legislature in annapolis. the government highlight of his policy gbits ensuring his vision for the states future. governor moore touched on several issues including education funding, public safety, the cost of living, job creation and unemployment. housing affordability and reproductive health care. during his peak he says i know i talk a lot about partnership the partnership isn't the goal. fulfilling the promise of maryland is of the goal. partnership is just how we get there. you can listen to the address in its entirety tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2, c-span now our free mobile video app or or online at c-span.org. >> we had live now to use senate on this monday. shorty after the chamber gavels in maryland democratic senator ben cardin will beat george washington's farewell address. later this afternoon at 5:30 p.m. eastern about his plan on

whether to advance the nomination of a u.s. district court court judge for southern florida. off the floor no agreement has been reached on government spending to avoid a 20% federal government shutdown at midnight friday. also no word on when house impeachment managers would deliver impeachment articles against homeland security secretary all the hendrie mayorkas to the senate. the house impeached secretary mayorkas for refusing to comply with immigration laws and for breaching the public trust by telling congress the southern border was secure amid a surge of emigrants. live coverage of the senate is here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer.

the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, our heavenly father, we lift our hearts to you, invoking your blessings upon this day. you have made us one in our need of you, one in our yearning for strength beyond the self, and one in our quest for your peace. cleanse our hearts and open our minds that your truth may enter our lives. today, give our lawmakers the strength to do your will. help them to serve one another so that they may reflect your

spirit and goodness. make them so aware of your presence that they will learn your wisdom. and, lord, we thank you for the life and legacy of america's first president, george washington. we pray in your loving name. amen. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, smal 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, february 26, 2024. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tammy duckworth, a senator from the state of illinois, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, pursuant to the order of january 24, as modified by the order of january 24; 2024, the senator from maryland, mr. cardin will now read washington's farewell address. mr. cardin: it is -- i'm proud to read washington's farewell address. george washington was born on february 22, 1732.

he took the oath of office as president of the united states on april 30, 1789. seven and a half years later on september 19, 1796, in his decision to not run a third turn as president of the united states he delivered his farewell address. it is a particular honor for me, maryland being one of the original colonies that formed the united states, our state capital, george washington resigned establishing the principle of civilian government. we were the first chartered college in the united states was in maryland in chester town, appropriately named washington college. our follow -- i follow in this tradition starting with herbert o con.or, daniel brewster, and

charles mcthias. address. mr. cardin: friends and fellow citizens: the period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the united states being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice that i should now apprise you of the resolution i have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. i beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, i am influenced by no diminution of

zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. the acceptance of and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. i constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which i was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which i had been reluctantly drawn. the strength of my inclination to do this previous to the last election had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then-perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my

confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. i rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country. you will not disapprove my determination to retire. the impressions with which i first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. in the discharge of this trust, i will only say that i have, with good intentions, contributed toward the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of

years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services they were temporary, i have the consolation to believe that while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene patriotism does not forbid it. in looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my political life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which i owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities i have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal.

if benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead -- amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which, not infrequently, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism -- the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guaranty of the plans by which they were effected. profoundly penetrated with this idea, i shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly

maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. here, perhaps, i ought to stop. but a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation and to recommend to your frequent review some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a people.

these will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. nor can i forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. the unity of government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. it is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize.

but as it is easy to foresee that from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth -- as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed -- it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and

indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. for this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. the name of american, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. with slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. you have, in a common cause, fought and triumphed together. the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

but these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. the north, in an unrestrained intercourse with the south protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. the south, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the same agency of the north, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the north, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes in different ways to nourish and increase the general mass of the

national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. the east, in a like intercourse with the west, already finds and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. the west derives from the east supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the atlantic side of the union directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. any other tenure by which the west can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or

from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. while, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter.

hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. in this sense, it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. these considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind and exhibit the continuance of the union as a primary object of patriotic desire. is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? let experience solve it. to listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal.

we are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. it is well worth a fair and full experiment. with such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its bands. in contemplating the causes which may disturb our union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations -- northern and southern, atlantic and western -- whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests . one of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.

you cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. the inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head. they have seen in the negotiation by the executive and in the unanimous ratification by the senate of the treaty with spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the united states, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the general government and in the atlantic states unfriendly to their interests in regard to the mississippi. they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties -- that with great britain and that with spain -- which secure to them everything they could desire in respect to our

foreign relations toward confirming their prosperity. will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the union by which they were procured? will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisors, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens? to the efficacy and permanency of your union, a government for the whole is indispensable. no alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute. they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns.

this government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. respect for its authority, compliance with its laws acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. the basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. but the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. the very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes

the duty of every individual to obey the established government. all obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. they serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by

mutual interests. however combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. one method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations which

will impair the energy of the system and, thus, to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. in all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember especially that, for the efficient management of your common interests in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian.

it is, indeed, little else than a name where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. i have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. this spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. it exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly

their worst enemy. the alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. but this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. the disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and, sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purpose of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty. without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the

common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. it serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. it agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments occasionally riot and insurrection. it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passion. thus, the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. there is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. this, within certain limits, is probably true; and in governments of a monarchial

cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. but in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. from their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. and, there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. a fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming it should consume. it is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another.

the spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one and, thus, to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. a just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. the necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. to preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. if, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the constitution

designates. but let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. the precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. in vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. the mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. a volume could not trace all

their connections with private and public felicity. let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? and let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. it is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. the rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? promote, then, as an object of

primary importance institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. in proportion, as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. as a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. one method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.

the execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives; but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. to facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that toward the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. observe good faith and justice toward all nations. cultivate peace and harmony with

all. religion and morality enjoin this conduct. and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? it will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? can it be that providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? the experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? in the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular

nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. the nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is, in some degree, a slave. it is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. hence, frequent collisions; obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. the nation prompted by ill will and resentment sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy.

the government sometimes participates in the national propensity and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. the peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations has been the victim. so, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. it leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others,

which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained and by exciting jealousy, ill will and a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. and it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. as avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. how many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic

factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils! such an attachment of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (i conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens), the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. but that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided instead of a defense against it. excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other.

real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests. the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. so far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. here let us stop. europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none or a very remote relation. hence, she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of

her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. if we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of

european ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice? it is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world, so far, i mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. i hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy. i repeat, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. but, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. harmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. but even our commercial policy

should hold an equal and impartial hand, neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary and liable to be, from time to time, abandoned or varied as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for

nominal favors and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. there can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. it is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. in offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, i dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression i could wish -- that they will control the usual current of the passions or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. but if i may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of

foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated. how far in the discharge of my official duties i have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. to myself, the assurance of my own conscience is that i have at least believed myself to be guided by them. in relation to the still-subsisting war in europe my proclamation of the 22nd of april, 1793, is the index to my plan. sanctioned by your approving voice and by that of your representatives in both houses of congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

after deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights i could obtain, i was well satisfied that our country under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. having taken it, i determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perseverance, and firmness. the considerations, which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. i will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. the duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity

towards other nations. the inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. with me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions and to progress, without interruption, to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking the command of its own fortunes. though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration i am unconscious of intentional error, i am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that i may have committed many errors. whatever they may be, i fervently beseech the almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. i shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never

cease to view them with indulgence and that, after 45 years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. relying on its kindness in this, as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love toward it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, i anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which i promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as i trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

george washington united states 19th september, 1796. the presiding officer: 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. jacqueline becerra of florida to

be united states district judge for the southern district of florida.

