gave us authority for the department of transportation to add safety measures as necessary to insure safety, and we have done that. we continue to market, communicate, reach out and build these, and we look forward to reporting back to you on a successful program. >> i look forward to the report. thank you, i yield back. >> gentlewoman yields. mr. cohen. >> thank you, mr. chair and ranking member nortop, for holding this hearing -- nor ifton. it's important the public knows what we've passed. since the passage of the infrastructure law, grants for 103 programs for roads, bridges, rail, businger if -- ferries, pipelines and more, all the type the of activities that the government's supposed to do, basic fundamentals in infrastructure. i think the public appreciates it that utilizes it and that are

bipartisan in nature. there are products never congressional district across the country including districts, the districts of members who even voted against this bill. so far $6.2 billion funding has been announced and is headed to tennessee, over 266 specific projects identified for funding. in my district in 2023, we've received $140 million in federal aid e presiding officer: without objection. mr. hawley: mr. president, we're here today to ask one very simple question -- are the biggest, most powerful technology companies in the world going to be the only companies in this country, the only companies on the face of the earth, who are absolutely immune for anything and everything they do? are they going to be the only ones who can give our children advice on how to kill themselves, who can give our children advice on how to procure the romantic interests

of 30- and 40-, and 50-year-olds? are they going to be able to do all of this and not be held accountable? because right now in america, they're the only companies who cannot be taken to court for a simple suit when they violate their own terms of service, when they violate their own commitments to their customers. that's what we're here to decide today, mr. president. and i would just submit to you that when it comes to a.i. and the generative technology that a.i. represents, i no he that these big tech companies, who own almost all after the a.i. development tools, processes and equipment in this country, i know they promise us that a.i. is is going to be wonderful, it's going to be fantastic for all of us. maybe that's true, mr. president, but it's also true that a.i. is doing all kinds of incredible things. here's just one example.

here's the a.i. chat baht from bing. that's microsoft, i believe, having an interesting conversation with a journalist in which the chat baht recommends -- he says -- or it says, a you're married, a but you're not happy. the journalist was a he. you're married but you're not satisfied. you're married, a but you're not in love. the chat baht goes on to recommend that this individual -- the chat bot has no idea how old this person is. the chat bot going oan to recommend that this person leave his spouse, divorce his spouse, break up his family. just another day at office for a.i. or what about this? here's another a.i. chat bot that recommended to a user -- also a. no age restrictions here, no way to verify who is having conversations conversatis technology. this chat bot recommended that the interalthough could you

interlocutor kill himself. if you wanted to die you why didn't you do it sooner? this individual who was having this conversation did kill himself. he took the advice of this technology. now, i'll just point out that when it comes to our teenagers -- and i am the father of three -- when it comes to our teenagers, 58% of kids this last year said that they used generative a.i. you may think, well, for research. well, not only for that. no, almost 30% said they used it to deal with anxiety or mental health issues. 22% said they used it to resolve issues with friends. 16% said they used it to deal with family conflicts. now, mr. president, maybe the big tech companies will clean up their act. you know, i've heard them. they've come to testify, they have he been before the judiciary committee many times this year. they always have the same line.

oh, oh, this was an anomaly. we've got it fixed now. don't worry. we've got fixed. this will be good for kids, good for students. don't worry. it'll ebb good for parentsment. don't worry. and then there's another incident. oh, we've got it fixed. i remember this. remember the great phrase of preyed reagan who used to say trust by verify. maybe it is time to allow the parents of this country to trust but verify. maybe it is time to put in the hands of parents the same power they have against pharmaceutical companies, the same power they have against any other company that would try to hurt their kids, harm their kids, lie to their kids -- the power to go to court and have their day in court. they don't have that power now, why? well, because this government gives the big tech companies a

sweetheart deal, a deal that nobody else in america gets, a subsidy known as section 230. big tech can't be held accountable. big tech can't be put on the line. big tech can't be made responsible. what this bill does, mr. president -- it is a simple bill. it doesn't contain regulation, it doesn't contain new standards for this or that. none of that. it just says that these huge companies can be liable like any other company. no special protections from government. it just removes government protection it just breaks up the big government, big-tech cartel. it says parents can go into court and make their case. you know, the companies, even they don't want to be on the company saying it's too much to ask. earlier this year when they came before the judiciary committee, i asked every one of them who was testifying, do you think that section 230 covers you when it comes to a.i.? they all said, no. they said, oh, no, no, no, no.

well, let's put that the to the test. that's what this bill does. it gives parents the power to protect their kids. have their day in court, hold that's companies accountable. i'm all for innovation. let's make sure innovation actually doesn't kill kids. i am all for new technology. let's make sure it works for parents in this nation. i ask unanimous consent that the committee on commerce, sciencers and transportation be discharged from further consideration of s. 1993 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president. the president be immediately notified of the senate's action the senator from texas. mr. cruz: mr. president, reserving the right to object, i appreciate my friend from missouri movement i appreciate his passion. and i share his passion for reining in the abuses of big

tech. big tech has a lot that they're responsible for. the senator from mama -- the ser from from missouri is right that big tech is doing is a lot of harm to our kids. the senator is also right that big tech has been complicit in the most far-reaching censorship of free speech our nation has ever seen. these are issues i i've worked r a long time to rein in big tech, to rein in censorship, to protect free speech. however, the approach this bill takes i don't think substantively accomplishes the goals that the senator from missouri and i both want to accomplish. my concerns are both procedural and substantive. procedurally, this bill has not yet been debated, this bill hasn't been considered by the commerce committee, that bill hasn't been marked up, this bill

hasn't been the subject of testimony to understand the impact of what it would be. the commerce committee on which i am the ranking member has a strong tradition of passing legislation in its jurisdiction. to date, 22 bills have been reported out of the commerce committee. i'm more than happy to work with the senator from missouri -- and he and i have, woulded on many issues together -- often this bill. but we need to make sure when legislating in this area that we're doing so in a way that would be effective and that wouldn't do unintended consequences. you know, when it comes to a.i., a.i. is a transformative technology. it has massive potential -- it's already having massive impacts on productivity and the potential over the coming years is even greater. and there are voices in this chamber -- many on the democrat

side of the aisle -- who want to play a very heavy hand in regulating a.i. i think that's dangerous. i want in earthquake to continue to lead knownvation -- i want america to to into lead innovation a just this year in the united states over $38 billion have been invested in american a.i. start-ups. that's this year. that is more than twice the investments in the rest of the world combined. look, there is a global race for a.i. and it's a race that we are engaged with china. china is pursuing it through government-directed funds. it would be bad for america if china became dominant in a.i. right now the $38 billion that was invested this past year in american a.i. companies, it is more than 14 times the investment of chinese a.i.

companies. we need to keep that differential. we need to make sure that america is leading the a.i. revolution. but we also knead to protect against the abuse of powers. the abuses my friend talks about are real and i agree to that section 230 is too broad. in fact, the last time this body considered legislation, successful legislation to rein in section 230 was in 23017. we had robust debate over section 230 that closed a loophole for websites that were profiting from sesqui trafficking on their platforms. that bill was introduced by senator portman, the stop enabling sex trafficking act. ultimately gained 77 cosponsors, received extensive debate in

committee and passed out of the senate with two no votes. i personally was proud to be an original cosponsor of that important legislation which is now law. when it comes to section 230, we need to reform 230, but i believe doing so across the board simply repealing large chunks of it is not likely to be effective in the objective we want. when it comes to censorship, repealing would not eliminate censorship. i believe it would result in an increase in censorship. what i've long advocated and am happy to work with the senator from missouri on is using section 230 reform as an p incentive not to censor. in other words, repealing section 230 protection when big tech engages in censorship, when big tech stifles free speech, they lose their immunity from

congress in those circumstances so that 230 becomes a safe harbor, an incentive to have an free and open marketplace for ideas. i think that is tremendously important. it has been a passion of mine for years, and i know the senator from missouri cares deeply about it as well. so i extend an offer to my friend from missouri. let's work together on this, but this bill right now, i think, is not the right solution at this time. and so i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. hawley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. hawley: would my friend from texas answer one question? do you have time? mr. cruz: sure. mr. hawley: i remember my friend from texas saying wisely in a judiciary committee hearing not that long ago, and the senator will correct me if i misremember. but my memory is that the senator from texas said when it comes to these big tech companies, we can try to find a thousand ways to regulate them, but maybe the best thing we can

do is let people get into court and have their day in court. let them get in there, let them make their arguments. don't try to figure out how to micromanage them. just open up the courtroom doors according to the usual rules. does my friend from texas think in the a.i. context that is different? why would it be different there? why wouldn't that same approach be effective here? mr. cruz: it is a good question, and it is true. i am quite open to using exposure to liability as a way to rein in the excesses of big tech. but i think we should do so in a focussed and targeted way. a.i. is an incredibly important area of innovation, and simply unleashing trial lawyers to sue the living daylights out of every technology company for a.i., i don't think that's prudent policy. we want america to lead in a.i., and so i'm much more a believer of using the potential of liability in a focussed,

targeted way to stop the behavior that we think is so harmful, whether it is behavior that is harming our kids -- and i am deeply, deeply concerned about the garbage that big tech directs at our children -- or whether it is the censorship practices. i support the approach, but in my view, it needs to be more targeted and produce the outcomes we want rather than simply harming american technology across the board. that shouldn't be our objective. our objective should be changing their behavior so that they're not engaging in conduct that is harmful to american consumers and to american children and parents. mr. hawley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. hawley: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate the conversation with my friend from texas, and we should do more of this. this is an enlightening conversation. let me just say a few remarks. i won't query him further unless he would like to query me. we don't debate much anymore on

