good american dream life, additionally we need to address the abortion laws. >> and immigration is my number one issue with the borders being open and my tax dollars paying to continue to feed people who just aren't americans. they're not citizens. they've come here illegally. it's crushing my pocket and other fellow americans. >> the most important for me is health care. to be free for everybody. >> c-span's voices, 2024, be a part of the conversation. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government who are funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> koolen-de vries syndrome is extremely rare. >> hi. >> but friends don't have to be. >> this is joe. >> when you're connected,

you're not alone. >> cox, supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> we take you live now to the u.s. senate where today lawmakers are considering judicial nominations for the u.s. district courts in south carolina and northern indiana. three vote series are scheduled today at 11:30 a.m. eastern, 2:15 p.m. and this evening at 6:15. we'll also have talks on border security and foreign aid bill, senate republicans are holding a meeting on ukraine today. live coverage of the senate is here on c-span2. offered by our chaplain. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god who rules the raging of the sea, draw our senators to

you today by the cords of your eternal love. help them to strive to know you, cultivating a relationship of peaceful trust in procedure prevailing providence. may the experience of being in your presence enable them to better comprehend the role you desire for them to play in fulfilling your purposes on earth. sharpen their vision to perceive your movements in our nation and world. where there is anxiety, give our lawmakers the poise that comes from a confidence faith in you.

we pray in your merciful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., january 24, 2024. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the state of vermont, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the motion to

reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table -- under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, jacklin d. austin of south carolina to be united states district judge for the district of south carolina.

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, well, the latest round of ukrainian security assistance was a $250 million package that included 155 millimeter rounds, stinger antiaircraft missiles

and other weapons crucial for ukraine on the battlefield. that announcement was made on december 27. that's 28 days ago, four weeks. since then no more aid, no more aid has been sent to ukraine. and there won't be more unless congress acts. in the meantime, it's been reported that russia is beginning to restock its own supplies with help from north korea, including north korean missiles. right now senate negotiators on both sides are working furiously to approve another round of ukraine aid by finalizing our national security supplemental package. this package would not only deliver a lifeline for ukraine, it would secure our border, send aid to israel, provide humanitarian assistance for innocent civilians in gaza, and shore up security in the indo-pacific. our supplemental is a prescription for addressing america's top security threats

around the globe. now, it's been a busy and productive week for the negotiators. they have continued working nonstop on issues that are still outstanding. each day we get a little closer, but there is still issues to be resolved. but one thing is certain. we're going to keep going to get this done. i've remained in touch with my senate colleagues, with leader mcconnell and the white house every step of the way. the goal, of course, is to come up with a proposal that can get at least 60 votes in the senate. that means both sides must accept that they won't get everything they want. it means that maximalist demands, stonewall tactics and attempts to sabotage negotiations before they even finish must be shunned by the membership of this body. there's too much at stake to play those games. there are some on the fringes who are unfortunately though trying to do precisely that, to sink this supplemental package

from afar. but in the senate both sides have an obligation to ensure those voices stay in the minority. many of the voices who are making suggestions that they don't like are not votingfor this anyway -- voting for this anyway, anyway. it's not going to be easy to get over the finish line but senate democrats are going to stay the course until the job is done. president biden on numerous occasions has stated he's willing to work with republicans in a big way on immigration and over the past -- and for over two months, democrats have shown we are serious about reaching an agreement by remaining at the negotiating table. so we'll keep going because senators don't need to be reminded of the consequences should we fail. like i said, the last round of ukrainian aid happened on december 27. if we don't act, ukraine will fall and make the world a much more dangerous place for america and every day americans will feefl the impact -- feel the

impact, not years but months away. since the start of the war, putin has bet that sooner or later the u.s. would throw in the towel. they doubt western resolve. they doubt american strength. just last month putin speculated on russian television that, quote, the free stuff is going to run out some day and it seems -- and it seems it already is. that's what putin is saying. he's gloating that we're not giving ukraine the aid it needs. his allies are certainly helping him. the senate has an obligation to make sure putin regrets the day he questions america's resolve. and that is putting the focus on what we are doing in this chamber. we have an obligation to anxious the call to defend democracy in its hour of need. we have an obligation to help our friends fighting for their

survival. we must, must finish the work on the supplemental. we're not there yet, but we will continue working. on the economy. we're not even in -- we're not even a month into 2024 and a new pattern is emerging. americans are feeling more and more optimistic about the economy. last week a report by the university of michigan show that consumer sentiment, how consumers feel about the economy surged by 29% over the last two months. the biggest two-month increase in over three decades, in over 30 years. higher consumer sentiment means americans have more money in their pockets and are feeling better about their financial future. that is precisely what the democratic agenda is all about, lowering costs, increasing wages, fuelling economic growth. that's why democrats passed

historic legislation like the inflation reduction act, the chips and science act, the infrastructure law, and more. when you pass an ambitious agenda like the ones the democrats have passed under president biden, it can take some time for the effects to take hold. but by now the signs are getting clearer and clearer. under president biden, under democratic leadership, the country is on the right track. real wages are rising. in fact, paychecks have outpaced inflation over the past year, meaning people's paychecks are going further. inflation is cooling down now to 3.4%. when we passed the inflation reduction act, it was over 8%. unemployment is+ falling. the economy created 2.7 million new jobs last year, more jobs than any year of the trump administration. and manufacturing investment levels are at an all-time high. again, more than double the peak of the trump administration.

that's the difference between democratic and republican leadership. when democrats were elected into office, we passed legislation to lower costs, to bring american manufacturing back, to lower prescription drug costs which is already happening and invest in science and innovation. but what about the hard right? what about what's going on with our republican colleagues? well, look at what they spend time talking about. shutting down the government. that's what the hard right does. we're getting things done fort american people. they're torqueing about shutting -- talking about shutting down the government. amazingly, the hard right, which has a lots of sway in the house and too much in the senate said default would be a good thing. attacking a woman's right to choose, wasting time on sham impeachments, and drastic cuts to veterans aid, nutrition programs, education, federal law

enforcement. no wonder some republicans are so concerned they have no real accomplishments to show the american people. the difference, frankly, is night and day. democrats are focused on lowering costs, more jobs, and more money in people's pockets. but the hard right is con sumed by chaos -- consumed by chaos, bullying, cutting vital investments. they want to make things worse. somehow, that's their credo. the republican front run, for president made it abundantly clear he's not running on making people's lives better, but rather on airing his personal political grievances, as we saw in last night's so-called victory speech. so, we still have a long way to go to make our economy better. to make it work better for families. but the evidence is growing that under president biden, we're headed in the right direction and americans are seeing it for themselves. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: vladimir putin's reelection campaign is employing a slogan that the russian people and the rest of the world have actually heard before. here's what it is, russia's borders do not end anywhere.

ru russia's borders do not end anywhere. that's vladimir putin. the map of europe illustrates what he means in the starkest possible terms. the brazen war of conquest headed toward its 11th year, two years of russia's brutal escalation in ukraine have subjected a sovereign nation to horrific losses and heinous war crimes. since well before russian troops made their first run toward kiev in february of 2022, i've been pushing for the decisive capabilities ukraine needed to defend itself, and i've held president biden to account for not doing more sooner to give our friend a decisive edge

against putin's aggression. and for not investing more seriously in rebuilding america's military strength. but i've never been under any dilution about why america was barking ukraine's fight. this has never opinion about -- this has never been about charity, not about charity. it's not about virtue signaling or abstract principles of international relations. this is about cold, hard american interests. this is in the united states' direct interest for authoritarians not to feel free to redraw maps by force. it's in our interest to help degrade the military of a major adversary without committing american lives to the effort.

