senator from texas of being irresponsible. and my friend from washington who is up for the faa was attacked for not knowing anything about airports. so i just want to address those two things before i go into my remarks. one, to the gentleman from north carolina, phil washington knows a considerable amount about transportation and aviation in this country. that was ignored by the senator from texas. it's being ignored tonight by the -- or this afternoon by the senator from north carolina. he runs denver international airport. that's one of the largest airports in the united states of america. it's an airport that has been built more recently than any other airport in the united states of america. it has -- it is the third largest traffic in the world. it now has the united hub there. i was talked to the president of

united, ceo, they have more traffic coming through there than they do in chicago. so for the record, let me just say phil washington knows a lot about this, and i'm sorry that his nomination didn't go forward. that's not why we're here today. let me also say since he called me irresponsible that it is nice to hear the senator of texas come out here and plead for some regular order in terms of how our government should work. to worry about the fact that people could be furloughed or laid off, that they are uncertain of the future because the bill is not permanent. these were all concerns he did nots have the last time we were on the floor together, when he shut the government down while colorado was literally under water because of floods, when we were out here having that crocodile tears speech last time. i'm glad that he's reconsidered

all of that and that he wants the fda to run in a proper fashion. you -- but i don't think it's irresponsible for me to be here to object, mr. president, and i will object to this request, because i think it is critically important for us to use this moment to fulfill our obligations in the world, to the united states national security and to our commitment to democracy, both here and throughout the western world. the ukrainian people were invaded two years ago by vladimir putin. they didn't ask for that. by a tyrant. they did not ask for that. the intelligence agencies told us that kiev would be taken in 72 hours. that's what they said it would take. my colleague from the

intelligence committee is here on the floor, and he knows that. they were told that putin would be able to install a puppet government in ukraine, and be able to dictate the future of the american people, to be able to keep ukraine from being part of the west. well, as sometimes happens in human history, they were completely wrong. they were completely wrong. the ukrainian people, much to the surprise of the entire world, because of their courage, because of their bravery, because of our support, both our intelligence support and the armaments we've been able to ship them, which by the way have allowed us to restart our own

national security efforts, because we're building those weapons systems here, in 38 states, the ukrainian people have taken back half the territory that putin took from them. nobody would have ever believed that. the ukrainian people and their military have pushed putin's navy out of the black sea without even having a navy. they have no navy! and they are -- those guys are so unbelievable that they've taken the tools that they have created and that we have given them to push putin out of the black sea and to reopen those incredibly important grain shipments to the rest of the world to keep the rest of the world in this war. they have won battle after

battle after battle. i hear people around here, it's so tiresome say that the stalemate on the front lines, between zelenskyy and putin, between ukraine and the russian tr troops, is somehow a failure, is somehow a failure for ukraine, on their part. nothing could be further from the truth. nothing could be further from the truth. it is a miracle -- actually, it's not a miracle because they did it through their blood, sweat, and tears -- it is a testament to the sacrifice that the ukrainian people have gone through to what their troops have gone through, to the number of russian troops and russian artillery they've taken off the battlefield that

they have created a stalemate in this war. that's not an admission of failure. that's an admission of success. what we're trying to figure out today when we go into this long winter, when putin is on television today saying that the ukrainians are out of bullets, that the united states is going to stop funding the ukrainian people, telling the western wo world, the free world that has been so inspired by what the ukrainian people have done, so inspired by their courage and trar bravery, that they've come together with the leadership of the unto strengthen nato in ways nobody could have imagined, and to have free citizens all over the world say to people like the senator from texas and me, do more, do more, do more. and that's what they're doing

during this christmas season, they're fighting for their l lives. they're fighting for democracy. they don't get to say, okay, it's time to go home, 11 days before christmas has happened. and their fight is our fight. their fight is our fight. you know, madam president, i held up the budget bill a few -- by the way, it's very nice to see the president in the chair. i've never seen you up there it's good to see you. i held the budget bill several months ago on this floor because it had no funding for ukraine, even though we said that we would fund ukraine, because there was no plan to get it

funded. on the single most important thing that we have in front of the world, not just the senate of the united states, we had no plan to fund ukraine, and i thought that was a lousy message to send, and it was a lousy message to send. we left here without funding it, and actually it turned out we left here without a speaker of the house. we left here with bright lights flashing on the institutional incompetence of our own democracy, which by the way that's not a great look for the united states of america. and what happened? we left, and a death cult called hamas killed 1400 israelis while we were gone.

and now we have a war going on in the middle east. the world is an unpredictable place, madam president. i am encouraged, because a few days ago it looked to me like this deal was dead. a few days ago, i was facing the prospect of calling up my mom, who was born in war saw, poland -- in warsaw, poland, in 1938, who's still alive, the worst moment probably in human history, to be born jewish and in the worst place on the planet to be born, when she was born, who can't believe she's lived long enough -- thank god she has lived long enough -- but she would say i can't believe i've lived long enough to see another land war break out in europe. but she has, and it happened. and i thought i was going to

have to be in a position of saying to my mother, we haven't learned anything from history, we haven't learned anything about the 16 million people that were killed in the years after she was born, just in poland and just in ukraine, just in those two countries, by hitler and by stalin. we haven't learned anything. we're too tired. we're too busy. we're too distracted by the other stuff that's going on in the united states of america to actually do our work, which by the way no other country in the world could do. there is no other country in the world that can turn on the leadership that we can provide. there's no other country in the world that can provide the munitions we are providing. i want to say again, to the american people, that virtually 90% of the armaments we are sending to ukraine are made here in the united states of america,

38 states. colorado is not one of them. putting people to work all over the united states, driving incomes up but also, more important than that, making us r ready in a world where hamas has attacked israel, where putin invaded ukraine, where xi is watching every single day, whether we are going to turn our backs on our allies in the free world, who have done everything that anybody here could have asked for. in fact, nobody would have ever asked for, because nobody here would have believed it was possible. no one would have believed it was possible. and for what, by the way? zelenskyy told us, the first zoom could we had with him, president zelenskyy, just so we can live our lives the way you live your lives. he said the other day, in front

of the democrats and republicans who came to see him when he was h here, that we would -- he thought owe could win if we continued to supply him, but that he would lose if we didn't at any to supply him -- didn't continue to supply him. but he said, either way, we're going to fight to the death, either way, with your help or without your help. one way we'll be successful, the other way we're going to lose. but what he said, the reason we're going to do that is because the ukrainian people love freedom. because the ukrainian people want to live their lives the way you live your life. i mentioned the middle east every day, and i hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say every single day iran is now attacking our troops in iraq, the houthis are sending

their missiles to attack shipping around israel and around the middle east. there are flashing red lights going on all over the middle east, and the israelis have to worry about another front opening up here. and then finally, of course, china is watching what we're doing as well. madam president, i would never have attached these border issues to the ukraine bill. i would never have attached these immigration issues to the ukraine bill. but some republican colleagues have done it, because they've said this is an important bill, we're going to use this to lever our concerns about immigration or the border. i've got a lot of concerns about a lot of things. i think our education system adopt work well for poor --

system doesn't work well for poor kids in this country i think our health care system doesn't work well for the american people. but i'm not attaching those to this piece of business. but i have heard republicans who support ukraine who've said they need to do this in order for us to have a bipartisan bill. and i have heard the president of the united states say our immigration system is broken. i've heard the homeland security advisor, the secretary of homeland security say the same thing, and i will tell you, i think the american people do not want an immigration system that is run by transnational smuggling rings, transnational gangs that are sending people to the border of the united states at record numbers. i don't think the american people want that. so if there's a way for us to have a negotiation here that can get us to a good result for the

american people, on immigration and on the border, and that's the price people have said they're going to insist on, i've been willing to have that discussion, and i will be willing to have that discussion. that's one of the other reasonings why i think we -- one of the other reasons why i think we shouldn't leave. but as i said a few days ago, we are making no progress. now finally, we are making some progress, and the world is watching what we do here. and we can't fail. given how screwed up american politics can be, it can make you wonder whether we ought to take an extra day or day after that or extra few days, or whether we ought to just stay here and do the work, or whether we ought to move on to other things like the faa bill before we are done.