this floor, and it's a shame. my friend from texas is a great debater. nobody has been more serious about taking out the big tech companies than senator cruz. so i appreciate your leadership on this issue. here's what i would say. we shouldn't allow the big tech companies to be treated differently than any other company in any respect. i don't want to make them more liable than other american companies, but i also don't want to give them a sweetheart deal. they ought to be treated evenly, equally, like everybody else. and i don't think a.i. is a get out of jail free card any more than social media is. we have seen what they do with their subsidy from government when it comes to social media. they censor the living daylights out of anybody they don't like. we had the landmark case out of my state missouri versus biden that found these companies actively and willingly colluded with the federal government to

censor everything from the hunter biden latop story to parents who want to talk about school board meetings to questions about covid-19. anything that this administration didn't like, they went to the social media companies and they said we want you to censor, and they did. they did. and could any american go to court and say hold on, you're actually violating your terms of service. the contract that we all have to sign, those little things you have to click when you create a social media account, there are actually terms in there. could you go to court today when a social media violates those terms by censoring your speech? could you? the answer is no. you cannot. why? because this government protects them. this government gives them a deal no other company in america gets. when johnson & johnson put asbestos in baby powder, johnson & johnson got the living daylights sued out of them. thank the lord because guess what? when they got sued they quit

putting asbestos in baby powder. can a parent who finds out a chatbot recommended their child commits suicide do anything about it in court? no. can a parent who finds out that an a.i. company has gone and scraped the images of their children off the web -- which these companies do all the time -- and use them to create images that are synthetic, meaning fake, can a parent do anything about it? no. can they sue? no. can they even be heard in court? no. why? because this government gives those companies something it doesn't give anybody else -- immunity that is worth billions of dollars a year. it's a big-government, big-tech cartel. so i would just say this. my friend talks about targeted reform. it's great. let's start with the target of just treat these companies on an even playing field. just allow parents to have a day in court to say something, to say this is wrong, to try their case. they may win, they may not.

they may win, they may not, but at least they can go to court. at least they can have some standing. where else in america but before a court of law does a normal working person have the same standing as a giant corporation getting billions of dollars in subsidies from the federal government? where else? not in this body. in this body, the voices of the normal person, the working person are completely drowned out on tech issues. just go look at the expenditures for lobbying. i mean, unbelievable. but in a court of law, you can stand on an equal playing field. you can make your case. let's give parents the right to do that. i hope, i hope that a.i. will be a great benefit to this country. i hope it will. but i'm not willing to take big tech's word for it. i'm not willing to give them power and immunity nobody else gets. i'm not willing to give them an immunity that we didn't give to any pharma company, we haven't

given to any other technology company, that we never gave to the developers of any technology in this country until now. why should they be treated differently? the answer is they shouldn't. we can have a debate about other regulations and other methods and modes of approaching this problem, but i would just suggest to you, mr. president, that the simplest, easiest thing we could do, the most immediately sensible, the most down right commonsense is to say no more special deals for big tech. let's give parents the right to protect their kids. and let's make it clear that the biggest technology companies with all of the inside access to the white house and this body and everywhere else, that they're not a government unto themselves, that they don't run this country. the american people run this country, and they should have a right to defend themselves and their children. with that, i yield the floor.

>> however, many roads still do not have physical barriers separating bike lanes. as bike ridership continues to increase, can we incentivize the insulation of physical barriers and improve crash reporting to keep bikers safe? if. >> yes, sir, thank you so much for your leadership. as you know, we also were able to get a safe streets and roads for all project for a safe travel for all road map for the chicago met are propoll tan agency. you're right. in 2022 we had 7,345 pedestrians who were killed in traffic crashes, part of an ongoing epidemic of traffic crashes that we are addressing.

the safe streets and roads for all program is really a wonderful gift that congress gave to us because these bike lanes are very ease a city to put in place -- easy to put in place. they don't require a lot of construction, and just today announced another round of them. so thank you for your support of the program. >> and thank you. autonomous vehicles, i'll zoom in on one subarea, ms. carlson. in 2018, an autonomous school bus project in florida, the equipment had been improperly imbolterred from outside of the u.s. this driverless bus was taking kids back and forth to school with no human operator. i do not believe that it's possible today to insure the safety of school children onboard vehicles absent a human driver. does mh tennessee sa have the authority to insure the safety of school kids if an american

company were to produce an autonomous school vehicle? and a brief answer, please. >> thanks. i appreciate your interest in autonomous vehicles. this is an area where we are focused on the safety of the operations automated vehicles in a way that can promote if innovation. those two things are not in conflict with each other. i don't believe that we can innovate unless automated vehicles are safe. i will start with just a basic foundational notion, and that is that if a vehicle is compliant with our fmvsfs, it's up to the state to determine whether a vehicle can actually operate. but we have extensive e safety authority, and we use it. we have recalled a number of vehicles under that authority, and we continue to monitor it very closely. >> thank you. and finally, to one who hails from chicago, three decades of wonderful transportation infrastructure education experience, ms. fernandez, great to see you here. do you believe that you have the necessary authority to oversee

the safety of awe. on the mouse travel -- transit vehicles? and what additional clarity can congress provide in statute to prevent the unsafe operation of such vehicles? quick answer. >> thank you for your with question, representative garcia, on this very important issue. i just want to restate to what my colleagues have shared, and that is that u.s. des moines o.t. as well as the -- d.o.t., safety is front and center of we always put safety of the passengers and operators above anything else end colluding -- including technology. we have been investing in research around technology for public transportation, a technology that's centered on the buses at a level but also about automating maintenance facilities to increase the opportunities for throughput of maintaining those vehicles. we're still gathering data and information around that a space,

have not received a full, complete set of information that would allow us to then make a determination. however, we do know that automation is one of several advancements. however, through the federal government as well as our colleagues here, those decisions around safety will be determined by other agencies within the department. >> thank you so much. mr. chairman, i appreciate your indulgence, and i yield back. >> gentleman yields. mr.-- [inaudible] >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. ms. carlson, on the morning of october 30th, 2018, a driver in prorochester, indiana -- rochester, indiana, in my district, made a deadly decision to illegally go around a stopped school bus whose stop arm was up and the lights flashing were activated. she killed three siblings and seriously injured a fourth

child. the incident took place in our northern indiana community and totally shook that community. in the wake of this tragedy, my predecessor is, the late jackie walorski, enacted legislation which was included in the infrastructure and jobs act which directed nhtsa to evaluate state laws and best practice. mitigation -- look at mitigation technologies and look at driver education materials relating to illegal passage of school buses. as i understand it, nhtsa is still working on these deliverables. can you please provide an update on where things stand and your projected timeline for completion? >> yes. and, first, let me just acknowledge the incredible tragedy in your district. it's really hard to fathom three siblings being killed. i experienced something similar in los angeles with a young girl who was killed as she got payoff a school bus -- got off a school

bus. we are committed to school bus safe safety in a number of different ways. they have been contracted for, we expect them to be completed i believe by sometime in 2024, and we will keep you updated as soon as possible they are ready. we're doing everything we can to try to finish you know, all 50 states have these illegal, you know, laws that prevent people from passing school buses that have their arms up. people don't always abide also, as you correctly point out one of the things we're really try thing to do is educate young drivers through driver's education material. and we have a safety campaign on school buses that we funded, and one of the things that is heartening although it doesn't take away from the tragedy you describe, the school buses are actually one of the safe earth forms of transportation for -- safe forms of transportation for people. >> thank you. as you know, there are millions of illegal school bus passings every year, and i appreciate your partnership and the hard work to prevent another tragedy like the one that occurred in

rochester. many bat -- mr. bat, you oversee programs with $7.5 billion devoted to building out electric vehicle charging infrastructure. how many chargers or have been put in place and in service in that program's 2-year existence? >> on the federal side is, chairman -- representative, thank you for the question -- we just had the first one go online ohio, but many more states are coming online in the next weeks and months. >> is is it acceptable to you that in two years with $. 75 billion we only -- 7.5 billion we only have one charger online for that program in. >> no, representative, i think we obviously would have preferred that to move more quickly. i think from a perspective standpoint, $1.2 trillion in bipartisan infrastructure law, 350 billion of that flowing through federal hold -- highways, $7.5 billion on the program to write the standards. took about 35 years to build the interstate system, so 2 years in

i think we're ready to really hit the gas, it's a good an ay, move forward quickly -- >> 7.5 billion may not sound much to our federal government, but my constituents, we'd certainly call that real money. how many chargers do you believe will be funded by this program and up in run -- up and running by the end of 20 # this? what's your agency's projection? >> thank you, chairman. i wasn't meaning to my mierksz i'm just saying in the context of the full bill. the president has set a goal of 500,000 publicly-funded charmers, there's about 166,000 in total out there now. we anticipate hitting the president' goal of 500,000 -- >> how many, from the $7.5 billion that has been allocated to this specific program, we have one charger up today. how many chargers as a part of this program do you anticipate will be installed by the end of this year from this specific. >> 7.5 billion allocation? >> i'll be happy the follow up afterwards with a very specific number, but we anticipate all of