it's in our interest to help blunt aggressive behavior before it triggers wider conflict and directly threatens our closest allies and trading partners. we cannot pretend that america is inokay leapted against the -- inokay leapted against the consequences in europe. we can't afford to harbor the notion that leaving russian aggression unchecked would somehow enhance america's posture and strategic competition with china. accelerating russian defeat in europe is precisely what will help ensure we don't wind up dealing with simultaneous aggression from adversaries in europe and the indo-pacific. even as a global superpower there is not a burden america should resign to bear alone. fortunately, we don't have to. over the past two years our european allies have taken a more serious, sober accounting

of the requirements of collective defense. they're now fast overtaking america's share of overall security assistance to ukraine. and we already trail the contributions of 13 allies measured as a share of gdp. this is certainly good news for collective defense and for the urgent demands that press upon america's strength. the united kingdom, for example, just pledged to invest more than $3 billion in ukraine's r50i9 over the -- ukraine's fight over the next two years. of this is on top of the tremendous leadership great britain has displayed since the earliest days of putin's escalation. germany created 100 -- $100 billion euro defense fund and

continues to make progress toward nato's 2% defense spending target. denmark is expanding its domestic industrial base and participating alongside u.s. forces in coalition operations in the red sea. smaller frontline allies like estonia, latvia and lithuania are continuing to make massive continuing commitments to the cause. estonia has pledged $1.3 billion to ukraine over the next four years. just today, even the new right-leaning government of slovakia expressed clear support for the ukrainian cause in a visit to ukraine. and more good news came yesterday. nato is one step closer to admitting another strong and capable member to the trans-atlantic alliance. i'm grad that turkey's -- i'm

glad that turkey's parliament voted to ratify sweden's accession. unfortunately, this step took far too long and created unnecessary friction within the alliance. sweden will bring major defense and technological capabilities into nato on day one. the swedes are increasing their defense budget and expanding their defense industrial capacity. this is not just good for nato. sweden's entry into nato, just like finland's before her, is in our national interest. i know colleagues on both sides of the aisle share my expectation that hungary, the final remaining ally to approve sweden's accession, will act soon to finish the job. washington is watching. these are promising developments. allies are taking important steps toward greater

burdensharing, but we cannot mistakenly conclude from this progress that there is also declining demand for american leadership. quite the opposite. the west's efforts to deter and defend against our adversaries in europe and the middle east and the indo-pacific still require an engaged america. they require that we continue to invest heavily in capabilityings for our -- in capabilities for our affirmed forces and in greater industrial defense capacity to meet soaring demand and sustained long-term competition. this is what national security supplemental legislation would do -- invest tens of millions of dollars 00 right here at home and continue to bring new cutting-edge capabilities made in america by american workers into our arsenal. the senate will very soon have a

chance to restore our sovereignty at the southern border, to invest in our strategic competition with china, and to rebuild our credibility in the eyes of allies and adversaries alike. now, on another matter, when president biden took office, the average approval time for liquefied natural gas permits was about seven weeks. right now it's about 11 months. but soon wait times could actually being irrelevant at the behest of climate activists. the administration is now considering adding a climate test to the national interest analysis regulators conduct before approving new lng projects. never mind that climate interests are all too often run

in the exact opposite direction of america's national interests. this move would amount to a functional ban on new lng export permits. the administration's war on affordability -- affordable domestic energy has been bad news for american workers and consumers alike. radical policies from the epa are killing jobs in coal and auto manufacturing, regulatortory nudging is forcing automakers to produce a supply of electric vehicles for which there is insufficient demand. and now further limits to lng exports will only send energy costs higher at a time when the west is trying to reduce its reliance on russian energy. this agenda is not just bad for america -- americans at home either. it's directly at odds with america's interests on the world stage.

from russia to iran to china, it is abundantly clear that our adversaries are not waiting for us to wake up from this experiment in green self-harm. russia is building a new export facility for liquefied natural gas that is scheduled to be up and operating as soon as next year. iran is also in the process of competing -- completing an lng export facility to be ready next year. -- next year as well. it should be without saying that increasing global reliance on russian and iranian energy is not sound strategy. the secretary of energy herself has described russian gas as the, quote, dirtiest form of natural gas an earth. and china, for its part, increased its emissions last year by double the amount of u.s. emissions -- while double

the amount of u.s. emissions actually declined. our allies in europe are increasingly relying on us to keep their lights and their heat running. it was lng exports from the united states that allowed europe to reduce its reliance on russian energy in the wake of their attack on ukraine. so if the biden administration's solution of shutting down our lng exports or saddle their interests with the new green new deal schemes, i hope they understand which nation's interests they're advancing. choose our nation's interests or blind lay follow some green new deal scheme to rivals. it is hard to imagine this is even a question that the biden administration is contemplating.

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

>> it was a $250 million package that included 155 the limit around, stinger antiaircraft critical weapons have been crucial through ukraine on the battlefield. that announcement was made on december 27, that's 28 days ago, four weeks.

since then, no more eight, number eight has been sent to ukraine. there will not be more unless congress acts. in the meantime, it's been reported that rush is beginning to restock its own supplies with help from north korea. including north korean missiles. right now senate negotiators on both sides are working furiously to approve another round of ukraine paid by fine and finalizing our supplemental package. this package would not only deliver a lifeline to ukraine but with secure our border, send aid to israel, provide humanitarian assistance for innocent civilians in gaza, and shore up security in the indo-pacific. our supplemental is a prescription for addressing america's top security threats around the globe. now it's been a busy and productive week for the negotiators. they continued working nonstop on issues that are still outstanding. each day we get a little closer

but they're still issues to be resolved. but one thing is certain. we are going to keep going to get this done. i have remained in touch with my senate colleagues, leader mcconnell and the white house every step of the way. the goal of course is to come up with a proposal that can get at least 60 votes in the senate. that means both sides must except they will not get everything they want. it means maximalist demands, stonewall tactics, and attempts to sabotage negotiations before the even finish must be shunned by the membership of this body. there's too much at stake to play those games. there are some on the fringes who are unfortunately though trying to do precisely that, to sink this supplemental package from afar. but in the senate both sides have an obligation to ensure those voices stay in the minority. many of the voices who are making suggestions that you

don't like are not voting for this anyway, anyway. it's not going to be easy to get over the finish line but senate democrats are going to stay the course, stay the course until the job is done. president biden on numerous locations has stated he's willing to work with republicans in a big way on immigration, and over the past, and are for over two months democrats at shown we are about reaching an agreement by remaining at the negotiating table. so we will keep going because senators don't need to be reminded of the consequences should we fail. like i said, the last round of ukraine aid happened on decembe. if we don't act, ukraine will fall and make the world a much more dangerous place for america. and everyday americans will feel the impact, not, not years but months away. since the start of the war, putin has bet that sooner or

later the u.s. would throw in the towel. they doubt weston resolve. they doubt american strength. just last month to speculate on russian television that quote the free stuff is going to run out someday and it seems -- it's what we are doing in this chamber. we have an obligation to answer the call to defend democracy in its hour of need. we have an obligation to help our friends fighting for their survival. we must, must finish the work on the supplemental. we are not there yet but will continue working. on the economy, we're not even,

we're not even a month into 2024 and a new pattern has emerged. americans are feeling more and more optimistic about the economy. last week a report by the university of michigan showed that consumer sentiment, our consumers feel about the economy surged by 29% over the last two months. the biggest two-month increase in over three decades, in over 30 years. higher consumers and that means americans have more money in their pockets and are feeling better about their financial future. that is precisely what the democratic agenda is all about, lowering costs, increasing wages, fueling economic growth. that's what democrats passed historic legislation like inflation reduction act, the chips and science act, the infrastructure law, and more. when you pass an ambitious agenda like the ones the

democrats have passed under president biden it can take some time for the effects to take hold. but by now the signs are getting clearer and clearer. under president biden, under democratic leadership the country is on the right track. real wages are rising. in fact, paychecks have outpaced inflation over the past you meanies peoples paychecks are going further. inflation is cooling down. down to 3.4%. when we passed the inflation reduction act it was over 8%. unemployment has fallen. the economy created 2.7 million new jobs last or, more jobs and in year of the trump administration. and manufacturing investment levels are at all-time high. again more than double the peak of the trump administration. that's the difference between democratic and republican leadership. when democrats were elected into office we passed legislation to lower costs, to bring american

manufacturing back, to lower prescription drug cost which is already happening, and invest in science and innovation. but what about the hard right? what about what's going on with our republican colleagues? well, look at what they spent time talking about. shutting down the government,, that's what the hard right does we are getting done for the american people. they are talked about shutting down the government. pushing america towards default, amazing with the hard right which has a lot of sway in the house and too much in the senate, said default would be a good thing. attacking a woman's right to choose, wasting time on impeachment and drastic cuts to veterans aid, , nutrition programs, education, federal law enforcement. no wonder some republicans are so concerned they have no real accomplishments to show the american people. the difference, , frankly, is night and day.