i know i've tested your patience, and i've tested the patience of the senator from texas, i'm sure, this afternoon, and i'm going to stop. but i want to finish by saying, at least speaking for myself, i don't think there is anything that anybody who is here will ever do in the -- in this senate that's going to be more important than the vote we're going to take on additional funding for ukraine. turn. i think we are going to either establish or reestablish america's very special place in this world and our happy of free countries and democracies around the world or we are going to squander that. -- in the face of what putin is

already telling us he's going to do, in the face of what the iranians are already doing to our soldiers who are in the middle east, and in the face of what xi jinping is thinking about with respect to taiwan. the authoritarian leaders in this world think they have a better way of running human affairs than democracy. much i think they're wrong. -- i think they're wrong. when the ukrainian people have fought as hard as they have for the last two years, it eclipse any expectation that anybody could have had for them, the least we could do is continue our support. finally, let me say, as i close, madam president, that it is going to be really important for us to get back to a place where

we can have a bipartisan discussion about how to create a functional immigration system in america. now, i'm not just talking about the border. immigration has been a fundamentally important part of our country's history, and it will be a fundamentally important part our country's future. it is a massive advantage that the united states has over other countries around the world when it's working well, and there are people all over the world that want to be here. no one is crossing the gobi desert to get into beijing. and we should be happy about that. they want to come here. and one of the highlights of my life has been, you know, in 2013 when i was part of the gang of eight here that negotiated and immigration bill that had a pathway to citizenship for the 1 is million people that were undocumented, it had the most progressive dream act that had ever been written, it had all

the visa stuff for farmers and ranchers and for business people. it had $40 million manufacture border security, to strengthen our southern border an be able to say that the american people that we're taking that seriously. and, unfortunately, it didn't pass. and times have changed since then. you know, the gang -- these transnational gappings have made it their business to make billions of dollars sending them to the southern border every single day aumf and we have to take notice of that. we're going to have to adjust. but i hoax that doesn't mean that there won'ting a day that -- won't be a day that it comes back when we have the chance to do it in a bipartisan way. and, in the meantime we've got to get our work done on ukraine. i don't think we should move on to other pieces of legislation and for all those reasons, madam president, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard.

mr. cruz: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: madam president, early in his remarks, the senator from colorado said the last time he and i were on this floor debating, it was when i had shut down the government and he was stepping forward to save those who had been shut down. now, that would be entirely accurate if my name were chuck schumer. but since it's not, what the senator from colorado said is blatantly, objectively false. the last time he and i were doing this, the date was january 24, 2019. we were in the midst of the schumer shut-down. chuck schumer and the democrats had forced a shutdown. the government was shut down. there was a particularly unfair aspect of that shutdown, which is that congress had voted to fund the military, the army, the navy, the marines, and the air force. but the coast guard had been left out because the coast guard

are not in dod. they've been left out. and on january 24, 2019, senator sullivan and i came down in this in regard to seek equity for the coast guard, to simply say, pay our coast guardsmen the same as our sailors, soldiers, and marines. the senator from colorado stood up and objected. what he'll just said is exactly opposite of what happened. our coast guardsmen went weeks in 2019 without being paid during that shutdown because the senator from colorado objected to their getting a paycheck. and during his remarks on that day, he jumped up and down and screamed at me and insulted me to great fanfare. and i think he was proud of his performance because he then put it in his launch e-mails for his presidential campaign that, i screamed at cruz.

now, i suppose i should feel mildly offended, but that was not a persuasive argument in the democrat primary and he got maybe a percent. that was the lost contest, shutting down the coast guard for the senator from colorado was responsible for tens of thousands of coast guardsmen not getting their paycheck. understand where we are today. today the question is, does the faa stay open or not? and once again the senator from colorado is the shutdown senator. the faa extension would pass, had he not said those two words, i object. now, we heard from the senator from colorado a long discourse on ukraine. you know, remarkably missing from that discourse was acknowledgment that responsibility for the war in ukraine falls very directly on

the biden white house, on senate democrats, and on the senator from colorado in particular, who played a direct role in causing the war in ukraine. now, how is that? putin did not wake up yesterday wanting to invade ukraine. he's wanting to invade ukraine for years. he did so in the year 2014. he invaded crimea, the southern portion of ukraine. but he stopped. he did not go into the full country. why? because russia's major source of revenue is selling oil and gas. and the natural gas pipelines run right through the middle of ukraine. he could not risk damaging or destroying those pipelines. so in 2015 vladimir putin began what is known as nord stream 2, an undersea pipeline. the purpose of which was to circumvent ukraine. i led sanctions legislation to

shut down the nord stream pipeline. that sanctions legislation got overwhelming bipartisan support, including from the senator from colorado. it passed and putin shut down building the nord stream 2 pipeline literally the day president trump signed my sanctions legislation into law. in december of 2020 i again authored bipartisan legislation putting more sanctions on nord stream 2. once again the senator from colorado and every democrat supported it. it passed. it was signed into law. joe biden became president january 20, 2021. four days later, on january 24, putin resumed deep-sea construction of the nord stream pipeline. four days later. why? because biden had telegraphed weakness. he had told putin, i'm going to go soft on the nord stream pipeline. what he telegraphed was accurate because several months later,

biden formally waived sanctions on nord stream 2. he gave a multibillion-dollar gift to putin and allowed him to complete the pipeline. now, in january of 2022, i forced another vote on the senate floor, a vote to reimpose sanctions on the nord stream 2 pipeline. the senator from colorado just invoked president zelenskyy. oddly enough, he didn't seem to care what president zelenskyy thought in january of 2022. because president zelenskyy in january of 2022 begged the united states senate, please pass cruz's sanctions legislation. it is the last best hope to stop russia from invading ukraine. the government of poland put 0 utah a formal statement saying, please pass cruz's sanctions. if you do not, putin will invade ukraine. on the day of the vote, joe biden came to capitol hill. i came to meet with the senate

democrats. it was the first time in his presidency he had done that. and he asked them as a personal favor, will you stand with the biden white house? will you stand with russia? will you stand with putin? will you vote to give billions of dollars to putin? and i'm sorry to say, 44 democrats flipped their votes. on the day of the vote, i stood here on the floor and said, if you vote no, we will see russian tanks in the streets of kyiv. but 44 democrats flipped their votes and decided partisan loyalty to the white house mattered more than ukraine, mattered more than stopping russia, and just four weeks later, the russia tanks rolled in. the senator from colorado was one of those 44 vote whose voted for russia and putin on the eve of the war, and if you don't believe me, go look at what zelenskyy said in january of 2022. if you vote no, russia will

invade. now, i don't doubt that the senator from colorado today has genuine and good-faith concern for the people of ukraine. that is admirable. but understand what he's doing here. he's not doing anything relateded to ukraine. he is holding the american-flying public hostage. he is saying, because he's mad about what's happening on ukraine funding, he wants to shut the faa down. he wants to shut jobs down in the denver airport. and i would just urge the senator from colorado to listen to a very, very wise the senator from this body. and i will read a quote. the quote is as follows -- politics -- holding up faa extension, costing colorado

jobs. hashtag -- faa shutdown. that was the last time we had an faa shutdown. that the senator from might not recognized senator today, but i would urge listening to the 2011 senator, who understand -- who understood shutting the faa down is bad for colorado. if you are -- don't hold the flying public hostage. mr. bennet: madam president, i thank the senator from texas. i'm sorry, i don't have a phone on my desk so nobody can send me my prior quotes or your prior quotes. i wish i had thought to do that.

but i have a pretty good memory, and i just -- just so the facts on the floor. the facts are facts. when we were out here in 219 -- and by the way, i would never confuse, i should say, the senator from texas with senator schumer. so sleighs establish that at the -- so let's establish that at the outset. i know you're two different people. you're very different people. when i was out here in 2019, what i was talking about, i was reminding people of the shutdown you led in 2013 while colorado was under water. while there were cities and towns all over our state who had been crushed by the floodwaters that had started in these unexpected storms and come rushing through these mountain valleys and ended up destroying towns and villages that looked like bombs had gone off there. and the people in colorado were

digging themselves out. there were people -- local elected officials, democrats and republicans, who were doing the work. -- the work they kneaded to do and the federal government was shut down because of the senator from texas, senator cruz. that is what happened. those people are owed an apology. for what the senator from texas did. then he came out here in 2019 pretending that he cared about trying to resolve -- by the way, it wasn't chuck schumer's shutdown. it was donald trump's shutdown. he was the president. it was the longest shutdown in american history, and i don't have my phone to tell me this. but if you look it up -- please do -- you will find that it was the trump shutdown, not the schumer shutdown. and it went on forever -- not forever, but it was the longest shutdown ever.