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

>> i focus on politics and congress but not necessarily day-to-day. more in-depth longer race and

stories that have an impact and that are longer and like that was a good story. >> watch out for this week, can you remind people about the lines when it comes to partial government funding and what congress has to do with it? the mark for the first time march 1 so they are not passing any of those bills. it's not going to work out will be in those bills. we are supposed yesterday. senator chuck schumer named pastor publicans so my job push back on that same schumer has pushed back on. conservative policy writers attached to government funding

and only half of one branch of government so that is what's going on right now. when they come back on wednesday, otherwise it will be a sore shutdown. >> they have other plans the work? >> the main plan right now would be the three, four bills wrapped up in one. on the individual appropriations bill and the timeframe and it is another short-term on the conference call, they may be will have to resolutions at the handful of bills. as a possibility of a shutdown.

it is a possibility that could be a shutdown and for three days this week. >> the conservative things. they really want the mailing of that so they want these reports and policies attached but this is not something that happens when you're in the minority ended on the white house and a slim majority in the house got

in the don't want everything the conservatives want so the kind of have this. >> we heard from the freedom caucus in the polls. >> and twitter and stuff, it's not necessarily a big large group. just even having an on social media they feel like john's and is telling them that he waits until the last minute and the first was understandable. they need to get something done. they didn't do anything between

this so they are really upset. >> the inner just to be anything. >> when it comes to washington you can call the line 7,488,000. if you want to text message, 2027482003. there's been a debate on ukraine, where is that today? >> he's been adamant on these

provisions. if you remember, the kind of shop is down, it would be died on arrival. so it is really up in the air. even if there was any kind of supplemental, if he rings up ukraine anymore so that is also an issue. you have this bipartisan group of legislators coming forward with this bipartisan supplemental package to israel. they are trying to get something over the line. >> how much of a direct impact will this have?

... for me this tuesday meeting, i think it has affected ukraine aid. that will be a little different for them. if you are my johnson, leader of the republican conference, will you really listen to president joe biden about what you really want? your own conference has said they will move to oust you or at

least one of them. >> the minnesota republican line you are on with our guest. good morning. >> good morning. the house did put the border bill on about two months ago. the senate has sat on it for two months. the house has a small minority. the senate has a small minority. i wonder why that is speared always about mike johnson. mike johnson is not running. how long are we supposed to run around like the sky is falling. we watched this go on for decades now. to say -- oh, who cares. biden is on vacation two thirds of the year. it does not matter. the only reason you hear from biden at all is because there is

an election and it looks like he is getting his butt kicked. he is out there, why on earth -- don't give them anything. if you are republican like me, you don't want them to. you will have the better advantage in the fall. >> thank you. >> the border bill you are referring to is the hr to past last april, i believe. beginning of may. it has been sitting in the senate. that bill was more, it was a bill to talk about border security measures. obviously, republican measures wanted to pass. even some republicans did not want to vote for it at first. took a lot of negotiations to get that going. i think that is a bill you are talking about. no chance of becoming law.

seems like most are set on the hr two. to get forward security measures , not going for hr to or not. some sort of compromise. a very divided government at the moment. >> democrats in kentucky. hello. >> why they should stop. talking about how trump is beating everybody. let's look at the primary race results. iowa 51%. now coming to north carolina or south carolina. we have 60%. now, hard-core trump area is

iowa and south carolina. there is something going on here i will tell you something. i don't know why it is the press not talking more. i think you are a little bit more now. we have a problem here. we can talk about biden's age. let's talk about trump's age as well. seeing a pattern here. i had a relative. i know what i'm talking about. >> okay. what do you want to address? >> i just want to make this point. as i said, he is going around saying obama is the incumbent employees to start world war ii. >> we will leave it there. go ahead. >> arguably, trump is winning

these elections pretty handedly. i had a story over the weekend that nikki haley campaign is all but over at this point. just about 20 points. that is not a good sign for anybody running to become president. so you can become the nominee i just think that trump will be the republican nominee more than likely. kind of like what we got in our sport over the week. haley has not one states he. looking more and more likely that trump will be the nominee. >> as far as the amount of support in congress for the former president as far is the former election is going he is standing by her side.

still supporting her. he will push through as long as nikki haley wants to stay in the race. he will be supporting her. that is the only endorsement, public endorsement. they have not endorser in candidates and maybe they are supporting. only having ralph norman coming out and supporting him. he is advocating for her. he is publicly supporting nikki haley. >> did he respond to the news that came from yesterday? money from the americans for prosperity for nikki haley. >> i mean, i think that that is just another sign because it's going to be harder. the coke industries where huge backer. they got it this far. i think they saw the writing on the wall and said this was not worth our time. they did say that they are still kind of rooting for nikki haley but they will not support

financially. >> 8001 for republicans. 8004 democrats and independents. looking ahead in the week of washington on the daily beast on our republican line. going to ohio. >> my name is jonathan. i am a republican. registered republican. >> i am a registered republican. donald trump anti-democratic. i will not vote with donald trump. yes he is winning all of these little states now. he will lose to joe biden. i will vote for joe biden. thank you. >> okay. i think he just stated his opinion.

>> asking about the ukraine funding. voting on ukraine funding and it will pass. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, the senate gavels back into session. i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: so, madam president, the senate gavels back into session with a lot that congress must do but with little time to act. in less than a week the federal government will begin to shut down unless both sides, both sides work together to extend funding. meanwhile the moral obligation for congress to help the people of ukraine and fortify our own national security grows heavier with each passing day. and it's imperative that we make real progress in the coming weeks towards our ultimate goal of finishing the appropriations process. these are just a few of the tasks facing congress as winter turns to spring. the margin for error on any of

these is razor thin. and unfortunately, the temptation to choose chaos and disorder instead of cooperation will be strong for some here in the capitol. by now it is clear that when serious-minded democrats and serious-minded republicans engage each other with a desire to get things done, with a desire to get to yes, good things happen, even in divided government. we avoid shutdowns. we invest in the american people. we make our country stronger. the senate ended the last work period with a powerful example of bipartisanship, a resoundingly 70 votes passing the national security supplemental. it wasn't easy to get it done. but now that we scheduled, it should serve as a model for both chambers moving forward. over the recess negotiators in both chambers continue the difficult work of the appropriations process. while we've made some good progress on a number of fronts, unfortunately our house republican colleagues are still

struggling to figure themselves out. there's a lot of uncertainty over how the house will proceed in the coming days. so i ask all senators to keep their schedules flexible. now senate democrats have been crystal clear. we want to avoid a government shutdown. we want to work with all our house counterparts to spare the american people of the pain that a shutdown would bring. but for that to happen, congressional leadership must resist the centrifugal pull of extremism emanating from the hard right. we must resist basing our choices on what people like donald trump want congress to do. we need to remember our responsibility to the american people and do our jobs. even a partial shutdown would mean chaos and pain for the american people. and let me just list a few examples why that's true. a shutdown at the agriculture department would threaten higher food costs for all americans,

threaten critical services for farmers and rural communities, from homeownership programs to food banks, and delay access to critical programs just as spring is arriving. a shutdown in the veterans administration would close our veteran outreach offices and freeze critical programs that support our nation's heroes, those who risk their lives for us. a shutdown at the housing department would leave american families high and dry, without key federal housing loan support, potentially causing rent and housing prices to spike. a shutdown at the transportation department would risk travel delays and traveler safety by freezing the hiring of air traffic controllers. madam president, as you well know. this is just the tip of the iceberg. a shutdown would also throw a wrench into our economic recovery and would raise costs just as inflation has returned close to normal levels.