democrats are focused on lowering costs, more jobs and more money in peoples pockets but the hard right is consumed by chaos, bullying, cutting final investors, making things worse. they want to make things worse. some of that's their credo. republican front runner for president has made it abundantly clear that he's not running on making people's lives better, but rather on entering his personal political grievances, as a side last night so called victory speech. so, , we still have a long way o go to make our economy better. working better for families, but the evidence is growing than under president biden were headed in the right direction and americans are seeing it for themselves. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. >> vladimir putin's reelection campaign is employing the slogan that the russian people and rest

of the world have actually heard before. here's what it is. russia's borders do not end anywhere. russia's borders do not end anywhere. that's vladimir putin. the map of europe illustrates what he means in the starkest possible terms. brazen war of conquest headed towards its 11th year, two years of russia's brutal escalation in ukraine has subjected the sovereign nation to horrific losses and heinous war crimes. before russian troops make the first one towards p.m. in february of 2022 -- towards tf

-- i've been pushing for the decisive capabilities ukraine needed to defend itself. and i've held president biden account for not doing more sooner to give our friends a decisive edge against putin's aggression, and for not investing more seriously in rebuilding america's military strength. but i've never been under any delusion about why america was backing ukraine's fight. this has never been about charity. it's not about virtuous signaling or abstract principles of international relations. this is about cold, hard american interests. in the united states direct interests for authoritarians not to feel free to redraw maps by

force. it's in our interest to help degrade the military of the major adversary without committing american -- to the effort. it's in our interest to blunt aggressive behavior before it triggers a wider conflict, that directly threatens our closest allies and trading partners. we cannot pretend that america is an ocular against the consequences of a war in europe. we can't afford to harbor the notion leaving russian aggression and check would somehow enhance america's posture and strategic competition with china. accelerating russian defeat in europe is precisely what will -- dealing with simultaneous aggression for adversaries in europe and the indo-pacific.

this is not a burden american should resign to bear alone. and fortunately we don't have to. over the past two years our european allies have taken a more serious, sober accounting of the requirements in collective defense. they are now fast overtaking america's share of overall security assistance to ukraine. and we already trail the contributions of 13 allies measured as a share of gdp. this is certainly good news for collective defense and for the urgent demands that press upon america's strength. the united kingdom, for example, just pledged to invest more than $3 billion in ukraine over the next two years. this is on top of the tremendous leadership great britain has displayed since the earliest

days of putin's escalation. germany created 100 billion euro special defense fund, an active military reform thinking just to make progress towards nato's 2% defense spending target. denmark is expanding its domestic industrial base and participating a launch of u.s. forces in coalition operations in the red sea. smaller frontline allies like estonia, latvia and lithuania are continuing to make massive relative commitments to the cause. estonia has pledged $1.3 billion to ukraine over the next four years. yesterday, even the new right leaning government of slovakia express clear support for the ukrainian cause in a visit to

ukraine. and more good news came yesterday. nader is one, one step closer committing another strong and capable member to the transatlantic alliance. i'm glad that turkeys parliament voted to ratify sweden's the session. unfortunately, this step took far too long and created unnecessary friction within the alliance. sweden will bring major defense and technological capabilities into nato on day one. the swedes are increasing their defense budget and expanding their defense industrial capacity. this is not just good for nato. sweden's entry into nato is like thin ones before. it is in our national interest. i know colleagues on both sidess of the aisle share my expectation that hungry, the final remaining allies to approve sweden's possession,

will act soon to finish the job. washington is watching. these are promising development developments. allies are taking important steps for greater burden sharing, but we cannot conclude from this progress that there is also declining demand for american leadership. quite the opposite. less efforts to deter and defend against our adversaries in europe in the middle east and indo-pacific still require an engaged america. it requires that we continue to invest heavily and now capabilities for our armed forces, and greater defense and dust or capacity to soaring demand and sustained long-term competition. this is what national security legislation would deal, invest tens of millions of dollars right here at home and continue

to bring new cutting the edge capabilities made in america by american workers and to our arsenal. the senate will very soon have the chance to restore our sovereignty at the southern border, to invest in our strategic competition with china, and to rebuild our credibility in the eyes of allies and adversaries alike. now, on another matter when president biden took office, the average approval time for liquefied natural gas, omg permits was about seven weeks. right now it's about 11 months. but soon wait times could actually become irrelevant at the behest of the climate activists. the administration's now considering adding a climate

test to the national interest analysis regulators condone before approving new lng projects. never mind climate enters our developing in the opposite direction of america's national interest. this move would amount to a functional ban on new lng export permits. the administration's war on affordable domestic energy has been bad news for american farmers and consumers alike. radical policies -- coal and auto manufacturer and regulatory -- is forcing produce supplied electric vehicles for which there is insufficient demand. and now for the limits of lng exports will only send energy prices -- when the left is trying to reduce its own light

on russian energy. this agenda is not just bad for america at home either. it's directly at odds with america's interests on the world's stage. from russia to iran to china, it is abundantly clear that our adversaries are not waiting for us to wake up from this experiment in to bring self harm. russia is building a new export facility for liquefied natural gas that is scheduled to be of an operative as soon as next year. iran is also in the process of competing, completing that lng export facility to be ready next year as well. it should be without saying that increasing global reliance on russian and the rain energy is not sound strategy. secretary of energy herself has described russian gas as quote,,

the dirtiest form of natural gas on earth. and china of course increases its emissions last year by double the amount of the u.s. emissions, double the amount u.s. emissions actually declined. declined. our allies in europe are increasingly relying on us to keep the lights and their heat running. lng export in the united states that will allow europe to reduce its reliance on russian energy in the wake of the attack on ukraine. so if the biden administration is foolish enough to shut down our vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tuberville: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today to express my very strong support for school choice. sunday was the start of school

choice week. tens of thousands of parents, students, and educators are going to celebrate the accomplishments of school choice movement. you know, i spent 40 years in education. i was a government schoolteacher, better known as public schools, including in higher education. i was a coach. i was a mentor for 40 years. i watched the school choice movement grow and change many, many lives. i've seen the changes that school choice has brought for students across our great countries. when i first started in education, 40 years ago, there was no opportunity for school choice. home schooling was very, very rare. but our government schools were in better shape back then.

home schooling today is practically like attending a small school. today, there are about two million kids being home schooled across our country. home schooling is the fastest growing form of education in america. it's growing because parents recognize that our schools are failing -- i'm going to repeat that, failing our kids. it's time for lawmakers across this country, at every level, including us, to recognize that our schools are failing. over the past 40 years, i've watched our education system dec decline, with my own eyes. i've visited schools, parents, and principals in 49 states and american samoa. what i saw sometimes was absolutely shocking.