and senator cruz was coming out here with these potemkin pieces of legislation to sort of trick democrats or to force democrats into taking a bad vote on, you know, the funding of the coast guard while the whole rest of the government was shut down. he might have believed that the most important thing to do at that moment, i suppose, was to fund the coast guard and to leave every, everything else shut down. i suppose that's possible. i suspect a likelier reason was that he was trying to create a vote that said the democrats are for shutting the government down. or shutting the coast guard down. not shutting the government down. donald trump shut the government down. that's what we're out here discussing. you've given me the opportunity to remind everyone

of the 2013 events, and i won't withdraw what i said on 2019. i will say that i want to thank the senator from texas for remembering that i even had a presidential campaign at all. it's not a well-remembered event in the history of our democracy. i'm grateful that he could have played a role in trying to get me off the ground. and we'll have to see. as i've said to people -- well, i won't go on. i'll say to the senator from texas that when i got in, even my mom said do we need one more democrat in this race, michael. that was how i started this race. i'll say finally that the faa doesn't end up expiring until the 31st of this month. we have time in front of us to do the work that needs to be done. i want to congratulate the

senator from texas for the work that he did on the in order stream pipeline. i think -- on the nord stream pipeline. i think that was meaningful work. you were standing out here at a time other people didn't know what you were talking about, having to stand here and make that case. and i give you that for sure. and i would say also that i'm sure you feel passionately that the position you took before putin invaded ukraine might have had some effect on what he did. we have a disagreement about that, but that's okay. neither of us can change what's happened in the past. what we can do is make sure that we recognize that this tyrant has invaded ukraine, that this tyrant has done something that is in contravention of the civil order since world war ii, since

my mom was born in poland in 1938. that the world has come together to support the free people of ukraine in their battle, that putin's only allies in this battle today are north korea and iran and sort of china who are watching how this all unfolds. the question before us now is not i don't think that we had one vote in the senate that went one way or another. i'm sorry, the senator from wyoming, and i'll stop. went one way or that joe biden is somehow responsible for vladimir putin invading ukraine. first of all, that's certainly not true. even if we have agreements about what was going on here. but what is certainly true is if vladimir putin invaded ukraine, he decided to invade ukraine.

the ukranian people have exposed the weakness of putin's army. they have exposed the weakness of his leadership. they've exposed the weakness of his strategy. they've exposed the strength of nato. they've exposed the importance of american leadership. they have given us the chance to rearm the american people. they have pushed back xi jinping. that's not bad for two years of work, and we should not go home. we should stay here and do the work we need to do to support ukraine. madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. we heard a lot about russia here. we heard a lot about enabling and empowering vladimir putin, empowering him financially. i'm here today to offer and support legislation that will defund vladimir putin, that will take $1 billion of u.s. money out of his pocket. i'm here today and rise in

support of h.r. 1042. it prohibits russian uranium imports. for years russia state owned nuclear monopoly dropped artificially cheap uranium into our american market. as a result of this, russia and putin have gained a commanding share of the whole world's nuclear fuel supply chain. russia has driven america's nuclear fuel suppliers out of business, completely out of business, and russia has put americans out of work. that's what i'm bringing here today. because we are sending roughly $1 billion, $1 billion a year to russia for uranium. we need to stop that. we need to block it. we are now at a point where the united states cannot even fuel our own next generation of advanced nuclear reactors. congress doesn't step in, these

advanced reactors will have no other choice than to be dependent on russian uranium. to make matters worse, we now know that vladimir putin is using russia's nuclear monopoly to use that money to fund this brutal invasion of ukraine that we've just been discussing here on the senate floor. russia's nuclear monopoly has also helped putin evade sanctions and provide equipment and materials to russia's military in ukraine. none of this should surprise us. that's who vladimir putin is. he has created, created russia's nuclear monopoly. we shouldn't be shocked that he has turned it into his piggy bank and his tool kit for his regime. it's time the american people in this country stop funding russia's nuclear monopoly. we can do this and we can do it right here today by ending russian imports of uranium into the united states ending russian

imports would provide certainty to america's nuclear fuel suppliers. nose suppliers that -- those suppliers that russia cannot undermine again. we cannot allow that to happen. it would also ensure that we are not financing and continuing to finance putin's war in ukraine. madam president, on monday the house of representatives passed h.r. 1042 with unanimous support. this bill would end imports of russian uranium within 90 days and, therefore, end this billions dollars a year of america money going to fuel russia's war machine. h.r. 1042 is a companion to a bipartisan bill that i have introduced along with my bipartisan cosponsor, senator manchin, as well as senator risch, both of whom are on the floor right now. the senate energy committee and natural resourceses committee unanimously passed out our bill in may. and it's a bill that we developed in collaboration with

america's nuclear industry and the department of energy and other agencies. so as they get ready to offer a unanimous consent agreement, i would ask senator risch and yield to senator risch for a brief statement. mr. risch: thank you, senator. i want to join my good friend from wyoming in this really important issue. we're talking here today about enriched uranium, a commodity that is absolutely critical to america. not only is it an energy security issue, it is a national security imperative. right now we get about one-fifth of our enriched uranium out of russia. and what is that doing? it's doing a number of things. number one, it gives russia control over the supply. but just as importantly at the same time, it's helping finance russia's war against ukraine. it's past time that we end this dependence or even use of any kind of russian enriched

uranium. congress took a tremendous step by passing the nuclear fuel security act which senator barrasso, senator manchin and i introduced to enhance domestic uranium conversion and enrichment capacity which is desperately needed. now we have to provide a pathway to enhanced domestic nuclear fuel production. we need to provide certainty both here at home and to the world that our reliance on russian fuel is over once and for all. this is our opportunity to do it here. russia is going to suffer consequences from its attack on ukraine for generations to come. i don't think they fully figured that out yet, but this is just the tip of the iceberg as to what's coming for them. but we need to cut it off. i strongly urge my colleagues to pass h.r. 1042, which as the senator from wyoming mentioned, unanimously passed the house of representatives earlier this week. it would be a companion to the bill that we passed earlier this year. this is a really, really good

step forward and incredibly important step forward. and with that, i will yield to senator manchin. mr. manchin: i yield back to senator barrasso. mr. barrasso: as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 1042 which was received from the house. further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and then the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? brown brownie reserve -- mr. brown: i reserve the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i agree with senator barrasso and senator risch. we need energy independence whether its wyoming coal or whatever you do in idaho. it means stopping russian uranium imports into the united states. it means expanding our domestic enrichment capabilities. we need to do both.

it's a matter of national security, a matter of economic security. there are ohioans doing important work with companies like centrist in southern ohio. industries like this they need to support and get off the ground. if we do this right it will mean good jobs in the energy industry, in appalachia where union works powered our company for generations. to do that we have to pair these policies together, stopping russian imports and, and investing in the domestic enrichment industry, all the jobs and opportunities that come with it. my question, and i will then drop my objection, to ensure the action we take today is successful, senator barrasso and senator manchin, do i have your commitment to work together to pass real resources to strengthen our domestic supply chain? mr. barrasso: you do. mr. manchin: absolutely. mr. brown: thank you. with your leadership we took an important step forward with the national defense authorization act we passed last night. i thank senator risch for his work on that. we need to finish this job. i want to see american companies

in ohio enriching uranium in the u.s., supporting communities like pike ton, waverly, pike count making energy supply. i withdraw my objection. mr. manchin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: i also rise to join my friends from wyoming, senator barrasso, my friend from ohio. i know there are concerns but let me say thchlt the only thing i would say about this, as troubled as our house colleagues are, 435, they passed this unanimous, unanimous consent. they can't agree on anything. they passed this because of the need of what we're trying to do here. all we're trying to do is build initiatives that will work. we included this in the energy act of 2020. what we're doing is operating nuclear power plants that are dependent on russian enrichment. we're operating our nuclear fleet based on russian enrichment which represents half

of the global capacity. we capture the market. russia is currently the world's only, i will repeat they are the only commercial source of high sa low-enriched uranium or as we refer to it as hal oshgs which is the fuel needed for advanced reactors such as the smr's and the micros coming in, new technology. it's shameful and dangerous that our country which led the world in developing nuclear energy, we led the world and once was capable of producing all the fuel that we could ever need, has become reliant on one of the most notorious adversaries we ever had -- russia. uranium production in the united states peaked in 1980 and since 992 the majority of uranium purchased by the united states nuclear power plant operators was imported mostly from russia. russia used its state owned nuclear monopoly to help fund putin's unlawful war against ukraine which has harmed european and american energy

security. for years, for years now russia has unfairly flooded the market. we've seen that happen so many times from china and different products and russia also. with cheap uranium to undercut u.s. and other western producers. being the capitalist country that we are, we just basically allowed our entrepreneurials businesspersons to go buy wherever they needed and we cannot continue to reward putin for bad behavior. the u.s. cut off imports of russian oil and gas and coal of march of 2022. we cut off all of our needed basically supplies that we were using and supplementing, imports of russian oil, gas, and coal. and it's long past time to finally cut off russian uranium out of the u.s. market as well. senator barrasso and myself, senator risch, all the senators that come from the areas that are involved in this, that have been producing it, senator brown from ohio basically has a plant

that i have visited that has produced all the uranium that we ever needed during the war efforts and forced out of the market. they're coming back but they're going to need our help to get back into the market also. we supported a two-part strategy to fix this pairing and increase domestic production with a ban on russian fuel. to accomplish the first part we include our nuclear fuel security act and a defense bill we passed last night. that law will create the programs that we need to reshore our domestic nuclear supply chains. it established a new revolving fund at the department of energy to be used for uranium procurement. i'm proud that lawmakers in both chambers recognize this issue is so important to our security and been included in the ndaa. and when we get back we will ensure that the new deal is appropriately funded and paid for. so today, again, i'm asking my dear friend, we've got to take the second step, banning russian