it would make communities less safe. i am hopeful, hopeful that pragmatic republicans will engage in responsible governing by working with democrats to avoid a shutdown this week. senate democrats want to do the right thing and keep the government open. i hope the house continues to work with us in good faith to make that happen. but time is short. time is short. mr. president, on ukraine, this past weekend i led a congressional delegation unlike any i've been a part of before to visit with the people of ukraine as they marked two years since the start of putin's illegal invasion. it was one of the most memorable and moving trips i've ever been on. three days that will stay with me for the rest of my life. we traveled to ukraine because we all felt a deep obligation to be there on the ground now as the war reaches a pivotal turning point. as president zelenskyy said to

us, if ukraine gets the armaments they need, they will win the war. but if they don't get those armaments, they will lose. we went because this is an inflection point in history. the future of ukraine, but not just ukraine -- western democracy -- hangs in the balance. we went because the ukranian people needed to hear directly from us what, that america stand by their side, that we will not turn their backs on them during their fight for survival. and we went because the nations of europe must know that america will not abandon them, that we must stay part of nato and that we in the senate will ensure the greatest alliance the world has known remains strong and prosperous. i thank my colleagues who joined our codel, senators reed, blumenthal, bennett and hassan. it was an immensely productive and celebrated trip. we were honored above all to meet with president zelenskyy

and resolve -- whose courage and resolve are an inspiration. he is an amazing man. he still has strength. he still has that optimism that ukraine can win this war. and he keeps the people together. to watch him was awe inspiring, a man with so much on his shoulders, moving forward and doing the right thing, and doing it with vigor and without complaint as i mentioned, during our meeting the president was blunt. he said if ukraine gets the aid stalled in the house, they'll win the war. but he also said if congress does not pass the supplemental with all the ammo and anti-air defenses and long-range artillery weor. would lose. with aid ukraine wins, without it they lose. we learned about the details of what they need. cy spoke to -- i spoke to a ukrainian army officer, their drones are extremely, dreamily

precise. in fact, they're probably even better than the ones we have now. and the drones can find out where the russian artillery is, exactly and precisely. but then they don't have the ammo to take out that russian artillery. because they lack that ammo. it's so frustrating to this soldier who is doing his job, risking his life, and then we heard another instance that ukrainian artillery is not as long range now because it -- we don't give -- we haven't given them what they need and it's in the supplemental as the russian artillery. so russian artillery can fire and take out ukrainian artillery but then ukrainian artillery can't fire back because they don't have the reach of the russian artillery. we heard these stories other be and -- over and over again. we learned how the withdrawal of

avdvka is due to insufficient weaponry, the top ukrainian generals told us if they had adequate armaments, avdifka would not have fallen. now they are pushed back on the front, in the because they lack courage, strength or good leadership, but only because they don't have the weaponry they need. we must help them. and any american who thinks, oh, this is far away, it doesn't matter, hasn't learned the lessons -- learned the lessons of 1938 and 1960. it's not an exact analogy, of course, but back then people said this is far away, we don't have to pay attention, and in both instances americans paid for that lack of foresight, that

lack of strength and that lack of vision with lives and billions and trals spent -- trillions spent -- certainly trillions in those days. no moment was more heart-wrenching that better crystallized the cost of the war than with the new head of the general of the ukrainian army, we went to pay respects to the ukrainian dead. he told us four week ago it was a parking lot but they needed a place to bury so many of the dead. we walked through the grave site and saw the pictures, and then ukrainians were digging more graves for those they knew would

die in the next few months. it was an amazing, moving moment of the stalwartness and bravery of the ukrainian people. so i believe that if every congress member saw what we saw, learned what we learned, they would understand the urgency of passing the supplemental. with this urgent aid package, congress has a chance to ensure ukraine wins the war, to ensure that putin is not victorious, to ensure that western democracy can thrive in the 21st century. if our allies see that america does not support its ally ukraine, they will no longer be our ally, they will know they cannot depend on america. even worse, if the autocrats, the vicious dictators like putin, xi, and the leaders of

north korea and iran see that the united states will turn away from a challenge like this, they will be emboldened. so anyone who thinks that, oh, this is far away, this does not have consequences for the american people are wrong. if we turn away from ukraine over the next decade and several decades, the american people and america will pay the price diplomatically, politically, economically, militarily. it's a moment. history's looking at us. so we must do it. i urge speaker johnson to go visit and see what i saw. no person of any decent conscience and sight would vote no if they saw what we saw. i hope the speaker does the right thing. i hope he puts the supplemental that we passed here in the senate with 70 votes on the floor of the house.

i am confident, absolutely confident that if speaker johnson were to put this supplemental on the floor, it would pass with strong bipartisan support like it did in the senate. i hope -- i pray, for the sake of our values, for the sake of our country, for the sake of the brave people in ukraine and for those who have died in this war, i hope that speaker johnson recognizes that history is watching us and watching him. that the world is watching. that if he does the wrong thing, i am confident he will regret it in years to come no matter what the political outcome. and i am hopeful that speaker johnson will not just in blind obeisance to donald trump do what everyone in this issue knows is the wrong thing and not

give ukraine the aid it needs. on alabama and the court decision. last week the alabama supreme court handed down a stunningly radical opinion, jeopardizing access to ivf and other forms of fraternity -- of other care. the damage it will cause women and doctors and families is both heartbreaking and enraging. let's not kid ourselves, this didn't happen in a vacuum. what happened in alabama is a direct consequence, a direct consequence of the hard-right maga supreme court decision to overturn roe v. wade. thanks to maga extremism, today the united states is an embarrassment to the world when it comes to reproductive freedom. here in the 21st century, we live in a country where women have to travel hundreds of miles for basic health care, where

doctors fear criminal prosecution for doing their jobs, where some republican state legislators want to police women's movements and where families who want to get pregnant railroad worried that even in vitro fertilization will be taken away. we have seen a lot of back pedalling from republicans, because it is daunting on them that their agenda is horribly unpopular with most americans. but let us be very, very clear. republicans who have spent decades packing our courts with hard-right judges, who have called for national abortion bans deserve zero benefit of the doubt now that the consequences of their agenda is sinking in. the shameful stake of women's health care and their freedoms is a product of the hard-right republican agenda he republicans

own what happened in alabama. let me repeat that. republicans own what happened in alabama. republicans own the disasters of roe v. wade, and republicans will learn when it comes to attacks on their personal freedom, american people do not easily forget. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. schumer: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it.

the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: madam president, i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 472. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination of. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, julie simone sneed, of florida, to be united states district judge for the middle district of florida. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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 472, julie simone sneed, of florida, to be united states district judge for the middle district of florida signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the question is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 469. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, melissa damian, of florida, to be united states district judge for the district of florida. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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 of executive calendar number 469, l -- 496, melissa damian, to be united states district judge for the district of florida. mr. schumer: i ask that the

reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion it agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 514. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of the treasury, marjorie a. rollinson, of virginia, to be an assistant general counsel in the department of the treasury. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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 -- debate on the nomination of executive calendar

number 514, marjorie a. rollinson of virginia to be chief counsel for the internal revenue service and assistant counsel of the treasury. mr. schumer: i ask that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, february 26, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican lead. mr. mcconnell: as congress returns to washington this week, the deadline to avoid a partial lapse in government funding is fast approaching. without action by friday, the country would face needless disruptions to agriculture, transportation, military

construction, and essential services at the v.a. so i'll say at the outset what i said every time congress has faced this threat, shutting down the government is harmful to the country. and it never produces positive outcomes on either policy or politics. what's more, a shutdown this week is entirely avoidable, the senate appropriations passed full-year legislation four months ago and the house has produced legislation of their own, we have the means and time to avoid a shutdown and make serious headway on onnal appropriations, but, as always, the task at hand will require that everyone rose in the same direction toward clean appropriations and away from

poison pills, needless to say, millions of americans will watch carefully to see whether and how congress fulfills its responsibilities this week. american farmers and ranchers, like the kentuckians visiting washington this week, expect us to take the challenges they face in feeding our nation seriously. veterans who swore to protect and defend expect us to keep our promise to care for them when they return home. in the coming days, we'll need to do just that. now, on another matter. since president biden took office, consumer prices have risen 17.9%. on his watch, inflation has grown at at the fastest rate in four decades. as prices soar, paychecks have

risen 14.5%, the biden economy has imposed a pay cut across the board. the effects of washington spending has forced working families to do more with less. as the american people struggle to make ends meet, they're carrying high credit card debt, 34% more than they were just three years ago. and polls continue to report that the country isn't very bullish on the prospects of undoing the biden administration's damage any time soon. by one recent survey, fewer than three in ten americans rate today's economic conditions positively and barely one in four expect things to improve over the coming year. so, madam president, this president's economy is leading workers feeling suffocated. the effects of historic inflation are inescapable.