and for today, it is the main reason that i ran for this seat here in the united states senate. education wasn't just a local problem, it was a national problem. by now, it's undeniable that our k-12 education system is in a crisis, because of job protections and teachers' unions. we spend more money on education in the united states of america than any other country. but we're not in first place. we're not even close. and that's a shame. before the pandemic we were eighth in reading, 11th in science and 30th in math. you can't blame that on the pan pandemic. some like to.

this has been going on for a long time, even before the pandemic. it's been getting worse and worse and worse. last year, we had the worst a.c.t. scores in 30 years. let me repeat that. last year, we had the worst a.c.t. scores in 30 years. nearly half of all of our students could not meet a single a.c.t. benchmark. half. the most recent national report card showed a steep drop in reading and math scores in almost every state. these were the lowest scores in the last 20 years. even joe biden's secretary of education called these test scores appalling and unacceptable. in some cities there are entire

schools, entire schools, where zero students can read or do math at the level that they're in. in chicago alone there are 55 schools where zero students can read or do math at grade level. children in these schools are being robbed of their future. our k-12 system is failing. it's failing to prepare our kids for college or for life. you know, when i talk about education i often hear about, from my democratic colleagues, that they argue we don't spend enough money. their answer to everything is to spend more. we pay more than any other country in the world. and again, we're not even in the top ten with some of these countries that spend a lot less.

we pay $14,000 per student in this country in our public and government schools. in other developed countries it's $11,000 or less. so we're spending nearly 40% more money, but we're not getting 40% better test scores. we're getting a lot less. we are 26th in math in this country, competing against the other countries across the world. 26th. if you can't do math, you can't survive in today's world of technology. you can't pay your bills, if you can't do math. how are we going to compete in a modern, high-tech economy if we can't do math?

i don't think anybody's thought about that. we just keep going on down the same road. according to the national science foundation, china graduated 1.2 million engineers in 2016. we graduated 130,000. one third of chinese college students major in engineering. in america it's 7%. how are we going to compete against our biggest adversary, china, if we're not educated? kids in china are learning cal calculus, and this is in elementary school. kids in china are learning calculus, while our kids are studying pronouns and the 50 genders in the critical race theory. it is a disservice. we are cheating our kids. and frankly, it's a national security issue.

my democratic colleagues need to remember that our education system does not exist for the sake of the teachers or principals, administrators, or even coaches. it doesn't exist for that. it's not about our teachers' unions. it's about our students getting an education, learning to read or write, do math, preparing for a future. we forgot about that. but unfortunately, we forgot about that for a long time. it's about preparing kids for life. what an idea. so what is school choice? school choice just means funding the student instead of the school building. that's what we do now. we send all of our money to these school buildings, we put it in chairs and things going on, we put it in teachers and

admini administrators. the money is not going exactly where it should be going to prepare students for life. it's the idea that the school was made for the student, not the school -- student for the school. school choice brings the power of the free market, which is what we're supposed to be, to our education system. the results benefit everyone, even kids in the government or private schools -- or public schools. you students show that -- students in studies show that school choice means better test scores and better outcome for students. when we talk about choice, my democratic colleagues will say if you're for school choice then you're against public and government schools. that's not true. that's not true. i used to teach in a public, or

government, school. i was a member of the teachers' union. i want our government schools to be the best in the world. the best. not second, not tenth, not 20th, but the best. our schools, our public and government schools, should be good enough to compete with our private schools, which are growing every day. but right now, most of them are not, they're not competing against public schools. they don't have to compete, because nothing is going on in a majority of our public schools. it's just a simple fact. there is a laundry list of things we need to do about our public and government schools. but to make it better, which should be at the top of the list, is competition which is school choice. school choice to go where you want to go.

20 studies have shown that school choice improves our public schools. this is because school choice forces government schools to compete for students, and that's what this country is about. it's about competition. it's about the opportunity to do what you want, but it's all built on competition. competition makes everyone better, whether it's in football, business, or just life. competition makes us all better. kids deserve teachers, students deserve teach entrepreneurs and schools -- deserve teachers and schools that will compete for them, not for a teachers' union, but for them. the job is to make our students better, and we're failing. a child's education should not be decided -- should not be

decided on their zip code, where they live. their education should not be decided on their family's income. that's not the way this should work. it should be decided by the people who know them best and love them the most, which is who? their parents. parents are a big part of the equation. when i was a coach, i always told my players that this country owes you only one thing, and that's an opportunity. i didn't care who you were. when i coached, i didn't care whether you were rich or poor, protestant or catholic, jewish, it didn't make any difference what race you were. i was hired to teach football and to win games. it's no different in the clas classroom. everybody has that opportunity. and don't give me everybody doesn't have that opportunity. they do.

you just got to take that opportunity and run with it. so at the end of the day, the key to unlock that opportunity is what? it's education. if you can't read and write in our country, in which we are struggling at almost every school, if you can't read and write, you can't make it. you're going to end up living off the government, and that's not what this country's about. so our future, our future is built on our kids. if we don't educate our kids, we won't have much of a future, and it is really declined. but if we unleashed -- and i know we've got a lot of problems going on in our world today, in our country, a lot of division, but if we unleash the potential

of our young people there is nothing that we cannot achieve. and so i urge my colleagues to support school choice. school choice in the upcoming budget process. give them the opportunity to compete. give them the opportunity for a better education. put the pressure on our public and government schools. make them compete to keep their students there. and the way you do that is you educate students. get it to a point where we don't need school choice or homeschooling. this should not be a partisan issue. this should not be about republican, democrat. this is about americans. this is about americans, giving them the opportunity to succeed and achieve. this is a huge american issue. we'd better wake up and smell

the roses. it's about basic american values, values of education for all, opportunity for all, and letting our people live out their god-given potential, not keeping it locked up. give everybody that opportunity. so mr. president, i will yield with that statement. thank you. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, since president biden took office three years ago, customs and border protection has encountered 6.7 million, 6.7 million migrants at the southern border. just to give you an idea of how that compares to the obama administration and president

trump's administration, this is more than those two administrations combined, and that was for a period of 12 years where president biden has been in office for three years. the administration still hasn't released the number of illegal border crossings for december, but multiple news outlets have reported that more than 300,000 migrants have crossed the border last month, which would be a new record. what i have a hard time compro men'sing is why president biden thinks -- compro hencing why president biden thinks that's a good idea. it's his policies that are responsible because they're like a mag yet. they a -- like a magnet. they attract people from around the world who show up at our border and either claim asylum, only to be put on a docket maybe wait ten years before they get

heard by an immigration judge. in the meantime, they get released into the interior. or they're simply released into the interior of the country using something called parole. i think it's he a little confusing because most of the people we think of -- moust of the time we think of parole, if somebody is tried, convicted and goes to prison, they can be paroled out of prison. but this simply means that in the immigration context, people come to the border and they're just released. just released. in other words, there's no consequences aassociated with people entering the country illegally. and so it should be no surprised to any of us that people still come, and that's why we're seeing higher and higher levels of people coming to the border under president biden's policies. the problem isn't that -- isn't

just that more migrants than ever are crossing into the united states; it's also that more migrants than ever are being released into the united states. the biden administration has gone to great lengths to enshould you are that people who cross the border illegally can remain in the united states, regardless of whether they have a legitimate reason to be here or not. to do that, the president and his administration have abused an authority known as parole to facilitate catch and release at an accelerated rate. parole was designed to -- such as someone donating a kidney or being a witness in a trial. it was never meant to be