uranium imports to provide a signal to the russian market so they will get in the game of increasing the fufl that -- fuel they walked away from. uranium ban has had the strong bipartisan, as you know, the house over here and then today we have the opportunity to send the commonsense legislation to the president's desk and move closer to realizing our energy independence from russia by passing this. i ask all of you to consider this. i ask my good friend from texas, senator cruz, if he would consider other ways that maybe we could help. i'm committed to helping you and i think i know what your concerns are and it doesn't have anything to do with this. i know what i can do to help, i'm offering that assistance. so with that. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: reserving the right to object. i appreciate everything that my friend from wyoming, my friend

from idaho and my friend from west virginia said and i agree with what they said and i'm strongly committed to curtailing russia's ability to use nuclear energy as a geopolitical tool, and indeed, i have repeatedly introduced sanctions on the rosotam activities. we should end our dependence on russian uranium and the united states should not be dependent on any nation for our energy, nuclear, or otherwise. i know my friend from wyoming shares my conviction on american energy independence. and as the ranking member of the energy and natural resources committee, he understands better than most anyone has the zealots have shackled our energy producers, i understand how important this bill is to you and i commit to work with you on this bill to get it passed into

law. but this bill is also important to the house. that was made clear by just how quickly they took it up and passed it on suspension with only a voice vote last week. even as the same time the house stripped out and disregarded a number of the priorities of this chamber's, which had been included in the senate ndaa. one provision, which i worked very hard on with senator kelly was to streamline permitting requirements for semiconductor plants. and which 120 senators and house members, a little over one-sixth of the congress supported, that was one of casualties of their casual disregard. the house stipd out of the bill my bill with senator cantwell, informing consumers about the smart device act, despite the house passing their version of the bill by a vote of 426-112.

these are not wild policy changes, instead they are broadly bipartisan, widely supported priorities of members of the senate, and they have enormous impact. unfortunately our house colleagues, in particular the leadership of the energy and commerce committee, decided that they did not matter and they insisted they be stripped from the bill. now we've come up with an important priority that they care about. and to be clear, a policy with which i agree asking for the blessing of the senate. the consequences of their stritching that legislation from -- stripping that legislation from the ndaa, they hurt thousands of jobs and benefited communist china and hurt national security by making us more vulnerable to china and undermined the privacy of americans across the country. i hope and believe the house and senate should work together

cooperatively. i am eager to do so. i have extended an olive branch to the house for us to work cooperatively, but it is a 2-way street. until the house begins to take seriously the priorities of the senate with overwhelming bipartisan support, and until they change course on the senate priorities they disregarded arbitrarily, this bill, and potentially others from the chairman of this house committee, will not be moving in the senate by unanimous consent. i object. mr. manchin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: i want to correct one thing that was said. because of the 117th congress that we all worked together, today we are producing more energy than nfr the history of the -- than ever in the history of the united states, 37 cubic feet of gas, 2016, we didn't do

anything. so what we have done with all of the bills, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the ira bill, inflation reduction act, forced this administration forced us to take seriously energy independence. they can't move in one direction. it's a balanced approach. it's working. this is the part that we need to shut down. we should not rely on foreign supply chains, unreliable countries of concern, you have china, russia, north korea, and iran, to depend on anything that comes from those four countries that we need for our building blocks is a sin. there will be other things that we can work together to make sure, we all, you had them on this, i don't know if that's their number one priority. we're all for it. you're using it because you need something else and we're committing to help you on something else.

this is desperately needed for our country. it really is. we have to send to the market because if not -- they just won't move. if they think russia's going to dump uranium halo on us, they will do it, and for the amount of money that needs to be invested to get the enrichment program up and running, that's the concern. we already have an ndaa, as far as the money, we're prepared to make sure that we have the necessary resources, but we can't do it unless we ban that because if we don't ban it, people will, in this marketplace, buy where ever they can, the cheapest they possibly can. and i guarantee you russia needs the money for the war machine and they will keep dumping and dumping on us, i hope you will consider sir. that's all i can ask. i'm committed to helping you. but i believe this is the wrong if believe to use. thank you.

-- is the wrong one i believe to use. 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.

>> legislation takes appropriate action on all four fronts. helping ukraine defeat in

fight the terror in the middle east, helping asian partners deter chinese aggression. helping the men and women aboard a patrol at the crisis on our southern border under control. at the same time we've had to spend several weeks now trying to convince some of our democratic colleagues not to take the entire effort just because they wish a democratic president had not put border security in his request. a number of senate republicans have been working in good faith to make sure that supplemental legislation makes substantive policy changes at the border instead of just throwing money at the problem. meanwhile, we've had to explain to members of president biden's own party why the border

security issue he included in his proposal was not extraneous to america's national security. so here we are, some very important conversations are ongoing, and here's the bottom line. the senate cannot claim to address major national security challenges without a solution to the one we are facing at the southern border. we can't pretend to be serious about threats facing america and our allies without fixing the broken asylum, broken system that lets 10,000 illegal aliens across our border in a single day. so, mr. president, i'm serious, senate republicans are serious, and i hope our colleagues are as well. on another matter, the events of the past two months have

underscored that something is rotten in the state of america's most elite universities. and there are not many more glaring examples than harvard. last week of course harvard president refused to say whether calls for jewish genocide would constitute harassment on her campus. two months ago and he needed aftermath of the october 7 terrorist attack, she declined to condemn the harvard student group who openly declared that the murder of innocent jews that day was israel's own fault. under her leadership under mr. schumer: mr. president.

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, over the last few days negotiations on a path forward to getting national security supplemental don't have made good progress. as i've said, if we believe something is important and urgent, we should stay and get the job done. that is certainly the case with the supplemental. it is important, it is urgent. i spoke with leader mcconnell this morning about the plan for next week, and making sure the senate continues to do our work, so for the information of all senators, after we finish today, the senate will return on monday. that will give negotiators from the white house, senate democrats, senate republicans a time to work through the weekend in an effort to reach a

framework agreement it will then take some time to turn that framework into text to prevent unnecessary delays, i intend november to reconsider the shell for the supplemental as a vehicle to move an agreement forward. the plan is for the senate to act as soon as we are ready to move forward on the supplemental. members need to be here next week. we have to get this done. our republican colleagues who have said action on the border is urgent, should have no problem with continuing to work next week. we hope to come to an agreement, but no matter what, members should be aware that we will vote on a supplemental proposal next week. mr. president, it's not easy to reach an agreement on something this complicated. this might be one of the most difficult things we have ever had to work through, but we all know that so much -- so much hangs on our success.

we know the world is watching. we know autocrats like putin and xi are hoping for us to fail. we need to try with everything we have to get the job done. i will update senators when more information about schedule becomes available. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso.

mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons.

mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. the clerk: ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan.

mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds.

mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young.

the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- booker, brown, butler, capito, cardin, casey, cassidy, duckworth, durbin, fetterman, grassley, hirono, johnson,

kaine, klobuchar, manchin, murray, padilla, ricketts, schumer, police. senators voting in the negative -- marshall, paul, scott of florida. mr. sanders, aye. ms. ernst, aye. the clerk: mr. cornyn, aye. mr. johnson, no. mr. risch, no.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no.

the clerk: mr. kelly, aye. the clerk: mr. merkley, aye.

the clerk: mr. kennedy, aye.

vote: the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. markey, aye.

mr. warner, aye. mr. kaine, aye. ms. cantwell, aye.

the clerk: mr. heinrich, aye. mr. schatz, aye. ms. sinema, aye. mr. murphy, aye. mr. cotton, no. mr. lujan, aye.

the clerk: ms. collins, aye. mrs. shaheen, aye. ms. hassan, aye. mr. peters, aye. mr. sullivan, no.

the clerk: ms. smith, aye. ms. stabenow, aye.

the clerk: mr. budd, no. the clerk: mr. reed, aye. mr. mullin, no. mr. moran, aye. mr. boozman, no.

the clerk: mr. braun, no.

the clerk: mr. romney, aye. the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye.

the clerk: mr. warnock, aye. mr. wicker, aye. mr. rounds, aye.

the clerk: mr. wyden, aye. ms. baldwin, aye.

the clerk: mr. graham, aye. the clerk: mr. whitehouse, aye.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye.

the clerk: mr. schmitt, no.

the clerk: mr. thune, no.

the clerk: mr. rubio, aye. the clerk: ms. cortez masto, aye.

the clerk: mr. tester, aye. the clerk: mrs. britt, no.

the clerk: mr. van hollen, aye. mr. crapo, no.

the clerk: mr. lee, no. mr. hickenlooper, aye. the clerk: mr. lankford, no.

the clerk: mr. carper, aye.

the clerk: ms. warren, aye.

the clerk: mr. coons, aye. mr. scott of south carolina, no.

the clerk: mr. vance, no. the clerk: mr. young, aye. mr. hoeven, no.

the clerk: mr. cruz, no.

the clerk: ms. rosen, aye.