even after paying the rent and mortgage, including steep utility bills, families still had to put food on the table in the face of a food price surge that's making the wrong sort of history. since january 2021, nationwide grocery costs have increased 21%. the cost of dining out has increased nearly the same. and by usda's own figures, grocery budgets are now taking up a larger share of disposable incomes than at any point since 1991. as one woman in suburban chicago recently told reporters, her family's food costs alone were rising faster than their incomes and surveys indicate that fully 94% of americans share her concerns about the prices of food and other consumer goods. this is the biden economy.

this is bidenomics in action and bizarrely, this is what the biden administration has decided to spin as a roaring success. both the white house and the president's reelection campaign continue to insist he's proud of his economic record. imagine telling anyone who will listen that today's economy has you and your family in a bind only for the president of the united states to declare a job well done. don't get me wrong. the biden administration is quite keen to assign blame for economic hardships. they're just looking everywhere but in the mirror. on super bowl sunday in the middle of the worst food budget crisis in a generation, the president himself cut an ad saying the real problem was bags

of potato chips with fewer chips inside. president biden calls shrinkflation a rip-off but the american people know the real rip-off is the historic inflation that cut their paychecks and force them to make tough choices about tomorrow and get through today. in fact, they say so repeatedly. the only question at this point is whether washington democrats will start listening.

-- madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from illinois. mr. durbin: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. durbin: thank you, madam president. madam president, over the recess that just concluded, i had a chance to visit south africa in an institution conference to constitution the future of that

continent. there is so much of the world's attention on ukraine as it should be, the middle east as it should be, we often forget the importance of this dynamic and challenging african continent with nearly one out of five of the world's population, a percentage that will increase greatly this century. there were so many different aspects we discussed, so many different opportunities, and the thing that i came away with was the clear understanding, the chinese understand this. they see a future in africa that we don't see and they're investing dramatically in africa's future. if the united states and other western nations ignore this reality, the africa of tomorrow will be a lot different than the one today and may not be our friend as we want them to be. during my time in congress, i've tried to advance several efforts to foster more engagement in africa, including support for funding to address aids, tuberculosis, malaria through the global fund and pepfar as

well as mow fillty programs -- mobility programs. bicycle relief is helping lead some of the most innovative mobility programs that help get kids to school and health care workers to visit rural remote areas. i didn't agree with president george w. bush on many things, but i want to give him credit for taking the united states a leader in stemming the hiv-aids pandemic in some of the poorest parts of the world, including africa. it was just over 20 years ago nearly 30 million africans were infected with hiv-aids, 30 million and had almost no access to treatment. president george w. bush's response was known as pepfor. it worked. its companion effort, the global fund, dramatically curtailed the

aids epidemic ravaging many parts of the world including africa saving more than 25 million lives. these programs provided retro viral drugs for those with aids, allowing them to live productive lives and preventing the spread of disease through childbirth. they have been so affected that some may have forgotten how devastating aids was killing more than ten million people globally each year and leaving 14 million orphans in sub-saharan after came. i was reminded how dangerous it was to southern -- where global programs have increased the number of mow lawians living with aids on treatment from 5% to 95%, survivors, so it is bewildering to me, i can't understand this, we're presently engaged in a political debate on capitol hill as to whether pepfor was a good program. extremists are arguing that we shouldn't reauthorize this

historic lifesaving program which people are still dependent on these drugs to survive from day to day and week to week. last year president bush jr. in the situation wrote an op-ed urging pepfor reauthorization which he quoted a late speech wrirp michael gish and his followers. what definition does not include saving millions of lives from preventable disease and death. bush went on to note, we're on the verge of ending the hiv-aids epidemic to abandon our commitment now would forfeit two decades of unimaginable progress and rather further questions about the worth of america's words. i agree. i call on my republican friends to help authorize this historic bipartisan blief saving effort without further delay. madam president, as a different

topic. the senate passed a bipartisan aid package before the recess, notably to help ukraine defend itself against russia. ukraine has fought an historic battle, thwarting a full-scale russian invasion two years ago and showing the world how you stand up to a bully like vladimir putin. in fact, his resistance to russia has major security impacts and benefits for our large western security. ukraine urgently needs more weapons and assistance and needs it now. our european allies approved their aid earlier this month. but despite european and u.s. senate support, many almost unbelievable events have occurred in the past few weeks having endangered ukraine's chances of success. closer to home, the house of representatives has remained passive, detached, silent for

the past two weeks on the senate-passed national security supplemental bill with its leadership subservient to donald trump, who in turn is just enomineered, a real -- enamored, a real bromance, with vladimir putin. he went so far as to encourage russia to attack nato members. can you imagine? i can't. furthermore, on the global stage, public reports have suggested that putin is thinking of putting some kind of nuclear weapon in space. for all those who want to embrace putin as part of our future, lookality the reality of the situation -- look at the reality. qua al alexey navalny died in a russian gulag prison just before a sham election. in response to this tragedy, trump sank to a new low

shamefully comparing natural and a half's death to his own -- navalny's death to his own legal problems. is there anyone who doesn't see that putin is gloating at this impunity? why would we play in donald trump's delusions? why would tax returning fawning over a criminal? imagine the scene shared by my colleagues from hawaii, that a ukrainian soldiers on the front lines checking their phones to see whether house republicans passed our ukrainian aid package. they were west africaning our votes on the floor -- they were watching our votes on the floor of the united states senate. these soldiers are fighting with their lives for democracy and security in europe while house

republicans do nothing. it is time for the house republicans to pass this urgently needed aid package without further delay. madam president, i'm going to show photographs of two individuals. two years ago i had the privilege of meeting this man, vladim vladimir care kara-murza. after his recovery in the united states, he made a conscience decision. he said i'm going back to russia. someone has to be willing to fight and die for freedom and democracy in that country. i said to him as he was leaving, you're going to face certain arrest and brings an opt of. he says, i know it. but i got to do it. he had to continue the fight. i'll never forget that moment of bravery and conviction in my office. not long after his return to

russia, he was arrested for criticizing putin's war in ukraine. that was the same -- he showed the same kind of patriotic courage as his compatriot, alexey navalny, who died just a few days ago at the hands of vladimir putin's henchmen. putin tried to kill navalny by poison, too. through it all, like kara-murza, navalny was undeterred. his tragic fate in that prison where he had been exiled, he would murdered by vladimir putin for fighting for freedom. navalny and kara-murza, heroes, congress should look to for inspiration and courage, instead of resort in florida known as mar-a-lago. senator cassidy you republican

of louisiana, and i are introducing legislation to rename the street next to the residence of the russian ambassador to navalny way. this will not change what putin has done or the unspeakable harm he has caused the navalny family and millions of ukrainians, including children who have been kidnapped. but unlike unlike the thugs, t force russian diplomats in washington of the reminder of their crimes vets -- crimes. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. . the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll .

quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

quorum call:

i want to show people what the governor of michigan said about the uncommitted acts and then we will come back. >> how they uncommitted do you think? >> i'm not sure what to tell you the truth. i can tell you michigan has been proportioned to be the home of

muslims, palestinians. we lived in harmony for a decade and there's a lot of pain all across all of these communities. we got the primary and we will see, just want to make the case. it's important that is not for joe biden, the second trump term would be and is not just our democracy at home also when it comes to foreign policy. >> how much work has the governor been doing supporting the president not only overall in the primary specifically

strips of these? >> she is not encouraging voters to vote on tuesday's primary she started off by saying all of these groups matter. i'm honored to rise today, the last couple of days of black history month to talk about a program we've had since 2007 in our office. this is a time for us to reflect upon the, in our state the black pennsylvanians who have led our communities in years past and who continue to honor us with the trailblazing work that they do throughout their communities. this year i again have the privilege of honoring several pennsylvanians as part of my senate office's black history month celebration. our honorees this year are edgar and barbara farmer who reside in