categorical or award scale immigration authority r it was meant to be used 0en a case-by-case basis. the biden administration has abused the authority and it is not just at the southern border. the president's administration has set up a program that allows individuals from cuba, haiti, nicaragua, and venezuela to enter or remain in the united states all under the guise of parole. these are not individual case-by-case determinations. this is categorical. in other words, you come from a country. we're going to release you into the united states to the number of 30,000 a month. that's 360,000 a year. when the administration does so for these four countries, it provides a two-year legal statistics and a work

authorization, and so, again, it's no surprise people continue to come. this is also big business for criminal organizations that smuggle people into the united states, and it is, as a result of overwhelming the capacity of the border patrol and federal officials on the border that the opportunity to smuggle drugs into the united states becomes so relatively easy. thus, again, enriching the cartels that deal in the poison that took the lives of 108,000 americans last year alone. the administration is using -- or i should say, abusing parole authority to try to legalize illegal immigration. and they do that so they can cook the books, so they don't have to include these numbers in

a total tally of illegal border crossings each montanas. in other words, that's not even on the list of the 300,000 because they're exempted from that because they are released using or alosing this other authority. -- or abusing that other authority. this policy allows the administration to roll out the welcome mat for tens of thousands of migrants while making it seem like the numbers have gone down. it is really a shell game. thanks to the leadership of my friend senator graham from south carolina, the american people now have a much better idea about the degree to which parole is being abused by the biden administration. both at the southern border and beyond. to provide some comparison, during the two previous administrations -- that was 12 years -- an average of 5,600 migrants were paroled into the country each year.

5,600 each year. when president biden took office, that number skyrocketed. for fiscal year 2022 alone, the biden administration paroled almost 800,000 migrants. in other words, an average of 5,600 became 800,000 under president biden. we still don't have full data for fiscal year 2032, but it's also -- for fiscal year 2023, but it's already clear that the administration has passed the previous year's total. the biden administration has paroled more than 802,000 migrants into the united states in only nine months. it's going to get a new record, in other words. in total, the administration granted parole to nearly 1.6 million migrants in only 21 months. is it any wonder that people continue to come to the border,

outside the legal process, if they know they're going to be released while the human smugglers continue to get richer and richer and the drug cartels it into get richer each -- continue to get richer each day? well, these numbers are hard to get your head around because they're so large as to be incomprehensible. but 1.6 million migrants released into the country in 21 months? when this many migrants are being released into the country, it creates serious challenges. migrants arrive at our border with no money and no place to go. they need to be fed, they need clothing, they need a safe place to sleep, they need medical care, and none of these things are cheap or easy to provide. but they're a feature of illegal

immigration. for more than three years,communities along texas's southern border have carried the weight of the president's border crisis. local governments and nongovernmental organizations provide migrants with basic needs like shelter, food, and clothing. they deliver lifesaving medical care. they provide transportation. in short, they prevent this humanitarian crisis from becoming a humanitarian catastrophe. it's expensive. it's burdensome. it's extremely time-consuming, and these men and women don't receive nearly enough recognition or gratitude for the work they do each day. the border crisis continues to have a major impact on border communities in my state. the scale of the crisis means the burden is now shared by communities across the country. given the unprecedented number

of migrants released, every state in america is now a border state. in terms of the direct impact of the biden border crisis. as this crisis is growing and expanded, it has prompted an interesting shift in rhetoric among leaders in blue states and cities. liberal enslaves like new york and -- enclaves like new york and chicago are. they proudly identify themselves as sanctuary cities and have criticized commonsense measures to enforce our immigration laws. until president biden took office, these and other liberal cities across america could say what they wanted because they didn't have to bear any of the burden. with the u.s.-mexico border a thousand miles or more away,

migration levels didn't impact their daily lives. residents did not see hundreds of migrants sleeping on city sidewalks, their children's schools were used as emergency shelters, their local ambulances were delayed because of a high influx of migrants who needed medical care. so it's easy to weigh in on an issue that has absolutely zero impact on your daily life. but as more and more migrants have poured into blue states and blue cities in the past few years, the story has changed. one example is phil murphy, the democratic governor of new jersey. he campaigned on the promise of making his state a safe place for illegal immigrants and once vowed to turn new jersey into a sanctuary state. when it became clear that more states needed to help carry the weight of this national crisis, he quickly changed his tune.

when gwich'in the opportunity to take -- when given the opportunity to take care of migrants with nowhere to go, governor murphy said the state didn't have any room for these migrants. we've seen a similar shift -- you might even call it a flip-flop -- from leaders in chicago, which has been a self-proclaimed sanctuary city for decades. the city's mayor, brandon johnson, was just sworn in last may and ran on the promise of embracing migrants who would arrive in the city u -- in the city. last spring he said that sanctuary means that everyone is welcome here, everyone, whether you come legally or illegally. when you make that kind of declaration, it's tough to be mad when people take you up on it and show up, but that's exactly what he's done. as migrants arrived in chicago via bus and plane, he's lashed

out at texas governor greg abbott for providing migrants with the transportation to actually take him up on his offer. at one point he even accused the texas governor of attacking chicago and other cities that receive migrants. pretty unhinged, if you ask me. this would be like sending an invitation out to a party that says everybody is welcome, and then berating the person who actually shows up with a carload of people. don't say -- i think there is a lesson there, mr. president. don't say everybody is welcome unless you mean it. president biden's border crisis has grown to such a magnitude that even sanctuary cities and states are turning off or flipping over the welcome sign. the crisis just keeps growing and growing, and the pressure on president biden is mounting. and oh, by the way, he's going

to be a candidate for reelection in november 20246789 -- november 2024. that may have something to do with his newfound attention and concern about the problem. he didn't have concern about it when it cass just affecting communities on the border. he didn't bat an eye when we broke the eye for the most border crossings in a single day, amongst, and year. -- month and year. but now that democratic voters, voters he's going to need to get reelected in places like new york and chicago, are sounding the alarm over the border crisis. so it looks like president biden is finally starting to a tension. -- to pay attention. when asked by a reporter last week if the border was secure, president biden said, no it's not.

it's welcome candor, but given the magnitude of the crisis, it's sad that statement actually was newsworthy because it marked a much-needed change from the president that we have -- to recognize we now have a problem on our hands. the fact is is and we all know the answer, that the status quo is unsustainable. we've reached a breaking point, and the only way to real estate store some -- and the only way to restore some sense or order is by addressing the current failed policies of the biden administration, particularly this abuse of parole. which is just simply releasing people, giving them a work permit, even those who aren't claiming a credible fear of persecution or grounds for asylum. now, we all know several of our colleagues are trying to negotiate an agreement on

legislation that would create meaningful policy changes to address the crisis. i appreciate their efforts. i sincerely dox -- i sincerely do. so far all we have seen are statements about what's being negotiated. none of us have seen the text of the actual negotiated product. and i, for one, am anxious to see that so we can have a real discussion and maybe a debate and hopefully make some significant progress on what has come to be known as the biden border crisis. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in

accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 467, jacquelyn d. austin of south carolina to be united states district judge for the district of south carolina, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of jacquelyn d. austin of south carolina to be united states district judge for the district of south carolina shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:. the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker.

the clerk: mr. boezman 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. snl

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, capito, cardin, casey, cornyn, cortez masto, durbin, heinrich, hickenlooper, johnson, kennedy, king, klobuchar, merkley, romney, rosen, schatz, smith, stabenow, tester, van hollen, warren, welch, wicker. senators voting in the negative -- crapo, hagerty, schmitt, tuberville, vance.

mr. murphy, aye. mr. risch, no.test. vote:

the clerk: ms. ernst, aye.

the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye. mr. reed, aye. mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: mr. hawley, no. ms. butler, aye. mr. boozman, aye. mr. bennet, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. lankford, aye. kaine mr. kaine, aye. -- the clerk: mr. kaine, aye.

the clerk: mr. cassidy, no. the clerk: ms. gillibrand, aye. ms. duckworth, aye.