. the clerk: mr. hawley, no.

the clerk: mr. mcconnell, aye.

mr. menendez, aye. the clerk: mr. bennet, aye.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 66, the neys are -- the nays are 24. the nomination is confirmed. un underthe motion to reconsider sr considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: i ask that the senate resume consideration of the long nomination. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, brandon s. long, of louisiana, to be united states district judge for the eastern

district of louisiana. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion with respect to the long nomination be withdrawn. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i know of no further debate on the nomination. the presiding officer: if there's no further debate, the question is on the nomination. mr. durbin: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn.

ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman.

mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski.

mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow.

mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young.

senators voting in the affirmative baldwin, benneted -- bennet, booker, brown, cantwell, collins, cantwell, durbin, heinrich, hickenlooper, kaine, kennedy, king, manchin, mcconnell, menendez, mullin, padilla, peters, reed, romney, rosen, rounds, rubio, schatz, shaheen, stabenow, tester, tillis, warnock, warren, wyden, and young. senators voting in the negative -- blackburn, boozman, braun,

britt, budd, cotton, crapo, cruz, ernst, hawley, hoeven, lankford, paul, ricketts, schmitt, scott of south carolina, shun, and -- thune, and vance. mr. coons, aye. ms. sinema, aye. ms. klobuchar, aye.

the clerk: mr. moran, aye.

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. vote: the clerk: mr. merkley, aye. mr. whitehouse, aye.

the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye. ms. duckworth, aye. mr. murphy, aye. ms. hirono, aye.

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, no. the clerk: mrs. murray, aye.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. lee, no. mr. cassidy, aye.

the clerk: mr. lujan, aye.

the clerk: mr. marshall, no.

the clerk: mr. wicker, aye. mr. graham, aye. mr. markey, aye.

the clerk: mr. grassley, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, no. the clerk: mr. warner, aye.

the clerk: ms. smith, aye.

the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye. the clerk: mr. van hollen, aye.

the clerk: mr. schumer, aye u.

the clerk: mr. cardin, aye. the clerk: mr. kelly, aye.

the clerk: mr. casey, aye u.

the clerk: ms. butler, aye.

vote: the presiding officer: the ayes are 64, the nays are 22. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion is reconsidered, considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: mr. president, today i rise to ask unanimous consent that the senate pass h.r. 1147, the whole milk for healthy kids act. before i start talking, i want to take a quick drink of the super delicious milk.

here's to the dairy farmers of kansas and across the entire country. now a fun fact, besides water, milk is the only beverage allowed here on the senate floor. and as you all know, milk is the most delicious, most nutritious, wholesome drink known to humankind. there's nothing ever been made anything like it. now milk is pretty special to me. you might ask why. it's pretty simple. my dad grew up on a dairy where they milked hosting cows 365 days a year. i remember my grandma still milking cows. you get to have milling for breakfast, lunch, for supper.

in school, even in school we had a little snack at 10:00 a.m. i was one of the lucky kids that got two cartoons of milk every lunch. i just learned, i just know this, i assumed this is what everyone was doing, if you didn't leave whole milling out for santa claus -- whole milk out for santa claus he wouldn't leave you presents. whole milk keeps adults healthy and strong because it has 13 essential nutrients packed into one drink. it promotes the absorbs of fat soluble vitamins a, d, e, and kvment as an obstetrician, it helps you have healthy babies, helps with breast feeding, helps us all to grow strong bones. milk consumption provides additional positive healthy outcomes. lowers blood pressure, reduces

risk of cardiovascular disease and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes. as medical costs skyrocketed and the obesity epidemic worsens, i rise today to set the record straight. milk is part of the solution. it's not part of the problem. now many fingers have pointed at the dairy industry and millions of lobbying dollars have been invested in making lawmakers believe milk is the enemy. antidairy policies resulted in decreased milk consumption and negative health outcomes. the most recent dietary guidelines cites calcium and vitamin d as nutrients americans are deficient in. guess what's rich in those same nutrients. milk. all of those can be resolved with an increase in milk consumption. that's why i recommend at least a glass of whole milk every day. no other food or drink has the

ability to pack that kind of nutritional punch. none. sadly, over a decade ago this misinformed chamber voted to remove whole milk from our nation's schools. now we're facing the consequences. because we're not encouraging our children to drink milk, we have a generation of young men and women who are going to have osteopenia earlier than predecessors. research contradicts modern nuclear power traditional science and discourageses healthy eating habits for children. today we can right this wrong and bring back nutritious whole milk to our children's lunch time. let's bring back this tasty and nutritious option. whole milk has a litany of health benefits to offer our children, and dimension it

tastes great. the benefits of whole milk can't be overlooked and certainly not substituted with skim milk or 1% and certainly not by artificially flavored milk loaded with empty calories. bringing more healthy options back to school cafeterias is a slam dunk for american families and delivering this to the president's desk before christmas would help promote the consumption of healthy fats that help kids grow physically and cognitively. it supports american farmers and ranchers and promotes a brighter, stronger future for us all. milk, it's what's for lunch. as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 1147 which was received from the house and is at the desk. further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: reserving the right

to object, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you very much, mr. president. first of all, my friend and colleague, esteemed member of our agriculture and nutrition and forestry committee is making me hungry. i'm thinking about growing up with cookies and milk. and i grew up with dairy farmers in my family, so i am certainly a supporter of milk and the dairy industry, certainly in michigan as well. and this is a really important conversation today to have and to continue to have. i fully support healthy options for students. dairy is a very important part of a balanced meal. but one thing is clear, and that is that school meal standards currently based on dietary science should continue to be based on dietary science, not based on which individual food

products that we support or are in our states. the usda is in the process now of updating school meal standards. it's important that the administration rely on the latest dietary science to make decisions about what's best for our children to eat and to drink. intervening in that process creates, i think, a very unfortunate precedent and will lead to other ideas and options that may be coming forward about individual products. so i encourage groups to be reaching out to the usda to engage in the process of updating meal standards. but at this point in time, i do not believe it's in the best interest to be able to move forward on this bill, so i object to this u.c. request, mr. president. the presiding officer: the objection has been heard.

mr. marshall: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

quorum call:

a very serious thing. it should not be thrown around just to start an investigation on a person of such great importance as our president. i would say the most important thing to keep in mind is these are two separate people and president biden has had no credible evidence presented for this. >> congresswoman, i think that you are asked how did credited -- president biden accumulate wealth when he has not had a job outside of the senate and the white house? >> well, what i heard him say was hunter biden. >> what about the presidents money. that is what we heard from viewers as well. how could he afford the homes that he owns, et cetera. >> well, president biden, of course was able to serve in congress and, for many many

years, and he was able to have independent jobs when he was not in office. of course, there were those years to get independent jobs while he was in between the time he was vice president and president. and, i do think that that would allow him to get a house and another house. i would not say that that is excessive wealth. i would say that this is what you can normally get if you have a job that has lasted for many decades. >> kathleen in mississippi. democratic caller. >> good morning.

>> morning. >> good morning. >> i am so tired. enough is enough. if you live in one of these, we go vote and we do everything and then they cut us down to our knees. we have nothing. everything coming in. biden is doing all that he can. they are making biden look bad. i feel like i don't have a call and biden. i feel like i don't have to call him president. it is sad. >> okay, kathleen. congresswoman, your reaction. >> you know what i hear here, i hear frustration.

because there is so much that we have to do and republicans are wasting time. there is so much that we have to do to deal with the everyday suffering that americans are encountering with the high cost of things. i go back to childcare. we had a subsidy for childcare that allowed for people to be able to afford this thing that can be very, very expensive for them. that is because of the american rescue plan that democrats passed while we had a controlled in the house, senate and presidency and in this last congress. so, that has already occurred in september and now childcare costs will truly increase. i can tell you there are other things on the horizon which is the affordability of broadband. right now because of what we

passed during this last congress , millions of americans get a $30 a month break on their broadband. and we know how much that they rely on broadband for every day things now. you cannot survive without it. this will go away unless we are able to renew it in this coming year. and, so, these are the everyday things that we should be working on not wasting our time on this inquiry into the investigation of an impeachment into biden. >> republican. >> good morning. what credentials did hunter biden have other than his influence with his daddy to be

in bed with this country and make the bed. would not even let them in the door. would not have led him in the door if it not been for his daddy. you tell me what is going on. hunter biden has been in trouble he could not even make it in the military in this country. he probably got honorable discharge because of his daddy. and, so, if the man ain't no good, he ain't no good. that's the way i look at it. you telling me that joe biden is a good resident, he can even do anything about the border. you call that being a good president? give me a break. >> okay, lloyd. congresswoman. >> well, there is no evidence that president biden engaged in wrongdoing. what i heard from this viewer,

complaints about hunter biden, but, you know what, different from the father. if there was any evidence that the father and properly helped to hunter biden on all of these dealings, i have not seen it. i have not seen it after a year of investigating by house republicans. after hundreds of pages of documents that we were able to see in the ways and means committee about hunter biden's finances m call. i would like permission to vitiate the quorum. please abrogate the quorum, break the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. booker: thank you very much, mr. president. i rise today for a moment of reflection about an extraordinary person, and i would like for permission to give zach mccue permission to sit next to me while i give these remarks that will most certainly embarrass him tremendously.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. booker: thank you very, very much, mr. president. at the very much for the fist pump, mr. president. i know that you have a lot of appreciation, love for new jersey. so this is really a new jersey moment. so thank you, sir. i rise today with an extraordinary amount of joy but sadness, an extraordinary amount of pride but a sense of loss because today i get a chance to say a few words about my very embarrassed longtime friend, member of my staff, zach mccue. now, zach has been a member of my staff my entire time in the united states senate. in fact, he predated me in this office, because zach worked ford my predecessor, senator frank lautenberg. so he has served in this institution and has served the people of new jersey for 12 years, but now he is moving out to new gardens within the garden state.