state college, pennsylvania. loretta claiborne of york, pennsylvania. dante green of pittsburgh, pennsylvania. and lauraline of philadelphia, pennsylvania. the theme of this year's celebration is, quote, the voices empowering generational change, unquote. i think all of us would agree that change comes with great difficulty, and we know that when we honor these individuals, we honor pennsylvanians year after year who have demonstrated the courage that's enabled others to follow them and to continue their work for change. it is especially important this year that we honor those with the courage to take that first difficult step to create change. this black history month i'm grateful for the opportunity to pay tribute to several trailblazing pennsylvanians who

sparked change, and by doing that make it possible for later generations to pursue that same powerful change. so i'll just do a brief biographical sketch of each of our honorees for the senate to hear about. loretta claiborne, from york, pennsylvania, she is a lifelong resident of yoeshg. she is a speaker, athlete and advocate for people with disabilities. she was born in the middle of seven children to a low-income single-parent family. she was partially blind and with an intellectual disability at her birth. she was unable to speak or run until she was four years old. but you know what? since that age she hasn't stopped running, having completed 26 marathons. that's 26 more than i've completed. twice placing her in the top 100

women in the boston marathon. she's won dozens of medals at the special olympics world summer games. she introduced president clinton at the 1995 special olympians summer games. loretta has been inducted into the women in sports hall of fame in the special olympics pennsylvania hall of fame. loretta is a lifelong learner, communicating in four languages including american sign language, and has received honorary doctoral degrees from vin nova university, quinnipiac, and york college. more than a learner, loretta is also a teacher, having given a ted talk on intellectual disabilities and speaking frequently about her story, including twice on the oprah winfrey show. she tells her story not to promote herself, but to teach others that people with disabilities are equal to others. here's something she said, and i quote, i figured if my story

could change a person's mind about another person or especially a child's mind about another child, then it was the right thing to do, unquote. loretta's story is all the more remarkable given she was born at a time when a person with a disability was likely to be placed in an institution. due to her efforts and others like her, people with disabilities today go to school, they go to work, and are members of sports teams around the world. loretta is a trail blazeer for disability civil rights, working to ensure that people with disabilities can grow, live, and continue to contribute to their communities as full members, sharing their own extraordinary gifts. our second honoree is dante green from pittsburgh. she is a mentor, coach, and widely respected community leader in pittsburgh who brings excellence to all that he does. he's among the next generation of community leaders helping

young men to reach for the future and working to empower others to take the first steps toward a better life. as a coach for the westinghouse bulldogs, dante took over a struggling football program and built it into a winner, even taking the bulldogs to the state title game in both 2022 and 2023. as a coach, he's not just the architect of a football program, but a molder and teacher of young men, having them not only achieve on the field -- i should say helping them not only achieve on the field, but also to translate their success off the field as well. dante chairs as executive director of the trade institute of pittsburgh, known by the acronym t.i.p., or tip, which seeks to intour men or women with significant barriers to employment by providing them the skills, training, and opportunities for career advancement. the training institute of

pittsburgh offers tuition-free trade programs such as masonry and carpry as well as related life skills such as financial and math literacy, resume and interview coaching, driver's license prep and one-on-one life coaching. many of the students at t.i.p. are formerly incarcerated individuals trying to make the difficult transition to life after prison. t.i.p. does work helping them to overcome societal barriers that, of so many americans. so many of these individuals are successful, achieving an employment rate of 94% among individuals who complete the program. t.i.p. also runs a workforce housing program that matches homeless students with a training institute of pittsburgh alum who work one on one with them until their lives and

income are ready for independent living. our third honoree, lauraline jones. she is yet another coach or involved in athletics, as several of our honorees are. lauraline is a teacher, mentor, basketball coach with more than five years of coaching experience within the school district of pennsylvania where she retired as the head coach of the martin luther king high school. since her coaching career began more than 300 of lauraline's student athletes have gone on to college on athletic scholarships, and three have played in the wnba. she cofounded a nonprofit that helps girls and boys hone their fundamental basketball skills, and she's been doing this for nearly 50 years. as impressive as her coaching

career has been, lauraline is the first to tell you it's not just about the sports. quote, these kids are my kids, she says. they know that i'm teaching them more than how to play basketball, unquote. lurline credits her mother, mary nixon, a domestic worker who grew up on the eastern shore of maryland for instilling in her the spirit of an activist. her mother raised lurline in north philadelphia. after leaving home for morgan state college in baltimore, now known as morgan state university, lurline jones experienced legal segregation for the first time spurring her to get involved in the civil rights movement which landed her and hundreds of other morgan students at that time in jail after protesting the segregation policy at a nearby movie theater. lurline was involved in fighting against gender disparities in athletics as well.

as a high school player and philadelphia's william penn high school for girls, she was denied a chance to play varsity basketball because the school did not field a team, spurring her to become a lifelong advocate for the rights of women athletes. at the age of 80, lurline's energy and enthusiasm are as strong as ever. here's what she says, i'm quoting, i want to give these kids a chance to succeed in life. i feel extremely blessed to still have the opportunity to make an impact pained it forward, unquote -- and pay it forward, unquote. finally, madam president, our fourth and fifth honorees, edgar and barbara farmer, as i mentioned from state college, pennsylvania, the home of penn state. edgar and barbara are long time educators and community pillars in the state college community. they fought for years for progress on issues such as education and diversity.

barbara farmer is a retired educator who thaws business classes -- who taught business classes in north carolina and virginia before serving as the first black principal in the state college area school district. after 40 years as an educator, barbara became the director of multicultural affairs at the penn state college of information and sciences and technology. she also found time to volunteer and to serve her community outside of work, serving on the boards of center county united way and the women's resource center while also chairing state college buroughs dr. martin luther king plaza committee. edgar is a retired u.s. army veteran who served in vietnam, attended penn state in the mid70's and worked in higher education in north carolina for almost two decades. in 1996, he returned to penn state as a professor, professor of workforce education and development. prior to his retirement, edgar

farmer worked in a number of roles, including head of learning and performance systems and professor in charge of the workforce and education, workforce education development program. barbara and edgar farmer long shared their wisdom and expertise outside the classroom. coauthoring two books, the first "diversity in america: visions of the future." and the second, "leading with character." they are leading contributors to local news outlets on issues of education and diversity. in 2017, they served on penn state's policing people of color task force and have long been involved in diversity issues in the burough of state college. barbara and edgar are committed philanthropists, establishing and contributing to funds and colleges at penn state as well as hampton university and norfolk state university where barbara and edgar received their

undergraduate degrees. last november as honorees of penn state's annual renaissance celebration edgar and barbara helped to raise nearly $200,000 for scholarships for students with financial needs. regarding that event, barbara summed it up well, summed up their approach to service, saying, and i'm quoting, all we have done and all we hope to continue doing is part of the charge we have been given as our life's work. supporting one another and taking care of one another make the world and our community a better place. no one could say it better than barbara did. so once again it's a privilege to be able to honor these remarkable pennsylvanians and to speak briefly about their accomplishments here on the senate floor. loretta claiborne, danta green

and he'd an edgar and barbara farmer are inspirational leaders who have brought about remarkable change through their own efforts and courage and will continue to empower generational change, inspiring others to fight for the change we need across our commonwealth and our country. madam president, i would yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. cassidy: this week the h-- the health, education, labor and pensions will vote a vote on nomination of julie su. this is taking place behind closed doors without a public hearing and with no opportunity to hear from -- important to note that the committee is voting on ms. su's nomination for the second time. her first nomination failed and was returned to the white house

after the majority leader declined to give her a vote on the senate floor when it was clear that based upon bipartisan opposition she would not be confirmed. during ms. su's nomination hearing before the -- for secretary of labor, she was was questioned about her tenure at the department of labor. her concerns over the leadership at the department of labor have grown and warrant further review by the committee i sent a formal request by the help committee chair to hold a hearing on her nomination so members of the committee could discuss concerns directly with ms. su. the chair denied our request and instead is holding a -- is holding a vote on ms. su's nomination behind closed doors without a full public hearing. this is unacceptable.