the clerk: ms. lummis, aye. mrs. hyde-smith, aye. mr. scott of florida, no.

the clerk: mr. marshall, no. mr. cotton, aye. mr. rounds, aye.

the clerk: mr. coons, aye.

the clerk: mrs. murray, aye. mr. warnock, aye. the clerk: mr. daines, aye. . ms. baldwin, aye. mr. blumenthal, aye. mr. grassley, aye.

mr. moran, aye. u6

the clerk: mr. markey, aye.

the clerk: mr. thune, no. the clerk: mr. brown, aye. mr. ricketts, aye. mrs. britt, no.zf

the clerk: ms. hassan, aye. mr. schumer, aye.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye.

the clerk: mr. carper, aye. mr. graham, aye. ms. collins, aye. mrs. shaheen, aye.

the clerk: mr. paul, no.

the clerk: mr. whitehouse, aye.

the clerk: mr. mullin, aye.

the clerk: mr. hoeven, no.

the clerk: ms. cantwell, aye. mr. young, aye. mr. wyden, aye. mr. padilla, aye. ms. murkowski, aye.

mr. rubio, ay homeschool. vote:

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no. . mr. lee, aye. mr. cramer, aye.

the clerk: mr. budd, aye. ms. sinema, aye. mr. tillis, aye. mr. lujan, aye.

mr. sullivan, no.

the clerk: mr. menendez, aye.

the clerk: mrs. fischer, aye.

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. mr. cruz, aye. mr. mcconnell, aye.

mr. manchin, aye.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 79, the nays are 17. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the

nomination of executive calendar number 474, cristal c. brisco, of indiana, to be united states district judge for the northern district of indiana. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the ske is, is it the sense of the senate that the debate on the nomination of cristal c. brisco, of indiana, to be united states district judge for the northern district of indiana, shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. 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. the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- baldwin, booker, cortez masto, cramer, graham, hassan, hickenlooper, hirono, kaine, lujan, maufrn -- manchin,

mcconnell, dez, merkley, mullin, padilla, sinema, smith, thune, t tillis, warren,widen, and young. senators voting in the negative -- britt, budd, cotton, grassley, and moran. mrs. fischer, no. the clerk: ms. lummis, no. mr. paul, no.

the clerk: ms. klobuchar, aye.

the clerk: ms. duckworth, aye. mr. markey, aye. mr. schatz, aye. mr. casey, aye.

the clerk: ms. collins, aye. the clerk: mr. whitehouse, aye.

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, no. ms. murkowski, aye. the clerk: mr. crapo, no.

the clerk: mr. lankford, aye. the clerk: ms. stabenow, aye.

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. mr. cardin, aye. mr. thune, no. mr. wicker, no.

the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. the clerk: mr. van hollen, aye.

the clerk: mr. king, aye. vote:

the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith, no. the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith, aye. ms. ernst, no. mr. hagerty, no. mr. lee, no. mr. rounds, aye.

the clerk: mr. welch, aye.

the clerk: mr. kennedy, aye. mr. rubio, aye.

the clerk: mr. heinrich, aye. mr. sanders, aye. mr. murphy, aye. mr. cornyn, aye. mr. hawley, no.

the clerk: mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. ricketts, no.

the clerk: mr. risch, no.

the clerk: mr. johnson, no. mr. carper, aye.

mr. cassidy, aye. the clerk: mr. tester, aye.

the clerk: mr. boozman, no. mr. tuberville, no.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no.

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye. mr. reed, aye. mr. schmitt, no.

the clerk: mr. peters, aye. & mr. braun, aye.

the clerk: mr. bennet, aye.

the clerk: ms. cantwell, aye. mr. brown, aye.

the clerk: mr. vance, no.

the clerk: ms. rosen, aye. the clerk: mr. hoeven, no.

the clerk: mr. marshall, no. the clerk: mrs. capito, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, no. mr. warnock, aye. mr. romney, aye.

the clerk: ms. butler, aye. mr. schumer, aye. the clerk: mr. coons, aye.

7 the clerk: mr. daines, no.

vote:

the clerk: mr. cruz, no. the presiding officer: the yeas are 68, the nays are 29. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: the judiciary, cristal c. brisco of indiana to be united states district judge for the northern district of indiana.

>> mr. president, well, the latest round of ukrainian security assistance was a $a 250 million package that included 155 millimeter rounds, stinger

anti-aircraft missiles and other critical weapons that have been crucial for ukraine on the battlefield. that announcement was made on december 27th. that's 28 days ago, 4 weeks. since then no more aid, no more aid has been sent to ukraine. and there won't be more unless congress acts. in the meantime, it's been reported that russia's beginning to restock its own supplies with help from north korea. including north korean missiles. right now senate negotiators on both sides are working furiously to approve another round of ukraine with aid by finalizing our national security or supplemental package. in this package would not only deliver a lifeline to ukraine, it would secure our border, send aid to israel, provide humanitarian assistance for innocent civilians in gaza and shore up security in the undo pacific. indo-pacific. our supplemental is a

prescription for addressing america's top security threats around the globe. if now it's been a busy and productive week for the negotiators. they've continued working nonstop on issues that are still outstanding. each day we get a little closer, but there is still issues to be resolved. but one thing is certain, we're going to keep going to get this done. i've remained in touch with my senate colleagues, with leader mcconnell and the white house every step of the way. the goal, obvious, is to come up with a proposal that can get at least 60 votes in the senate. this means both sides must accept that they won't get everything they want. it means that maximum demands, stonewall tactics and attempts to sabotage negotiations before they even finish must be shunned by the membership of this body. there's too much at stake. to play those games. there are some on the fringes who unfortunately, though, are

trying to do precisely that, to sink this supplemental package from afar. but in the senate, both sides have an obligation to ensure those voices stay in the minority. many of the voices who are making suggestions that they don't like not voting for in anyway, anyway. it's not going to to be easy to get over the finish line, but senate democrats are going to stay the course, stay the course until the job is done. president biden, on numerous occasions, has stated he's willing to work with republicans in a big way on immigration. and over the past -- and for over two months, democrats have shown we are serious is about reaching an agreement by remaining at the negotiating table. so we'll keep going because senators don't need to be reminded of the consequences should we fail. like i said, the last round of ukrainian aid happened on december 27th. if we don't act, ukraine will fall and make the world a much more dangerous place for america.

and everyday americans will feel the impact not years, but months away. since the start of the war, putin has bet that sooner or later the u.s. would throw in the towel. they doubt western resolve. they doubt american strength. just last month putin speculated on russian television that, quote, the free stuff is going to run out someday, and it seems it -- and it seems it already is. that's what putin is saying. he's gloating that we're not giving ukraine the aid it needs if. his allies are certainly helping him. the senate has an obligation to make sure putin regrets the day he questions america's resolve. and that is putting the focus on what we are doing in this chamber. we have an obligation to answer the call to defend democracy in its hour of need.

we have an obligation to help our friends fighting for their survival. we must, must if finish the work on the supplemental. we're not there yet, but we will continue working. on the economy, we're not even a month into with 2024, and a new pattern is emerging. americans are feeling more and more optimistic about the economy. last week a report or by the university of michigan showed that consumer sentiment, how consumers feel about the economy, surged 29%, by 29% over the last two months. the big 2-month increase in over 3 decades, in over 30 yearses. consumer sentiment means americans have more money in their pockets and are feeling better about their financial future. that is e preicely what the democratic i general da is all about, lowering costs, increasing wages, fueling economic growth.