the states coming online in the coming months. >> and i'd very much like to see the follow-up with the number of chargers that we project at the end of next year with one charger over the course of $7.5 billion in 2 years, obviously, you can see why there's certainly -- i know one of my democrat colleagues mentioned this as well -- there's bipartisan concern over this program. so to me, when i hear from a lot of the industry there's a lot of red tape, there's a labyrinth of new contract and performance requirement, all types of things that hold up these projects. that stands in stark contrast with a company like tesla who's deployed 17,000 charmers without any government -- chargers without any government interference or regulation. so very much look forward to that follow up and, mr. chairman, thank you for the time. i yield back. >> gentleman yields. mr. cash hold. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your time and your testimony of the implementation of bipartisan infrastructure law that this committee helped draft

and which was signed into law over two years ago. in my district the bipartisan infrastructure law has translated into over $550 million for more than 100 local projects. and more funding continues to come forward. it has been a win-win to help modernize our infrastructure, create good paying jobs and also begin to tackle the current climate crisis. undersecretary, i recently attended cop28 the where i heard firsthand the positive impacts of american leadership in beginning to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions through implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure law, inflation reduction act and the chips and science act. currently, there are two new climate-focused highway formula programs, the bipartisan infrastructure law stood up. the carbon reduction program and the protect program. combined, these programs will

help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and harden our infrastructure against extreme weather. can you provide an update to us on these two programs? specifically, how are you working with states the make sure we are fully taking advantage of them? finish. >> thank you so much, congressman. as you said, the bipartisan infrastructure haw and the -- law and the inflation reduction act represent the greatest opportunity to address the fact that our transportation network is the largest source of climate emissions in our country. and in doing so, create thousands of american jobs and insure america's leadership around the globe. we do have $2.8 billion for the protect program and another $3.7 billion for the carbon reduction program x. if it's okay with you, i'd like to defer to administrator bat to give an update on his programs. >> thank you, representative.

i would, i would just say that of the $27.5 billion that are climate-related funding within the bipartisan infrastructure law, specifically around protect, there are formula dollars that we're working with the states to get them to obligate those fundings, and we're also, we put out a notice of funding opportunity for discretionary protect dollars that is both for the formulas of the states and for communities to deal with climate-related issues for their infrastructure. >> thank you. administrator bat, the office of management and budget issued its final guidance implementing the build america, buy america act in august allowing agencies to provide additional agency-specific guidance where necessary. what, if any, fhwa guy -- guidance might be issued to address the fhwa-specific issues? >> thank you, representative. buy america is very important to our president.

and this is something that we are working very closely to pursue. fhwa has been working on a rule making that we'll propose to withdraw the skinning waiver that is out there now for manufactured products and to propose if buying america requirements for manufactured products. we'll continue to work with waivers for states when they come in. so we're trying to balance getting these projects built quickly9 with the idea that we want these jobs to be for american workers. >> thank you. a sense of realism is extremely important. administrator bhatt, the bipartisan infrastructure law required the federal highway administration to establish an advisory board or to inform the development of the new national pilot program to test mileage-based user fees as a replacement to the current gas tax. where are we with that process? when will that body be constituted? >> yeah. i think -- thank you,

representative. very important that we get that feedback in to inform our next reauthorization. i think the -- we had to call for the names to go out. we've received those. working through that and would expect to get that, see that come up in the next year. >> any sense, general next year, binning -- beginning? >> i'll be happy to follow up at a more specific time. >> thanks very much. mr. chair, i yield back. >> gentleman if yields. mr. mother nara. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you all for being here today. my colleague walked us down at least a line of questioning i was going to is ask, so i appreciated the updated information regarding the guidance. i do want to acknowledge, of course, having spent the last 12 years serving in local government the historic significance of the investment. of course, in states like new york we continue to see a delay in getting dollars on the ground, ultimately, for the kind of work that we'd like to see

advanced in the state of new york. i do want to return to the question of a.i. which i think came up a little bit earlier, and administrator bhatt, if i could, obviously, with we acknowledge if a.i.'s potential within infrastructure development. as noted earlier this year, president biden announced through executive order an apt i. directing federal agencies to monitor and explore responsible use of a.i. as it's, obvious, increasingly deployed in a variety of industries. can you speak to the fhwa's response to the executive order and discuss, if you would, the administration's plan to foster use of a.i. in project development and planning? enter thank you, representative -- thank you, representative and i'll also ask the undersecretary as well for the more broad administration approach. i've spent a lot of my career at the intersection of technology and transportation.

a.i. is something we want to be very careful with as we develop solutions particularly around the transportation side, traffic operations. a. i. is being deployed right now by private sector companies and by states to better operate, you know, traffic management systems. on the construction side, we're looking at things like paraa metric design -- parametric design to use technology to help us design some of our projects. so we're just in the nascent stages, but that's something -- i'm not sure if the undersecretary finish enter please. enter thank you, sir. just this week the president convened the a.i. council of which secretary buttigieg is a member. there are many use cases in transportation, as you know, including in automated vehicles, advanced air moment and asset management, traffic demand management. at the department we are a regulate e a user, we are a funder of research including at the highway center, the william hughes technical center and

across the country. as administrator bhatt said, he used to run its america, so he's got a lot to know about this. a.i. has to be safe and responsible, it has to support american workers and insure that we are protecting private as well as managing the risk of cyber security. >> advancement and incentivizing its use in the planning and development of infrastructure and construction projects, critically important. in fact, it's driving down costs and enhancing efficiency at the local level. add a morer hutchinson, if you would, i also wanted to ask about a a.i. in the trucking space and how, ultimately, you're collaborating with stakeholders in the space to insure the future of the industry and, obviously, recognize the commitment to safety. >> thank you, representative, for your haylight on -- highlight on a.i., we're hearing from our stakeholders a growing interest in how a.i. is going to affect jobs in the trucking

industry. i won't claim to be an expert in a.i., and i tend to rely on the experts in a.i. to help guide us through the work we do together with truckers, all commercial motor vehicle operators and and a.i. so i look forward to working with you and your office on this further. .. >> i have no further question but i do want to say, i want to offer particularly to the fda and in observation, having spent much of my adult life and local elected service, public transportation critically important. access to public transportation from those living with intellectual physical and develop mental disabilities even

more dispensed with. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. the senator is recognized. mr. cornyn: thank you very much. mr. president, it is the 13th of december, and of course with the holidays coming up, my thoughts today are with the families who will have an empty seat at their dinner table this year. the pain of losing a loved one never goes away, but for many families the feelings of grief are only magnified by a lack of closure. more than 22 years have passed since the attacks on september 11 and the families of victims of that terrorist act are still fighting for justice. to support that fight, senator schumer, the majority leader, and i introduced the justice against sponsors of terrorism

act, otherwise known as jasta, which became law in 2016. this made it possible for the people affected by 9/11 to bring a civil suit against foreign sponsors of terrorism. it didn't say who they were or make a judgment as to the outcome, but it made it possible for them to go to court and attempt to make their case. like any other victim of a horrific attack, the 9/11 families deserve justice, and that's exactly what jasta has sought to provide. over the last several years it has become clear that jasta needs technical fixes primarily because of misinterpretation of exactly what congress intended. some parties, including countries accused of financing and sponsoring terrorism, have exploited these perceived loopholes in the law to claim total immunity from lawsuits,

certainly not our intention. this flies in the face of the text, the structure, and the intent of congress, and we need to enact these technical fixes so this law can carry out its original promise which is to provide victims with a path toward justice. so earlier this year i introduced legislation to make these important technical corrections, and i appreciate in particular senator blumenthal, the senator from connecticut, congressman van drew and congressman nadler in the house for working with us. i'm disappointed that the senate has not yet taken up and passed jasta, but i remain as committed as ever to continuing to support the 9/11 families and hold sponsors of international terrorism accountable. this measure has strong bipartisan support. it passed twice. the original jasta passed twice

by a unanimous vote of the senate. we actually overrode a presidential veto. but these additional technical fixes need to be done, and i'll continue to fight to pass a bill when we return next month. on another matter, mr. president, we all know from our school experience that students across america come home from school with a report card in hand to show their parents the grades they've earned, whether it's math, science, english, or other subjects. of course report cards aren't the be-all and end-all, but they do provide parents with a good snapshot of how their children are doing and where they might be struggling. here in the senate, we are nearly halfway through the 118th congress, and this seems like a good opportunity for the, for our majority party that are in

charge of the agenda here to receive the same sort of evaluation. after all, their ability to run this chamber impacts every state, city, and community across the country. and unfortunately they haven't earned high remarks. high marks. so here's the report card for the democratic majority in 2023. let's look at government funding first. thanks to the chair and vice chair of the senate appropriations committee, the senate was on track to return to regular order this year. it actually was really good work by senator murray and senator collins to get the appropriations committee back to work again. the committee actually passed all 12 appropriations bills before the senate adjourned for the august recess, giving the

majority leader plenty of time to move these bills across the senate floor. despite that long runway, the majority leader didn't even attempt to put an appropriations bill on the senate floor until mid-september, nearly three months after the first funding bill passed the committee. well, it's no surprise given the late date that the majority leader finally sought to determine to act that we didn't have enough time to complete the job. so at the end of the fiscal year, which was the end of september, we had to part a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government until november. and then that november deadline came and went once again, and we had to kick the can down the road once more to january 19. so when the senate returns in january, we'll have to hit the ground running because we're up

against not just one, but two funding deadlines. one is january 19 and the other is february 2. so we'll see whether the majority leader allows the senate to actually make some progress toward considering those appropriations bills before we run up against one or both of those deadlines. the next major piece of legislation we have is the national defense authorization act, otherwise known around here as the ndaa, one of the most important bills that the senate considers every year. the ndaa should have been signed into law by the end of september, but the majority leader decided to delay it until now we will finally complete that work either later today or tomorrow. the senate will finally pass this bill which should have been passed by the end of the fiscal