it has been almost a year since ms. su's nomination hearing. it is important that we examine the many issues that have risen since then and get an explanation over those serious concerns in her year of being an acting secretary. she has built a troubling record as the acting dol secretary, implementing policies that promote large labor unions at the expense of workers' freedom an economic growth. she has overseen dol's worker rule, dismantling gig workers. additionally, the department of labor has also proposed a new overtime rule dramaticallily increasing the overtime pay threshold by 55%, which would decrease job opportunities and raise prices for the american

people. the department of laib has a -- labor has a new policies that an outside official can influence a workplace even when it is not unionized. the union is not there but they can influence the workplace inspection. these are problematic actions taken by an acting secretary who lacks senate confirmation. the biden administration's attempt to circumvent the advice and consent provision by issuing her previous position as acting secretary brings this into question. there is serious concerns about ms. su's ability to manage the department of labor. under her leadership, there has been a 50% increase in illegal child labor since 2022. there are alarming reports that senior dol officials repeatedly

ignored warnings downplaying the ex emploitation of migrant chiln for cheap labor. when the committee asked ms. su's to explain dol's failure to address child labor violations, she failed to comply with congressional oversight. dol struggled to process h2b applications. these delays are having a significant impact on these employees and again leading to rising prices on families. the american people deserve a competent secretary at the department of labor as outlined in the constitution, the senate is still supposed to vote on whether to confirm ms. su's -- ms. su. help committee members need the ability, the opportunity to raise their concerns to ms. su and get answers. nomination hearings are not just checking a box. they are a crucial part of the process. every senator needs the

information revealed in hearings to evaluate and decide how they will vote on a nomination. the chair's decision to not hold a public hearing on ms. su is unacceptable, shows a lack of transparency from the majority, undermines the committee constitutional duty to advise and consent on presidential nominations, no one is above accountability especially on a cabinet-level nominee who has massive influence over our nation's economy. as ranking member of the help committee, i will continue to hold members to uphold our nation's labor laws. with that, i yield.

the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. 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 468, jacqueline becerra, of florida, to be united states district judge for the southern district of florida, 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 jacqueline

becerra, of florida, to be united states district judge for the southern district of florida shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are be 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.

the clerk: 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.

mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham.

the clerk: mr. grassley.

the clerk: 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.

the clerk: 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 -- butler, cantwell, casey, kaine, lujan, manchin, menendez, rosen, sinema, smith, tester, warnock, whitehouse. senators voting in the negative -- boozman, cassidy, moran, mullin, paul, vance.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. carper, aye.

the clerk: mr. sanders, aye. mrs. hyde-smith, no.vance.

the clerk: ms. lummis, no.

mr. welch, aye. mr. cardin, aye.

the clerk: mr. merkley, aye. the clerk: mr. brown, aye. mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. padilla, aye.

mr. kennedy, no. mr. coons, aye. mr. johnson, no.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye. mr. murphy, aye. mr. tuberville, no. mr. grassley, no.

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

the clerk: mr. warner, aye. mr. heinrich, aye.

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, aye. mr. durbin, aye. mr. schatz, aye.

mr. romney, no.

the clerk: mr. hagerty, no. mr. reed, aye. the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no.

mr. schmitt, no. mr. wyden, aye.

the clerk: ms. hassan, aye. mr. scott of south carolina, no. the clerk: mr. lankford, no. the clerk: mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: mr. marshall, no.

the clerk: mrs. murray, aye.

ms. stabenow, aye. the clerk: ms. cortez masto, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. lee, no. ms. ernst, no. mrs. capito, no.

the clerk: mr. cornyn, no.

the clerk: mr. rounds, aye. ms. lummis, no. mr. hickenlooper, aye. ms. baldwin, aye.

the clerk: mr. cotton, no. the clerk: mr. barrasso, no. mrs. partfischer, no -- mrs. fischer, no. mr. booker, aye. ms. warren, aye. ms. klobuchar, aye.

the clerk: mr. budd, no. mr. young, no.

the clerk: mr. mcconnell, no. the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. daines, no. ms. duckworth, aye. mr. thune, no. mrs. britt, no.

the clerk: mr. cruz, no.

the clerk: mr. schumer, aye. the clerk: mr. wicker, no. mr. bennet, aye.

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye. vote: the clerk: mr. graham, aye.

the clerk: mr. kelly, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, no.

the clerk: mr. markey, aye.

the clerk: mr. braun, no.

the clerk: mr. hawley, no. ms. murkowski, aye.

the clerk: mr. hoeven, no.

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote: the clerk: ms. collins, aye.

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 56, the nays are 38. the motion is agreed to. the senator from minnesota. ms. smith: i ask unanimous consent that the senate consider the following nominations en bloc -- calendars had 41 and 442. and that the senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate,

the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and that the -- and that the president be immediate lay notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the question is on the nominations en bloc. all those in favor, say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nominations are confirmed en bloc. ms. smith: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to localingive session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. smith: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent is that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, february 27; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date,

the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. further, that following the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the becerra nomination, postcloture. that all postcloture time be considered expired at 11:00 a.m. and that following the cloture vote on the leibowitz nomination, the senate recess until 2:15 p.m. a how for the weekly caucus meetings. that at 2:15 p.m., if cloture has been invoked on the leibowitz nomination, the senate vote on confirmation of the nomination and that if cloture is invoked on the dellinger nomination, all time be considered expired at 5:45 p.m. further, that if any nominations are confirmed during tuesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the presiding officer: without objection. smith smith if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

>> since 1979 in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress, from the house, and senate floors, to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat to how issues are deangted and decided with no commentary no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage you can find

it any time online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and news worthy highlights these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side was screen to see what was decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. every year, governs address their state legislatures on important issues facing their states this week on c-span2 we're bringing you "state of the state" addresses tonight starting at 8 eastern maryland governor wess moore talking his priority and west virginia governor delivers eighth and final state of the state address, after that remarks from south carolina governor henry mcmaster on teacher pay and mental health services and wisconsin governor tony lays out his legislative agenda.

followed by colorado governor jared, and later wyoming governor mark gordon discussing infrastructure investment work force development and energy production. "state of the state" addresses, all this week on c-span2. >> this is john the founder and ceo of the platform hedgehog joining for a discussion taking a look at social media and the role ofal civility thanks for giving us your time. >> thanks for having me. >> before we talk about the specific platform if you have a philosophy when it comes to how discourse goes over social media what would that be? >> sure. i think social media should be a place for people to engage, and actually grow and learn. and i think it is really important and it is something that hasn't really happened online todayay as much as a shod be. social media has increasingly if you will -- you know, distance itself from productivity and we need to take

it back to that so that's really what hedgehog is about getting online together and having important conversations. >> when you talk about that distance or and changes specifically when it comes to discourse what do you think of the causes of that? >> well, some of it is by design. so when you take a look at a lot of features on social media they're not designed to promote back and ports and not designed to get people to talk to one another.lk they're moree designed for viral short clips, and viral short -- kind of sound bites if you will, and a lot of what's going on on social media is -- circulated pretty heavily amongst people and followers that incentivizes a lot of uncorporative behavior if you will. what we want to do is incentivize people to have those conversations and if you -- you know, are talking to somebody you disagree with, having that ability to say look at we disagree, but we have a

right to disagree with one another and you have w a right o your opinion and i respect that right that's amazing you know let's move on. continuenu our discussion or tae it elsewhere that's really important. >> but you're saying that doesn'tla take place across current platform and systems? >> not that it doesn't take place but not on a wide scale and we've seen political discussion -- and the discussion in general in the united states. kind of get more and more -- heated if you and people start getting more angry at each other it is not bringing people together and socially media has had the opposite affect. >> as far as hedgehog platform talk about that development. what approach does it take that would bring in mind some of your philosophy? >> yeah. so hedgehog kind of -- i would s describe as a social media news platform. so you join hedgehog and you can read the news and see top stories of the day, and you know, they're designed to be written in a way that our

promote conversation so to get people talking to one another and in order to have that conversation, you need to be invitedco to the platform to hae conversations so it is not like you can sign up and anybody can comment it is invite only that creates a sense of exclusivity that creates higher level of discussion. if you notice on other platforms, if people want to derail a conversation, they can do so make another, you know, account. come back in, and continue to do that. that's nots how social media should be because social media should be about having those discussions and getting rid of those trolls, bots, scammers, spammers that's the first step that's what we've done, so you know, when you get on hedgehog you're going to have a higher level of discussion. once you get in, and anybody can sign up and back viewer. and s from there, eventually become a f commenter. >> a so if you're invited to jon what determines if you get an invitation? >> right now, it's who you know, so people who join hedgehog earn what'sle called respect.