that's why democrats passed historic legislation like the inflation reduction act, the chips and science act, the infrastructure law and more. when you pass an ambitious agenda like the ones the democrats have passed under president biden, it can take some time for the effects to take hold. but by now the signs are are getting collie -- clearer and clearer. under president biden, under democratic leadership, the country is on the right track. real wages are rising. in fact, paychecks have outpaced inflation over the past year mean being people's paychecks are going further. inflation is cooling down now to 3.4%. when we passed the inflation reduction act, it was over 8. 8%. unemployment has fallen. the economy created 2.7 million new jobs last year, more jobs than any year of the trump administration. and manufacturing investment levels are at an all-time high. again, more than double the peak

of the trump administration. that's the difference between democratic and republican leadership. when democrats were elected into office, we passed legislation to lower costs, to bring american manufacturing back, to lower prescription drug can costs which is already happening and invest in science and innovation. but what about the hard right? what about what's going on with our republican colleagues? well, look at what they spend time talking about, shutting down the government. that's what the hard right does. we're getting things done for the american people, they're talking about shutting town the government. pushing america towards default. amazingly, the hard right -- which has a lot of sway in the house and too much in the senate a good thing. attacking a woman's right to choose, wasting time on sham impeachments and drastic cuts to veterans' aid, nutrition programs, education, federal law

enforcement. no wonder some republicans are so concerned they have no real accomplishments to show the american people. the difference, frankly, is night and day. democrats are forward-focused on lowering costs, more jobs and more money in people's$wt the hd by chaos, bullying, cutting vital investments. making things worse. they want to make things worse. somehow, that's their credo. the republican front-runner for president has made it abundantly clear or that he's not running on making people's lives better but, rather, on airing his personal political grievances as we saw on last night's so-called victory speech. so we still have a lock way to -- long way to go to make our economy better, working better for if families, but the evidence is growing that under president biden we're headed in the right direction, and americans are seeing it for themselves. i yield the floor and note the

absence of a quorum. >> vladimir putin's re-election campaign is employing a slogan that the russian people and the rest of the world have actually heard before. here's what it is. russia's borders do not end anywhere. russia's borders do not end anywhere. that's vladimir putin. the map of europe illustrateses what he means in the sharpest possible terms. raising a war of conquest with headed toward its 11th year, two years of russia's brutal escalation in ukraine have subjected the sovereign nation to horrific losses and hay --

heinous war crimes. since well before russian troops made their first run toward kyiv in february of 2022, i've been pushing for the decisive capabilities ukraine needed to defend itself. and i've held president biden to account for not doing more sooner to give our friends a decisive edge against putin's aggression and for not investing more seriously in rebuilding america's military strength. but i've never been under any delusion about why america was backing ukraine's fight. this has never been about charity. it's not about virtue signaling or abstract principles of international relations. this is about cold, hard

american interests. in the united states -- it is in the united states' direct interest for authoritarians not to feel free to redraw maps by force. it's in our interests to help degrade the military of a major adversary without commit american lives to the effort. it's in our interest to vep vaunt aggressive behavior before it triggers wider conflict and directly threatens our closest allies and trading partners. we cannot pretend that america is inoculated against the consequences of a war in europe. we can't afford to harbor the notion that leaving russian aggression unchecked would somehow enhance america's posture and preachic competitioc competition with china. accelerating russian refeet in

europe is precisely what will -- defeat in europe is precisely what will help ensure we don't wind up dealing with simultaneous aggression from adversaries in europe and the indo-pacific. even as a global superpower, this is not a burden america should resign to bear alone. and fortunately, we don't have is to. over the past two years, our european allies have taken a more serious and sober requirements of the -- accounting of the requirements and collective events. they're now fast overtaking america's share of overall security assistance to ukraine. and we already trail the contributions of 13 allies measured as a share of gdp. this is certainly good news for collective defense and for the urgent demands impressed upon america's strength. the united kingdom, for example,

just -- [inaudible] to invest more than $3 billion in ukraine's fight over the next two years. this is on top of the tremendous leadership great britain has displayed since the earliest days of putin's escalation. germany createed a 100 billion euro special defense fund, enacted major military reforms and continues to make progress toward nato's 2% defense spending target. denmark is expanding etc. domestic industrial -- its domestic industrial base and participating alongside u.s. forces in coalition operations in the red sea. smaller front-line allies like estonia, latvia and lithuania are continuing to make massive cap mrs. capito: thank you, madam president.

this past saturday marked three years since president biden took his oath of office. since then president biden has had nearly 1100 days in the white house to enact on the conscious -- the lives of america are not better now than they were three years ago, our country is not safer than it was three years ago and the state of our union is not stronger than it was three years ago. time and again, president biden has let his tenure be defined whby weakness as opposed to strength. this has had a negative situation for people across the country. it just really doesn't have to be this way, president biden. perhaps none of the biden administration failures is as glaringly obvious as the one at the southern border, which i

have talk about numerous times from this desk and the continued fallout we're seeing as the result of a president who is brafkly asleep -- basically asleep at the switch or ignoring it or maybe encouraging. there have been 6 million illegal endoesn'ters on president biden's watch. it is hard to imagine what 6 million human illegal encounters means. only seven u.s. states has a population of more than 6 millions. this is the equivalent of adding another state to our country that is nearly four times the size of my home state of west virginia. but president biden's border failure just doesn't stop there. since fiscal year 2021, u.s.

customs and border protection has seized 560,000 poundlys of meth, 250,000 pounds of cocaine and 200,000 pounds of fentanyl. with hundreds of thousands of gotaways, those are the people not in the statistics it is hard to know much more narcotics has come across the border. the only thing that president biden has improved is the business of the cartel who has received cover for that your drug peddling or human mugling. the list of consequences as a result of president biden's inaction on the bothered is long and has led to everything from violent crimes to individuals not lawfully in this r -- in

this country, to our children being forced to vacate their schools and remote hern to make room for migrant shelters, and even calls from the leaders of blue states who sent a letter on monday asking for federal assistance to handle this crisis. rather than properly defending our homeland, president biden has incentivized a crisis that urgently needs a solution. unfortunately for this administration, when it comes to failures, the border's just the beginning. let's look at the economy or where the unrelenting pursuit of bidenomics, which by the way i don't think the president uses that term anymore. president biden supporters want everyone to believe that the same positive trends are a sign his policies are working. if you spent any time in middle class america in the past three

years or in the grocery store, you would know our families are continuously being squeezed by high prices and businesses are being taxed and regulated out of existence. the quality of life for american families is by their ability to put food on the table, to earn an honest living, put a roof over their head, not by broad microeconomic indicators, arrow going up, arrow going down. and unfortunately there is no relief in sight for had american families under bidenomics. cumulative overall prices since january of 2021 have risen 17%. food prices have increased 20%, energy prices have increased 32%, and rent prices have increased 19%, all while average weekly earnings for all

employees have decreased by 4.5%. the basic truth is under this president americans are spending more and getting less. additionally these policies defined by bidenomics are failing our small businesses and manufacturers as well. small and need yuchl manufacturing companies continue to have historically low levels of optimism about their future. and 23% of small business owners report that inflation was their single most important problem to their business operations. i would say the supply chain workforce all are contributing. another area in which this administration has continued to fail is our national security and the standing of our country on the world stage. the same president who avowed that america is back in one of his first addresses has instead come to own a foreign policy record that is marred by botched

withdrawals, open displays of weakness and regretful decision making. look no further than the united states disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan in 2021, which undoubtedly has damaged the trust between our allies, broadcasted weakness on the world stage and displayed a lack of resolve that emboldened our adversaries. when it comes to iran and the middle east, president biden has made disastrous decisions, like the decision to delist the houthis as an fto, the same iranian-backed terror group that has perpetrated more than 30 attacks on vessels transiting the red sea. or the administration's willingness to be strung along by iran with fruitless nuclear negotiations. today it is clear that these negotiations were a waste of time. i mean, they're attacking our