zach has a title in my office. he is the deputy state director, but the truth of the matter is that title does little justice to the grand import and enormous impact of this incredible young man. zach, i believe, is one of those people who is an unsung hero, who makes congress work and in so many ways has made indelible contributions to nuclear power. if the highest calling of our country is serving to it, then zach is someone that embodies that ideal of public service and patriotism. he has worked tirelessly. he has worked indefatigably. he has worked relentlessly in service of our state. i know he works around the clock because occasionally i disturb

him at some late hours t he works away from the limelight, not sucking oxygen out of rooms but in so many ways making the difference that new jerseyans feel. i've seen him and how he deals with people. in a time when so many people don't feel like they're seen or appreciated, he is somebody that embodies empathy and has an extraordinary ability to connect with others. to allow them to feel like they matter, to feel heard and to so often have their issues addressed. and more than just being someone who is extraordinary with people, he has a pretty incredible mind to grasp complicated policy. he's a bit of a wonk. but that knowledge, that acumen, that policy expertise he has put

to work on behalf of new jerseyans. now, i know that infrastructure is not the sexiest issue america. but for neuronians, it is a vital -- but for new jerseyans, it is vital. over 700,000 people commute to just new york and that doesn't include those that commute to philly as well. infrastructure is critical and this has been one of zach's primary areas of focus. he has had extraordinary drive and focus that has helped to advance so much critical infrastructure work in our state. and more than this, his mastery of knowledge of other issues of import to new jerseyans from environmental justice to social justice has made him such a powerful force in our state and, indeed, he has made me a better united states senator. zach is a jersey boy. i think if there was a m

mt. rushmore of new jersey, he might be eligible to stand up a upon that pantheon of some of the great new jerseyans like bruce and bon jovi. he grew up in rumston. he has raised his family with his incredibly indulgent wife meg in cranford. he joined frank lautenberg's office early after graduating from college. after two years in senator lautenberg, including a stint actually as his driver -- and i hear that he was okay as a driver -- zach joined an environmental nonprofit in new jersey focussing on environmental issues, where he worked on the issues that he still holds dear, things like protecting our coastal and marine resources and leaving behind the cleaner and healthier

new jersey environment for generations. and then in 2014 he joined my office, and has a new senator, as a junior senator, he grew with my office and helped to lead our office to being the success we are today. he continues to lead on our team on issues he knows so well, from environmental issues so that we can make sure we deal with the threat of climate change head-on, transportation and infrastructure, moving critical programs that but for him would not be seeing the kind of success we see today, like the gateway project moving forward and overall improvements to consumer safety and to reliability. and so much more. during the earliest and darkest days of the covid pandemic when our team was working overtime to help constituents in need and

doing zoom call after zoom call, working early in the morning to late at night, i got to see zach's leadership in this dark time shine like a north star. number one, he helped hold our office together amongst the strain and challenges that were on each and every one of us. he helped us to stay focused on our purpose. he brought humor and groundedness to the work, and every day he rose with that heroic compassion and empathy for the challenges that new jerseyans were facing. look, this is an extraordinary institution and very famous people have sat in the seats here since 1859. but the truth of this institution that doesn't get told often enough is that for every great senator, there are usually greater staff people that empower them in the mission. i've served in this institution for a decade, and i say with no

false modesty but just the truth that i have been the senator i am today because of the leadership that zach has brought to my team each and every day. we have a calling here as senators in this deliberative body, and that is to be of service. that is to rise to challenges. that is to give dignity to the office and to be there for people. this office has been successful over these ten years because of zach. i am grateful to him. i am grateful to his family that raised him. i am grateful for his spouse and his children who have supported and loved him through his service. and, most of all, i know that even though new jerseyans don't know his name up and down our

state, a i know that our state is profoundly grateful. as zach prepares to leave our office, the good news is he may be leaving the employ of the united states senate, but he is not leaving the service of our state. he's going on to another public service job. me and my team wish him the best of luck. once you're a part of the booker team, you're always a part of the booker team. but what excites me most is that zach is a young guy with a heart full of love and a soul driven by commitment to country and to people. and so as great as his service was to us, i suspect that he still has some extraordinary great days ahead of him. and so it is with a lot of sadness but a lot of gratitude, it is with a lot of pride but a lot of just missing him already, i say from the senate floor into

the senate record a hardy, hardy thank you to my friend, to my team leader, and to a great american, zach mccue. thank you. no applause from the gallery, please. that's against senate regulation. thank you very much. mr. booker: mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. booker: thank you very much, mr. president a mr. president. quorum call:

the clerk: ms. baldwin.

quorum call:

dd2 a member of the progressive crop -- caucus. as you move forward with the impeachment inquiry republicans argue the white house lawyer said that they would not cooperate because this inquiry was not formalized, enabled on the house floor of the your house of representatives of that is why the vote was necessary yesterday. how do you respond? >> it is an utter waste of time to do this inquiry. actually there have been enormous amounts of materials that have been turned over to those investigating and what is obvious is that there is no evidence that president biden

has done a wrongdoing and he should be subject to impeachment. let me just say, 36,000 pages of subpoenaed bank records 200,000 pages of malicious activity reports, dozens of hours of testimony through hunter biden's business partners hundreds of pages of documents from the hunter biden investigation by the ways & means which is a committee that i'm on so i have seen them. there is absolutely no evidence that president biden engaged in wrongdoing and yet republicans are insisting on continuing this wasteful investigation which by the way takes hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers money and also prevents us from doing important work that we need to do. for instance the funding for childcare ran out in september and there are so many families

that cannot find affordable childcare. this is a problem that we should be working on, not on the impeachment investigation of president biden. >> on the bank records republicans, they heard it from our viewers this morning points to afford a thousand dollar payment and then 10% of that, 40%, is issued to joe biden when he was not president and our viewers are saying that 10% for quote the big guy. how do you respond when you hear allegations like that? >> these are just innuendos. they do not know what these monies went to. they made a big deal about hunter biden's payments to president biden and what we found out is that as a private citizen in 2018 president biden make car payments for his son

while he was -- hunter biden paid president biden back and now republicans are saying this proves that president biden somehow got illegal payments. this is a series of payments that had to do with president biden supporting his son and yet everything is being turned into a new window and suspicion, which is totally unfounded. >> would you support hunter biden testifying in public? >> i definitely think he should be able to testify in public to cause i think the american taxpayer should see what is really going on. and yes he got himself into a lot of trouble. he should have paid his taxes,

nonetheless the question here is whether hunter biden's activity then provided a benefit to president biden and that is obviously not the case. that is why i think hunter biden should be able to testify in public. >> movie gone to the debate over abortion, following the overturn of roe vs. wade the supreme court yesterday, this is "the new york times," agreed to hear a challenge to the abortion pill, access to it whether or not the fda can mail it in the prescribing of it. what is your concern about this case? >> well i think the supreme court did the right thing by reviewing this erroneous moving to cartel access to communication abortion but but s is all about mifepristone which

is used in about half of all abortions today and it has been used safely for 20 years. the fda did all the proper stuff in approving it 20 years ago but now this one judge in texas is saying that they did not. he is not a scientist. he is not a member of the fda, he is just a judge that's against abortion. so i think that it was right for the supreme court to review that erroneous ruling and certainly i stand by the fda's independent approval of mifepristone as safe and effective. i found an adamyk is brief that will advocate that. republicans in congress are utilizing this issue so that they can ban abortion across the country because if they banned

this pill that won't be available even in states in california where abortion is a constitutional right. >> "the washington times" notes today is the proposed bans or restrictions on or seek to limit abortions that this pill featured here or these pills the demand for them grows so what is the legal argument that you make for siding with the fda hear? >> the fda is an independent agency that went through the proper steps of approval. now, i want us to think about what could happen if the judge who has no scientific background could ban any thing. i mean we in america rely on certain drugs to keep us healthy and alive. some independent judge who just

had a thing about, that was negative about any drug to just ban it like that, what would it do to the system of health care in this country? this judge obviously took it out on mifepristone but the implications of undoing the independent fda's approval is enormous. we cannot let it stand. >> are you optimistic or pessimistic about the outcome before the supreme court? >> well, if the issue has today with the standing of this judge to be able to make this determination than i would feel optimistic. >> let's go to joe and stanford, connecticut, republican caller. you are up first with the congresswoman.