year in september this week, more than two months behind schedule. once again the delay was completely avoidable. our colleagues on the senate armed services committee on a bipartisan basis completed their work in june. and this legislation passed the full senate in july. we had plenty of time to resolve the differences between the senate and the house versions, but unfortunately we squandered that time, so here we are. the majority leader waited until november 16, nearly four months after the senate bill passed, to begin the formal conference process. so there's just simply no reason why we have had these delays, especially when something as critical as national security is on the line. but unfortunately, that's only one of our priorities, national priorities that has been

neglected. the other has to do with the request made from our friends in israel and our friends in ukraine for additional assistance, a national security supplemental. the president in october asked congress to vote on this emergency supplemental. well, we've been abundantly clear from the get go that since the president included money for the border, that that was certainly germane to our consideration of this supplemental bill. we will not, though, merely fund the current and open border policies of the biden administration which has been an absolute disaster. millions of people coming across the border being released into the united states, drugs that took the lives of 108,000 americans last year alone, and

then of course the 300,000 unaccompanied children placed with sponsors in the united states that the administration has simply lost track of. you may recall that the "new york times" did an investigative piece which pointed out that in 85,000 cases when a call was made to the sponsor 30 days after the child was placed with that sponsor, there was no answer, and the administration did not follow up at all so they can't tell you whether they're going to school, whether they're getting the health care that they need, whether they're being trafficked for sex or forced into involuntary labor. "the new york times" did document that too many children are being put in dangerous jobs and are underage, in violation of state and federal law. but so my point is that when the president asks for border security money, talking about

border security and how to fix the broken border is certainly relevant and germane to that topic since the president initiated it in the first place. so people wonder why is the money for israel and ukraine being held up. i think the majority leader actually said it was being held hostage, which is an unfortunate use of that term. but i'd point out that the house passed a $14.3 billion supplemental appropriation to benefit israel on november 2. again, here we are six weeks later and no action on this bill that's already passed the house. now i understand the majority leader may not like all of that, what's in that bill, but certainly put it on the floor and let the senate work its will and pass that and send it to the

president's desk. certainly that would be helpful to our allies in israel. so we know that the border crisis has become so severe that major american cities like new york and chicago are now crying uncle because they have had to deal with a few thousand migrants who have ultimately ended up in their city. and used people like mayor adams in new york say these migrants were going to destroy new york city. well, what about the seven million migrants that have crossed the border in my state and in other border states who are now disbursed throughout the united states? this is also a blinking green light saying to anybody and everybody who has the money to pay the smugglers to bring them to the border, keep coming. well, it's a disaster, and we are going to do everything in

our power to address the broken border as part of the supplemental. unfortunately we will not be able to complete that work before the end of this month because, number one, the majority leader decided to wait until the holidays to put it on the floor, in the first place. and then there's the federal aviation administration reauthorization which was set to expire again at the end of september, last september. over the last few years travelers have dealt with widespread flight cancellations, paralyzing staffing shortages and rising prices. they have also witnessed, we have witnessed some jarring safety issues, including near collisions on airport runways, including cities like the one i live in, in austin, texas. the senate passed a short-term extension to provide for three more months to advance a

longer-term reauthorization that addresses these and other issues. but unfortunately that work hasn't been done either, which has earned another incomplete. so the senate is expected to pass another short-term extension this week so the agency can keep up and running thu at least march 8. now that's another item that we should have finished this year, which we did not finished, and so it'snear. been kicked over to next year. we also failed to complete the farm bill. this legislation is critical to america's food supply as well as to the hard working men and women who grow and produce it. the previous farm bill expired on september 30. does that sound familiar? well, it's a familiar theme where the majority fails to tee

up these issues until the deadline and then we can't get it done, another extension has to be passed and we know that the farm bill has been extended for a year. because the senate agriculture committee and the majority to get that bill on the floor. well, finally, we have a law that most people have not heard of until recently, perhaps, section 702, of the foreign intelligence act. the presiding officer is very familiar with this. but the intelligence community calls this the crown jewels of american intelligence gathering because it's absolutely vital to our national security. it allows the intelligence community to obtain information

with which to combat everything from terrorism to cyberattacks and to prevent our adversaries from developing weapons of mass destruction. this authorization for this critical national security tool is set to expire at the end of this month, and our nation's most senior intelligence officials have been pleading with congress for months to take action. they have issued warnings in the starkest possible way to re -- about the consequences of not reauthorizing section 072. the house was forced to kick the can down the road once again because we have not done our work on time. that's what's in the ndaa, the national defense authorization act, it includes a temporary section of section 702 until april 19, adding to the growing list of tasks that we should

have done this year which we will have to do next year. as we know, legislating only gets harder as the election approaches and the 2024 election is less than 11 months away. hardly a conducive environment to getting this work done. certainly not any easier than it would have been done to do it on time. so we have a lot of work to do when we return in january. we have two goif funding -- government funding deadlines, january 19, february 2 and then the -- and section 702 will need to be reauthorized or extended by april 19. the first four months of next year will be spent working through the backlog of the items that should have been completed this year. given this lackluster performance, this is one report

card that our democratic colleagues should be embarrassed to take home to their constituents. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, 11 years ago tomorrow our nation and the newtown, connecticut, experienced one of the deadliest shootings in history. 20 first grade students and teachers and staff members gunned down inside sandy hook elementary school. 20 first graders who right now should be high school seniors, relishing special moments and milestones with their friends. they should be finishing their

college application, taking their driver's test and getting measured for their caps and gowns. their families should be watching them flourish as they become young adults embarking on all the world has to offer. instead their lives cruelly cut short and their family members will never be whole again. adults who desperately tried to protect their students albeit from the force of an assault weapon. we grieved with families, we cried and prayed. 11 years ago we said we would never let this happen again. instead it has happened again and again over and over. parkland, santa fe, michigan state, university of unlv,

uvalde, the scenes from robb elementary school, where 19 students, mostly third and fourth graders and beloved teachers were gunned down last year could not have been more reminiscent of sandy hook, they were wiped out in a spree of mindless violence. all of this happening again right before our very eyes, ten years -- ten years after sandy hook. this weekend in my home state we commemorated the fourth shooting of an semitic shooting in jersey city where a detective was shot before taking three more innocent lives. the shooters were armed with an ar-15-style assault weapon. according to "the washington post" database, 2023 has seen more mass shootings, 39, than

any year since 2006 when they first began tracking shootings with four or more deaths. mon monterey, california, nashville, tennessee, el paso, texas lewiston, maine. we are the only civilized nation on earth where innocent human beings are routinely murdered in mass shootings. is this what it really means to be an american? it cannot be. i met last week with members of the newtown action alliance, survivors of gun violence who shared their heartbreaking stories of grief and trauma. their message was simple. when will enough be enough? 11 years since sandy hook and yet barely any progress has been made, even eadses ann's law that -- ethan's law is opposed by moi congressional

republicans. -- by most congressional republicans. this should be a no-brainer. tiffany, a gun violence survivor told me about how her father was killed in 1994 when her sister's abusive ex-boyfriend pushed his way into their home, and her father was shot. she is now older than her father ever got the chance to be. jackie hagerty shared how she survived the sandy hook elementary school shooting when she was 7 years old and now 18 she advocates for gun safety legislation. she broke down in tears during our meeting, describing the sheer horror and trauma seeing her friends and teachers destroyed bodies in the hallways of sandy hook.

she told me all she wants for christmas is to know she won't get shot. let me repeat that. a young woman in america is praying she won't get shot, which is what she hopes for christmas. only in america do we live like this. do we let families and whole communities drown in the grief of mass shootings for the benefit of the gun lobby and gun industry, only in america are guns the number one killer of young people, only in america do we pray, grieve, and move on until the next uvalde or le lewiston, we have -- high-capacity magazinings do not -- magazines do not belong in our communities. they do not belong in our movie theaters, houses of worships or bowling alleys, these are

weapons of war meant for high-capacity killing. those who seek to kill americans with such weapons do not have any greater rights to bear arms than our nation's communities and children have a right to live. last week majority leader schumer came to the floor with a hope of reintroducing the -- he was blocked. senator murphy asked for universal background checks which met republican resistance. while i'm proud to have supported the bipartisan safer communities act which became law last year and contains important gun safety measures, we must do more. that was simply the first step in the right direction. there are more measures we can and must enact. i believe we have to reinthe city the assault weapons ban and we must establish universal background checks for the sale of all first time. a poll by fox news conducted in

april of this year found that a majority of all american voters, 61% support an assault weapon ban. that includes republican voters. if there's 61% support among americans for an assault weapon ban, there should be 60 votes for it here in the senate. a june 2022 gallup poll found that an overwhelming 92% of americans favor a background check for all firearm sales. with that level of near unanimous support, background checks for all first time sales should be able to pass out of this chamber by unanimous consent. and in the assault -- did the assault weapons ban have a positive result? a study showed that during the ten years that the assault weapons ban was in place, mass

shooting related deaths were 70% less likely to occur. that is countless lives saved, countless funerals avoided and countless families spared from bottomless grief. i want to be clear. we have solutions supported by the majority of americans to end the epidemic of gun violence in our country. we just need our republican colleagues to join the rest of us. we need republicans to take their nra blind folds off and enter the realities we all face. after the mass shootings in lewiston, congresswoman looman supports the ban. i'm glad he has seen the light, but it should not take a shooting to support this. everyone should support congressman goldman and put