bases, they're providing the dollars for all of these attacks, terror attacks in that region. iran now is rapidly increasing their production of highly en enriched uranium. how could we forget the decision to unfreeze $6 billion in assets to iran and to do so on 9/11, of all days. the foreign policy of president biden has been defined by skyrocketing attacks on u.s. troops by foreign adversaries, a large-scale ground war in europe, and the unprecedented buildup of china's military amid concerns about the health of our own defense industrial base here at home. while there's an undeniable lack of american leadership in our executive branch, we must remind ourselves, it's not too late ever to resers course. and -- reverse course. while the congressional republicans didn't create the issues we have at hand, we accept the responsibility of

trying to solve them. that's why republicans stand for solutions that change the border policies, policies, not money, that have allowed this crisis to thrive. rein in our washington spending, support our small businesses, manufacturers, and middle-class families, unleash american energy, and then prove that the true strength and standing of the united states in the world is as good as it could ever be. our country -- cannot -- cannot continue to accept the level of failure this administration has made normal over the past three years. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. schmitt: thank you, madam president. -- mr. ricketts: yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of me

joining the united states senate. and i wanted to take the opportunity to join this body because i believe america's best days lie ahead of us and that we needn't look any further than states like mine to find the solutions to our nation's problems. i often say that nebraska is what america is supposed to be. when i was governor of the state of nebraska, we spent eight years delivering excellence and making government work for the people. we proved the government can work better and put taxpayers first. and we did it while respecting individual freedoms and limiting our spending, running government well, and keeping people safe. those were the things that i'm working on in the united states senate. this year my team and i got to work for the people of nebraska

by fighting against the biden administration's overspending and overregulation. it is driving inflation and it's costing americans money. since joe biden has been sworn in as president, inflation broadly is up 17.2%. groceries are up 20%, rent is up 19%, electricity is up 24%, gas is up 34%, and your average american home is spending $11,434 more today to have the same standard of living as they did when joe biden was sworn in as president. americans are hurt by joe biden's policies.

we made government work better in nebraska, and i pledge to do the same thing here in d.c. my proven solutions for nebraska work here in d.c., and they're small steps to make things better here in washington and put taxpayers first. the snap next step act that i introduced here will help our families on snap get better jobs and get out of welfare. we've introduced bills to provide tax relief to our veterans and to our seniors. and we're fighting to allow consumers' choice. for example with my flex-fuel fairness act, it would push back against the biden administration's e.v. mandate and consumers choice with biofuels that we know will

save them money at the pump, help clean up our environment, and help make us less energy independent. i'm also going to keep fighting to help keep americans safe. joe biden's failed border policies have made every state a border state. over the weekend news channel nebraska reported on a man from mexico who was sentenced to prison in bellevue, nebraska, after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. this 43-year-old man was in the country illegally. he was arrested in a motel room with nearly $15,000 in cash and 11.5 pounds of methamphetamine. it turned out he had been previously deported for drug

cha charges and if drug trafficking doesn't care you, the national security threat should. in years past, we'd have single digit numbers of people crossing our southern border on the terrorist watch list. last year it was 169 people crossed our southern border on the terrorist watch list. over 8.8 million encounters along our southern border since joe biden has become president. that number of encounters of individuals on the terrorist watch list that used to be in single digits pales in comparison with the number of people coming here illegally. that's why i'm working with my colleagues to pass legislation that would attack biden's failed border policies head-on. we're working to fix our broken asylum system, to build a wall, and to go after the drug cartels. we're fighting toll reform the parole system the administration

is abusing. if you look back on the average number of people who are paroled in this country during the obama and trump administrations, it was about 5,600 people a year. last year joe biden paroled into this country 1.2 million people trying to come here illegally. folks, that's about two-thirds of the population of the state of nebraska. we've also got to stop the human trafficking that's going along the southern border. children are being recycled. they're being brought across the border by adults who know it's easier to get in if they have a child with them. yet the biden administration stopped the dna testing that would prove that these children belonged to their parents and customs and border protection personnel tell me sometimes 30% to 50% of the kids they used to test did not belong to those

adults. and inexplicably the biden administration has stopped that, putting these kids at risk. president biden's appeasement first foreign policy has left us weakened and in a dangerous world. our disastrous pullout of afghanistan emboldened dangerous dictators like putin and russia, xi in china, and in iran. this administration has given them over $5 billion in sanctions relief. as a result, houthi rebels sponsored by iran, funded by iran are shooting at our ships in the red sea including our u.s. navy. hamas also backed by iran has attacked one of our greatest allies, israel.

biden's weakness has encouraged putin to invade ukraine. and the chinese communist party has increased their aggression toward taiwan. all of this must stop. this world is less safe because of joe biden's policy. i will continue to push back on washington's overregulation and over s overspending, to introduce measures to make government work well, and to keep people safe. i think we have to ask ourselves are we better off today versus three years ago? and the answer is no. i will continue to push back on this biden administration and

the way they've driven inflation, to bring our proven nebraska solutions to washington, d.c., and to fight to keep americans safe both here and abroad. thank you, madam president. i yield back. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. a senator: thank you, madam president. i rise to bring attention to the abject failures of the biden administration three years on. let's briefly recap the last three years from joe biden. executed a disastrous withdrawal

from afghanistan that led to the deaths of 13 braves members of our armed forces. targeted parents at school board meetings and floated the idea of deeming them as domestic terrorists in an official memo. declared outright war on domestic energy production and pillaged our strategic petroleum reserve causing gas prices to soar. attempting to force tens of millions of americans to get a vaccine or lose their jobs. and billions of dollars which led to historic inflation and soaring prices, refused to endorse -- refused to enforce the laws in place that we currently have at the southern border and proactively fought those laws in court leading to record breaking numbers of illegal immigration. mr. schmitt: created the large errs censorship -- largest censorship in history and worked with big tech companies to

censor voices. repeatedly vilified half the country as maga extremists in speech after speech, attempted to unilaterally cancel half a trillion dollars worth of student loan debt, weaponized agencies like the fbi to go after catholics and more broadly american citizens, projected weakness on the world stage has emboldened our enemies. i could go on, but i think you get the point. joe biden has weaponized federal agencies against his fellow americans. worked with big tech companies to censor american speech. poured gasoline on the inflation fire. stifled domestic energy production. refused to secure the border. and has superxharjed the growth of the administrative state. americans can barely afford household items and needs and are incurring historic levels of credit card debt. our national debt is skyrocketing. the so-called inflation reduction act actually caused inflation to skyrocket. biden onlyics is a failure --

bidenomics is a failure no matter how this administration tries to spin t. millions and millions of illegal immigrants are flowing across the border and into the interior of the united states. the biden administration has fought every reasonable tool they could to stem the crisis at our southern border in court and is currently illegally abusing the parole system. fentanyl and other drugs are flowing into our communities as a result. the whole of the federal government has been weaponized against the very people it's supposed to serve. joe biden was the architect of the largest censorship enterprise our country has ever seen. the fbi has targeted catholics and joe biden wanted to label parents who wanted to stick up for their kids at school board meetings as domestic terrorists. and our adversaries can clearly see the weakness that's being

projected by joe biden. china is militarizing islands in the south china sea and they're playing for keeps. iran-backed insurgencies are attacking ships in the red sea and launching attacks against our own military installations. there are still hostages being held by hamas. the simple fact is the biden administration and the biden presidency has been a disaster for the american people and for our country as a whole. madam president, i yield back.

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no, we are not. mr. durbin: thank you, i ask

unanimous consent the cloture motion with respect to the lund nomination be withdrawn and notwithstanding rule 22, the senate vote on confirmation of the nomination at 11:30 a.m. on thursday, january 25, the year 2024. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that we move immediately to the vote that has been scheduled for 2:15. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the question occurs on the austin nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. 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. the clerk: mr. cotton. mr. cramer.