so respect earns respect on hedgehog so the more people are -- liking your comments, reacting to it they're giving you positive feedback more points you get with those points you can invite more people. that's kind of how the basic invite system works. right now we're still really young and early in the system if you join hedgehog and follow me on hedgehog my handle is at john. i'll be handing out some more invites for peoplee to jump on too. >> and so is it determined then that the invitation that you speak about it only -- in that determination is, though, depends onn what you pot or if you're not one who -- you know, engages in too much conflict on social media what kind of makes those decisions? >> so yeah. it all comes down to respect so if you say something or make a comment -- and the community members like it we trust that the community members are going to reward you with -- reactions. so that's a thumbs-up thumbs down -- maybe --

we have a wide range of emojis whatever it might be. a smiley face, laughing all of that is used to say hey this person is -- you know engaging in respective dialogue, and they're rewarded for that and they have more power in the community to invites other people or also on hedgehog community members can moderate discussion on hedgehog on their own as well so -- as opposed to something like a twitterin or facebook where you have one central authority who makes determinations the people onlyg hedgehog get to make determinations in addition to theon platform itself so that's really important. >> are there a list of standards for those who are moderating red flag, so to speak, as far as where they would step in? >> we have community guidelines those are enforced by a team of moderators we have artificial intelligence that's helping but beyond those community guidelines we wantun to give anybody on the platform to

remove anything they think that is not acceptable so criteria is this done in good faith or is this something that's trying to undermine the community or the point of this platform? and that -- thatom ability has been given to people and -- we have what's called a parliamentary style voting system to have a majority people as well ase majority of points through the respect system. and in order to remove content we give that to the communities to do on their own so far it's been a great success. >> john with us for this conversation. he's the founder ceo of hedgehog, if you want to ask questions the platform larger issue was social media 202-7481001. and independents 202-748, do that -- mr. matze why hedgehog? >> yeah. so for me, it's hedgehog kind of takes me back to when my first

app when both jared and i other cofounder we built our first app in college it was i call it a toilet tapper so one of the games that you play and tap on your phone and pop up a platform. it was made after my -- hedgehog gloria and reason we wanted to r bring it back with o much negativivety so much seriousness associated with topics -- it's really nice to have something that reminds you of kind ofg the more simple things and to keep it, you know, less serious, and to have fun with it. that's for us what hedgehog means. >> part of your resumé includes being ceo of parlor can you remind viewers what prompted you to develop that site. >> yeah parler was, you know, i founded that. with -- with basically with the best of intentions and we we wanted to build a free speech site. a respectable free speech privacy online if you go back in time 2018 and earlier that was a

big issue. that i i think -- social media platforms had gone above and beyond what they were kind of intended to do started enforcing speech that the a right to be online so parler was created to pursue free speech so that's kind of the backstop on that. >> but the site also came into question after the events of january 6th so much so that the amazon web services took you offline can you recount those events? >>ul yeah. so -- afterr the 2020 election, we had grown tremendously to, you know, i think upwards of 15 million people were using our sites we had a billion dollar evaluation we were wildly successful, and leading up to january 6th, you know we had alerted fbi of the events that were about to occur. we had -- you know, we had taken quite a bit of activity with the information that we had done our best to help law enforcement.

.... rg had a much larger role in organizing that event. but i think it was a convenient scapegoat a little bit as well. we saw quite a bit every source from amazon and other sources for. >> wro tt about this or une magazine i created parl which was once the t growing platform in the world before publiame crashingng down. i found it and ran parler with the best of intentions i am ashamed of what is hijacked by bad actors looking to promote toxicity are you saying you had no role then directly bad actors and third parties? >> no, i don't thinkon you can y there is no role. iseveryone it's a little bit to blame. we did the best we could given the information at the time. i think that is really

important. and really, what we want to do now is to have had a lot of experience. whether it's good experience is, bad experiences, he put it all together and take a look we have a lot of expense or bring to the table here even after january 6 a lot of the platforms are out there the social media platforms i don't think they've made the necessary changes to prevent things like that from organizing and happening again. i want to come in here and say we are building a new platform that's in your take on social media. we want to do things right this time we went to empower people. we want to allow discussions to take place we want to do it in a positive way where everyone can learn and grow and enjoy their engagement online, social media without all the toxicity and negative side effects that come with it. >> hedgehog during his first call for you comes from jeff is a new york independent line. you are on with our guests, go ahead. >> thank you pedro.

i would like to preface my comments first on an article from nature. a number of studies of vaccine misinformation on social media argue such campaigns with negative opinions about vaccines and contribute to's measles online. on the covid 19 pandemic scenarios widely shared misinformation including false claims that vaccines manipulate the population contain microchips that interact with 5g networks, if you believe that. to predicate how important this is this is from another scientific journal the epidemiology journal. the 32000 deaths that could not have been prevented, promote unvaccinated during the 15

months that this study was conducted in 2020 and 2022. now that being said, all the types of toxic events that you talk about i cannot imagine anything more important to losing 32000 people in just two months let alone over the entire period of social media has been allowed to spread this type of misinformation. i just want to bring this to your attention. this is where preventable deaths were occurring dwarfs the other type of ills. >> jeff in new york thank you. >> yes, jeff i think you brought up a very interesting and excellent points. there are a lot of issues on social media right now. especially where a lot of people are coming in and just saying things as an incentive to say

something whether it's true or not. and unfortunately a lot of people believe p that. what's important is on hedgehog we have the top stories page and we have trusted sources. the trusted sources are taught media outlets and journalists the get the conversationn going. that's what starts the conversation and it's up to the community to continue it. it's important we design things that way. so we do not start with a factually inaccurate basis. you describing that has his negative consequences. start with something positive in something you at least know someone based in the truth. and from there we can have this conversation some people can discuss it. it is really important refocus and remember there is a reason we have journalism in this country and that it is their job to continue to not just give us information but to also do in a way they continue to earn our trust giving journalists that opportunity to earn that trust back after a period where i think socialism and social media

suffers important for. >> brooklyn, new york is where alan is. >> thank you, good morning. i was wondering, given the experience of the way the culture of twitter was drastically altered by the takeover of the company by elon musk, are there protections in your corporate structure that would prevent that kind of change midstream not just of ownership but direction and values of the company the weight we saw with twitter becoming ex? x? i hope the answer is yes they do take a lot of planning. >> excellent question. right now, jared the cofounder and i are the owner of the country that gives us flexibility on how things are ran. it's very important that we have some kind of alternative or someplace are people and some gather and have good conversations for your absolute

right. the changes they are -- and i don't know they are necessarily the changes i wanted to make. >> when it comes to the trusted sources who determines what a trusted source is a? what criteria is used to determine that? >> if you go to about hedgehog.com we have a list of our trusted sources disclosed on their transparency. because you're a professional team of editors we have at hedgehog when is the most factually accurate and high quality journalism where that's coming from in the united states. our teamns transparently publiss all of that on the site. >> as far as the representation then, would you say you would look at say an editorial page where it's coming from and how it determines if something ends up on a trusted source? how do you balance that? >> we try to pull sources from

across the spectrum. left,ne right, neutral we see things at reuters, we see on both fox and cnn on their part you'll see stuff across the spectrum. we try to use sources that are widely recognized as being in the top media outlets of the united states and are also -- have a history of at least professional journalism. >> eric from new york from the democrats line hello. >> good morning you all, how are you? i know you are fine because you said that to everybody before me. i want to mention to you for the past nine years i have done an experiment with people when they findsk them alone i asked them o questions. we do it identically with each person. you do three or four people a day you'll end up with thousands over the years.