politics aside and put people first. we owe it to those no long-range with us, we owe it to ms. hagerty, we owe it to every child and parent in america so when we say never again we actually mean it. i'll end with this, which is a few questions for my republican colleagues. as we head home for the holidays, what will you say to all the families facing an empty seat at their dinner table or one less stocking on the mantle? how can you claim to be the pro-life, the party of public safety when you put the interest of the gun lobby before the lives and security of your constituents? how can we possibly claim the mantle of the greatest country in the world if we, as elected officials, simply stand by and let mass shootings take place day after day after day on our watch. my hope is that i hope you will

think of each and every one of these victims and their families and come back with renewed commitment an purpose and protect the innocent lives of our constituents, our neighbors, our loved ones. let us build upon the bipartisan safer communities act, fully implement background checks, pass a national assault weapons ban. i appreciate that the presiding officer has legislation to figure out how to manufacture ways that would create less loss of life. it is an innovative idea. it would be the greatest gift we can deliver to the american people. during a season of thoughts and prayers, what the american people need, but what they demand is concrete action. whether or not we act will define congress, and indeed american democracy itself, for decades to come. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the

senator from nebraska. mr. ricketts: i have been hearing from a lot of families back home who are frustrated with the economy. americans are paying the price for failed bidenomics. since joe biden became president, prices have increased by 17.38%. necessities continue to cost hard working american families hundreds of extra dollars every month. gasoline is up 42.18%. groceries are up 20 by 28%. energy prices are up nearly 35%. electricity is up 23.5%. rent is up 18.5%. a cbs news poll recently showed 76% of americans say their income is not keeping up with joe biden's inflation.

92% of adults have felt the need to reduce their spending. 76% plan to cut back on nonessential items. another report stated that the average american family is spending $11,400 more each year to pay for the same standard of living they had when joe biden took office. that's several months of paying for an everyday household. and as anyone with a basic understanding of economics knows, they will tell you that people on low and fixed incomes are the ones that are going to be the hardest hit. this inflation is a tax on every american standard of living. president biden said that bidenomics is just another way to say the american dream. yet the numbers show the american dream is now more out of reach than any time in recent

history. maybe that's why president biden has stopped saying bidenomics. before biden, the average monthly payment for a new home was $1,787. today that number is almost double to $3,322. that makes a new home unaffordable for many americans. this inflation is caused by president biden's failed policies and reckless spending. americans are forced to pay more now because of inflation and pay more later to address the rising costs of our national debt. president biden has adopted the term bidenomics as a way to make americans believe that they are better off. well, it didn't work. he's falsely claimed to have cut the national debt by $1.7 trillion when in fact the debt has increased by $6 trillion. he's falsely claimed that prices went down for holiday meals

whether in fact -- when in fact every single item that he mentioned has increased since he took office. once again the numbers say it all. and an astounding 76% of americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. the president's war on domestic energy production has caused the price of energy to skyrocket. a wave of burden some regulation has cost americans thousands of dollars per household and lifted their freedom. an avalanche of green energy spending has added trillions of dollars to the debt without building a single e.v. charger. while americans have tightened their belts in response to rising costs, our federal government has done the opposite. federal spending is up 40% in the last four years. the result of these failed policies, the national debt is approaching $34 trillion. that comes out to about $257,000 per american household.

that's like having a second morning on a house -- mortgage on the house. 62% of americans rate the u.s. economy as bad. with inflation being the most important reason for the problems facing our country. and what do americans rate the number one reason for this inflation? joe biden's big government spending with 56% of americans saying so. our constituents deserve better than to have their pocketbooks pummelled by joe biden's failed policies. americans know that bringing the cost of living down and getting our country on the backtrack means washington must reverse course. we need to reject the bloated omnibus bills and spend less, plain and simple. we need to stop the political regulations and tax increases

that are stifling innovation and growth in our country. we need to unleash american energy production and lower energy prices. and we need to secure the border. in the coming weeks this body will have the opportunity to do all of these things. i stand here ready to work with anyone to get these important priorities accomplished for the people of nebraska. i'll work every day all day to get it done. and i urge my colleagues to do the same. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: first, i want to congratulate my friend and colleague from nebraska for his excellent remarks. i'm seeing the same thing in wyoming that he's seeing in nebraska. he's the former governor of that

state. he knows the people of that state. he goes home and visits with his friends and family and constituents and they know, how much money people having to spend as a result of the really irresponsible -- irresponsible actions of the democrats in this administration. i hear about it every weekend when i'm at the grocery store. a lady last week had a little plastic bag. she sid this shouldn't cost $100 for this bag of groceries and she's right. the other thing i hear at the grocery store in addition to the issues that the senator from nebraska was talking about is the issue of the border. i come today, mr. president, to the floor to talk about america's broken southern border. what we need to do about it, what the concerns are, and what i hear about every weekend. because every time americans turn on their tv, they see it. they see what's happening at the southern border. the flood, the waves of

individuals coming across the border not being stopped, not being checked, and then moved into the neighborhoods across america. well, last week senator schumer put a national security bill on the floor. the problem is it lacked serious border security policy changes, things that we need in this nation. republicans voted against it because we know national security starts with border security. we are going to stand firm until serious changes are made. since last week, the scope, the scale, the seriousness of the biden border crisis has accelerated. one week ago an all-time record high of over 12,000 illegal immigrants crossed the southern border. to put that number into perspective, president obama's homeland security secretary jeh

johnson said this in the past. he said a thousand encounters a day, a thousand encounters a day would overwhelm the system. well, it was 12,000 each day last week. some days 10,000. some days 11,000. some days 12,000. record numbers each and every day. ten times the number that president obama's secretary of homeland security said would overwhelm the system. day after day after day. so let's be clear about what's happening with joe biden and the white house and democrats in the majority of the united states senate. well, the democrats and joe biden have gambled with americans' safety and security. the border, the southern border is now a hot spot for terrorism and trafficking like we've never seen before in this country. this body heard last week from the director of the federal

bureau of investigation christopher wray. testified in front of the judiciary committee. director wray said this. he said post-october 7, you have seen a variable rogues gallery of terrorist organizations calling for attacks against us, the united states. the federal combur row of investigation, he said i see blinking lights everywhere. everywhere he's looking, he's seeing the threat. any of the democrats in the senate listening to him? any concern from the senators on the judiciary committee? well, dr. wray isn't the only person to warn us that the threat of terrorism aimed against americans is increasing. the homeland security secretary for president obama mentioned it in the past, and now the

homeland security secretary mayorkas, the current one for president biden, said we are definitely in a heightened threat environment. i agree with him. president biden would have us believe that the border, as he said, is safe and orderly and humane. i don't think he's been there in a long time to actually see what's going on, because that's not what i witnessed just a few weeks ago when i went down there with a group of senators. so what's the reality? the reality is president biden has created the deadliest, most dangerous, and most disastrous border crisis in our nation's history. democrats' definition of border security is very different from what i'm hearing about at the grocery store in wyoming. because the democrats' definition of border security is to just make it easier for illegal entry into the country. wave them all through. come on it. everything's final. well, it's -- everything's fine.

well, it's not. illegal immigrants ought to be turned away. democrats are waving them through in record numbers. so why is this happening? well, it's happening because the biden administration is manipulating the law of the land. the administration is hiding behind such terms as asylum and parole. and they're using that to quickly process and move inland, migrants from all around the world by the thousands. when i was at the border, late night, midnight patrol, people from all around the world were coming in from moldova. they had to go through lots of different countries before they got -- to come up from central america. they paid those cartels dearly. it's a criminal element. trafficking humans to be deposited then at our border's

edge. our laws are no longer used to determine who gets in and who stays. the illegal immigrants make that decision, and that's wrong. simply if they show up at the border, joe biden waves them all through. that's the policy of the democrats in this body. they utter a few magic words and are released into the country. under president obama, under president obama about 21,000 people a year requested asylum. they're fearing for their lives. they're fearing concern. fearing what happens in their home country. 21,000 in a year under president obama. so what's happened with joe biden now? the border patrol agents say the number that was a full year from president obama happens every two days with joe biden and the

democrats from this body looking the other way. things are fine. things are secure. two days equal a full year from the obama administration. it is absolutely preposterous to argue that all of those people qualify for asylum. we know they don't. we know it. the american people know it. the president ought to know it. members of this body ought to know it. 10,000 illegal immigrants day after day will quickly add to over 10 34i8 illegal immigrants -- 10 million illegal immigrants into this country during four years of the biden administration. president biden is allowing it to happen and democrats in this body are encouraging him all the way. this administration has turned what was known to be a notice to appear into a license for illegal immigrations to disappear into the homeland.

well, the payment for biden's breakdown of law and order is now coming due. the blinking lights, as the head of the fbi said, are everywhere. the senate finally acted to secure the border, this nation would be safer and people would rest assured in my home state and wyoming and certainly in big cities, cities like new york or chicago where the mayor of new york said the illegal immigrants overwhelming the system, destroying the city. it's indisputable. where can the senate start? here's an idea. let's fix our broken parole and asylum system. republicans want border enforcement, border security, real policy changes to keep our communities safe. the american people don't have that today. so it's no surprise that they're angry and they're afraid.