>> good morning greta how are you? humid morning. >> good morning mist to -- good morning mist chu i'm not going to waste your time asking you a million questions about this impeachment inquiry but i do have one question how did hunter biden accumulate all that revenue without ever having a job? that the only question i ask you. >> well hunter biden engaged in certain activities that he certainly had to account for. i think the issue here though is whether a president is held responsible for the activities of his son. president biden is an honorable man who loves his son. he his life in service to the american people treat hunter

biden engaged in his own activity. he is now being held accountable for that especially with regard to the paying his taxes. hunter biden's activities are completely separate from president biden's. president biden, after many, i mean 36,000 pages of bank records and 2000 pages of -- there has been no evidence on this impeachment inquiry and impeachment is a very serious thing. it should not be thrown around to start an investigation on a person of such great importance as our president. so, i would say the most important thing to keep in mind is that these are two separate people and president biden has

no credible evidence presented for this impeachment inquiry. >> congresswoman you were asked how did president biden accumulate wealth when he hasn't had a job outside of the senate and the white house. >> well actually what i heard was hunter biden. >> what about the president money? that's what we heard from viewers as well. how did he afford the homes that he owns? >> president biden of course was able to serve in congress and for many many years and he was able to have independent jobs when not in obvious. course there were those years that allowed him to get

independent jobs while he was in between vice president and president and i do think that that would allow him to be able to get a house and invest in another house. but i would not say that is excessive wealth. i would say that this is what you could normally get if you have a job that has lasted for many decades. >> kathleen in mississippi, democratic caller. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> i'm so tired. we say enough is enough. if you live in one of these 12

states and the colin and we try to call in ego float and you do everything and they come -- to our lease. we have hurricanes and everything coming in and biden is doing all he can. they criticize him making looking biden looked bad. it's sad. you're going to put him through eight -- for going through his job. >> kathleen, thank you. congresswoman your reaction >> do you know what i hear, hear? i hear frustration because there is so much that behalf to do and republicans are wasting time and they are so much that we have to do to deal with the every day suffering that americans are encountering with a high cost of

things. i go back to childcare. we have a subsidy for childcare that allows for people to be able to afford this thing that can be very expensive for them and that was because of the american rescue plan that democrats had while we had control of the house, the senate and the presidency. in this last congress. so, that clip has occurred in september and now childcare costs are going to truly increase. their other things on the horizon which is the affordability of broadband. right now because of what we passed through congress millions of americans get a $30 a month raised on their broadband and we know how much they rely on

broadband for every day things now. you cannot survive without it. this won't go away unless we are able to renew it in the coming year. and so these are the every day things that we should be working on, not wasting our time on this inquiry into the investigation of an impeachment of biden. >> west virginia, republican. >> good morning. my answer is pretty similar to everybody else, what credentials did hunter biden have other than his influence with his daddy to be in business in this country and make the money? he wouldn't have even been in the door for wouldn't have been for his daddy so you tell me

what's going on? hunter biden has been in trouble and he couldn't even make it in the military in this country. i'd like to see what charge he got pretty got an honorable discharge probably because of his daddy. a man ate no good he ate no good is the way i look at it. you tell me joe biden is a good president? he can even do anything about the border. do you call that being a good president? give me a break. >> congresswoman? >> well, there is no evidence that president biden engaged in wrongdoing. what i heard from this viewer are complaints about hunter biden but do you know what? the sun is different from the father and if there were any evidence that the father and properly was involved in hunter

biden's dealings i have not seen it and i haven't seen it after year of investigating with house republicans. after hundreds of pages of documents that we were able to see in the ways & means committee about hunter biden's finances i did not see any evidence that president biden helped him in any of these things are profited or benefited from it. this is after 36,000 pages of subpoenaed bank records, 10,000 patients -- pages of suspicious active reports and dozens of hours of testimony from hunter biden business partners and high-ranking officials. the investigation has taken enormous amounts of taxpayer money and yet nothing has come after year so there is no evidence that president biden benefited from hunter biden's activities. >> the viewer mentioned for

security and from the reporting in a national newspaper this morning there's a possible deal on the table between the white house and republicans on changes in immigration policy. if you heard about this possibility and what are you open to agreeing to on changes to immigration? >> i am completely against border policies tied to you the ukraine funding. we know that ukraine's funding is so important right now. if ukraine funding is allowed to lapse that putin will be able to succeed in taking over ukraine but he will not stop there. he will continue on to the other countries and if he does then this war will become very expensive. it could even involve sending our troops over to europe. that would mean an enormous cost

to america. we are investing in ukraine right now. on the border funding, there should be a completely separate bill on comprehensive immigration reform. when we look at our overall policies, because you know what, our system is broke and in as a result there were no legal pathways to get in and that's what to the situation is at the border. our system in america allows for migrants to petition for asylum and they have 2% proof that they are fleeing political oppression or religious oppression and persecution from different countries. that system is still in place but what we do need is funding

for hiring additional asylum officers to process those applying for asylum. we need funding for immigration services that could make this process much more efficient. i certainly would be open to that but i just think that tying this border policy to ukraine's funding is the wrong thing to do. >> are you another progressive members of the house, would you vote now with these changes to immigration policy are included in the supplemental bill for ukraine, israel aid and money for taiwan? >> i would need to look at the wording. the wording has been changing nearly every day. i want to see the final wording on such a bill for a decision like that.

>> northampton pennsylvania, independent. >> good morning. i have a question on the women and abortion in taking this new drug. i don't know how long it takes for a abortion to -- with a new drug part are you and other representatives willing to think about the psychological effects of a lady or a young girl who has an abortion and a young child looking back at them to shoe wise in the drives them -- >> let's take that question because we are running out of time. congresswoman? >> you know what i think about is a young person who is forced to have an abortion because she was raped, violently assaulted

and i'm thinking specifically about the 10-year-old in ohio who was raped and abortion was denied to her. she had to cross the boundary in order for her to get an abortion. wyatt do i think about her? a 10-year-old having a baby? is she in a position to be able to raise this baby? and that baby was a product of raped, besides the fact that a 10-year-old body is not a body that necessarily can handle pregnancy. pregnancy is no small thing. it many kinds of issues for the body. there needs to be a mature body that can handle the rigors of pregnancy. a 10-year-old body cannot do

that. they are many situations that are like that were pregnancy is not appropriate or can be life-threatening. let's look at the kate cox case in texas who is 20 weeks pregnant with a fetus that had a fatal genetic admiralty. the doctor said the pregnancy would affect her future fertility and put it at risk and she could die from the pregnancy. that's why she asked for an exception from the texas court. they ultimately did not give it to her and she had to leave to another state and get an abortion that would save her life. these are situations that women across the country are facing. >> congresswoman judy chu democrat of california the ways & means committee and a member of the progressive caucus, congresswoman we appreciate your

time this morning. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. at her table this morning republican rick mccormick from georgia. thank you very much for being here. the six districts of the number of the foreign affairs committee. how did she vote moving forward with officially this inquiry into president biden >> i voted for it. i very resolutely voted for it. >> why? >> i think there's always surprises in the republican party about who will hold out and in this case i think there's enough evidence right now of very suspicious behavior. it's way beyond coincidental that needs to be exposed and looked into. certainly if it was in my town and my bank account and my family you have the same exact scenario i'd be looking for sure so why not? >> they have been investigating for a year. there are republicans like chuck

grassley who say i haven't seen any evidence of wrongdoing by the president after year of investigating. >> i don't think that's accurate at all. if you look at the number of accounts associated with his family which are unexplained when you talk about payment and you can't see where the loan was made not explained when you talk about every time an account goes from five different countries into 20 different accounts and is transferred to the big guy that some explained. do you know how much scrutiny we have the congress for a rethink the goes into my bank account? every single dollar every single investment that goes into my account is looked at with a fine-tuned comb every single year. why would the president who has a son who's working for a foreign agency that had no qualifications for that, who has received millions of dollars in five other family members who received millions of dollars and 20 different bank accounts. every time they get a deposit

into the present account why wouldn't that be up for grabs in that be something we'd look into just as we would have my account had the same exact disparities. everybody is talking about so this is what we should do. >> when you run for president are you under that same purview >> absolutely. we are all under the same law. >> why was it found that there was wrongdoing? why wasn't i found when he ran for president >> i have no idea. only started looking into it, if he did not expose it as we are looking at producing members of congress get in trouble for that. that's exactly what's going on. but he said i didn't know anything about it and it shows he did he's like my bed. they could have caught him in several lies already. it's not like we haven't found