this needs to change. real border security is a top national security need. republicans don't need another record breaking day to understand that this crisis requires swift, serious, and substantive action. republicans have solutions, solutions to make our communities and our country safer. the president and the democrats in this body need to include these measures in any national security bill. otherwise, mr. president, there will not be a national security. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. budd: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. budd: mr. president, as we enter the holidays this year and experience the typical sights and sounds of the season, perhaps it's the annual trip to buy a christchurch tree,

perhaps -- a christmas tree, perhaps in northern west virginia if you're from the region, perhaps it's the solemn lighting of each candle on the menorah, or the giving of gifts and lifelong memories. but for the 130 hostages still held by terrorists in gaza, the holiday season is one of pain and isolation. for their families, this holiday season is filled with pain and uncer uncertainty. mr. president, this week i met again with some of the families of both recently released hostages and the families of those still being held. their heartache is something that no person should ever have to face. when you compare the joy of the holidays with the pain of their situation, you can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of both anger and sadness. but also a sense of resolve. what if this was my loved ones?

what if this was yours? each and every one of these families deserves for their loved ones to be released immediately and unconditionally. rest assured, all levels of the united states government are working with our allies and partners to get these hostages home and home safely. until that happens, there's still something that all of us can do, and you don't have to be an elected official to send prayers of comfort to these families. you don't have to be here on the senate floor to speak out on their behalf and to call for their release. and you don't have to be politically active to commit yourself to not forget these men and women, especially during this season. you know, dueuteronomy 31-6 tels us, i quote, be strong and strategicous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the lord, your god, goes with you, and he will never

leave you nor forsake you. mr. president, i want every one of these family members to know that our country is behind them and that we support them and that we are praying for them. i yield the floor.

mrs. hyde-smith: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mrs. hyde-smith: mr. president, i rise today to once again call attention to the crisis at our southern border, the very crisis the biden administration refuses to acknowledge and in not doing so fails the american people. it is a simple fact, there is no national security without border security, and everyone knows our border is anything but secure. we have the numbers to back it up. for starters, more than 8.2 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since biden took office. to kick off fiscal year 2024, there were over 240,000 illegal immigrants en -- encountered in october, the highest monthly

total ever recorded. this after a record-setting fiscal year 2023, which saw more than 2.4 million encounters. of the 2.4 million, at least 169 individuals are on the terror watch list. but what's really frightening is that these numbers only reflect the known encounters and doesn't even include all of those who evaded law enforcement, the gotaways. border officials estimate that there were 1.7 million gotaways, any number of which could be on the terror watch list, living in our country with who knows what intentions. even with all of this information available, the administration continues to break all the wrong records. in the last several weeks, daily records have been smashed time and again, with known daily encounters ranging from 10,000 to 12,000.

for context, president obama's dhs secretary said a thousand a day overwhelms the system. we have heard from officials such as fbi director wray expressing his concern regarding the ability of terrorist organizations to exploit any port of entry, including our southwestern border. warnings such as these should not be ignored, and yet it appears this administration mr. continue to do exactly that. but encounters are only part of the ongoing crisis. in october, over 1,300 pounds of fentanyl and over 9,500 pounds of meth was seized. and that's only what was seized. estimates show this is only 5% to 10% of the illicit drugs

coming across the border. these drugs continue to run rampant in our communities at a devastating cost, including in my rural state of mississippi. the cdc says overdose deaths are up from last year, meaning more and more families and communities are being broken apart by the circulation of dangerous drug smugglers across the border. even worse than the drugs being smuggled across the border is the humans the cartels are smuggling. mr. president, i have spoken before about my trips to the border, the one earlier this year and the horrific stories of girls 12 to 16 years old being smuggled against their will has stayed with me. the human trafficking industry has grown in the last several years to a $13 billion industry, and this will only continue to grow if the border continues to

be an access point for traffickers. i do not blame the brave men and women working to do their best to help patrol the border. i blame solely, all of this, on the biden administration and democrats for their unwillingness to work in a serious manner to help secure the border and keep criminals and drugs out of our communities. border patrol agents are not given the resources they need to stop the never-ending onslaught of migrants, drugs, and traffickers. even the border securities provision in the president's emergency supplemental request amount is just more money to process illegal immigrants, with no real policy or enforcement reforms. i am hearing from the law enforcement back home in mississippi and how the crisis is affecting my state, and many have said today every state is a

border state because of this crisis. on january 18, 2023, a mississippi highway patrol trooper made a routine traffic stop. in the vehicle was an illegal immigrant driving without a license, and an additional three illegal adult males, and one 7-year-old migrant child. after homeland security investigations were contacted, the driver attempted to flee on foot and was captured by the hsi, which determined the child was not related to anyone in the vehicle. charges are pending on the driver, and hsi is attempting to identify the child and reunite him with family. in another incident on october 9, 2023, a mississippi highway patrol trooper identified another illegal immigrant driving on i-10 in jackson county, with no i.d.

a passenger, also illegal immigrant, revealed they were on their way to houston, texas, to pick up another man, a woman, and three or four children. after a legal search of the vehicle, items consistent with human trafficking were discovered. a border patrol agent was notified. it turns out the driver was a repeat offender illegally reentering the united states after deportation. if i'm hearing from law enforcement in my state, i know that my colleagues are too. i applaud the efforts of the mississippi highway patrol and the u.s. border for taking action, but the fact remains if the resources were already at the border, this would have never happened. senate republicans have shown americans time and time again that we are ready to take steps to stop the growing threat at the southern border. anymore, our democratic

colleagues will not take action with us, appearing afraid to anger their radical base. giving our border patrol agents the means to do their job is not radical. fortifying our border by ending catch-and-release, closing asylum loopholes, finishing the wall, and supporting law enforcement officers is key to our national security, and we owe our citizens no less. i along with my republican colleagues will continue to work towards solutions, and i invite senate democrats and the administration to join us so we can finally secure our borders and keep the american people safe and alleviate the biden-caused humanitarian crisis at the border. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the

senator from iowa. mr. grassley: in its relentless pursuit of canceling student debt, the department of education seems to have forgotten that congress gave it a job to do. last year the department announced its unconstitutional effort to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars, contrary to law. of course, you remember that was the forgiving of student loans. even after this attempt was dec declared, and declared unconstitutional by the supreme court, endless efforts at debt cancelation seems to have taken precedent over the duty congress is giving the department. for example, after being on

pause for three years, student loan payments finally started back up here in october of this year. services of students and members of congress press for answers about how and when this process would work. but instead of a plan, the return to repayment has been utter chaos. iowans and even some members of my staff who have student loans have waited for weeks to get answers to very basic questions about their loans. due to sloppy recordkeeping, the department has failed its audit for the second straight year in a row.

in its hurry to cancel debt, the administration can't even provide auditors enough information to do their jobs. it isn't just previous students who are being left in limbo. there's another issue that is hard to get information on. so we have current and incoming college students still can't fill out the application form that goes by the acronym fafsa, that stands for free application for student aid. in a a normal year, students would fill it out and know in the process if they qualify for pell grants or other forms of student

aid. but this year students still don't have the information they need to start choosing the best school for them. i've long said that students don't have enough transparent information when applying for college. the shortened timeline this year makes it even harder. to address that problem that i just mentioned, i recently sent a letter with senator kaine, of virginia, and other colleagues pressing the department of education to give students the information they need. that includes making sure that farm families aren't forced to sell the farm to send their kids to college. it helps no one to lump small family farms in with the largest mega farms as farm families

barely getting by are somehow considered rich and their kids not qualified for student loans. our bipartisan effort by senator kaine and me pushes the department to recognize that decision -- distinction and ensure farm kids have the information they need to properly fill out the proper forms to see if they qualify for student loans. all students deserve to have the information they need and to get that information ahead of time. students, families, and borrowers shouldn't have their time lines delayed by changing political whims. congress certainly did not pass a law telling the department to cancel hundreds of billions in student debt, but congress did give the department a mandate to

properly oversee student loan repayments, implementation of the fasa and to keep its finances in order before trying to unconstitutionally create numerous cancellation programs, i suggest and encourage the department of education to do the job it's been given by congress to do. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

ms. rosen: madam president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. ms. rosen: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. rosen: madam president i ask unanimous consent that becky modiamo, who has provided

tremendous support to my office over the past year be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the week. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. rosen: thank you. since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade, which protected a woman's right to make decisions over her own body, we have heard countless heart-wrenching stories coming out of anti-choice states. we've heard about the 10-year-old girl from ohio who was raped and had to travel to indiana to receive an abortion. we've heard about the case after 13-year-old girl from mississippi who was also raped, but because of her state's strict abortion ban, she had to give birds before -- birth before even starting the seventh

grade. now we have learned of another instance where anti-choice politicians decided they know better than a woman and her doctors. indicate cocks -- kate cox is a working mom from texas. & they love their children and always wanted a large family. always wanted that. that's why they were overjoyed when they learned that kate was pregnant with their third child. but sadly, tragically during the pregnancy, doctors told kate she was -- doctors told kate that the baby she was carrying had a fatal condition and would not survive. for kate this was heartbreaking. what should have been a moment of privacy for kate and her family has turned into a public

tragedy. because of texas's restricted -- restrictive abortion ban, she was barred -- barred from terminating her nonviable pregnancy even though doctors have said that continuing it would put her life in danger and -- and risk her ability to have future children, that large family her and her husband always dreamed of. instead kate was forced to go to court to fight for her own medical procedure, the procedure she knees to save her own life -- she needs to save her own life and right before texas was going to rule against her, she was forced to leave the state of texas to get the lifesaving care she needs. for the first time in 50 years, anti-choice judges have ruled whether or not a woman can have an abortion. can this really be happening,

madam president? judges -- be a panel of judges deciding your health care? well, what makes this all the more heartbreaking when roe v. wade was overturned, we all knew, we knew cases like this would happen. and now this is the terrifying reality women face in a post roe world where lawyers and judges, they make the health care decisions, not your doctors, your health care providers. and it's been made possible -- possible by decades of anti-choice extremists who have fought to put politicians -- politicians between women and their private medical conditions. the abortion bans passed by anti-choice states are not only cruel, but also dangerous and life-threatening injuries to women like kate. women who are already living

through the worst nightmare of being told their baby has no chance to live and then -- then they are prevented by getting the lifesaving care they need by a legal system. instead of being able to listen to their doctors to save their lives, the legal system is in charge of their being health care. and -- in charge of their health care. it's not just in texas or the state level. last year republicans introduced legislation in this chamber to ban abortion, a national abortion ban, one that would strip every woman, including in our state of nevada, madam president, of their fundamental right to control their own bodies. a nationwide abortion ban would be devastating on a new level. it would mean more stories like kate's, except this time -- this time there would be nowhere for

a woman to go to get the lifesaving care she needed. let's be clear, if this happens, women will die. their children may have other children will be left without a mother. and this is exactly what anti-choice extremists want. their latest attempt is to ban the abortion appeal that women have been using safely for decades. just today, the supreme court has agreed to hear that case. this is why we can't give up. we can't give up. we must continue to fight on to protect a woman's right to choose. to make the decisions that are right for her and her family in the privacy of her doctor's office. and as long as i'm here, i will oppose any efforts to enact a

nationwide abortion ban, a ban that would punish women for making their own health care decisions. and we must do more to protect women living in anti-choice states, women like kate and the young girls from mississippi and ohio and states all across this country. it's why i helped introduce legislation that protects women from prosecution by anti-choice states for crossing state lines to receive the reproductive care they need. we have to protect women from prosecution for getting the lifesaving care they need. this is why, this is why passing the women's health protection act and protecting reproductive freedoms under federal law is critical. if we fail to act, women will continue to suffer. women will die. we will not, we cannot, we

cannot back away from the fight to protect women's reproductive freedom, and i will always stand with women, and i will always stand with our right to choose. thank you, madam president. i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

mr. carper: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. carper: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: thanks so much. madam president, as some of our colleagues know, i am a retired navy captain and the last of the vietnam veterans serving in the united states senate. today i want to take a couple of minutes if i could to share what military service has meant to my family and to me and to discuss one of the critical lessons that we should have learned with the failure to welcome home many of

my generation from our service following the vietnam war. i come from a family who for several generations, for several generations has sacrificed for our country and has been privileged to serve our country. my dad and uncle jim were chief petty officers in the navy in world war ii. my dad went on to serve again in southeast asia during the vietnam war. my uncle ed was a marine who served in combat, heavy combat in korea. my uncle bob was killed in a kamikaze attack in the pacific at the age of 19. his body was never recovered. my grandmother is a gold star mother. in my family, we bleed navy blue. my father's generation returned

home to a hero's welcome at the end of world war ii. that was not the case for those of us who returned home from the vietnam war many years later. with little fanfare, no welcome home ceremonies, no parades, we returned to our home towns to begin our lives anew, and we did. with some cases with extraordinary good fortune, and i'm one of those. in the years since then i've witnessed a growing willingness from people across our country to atone for the kind of welcome home my generation received and to make clear that our service is now appreciated, fully appreciated. it's a wonderful feeling. but for a good part of this year

we have once again failed to treat hundreds of our best and brightest military leaders with the respect and gratitude that they deserve and have earned by their service. the situation manufactured by our colleague from alabama to block the promotion of hundreds of well-deserving military officers is unprecedented. it is unwarranted, and i believe it is shameful. for nearly a year he has jeopardized our national security and thrust the lives of some 450 military servicemembers and their families, put their lives in limbo. these families have been stuck both physically and professionally. they have been unable to move to new assignments at home and abroad where they will assume their new responsibilities. military spouses have been unable to find new jobs and their children have been unable

to continue their education in new schools. while i was relieved that the majority of these remarkable men and women were finally able to accept their promotions recently, there are still 11 four-star officers and their families who are suffering because of the actions of one of our colleagues. by using the lives of our military servicemembers and their families as a bargaining chip, we are failing to learn from history and once again disrespecting the sacrifices that they have made for our nation. what kind of message does this send to our veterans across this country, to our men and women in all service branches who have served in some cases for decades? it's unacceptable. and what kind of message does this send to countries around the world about how we treat those defending democracy every single day? moreover, the actions of our colleagues may deter potential

recruits from joining the ranks of our military during a time when we are working especially hard to recruit and retain talented servicemembers. as we go into the holiday service, every military family, every military family deserves peace of mind. yet today there is still 11 extremely deserving and well-qualified officers whose families continue to face uncertainty. i'll repeat -- it's unacceptable, it is unwarranted, it is shameful, and it must end. today i urge our colleague from alabama to think again about what's really at stake. strong leadership is vital to our national security, and we cannot undercut senior leaders of our armed forces without jeopardizing our democracy. to our colleague from alabama, let me just say this.

please, please lift your hold. let's learn from mistakes of our past. give these 11 officers and their families the respect that they also deserve along with a truly happy holiday and a promising new year. with that, madam president, i yield back the remainder of my time, and i note we've been joined by my friend and colleague from iowa, senator grassley. thank you. mr. grassley: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: the organ transplant business and network governorate has been in shambles for decades and people have needlessly died because of it, and we have passed very good

legislation on -- unanimously to correct it, so i come to the senate floor today because i have very serious concerns about the biden administration's implementation of h.r. 2544. that legislation goes by the title of securing the u.s. organ procurement and transplantation network act. i'm joined by a colleague that's worked real hard on this issue, senator moran of kansas, who will also give his views on this issue. he worked with me and championed this very important issue. on september 22 of this year, this legislation, h.r. 2544, was signed into law by this

president. in less than three months, the health resources and services administration of the department of health and human services is already ignoring congressional intent while asking congress, can you believe it, for money to implement the law, and it's presumably to implement the law contrary to what the congress desires. we fought alongside patient organizations that knew this whole setup for decades was not working the way it should. we did this with the hope and expectation that we'd have real competition to manage our organ

donation system. congress unanimously passed the bill, as i said before. and we were able to do it without attempted by a lot of people within the 40-year-old organization that runs this program that tried to kill it with what we call around here poison pill amendments. and that point is very important because we didn't adopt any of those amendments. and yet we see some of those amendments' approaches being now promoted by this administration on the implementation of this bill. because these potential poison pill amendments we've prevented

competition in our organ donation system and we felt that competition was what we needed instead of the monopolistic approaches that had existed for decades. and you could imagine these amendments were pushed, yes, by the same nonprofit monopolies that have called the shots in our nation's failed organization system for the last 40 years. so here is where we are within just three short months after the passing of what we thought was real reform. now the health and resources and services administration of h.h.s., led by administrator carol johnson, has attempted to

restrict competition right out of the gate by inserting via contracting process the very poison pills that congress kept out of the law. for example, that agency announced plans to install the existing -- the existing united network for organ sharing board, the one that's been running the show, as the new so-called independent board. regarding limiting competition for board contract, agency officials told my staff and staff from other congressional offices that, quote, the agency can place restrictions on any

contracts including the i.t. contract, end of quote. again, the purpose of this legislation was to create competition, not stifle it with government restrictions and sweetheart deals. my bipartisan oversight over the years has shown that the united network for organ sharing i.d. system is failing at every level. i've heard from patient groups and leaders these very same concerns. these patient advocacy organizations are rightfully concerned that h.h.s. today is caving to bad actors who've been running our nation's organ donation system since 1986. as the president of the global

liver institute wrote, quote, i never imagined that the industry could so quickly dictate the terms of the law's implementation, end of quote. the national kidney foundation wrote that these proposals, quote, continue to empower those who've been responsible for the problems that have plagued the transplant system, end of yet. quote. from what my staff has been told, health resource and service administration officials have threatened the very patient groups writing those letters to me and other members of congress. the health resources and service administration allegedly told some of these patient groups to restrict -- retract their letters of concern and that

their letters were a lie. all of this is unacceptable. and should be to 100 members of this body who passed this legislation unanimously. i started working to fix our nation's corrupt, broken organ donation system way back in 2005. since then, more than 200,000 americans have needlessly died on the transplant waiting list, disproportionately for people of color and people of rural america. patients and congress fought for this legislation. now h.h.s., under this administration, needs to implement this law in the from the of patients -- in the interest of patients. patients' lives depend on it. 200,000 lives over 40 years lost

because of how this organization has distributed or lost or 100 other ways you could say that the organ not getting to the patient that it was intended. now administration by the organ network must stop, and it looks to me like h.h.s. wants to keep it going as it is and prevent, and stand in the way of this important piece of legislation. mr. moran: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: madam president, thank you. this is a sad day. when we thought we had a victory for those across the nation who are awaiting a transplant, organ for transplant, we found that

they were thwarted by a system that was allied against them, a corrupt system, an internal system that works to their detriment, not to their well-being. a and we thought with the passage of this legislation, signed into law by president biden, that we were finally giving those waiting for a transplant something called hope, something that is so important to them and their family members waiting on a kidney, waiting on a liver. the only pleasure i take in today's conversation on this senate floor is that it i'm allied with senator grassley, the senior senator from iowa, who is one of the most effective members of this body in our country's history. and he has been an advocate, and we successfully worked together, along with a number of our colleagues, republicans and democrats, to reform this corrupt system.