anything. we have found several things that disqualified him from the truth already and it shows concerning behavior. >> moving on to the defense authorization bill that passed the senate yesterday 87-13 it includes reauthorizing section 7025 senate also has money for ukraine in israel. that's separate from this debate over the supplemental that's $111 billion but how will you vote >> i'm going to vote for it. i know it'll be controversial and i'll take a lot of grief from it at home. there's some real concerns that having fisa expire. i don't like the way it is right now and it has been honed and we had a brief with the intel chair ms. turner who's talked about it's always been pared down to the behavior that's been addressed but it needs to be addressed in specific ways and i look forward to doing that as we pass another bill on that but to

have it expire during a time when we have security concerns, you have the military and the christmas period and so many things going on around the world that had to be addressed. i think it's the right thing to do. elections have consequences. we don't have senate and we don't have the white house. we will be the bad guys and i think this is something that passed to get done. it's not what i wanted and not everything i wanted it doesn't have a pay raise for those who are literally impoverished. we need adjustment for cost of living that we haven't had for decades and we are falling further and further behind with inflation. tons of military people on food stamps. it doesn't have other things we want but that's the debate we have a congress especially when you have a split congress. >> do you like what you are negotiating here the inclusion of the 702 and the money for

israel and ukraine and tying that into this defense authorization bill >> i'm not sure if it was his idea for something he found he had to agree to. i don't know the details or the inner workings of what they had to negotiate. i'm not part of that discussion and being the speaker is exceedingly challenging. i know it doesn't matter who the speaker is the house is the house yesterday and ordered we had to move forward. regardless we will have some compromise. i wish i could have been there with him but i wasn't and i don't know exactly how that went. >> outline your military experience for our viewers. >> i 16 years in rank or mostly as a helicopter pilot. 101st with the army in. i a couple of tours in the persian gulf and dicolo tours in africa and a couple of tours in the far east and i got out and went to medical school and

came back to be in the yard doctor is in camp lejeune and worked emergency medicine retired. >> 20 years in the u.s. marine corps in the navy, right-click in the gas, maam. >> what they like about this defense authorization bill for military men and women? first of all we have to fund the military said we don't have a gap in pay. it has meager accommodations for pay increases for the military of those 5%. we need 30% for the junior enlisted for adjusted cost of living. it does have consequential behavioral changes as far as what we allow the military as far as dei. does put limits on what agencies are able to advise the military. they are people like me that were biased against the news agency saying they were lying and it should be advertised.

recruiting people into the military for conservative venues and i think first of all that was bad advertising. i have my nba and i know are marketing. they are the best venues to advertise on and we are paying for that bias willy-nilly. >> let's get to calls. anna and texas democratic caller you are first with the congressman. >> yes, good morning. are you greta and the representative. i'm 75 years old and we have more military bases in texas than anyone that can take care of the border. i worked on the border for eight years with the military but i want to say one thing about the

border. since 1836 they've been crossing the border and like i say i'm 75 years of age. my people, what him black people did not get in texas part of the emancipation proclamation and that's why we have juneteenth, in 1865 is when we were, what bothers me about congressman mccormick and a lot of congressman and people like chip roy and crenshaw they all know texas right now, and gasoline $2.31. inflation is a little higher but when you are 75 years old and ronald reagan had interest rates at 20%, this is nothing. we had a social security increase of 8.3% last year.

3.2% this year and i hear from people from new jersey. >> anakin you get to your question >> yes, sure. i will get to the question. why are you all spending so much money on the border when the border, we have trillions of dollars on the border and also the -- >> okay and i had to leave you there. we have other calls waiting. >> when you talk about the border first of all a trillion dollars i'm not sure where your numbers are coming from. my dad was a border guy and you want to talk about minorities it's funny you called me out. i was a male conservative in a 60% -- i understand they are all kinds of racial things in what you just said that let's talk

about the numbers. if you want to talk about the cost of american record number of processes in the drug trafficking and the record number of people in america and when you talk about 9.6 million people this presidency which is the equivalent of 13 congressional seats and you do the numbers. if you talk about the overwhelming burden on the health care system and the welfare system, the education system the sheltering and even the sanctuary cities right now don't want this. democrats don't want this. this is a very unpopular thing to have a border in a soccer nation where we can't control the countries that sony have so many around the world. we have had 1.7 million people and they don't even know who they are that got away that could be right here. to harm your family. we have record numbers like we have never seen before and it's gotten worse every single month.

>> according to filibuster germany considers a possible deal in the white house and republicans on ukraine aid for immigration policy bridges "the wall street journal." the white house moved border deals within reach and assess the white house offered by an democratic negotiators includes creating a new expulsion power the border that would allow the government to turn away asylum-seekers without letting them claim asylum akin to the pandemic era title 42 policy by the administration. democrats have proposed allowing a new expulsion tory to be used only at certain thresholds that are hits such as the illegal border crossing. it's tougher to recruit acquirement to asylum-seekers to be held in detention for the duration of their hearing. it wasn't known whether the u.s. requirement would apply to migrant families. the proposal would raise the initial threshold to meet.

and expand the government rapidly deportation authority to the nationwide rather than just the border. is that enough to secure your vote? sin that's a tough one. asylum has been abused. anybody who has ever come to america are running for their lives. you can make the case that you're trying to escape something and i get that. they are made in mexico policy is the best policy we should have but i don't think we are done negotiating on this. i would like to say until you have the remain in mexico and the h.r. to pass we all ready passed through the house. >> your line is h.r. 2. a church is wholly voted on. we passed it through the house. that's the control of the house.

that's what we do, we passed things because we have control the house and is popular with americans. this isn't something which is passed -- america wants to secure our border. >> utep to get it through the senate and on the presence does though. the senate wants it to. why else would you combine ukraine but the southern border? that's where the compromises. it's not like you get what you want and we get part of what we want. that's not negotiations as not compromise. stimulants go to richard and george, your home state republican, hi richard. >> good morning and thank you for taking my call. i'd like to see the fairness doctrine come back into play. i firmly believe the media is part of the destruction of america. i would love to see that if you could possibly put that back in place. as far as the border goes president biden's first rule

would be to protect americans which he is not doing. there's so many things but as far as the impeachment inquiry i think it's needed after what they did to his kids and what they put him through for the last seven years. anyway i appreciate you being from georgia and if you could get the fairness doctrine act would love to have fairness in our media which i believe this is touring america. thank you very much greta and have a good day. >> i appreciate that. fairness in the media is something we aspire to. we all have our own responsibilities. i think it's going to be hard to be objective for a lot of people but we have a lot of discussion and i think kevin has addressed this many times especially in social media. there's a 2% dent in the media

because of media bias. thanks for your support of the border. >> nikki in rockaway park, new york, independent. >> hello, good morning. mr. mccormack you are familiar with the constitution and why impeachment is used. the office of legal council has reiterated that you cannot indict a sitting president. so, the only needs of removal that our founding fathers was fortunate enough to see that we might have corrupt officials. you cannot be impeached. senators cannot be impeached. like george santos was, correct? okay but now we have been in payment -- and impeachment clause. impeachment is reserved for crimes committed while holding

office. and trump and all the stuff he did before he took office so is it not true that impeachment is very sacred and reserved for crimes committed during the presidency? so you want evidence and you have all this evidence where since january 20 when the president took the office of president that joe biden has taken any price or received any money from his son. >> we take your point. >> first of all we voted on an inquiry. that's finding the truth. anybody who doesn't want to find the truth is not having an honest conversation. whether democrat or republican if we have an inquiry gets to expose what money has been transferred and that may be ongoing. the fact that we are avoiding something that literally would compromise who you are as the

president of united united states that you've received money from a foreign entity and not one foreign entity that five foreign entities multiple times compromises u.s. the president right now betsy and three a half. >> kingston new york a democratic caller. >> yeah of morning sir and i'll perhaps start off with a very impressive lifetime of service to the country and i respect you and your position and everything you have done in support of the free world. i want to go into what you started up a session about and the first-place want to make two points. one is at the standards of suspicion against biden. it's so compelling that you have to begin an inquiry with no true proof and no actual directive.

as a matter of fact a regular court you'd be accused of a false accusation for trying to make these kinds of claims. this is political of coors. if those are so strong that suspicion alone could begin an impeachment inquiry and why are those same standards held to when it's not suspected, it's been demonstrated how we abused power and how we abuse finances and how his son-in-law -- as opposed to a private citizen was being prosecuted and persecuted in my opinion. i'll read that as it is but the main thing i want to say is we know factually that president trump went to ukraine and told zelensky, it doesn't matter if you actually have proof, just say there's an investigation. now it appears that trump has

gone to his crony insurrectionists in congress like jim jordan and told them basically just say there's an investigation. that's where it appears to avoid the facts. >> i'll have the congressman respond. >> i see these documents all the time and the thing that's frustrating to me is almost like there's a conversation happening what about trump? that's not what this is about. this is about the impeachment process and inquiry for joe biden rate it's funny people will talk about something that happened in ukraine but they don't talk about what joe biden has done on tv in front of a whole bunch of people saying i got them to drop the case. i got that lawyer to stop investigating my son or you don't get a billion dollars. he literally said that. nobody wants to talk about that on the democratic side. they are like there's no