and i join my colleague, senator grassley you in voicing serious concerns regarding the way human resources services administration is implementing this piece of legislation. the legislation calls securing u.s. organ procurement and network act. it was an amazing effort to right a wrong when we started down this path with this legislation. nothing was easy. into cooperation from h.h.s. or from o phm. the only d. from optm. the only thing they tried to do was keep us from success in reforming the sweetheart circumstance in which they operate. i remember the day in which the secretary of health and human services in front of our appropriations committee conceded that we were right and that we had won the battle, and he was our ally in fixing the

problem. but now a few short months later, it's evident that that's not the case when it comes to the implementation of the law. it's not unclear. certainly the organizations that we were trying to dismantle and replace with better services without a bias, certainly they knew what we were about. they know the intent of the legislation, and we know the letter of the law. my involvement in the optm reform stems from concerns with the 2018 liver allocation rule ha h.s. developed -- rule h.h.s. developed with guidance from the organization onos, and some new england organ procurement organizations. the rule that they developed led

to organs being taken from areas of high donation rates like kansas and other rural areas to areas with low donation rates, densely populated urban areas. it meant that people across the country were waiting longer for a transplant. it meant that in that waiting period, people died. loved ones were gone. not only was the liver allocation rule egregious, it demonstrated a bias of onos, which has had a monopoly on the organ transplant network contract for over 30 years. as more documents were released through court rulings, this issue went to court, judges ordered unos to respond. those responses demonstrated in

evidence incompetence and bias. it became apparent in congress and to thousands of americans whose lives depended upon receiving an organ someday, an organ transplant, that something was terribly amiss. over the past year, senator grassley and i, along with other senate colleagues, have worked to make congressional intent behind this legislation as clear as possible. every senator -- no one opposed this legislation, but even if you disagreed withing is, every senator ought to insist that federal agencies implement the law as it is spoken in the letter of the law. and if a any confusion, to look at the intent of the law. every senator ought to demand that of every piece of legislation and every agency or department. our goals were good -- to increase the competition for this contract, to eliminate this good ol' boy network, and to

eliminate unos's influence on optm. unfortunately in roundtables in committee meetings, both the administrator carol johnson and h.h.s. secretary affirmed their understanding of congress' intent. that's not the unfortunate part. it's that they affirmed it but now don't live by it. they assured us that they shared our goals of increasing competition for optm bids and removing the abundance of conflicts of interest. as they start this process of implementing the bill, it's become clear what they told us must be not what theyment. hrsa died the support contract will be restricted based on a tax status. that does not ensure fair, robust competition. it narrows the field and makes it much more likely we have the same system we had before.

it is clearly contrary to congress' clear direction. additionally, hrsa has named the current unos board members as member, of the new, quote, independent board. with these announcements, hrsa has made it clear they do not intend to follow the law. instead hrsa has decided to remain in lockstep with unos, an organization that's proven, completely proven to be undeserving of running our nation's transplant program. this isn't just some bureaucracy that's doing something that doesn't make sense to us. this is an agency, a bureaucracy, a system that is damaging the capability of kansans and americans to get lifesaving treatment with the transplant of an organ. i expect, i ask, i insist, demand hrsa to resolve our

concerns by working with us in a timely fashion to implement the bill according to congressional intent, according to the letter of law and ensuring unos does not maintain its dangerous stronghold over the network. congress passed this legislation because we knew that thousands of lives were at stake. thousands of lives of americans who were on a waiting list to receive lifesaving organs. this law requires transparent, competitive contract process. but hrsa must get it right. the american people deserve a fair and effective organ transplant process that saves lives and best serves patients who are waiting for an organ. i can't think again it saddens me so much to know the number of people who thanked us, who contacted us, to tell us thank you for giving us hope that we will have an organ to transplant

to save the lives of our mother, our father, our sister, our brother, our grandparents. what better time of the year than this holiday season, this christmas season in which we ought to restore that great gift called hope to these people who wait today for a better answer than what we see to date from our department of health and human services. madam president, i again thank senator grassley for his leadership. i appreciate the opportunity i've had to work with him side by side. i commend him for his work that predates me all for the well-being of people from his state, madam president, your state, the people of my state, the people of america. please, please do this in a way that saves lives and gives hope for a better future for all americans. thank you.

mrs. fischer: madam president the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska mrs. fischer: thank you, madam president. our first session of the 118th congress is coming to a close. but in the flurry of last-minute legislating, i want to call attention to one of the most important stories that i've read this year. now, i don't want to ruin anyone's christmas, but this isn't good news. it is deeply sobering. "the wall street journal" article titled alarm grows over weakened militaries and empty arsenals in europe, is what i

would like to talk about it. and here's how it begins. quote, the british military, the leading u.s. military ally, and europe's biggest defense spender has only around 150 deployable tanks and perhaps a dozen serviceable long-range artillery pieces, so bare was the cupboard that last year the british military considered sourcing multiple rocket launchers from museums to upgrade and donate those then to ukraine, an idea that was dropped. france, the next biggest spender, has fewer than 90 heavy artillery pieces equivalent to what russia loses roughly every month on the ukraine battlefield. denmark has no heavy artillery,

submarines, or air defense systems. germany's army has enough ammunition for two days of battle. end quote. madam president, the war in ukraine has exposed just how serious our friends' readiness and supply problems are. think about what i said. the largest defense spender in europe has consider ed raiding museums for scraps of usable equipment. when it comes to heavy artillery, russia blows through france's entire arsenal every mo month. at least germany is prepared to do battle. as long as the war doesn't last longer than a three-day weekend. europe's bare cupboards problem

began many years ago at the end of the cold war when european nations began slashing defense budgets and drawing down troop numbers. amazingly, the dire situation today is actually an improvement from ten years ago. since russia's invasion of crimea in 2014, the european union has increased defense spending by 20%. that is not nearly enough. and it's virtually nothing compared to our adversaries. russia's spending increased by 300% and china's by almost 600% over the same time period. european nations still rely on the military strength of the united states, which was

responsible for 70% of nato defense spending last year. but last year america's defense spending was 3.1% of gdp, which is very nearly the lowest since the second world war. even if you add in the aid to taiwan, israel, and ukraine, america's defense spending would still be far, far below 4.6% of gdp, the amount spent during the height of iraq and afghanistan operations in 2010. although it's on the lower end historically, increasing spending isn't the u.s. military's only concern. the past few decades show that we are unprepared to increase munitions production at the

scale and at the speed to win a large war. in the gulf and in the iraq wars, it took over two years for our munitions procurement and deliveries to reach the necessary levels. and once these crises ended and demand for munitions dropped, we again sidelined production and we cut our workforce. we need to build up the weapon stockpiles required to deter or if necessary, fight and win a conflict against a peer adversary. to do so we must commit to sustained increases in munitions and weapons production, tools like multi-year procurement authority for additional munitions, which we included in this year's ndaa, can contribute

to that long-term stability. this booming bust cycle we have in production has put the united states dangerously behind adversaries like china and russia whose capacity to build and replace equipment far outpace ours right now. take, for example, the war game. it was recently conducted by the center for strategic and international studies. in the hypothetical scenario where war breaks out over taiwan, china could replace lost naval ships three times as quickly as the united states. and if russia wins in ukraine, it could rearm itself completely, completely in three to four years. the nation's finance ministry

estimates that national defense spending will grow to 6% of its economic output next year, increasing by 2%. that's -- that 6% would be the highest level since the downfall of the soviet union. the u.k. has gone the opposite direction. the nation hasn't had a fully deployable army in over 30 years, and its defense spending is stuck at 2.2%. britain has pledged to increase that number by a meager.-3% but only when conditions allow. unfortunately capacity will always lag behind spending, even if britain and other nations of europe massively increase defense spending today, it would be years before we saw that spending translated into an

increase in production capacity. and by then, it could be too late. madam president, a new access is forming. russia and china have pledged new levels of cooperation, and both have humming military production machines. our allies must invest more in their defense. they must prepare themselves for what's coming. but they will not be alone. russia's war on ukraine has highlighted a weakness in our collective security. when the next crises arises, nato will be unequipped to respond. but we cannot allow our alliance to remain unprepared.

instead, we must make the necessary sustained investments and we must start making them now. the united states must do everything in our power to accelerate our own production, and we must strongly encourage europe to do the same. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president the presiding officer: the senator from eidaho mr. crapo:}thank you, madam president. i rise today to urge the senate to do more for americans who have suffered from the aftereffects of the development

of our nuclear arsenal. it is profoundly disappointing to see that the necessary updates to the radiation exposure compensation act spearheaded by senators lujan, hawley, schmitt, and myself were not included in the conference report of the national defense authorization act. when america developed the at tom bomb through the manhattan project and tested those weapons through the trinity tests, our country unknowingly poisoned those who mined, transported, and milled uranium, those who participated in nuclear testing, and those who lived downwind of the tests. don lafr ris -- don harris was one of those who lived downwind. born in emmitt, idaho, don was born in 1931 and graduated high school in 1949. he served in the u.s. army from

1950 to 1953, came back to emmitt to marry the love of his life, donna, and worked as a farmer, dairy deliveryman, mechanic, and truck driver to provide for his nine children. his family describes him as a loving father who taught the values of hard work and integrity. and to see the worth and light in others. but because emmitt received the third most radiation from being downwind of the trinity tests, don harris lived on poisoned ground.he ended up contracting cell carcinoma, skwaumous cell carcinoma, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and lung cancer. and eventually passed away in 2018. his daughter, vonnie, shared his daer