i am fairly confident when i go about the public they are not the kind of people that you might determine them to be by online communications. and i see that there are different dynamic between you and another person you get to watch their body language it's an instantaneous this of a whole or communication. you can retreat from a mistake. you can get back on track so i would ask two questions i was excuse me i'm taking a personal pole can i ask for your opinion? invariably these thousands of people would say yes. >> what is the question? we are almost out of time was a the question you're asking get the respond to it? >> thank you very much.

i got a lot of positive got 85% and most people are nice. might rejoin it was what you think most people told me? the thing is, how do we amend the discrepancy that i find what you get a different vibe and a different answer from what the product of america is producing as opposed to. >> i think we've got the point, go ahead. >> thank you eric. what you brought up as a very interesting topic which is essentially the difference of online and in person speech. the consequences are unlighted when you're talking online a lot of social media platforms and let you make more accounts, scammers, bots and scammers take advantage of that and derail the conversation brief want to create experiences more like we

need to create a feeling this is a community where people belong and that is where they want to remain. by giving that community feel people are making it harder to get in. we are giving people that opportunity and also worthbe remembering almost social media platforms you can give a thumbs up maybe a heart when you react to something and have a conversation. it's pretty static with the comments. hedgehog you can react some of us wondered if an emojis on summons a post or comments. there animated and exciting. the other thing that is also nice as you have chat rooms that are at live in real time so it is quicker. it's not as slow as other social platforms. you can admit her back down from the point that you can agree or disagree with you or hey, maybe i did not think this through that can happen in real time back and forth and that's it we provided. >> you were on text us this is dean from atlanta asking what top what lessons did you learn

from parler that you apply to hedgehog? >> top three? they'll be hard to pin down just three. [laughter] i think we learned a lot about what every little feature can do to a platform. so remembering every little design that you have for the platform whether it be disclosing who is light or who has followedes you when it comes to moderation how serious we need to take it. that is very important. but remembering we still want to trust thetr people on the platfm and trust the community as a whole. i think in most cases people want what's best so we have to remember to remember these people on theth platform. that's people on the platform have not quite done have forgotten. >> and mike joins us from wisconsin on our independent line bert jon of the platform at

hedgehog. >> thank you for having this form. it is really nice to allow people to share their opinions when it really can't do that online anymore. for example i've been on facebook for a long time and everything i say now is shadow bandsy were that read what make comments are in my post along with all of my friends and they decide what they are going to erallow him to be seen by other people or not. for example let's talk about the fellow that called in from new york and blamed misinformation for killing 200,000 people. [laughter] because they believed theac covd vaccine was dangerous. so, for the last two years we've been told we needed to get the updated code vaccine that first one and now the second new and so for two years right now only

17% of the adult population have taken the covid vaccine that they are supposed to take. 83% of the population says i'm not taking this vaccine. you can pretty much say these people are anti- vaccine they are going into their doctor's office, he is saying you need this shot and they are saying no, 83% of said no i'm not taken this covid vaccine. for the children it's even a lower than that progress got the points or what was the question was like to address to the guest in relation to what you just said? >> i think we need honesty out there. we need to stop the censorship. for example everyone is calling in and saying i can't vote for trump or biden.

but, we have robert f kennedy jr. he is not beholding to pharma. he is not beholden to the military-industrial complex. he is not beholden to anyone. he is an honest man. >> honesty without censorship i think if you boil it down there how would you respond to that? >> there are a few things that we need too take which are helpful. one of them is mentioning these platforms and this feeling of censorship online. one thing it comes down to as well as not just that it's not a feeling but it's also there when you go on the news feed at most social media's it's a curated news feed or an algorithm is determining where to place things. they have made those decisions to do that in a way to keep fresh and new as it side effect of doing that. stop showingng up in your feed because someone you follow is

following something like or likesomething you will then t into yourr feed. it will promote things or demote or take away things you want to see. this algorithm is making that decision is in the best interest of that country. you are chosen to follow these media outlets. you are chosen to follow these people that is what you're going to see the order in which they posted. that stripping the algorithm away and make it very simple, what you expect is what you see that will really help people get with the expense online. >> from jon and massachusetts line. jon hello? wahlberg's all big major

corporationsns who control all f the major media corporations how do you get your funding how to get your funding for free speech not controlled speech through noalgorithms. not a fake news to the major corporations being run byun blackrock and so is your food and everything else progress color we will leave it there at your funding. >> one thing worth remembering is this topic of blackrock has come up a lot of social media online. companies and not have a whole lot of opportunity or at least had the opportunity to counter that narrative. it's not a very nice and narrative is not based in reality. the holding company is a fun people invest in. you too can own parts of these companies if you go to the stock market and buy stock. that does not mean the necessary

control anything. we ran a series of funding around we had a minority partner who came in and invested and that is how we received our funding to go this far. from here going forward we have premiums here which is her contributor what's we are accountable to our people on the platform because we are not going to be primarily advertised based. we are supported by our community members. we work with community members is different than other social media platforms who work on trying to get eyeballs on and get all of these ads it to load. for us to work for the people in the community. >> is the organization who reported at least for them some of your funding, 5 million of it is coming from fox corporation.

>> yes fox news is eight minority partner in the company. once again jared and i are the primary owners of hedgehog. i think it is really important such a large company has validated what we are working on and the amount of transparency and disclosures that come through when you work with such a large company. the security testing, theva privacy testing, all of the different components that come with that just mean we built a professional site here. this is it really good community for people to join and get into the conversation. >> with information post generally sick so that was that a concern for you as far as being a partner with them? >> on hedgehog is going to be really important have a diverse set of people on our platform across the spectrum. whatever fox, whatever brand they might have is not relevant. what is relevant is we have certain that we have in place we work opinions on a

platform and that's really important. i think when you look at effects large company has decided to invest this is business motivated companies these are businesses who want to see a a return on t their invest in the fact they think we can provide that is really cool and really important because our platform -- make there is a business sense to it as well as a social sense to why we're doing thisg because hear from willie is a mississippi republican line. >> yes i went tod ask when they create a narrative of the story i want to make sure i trust the story is truthful. also what toal say that when someone comes on and adds a lie to that story to the edit the story and cut it out because what has been happening for so long with the services people get on and tell lies. we want to make sure mr. jon and his company make sure everything they say is true whether it's

coming from fox news, msnbc, cnn, you need to have a truthful program because a lot of people in this country take the internet and the stuff they have on facebook and all of that stuff and they run with it and kill people. you need to make sure you are held accountable and the folks that come on your show, if they are not telling the truth cut them off and never let them come back again. that's all i had to a say. >> thank you willie. i think it's important take away from that call is we cannot have central authority determine what's true and what's not true that could be flawed as well. but what we can do is provide people to news and the media that's written from journalists and let people decide whether or not it is true. the community of people on the platform realize this is not quality journalism, they do not like it's a beep on the platform have the ability to remove that. or when someone else is something they feel is not right

there is the community moderation where the community can say this it community members spreading too much garbage that's taking away from the conversation we do not think it is truthful they have the ability to remove that. but really when it comes down to is the community can have these discussions disprove, prove, discuss what about this news makes it true or not true and that makes it that we trust we e have that conversation. >> and data privacy what's the best practices for data privacy? >> it is a complex topic. there are all sorts of countries all over the world that have different data privacy laws right now we are conforming to the u.s. privacy law and other states in the u.s. have different privacyaw laws. first a complicated terribly expensive andlt difficult that means the data is private.

we are not sharing or selling any of your information. we do not haveth any plans to is really important people remember we work for the people theop platform. which is also an incentive for us to not go ahead and give a wave and the information. taken that a step further is also that when you are on hedgehog we take privacy very seriously cannot see people following list that stops a lot of cyber bullying and tracking that happens on social media. a relationship between you and other community members on hedgehog is that if summit likes your post that is between you and the person that liked it. that is not for the general public to consume so we have taken privacy very seriously with all aspect of the design of the platform as wellin addition to the legal components. we've got a little above and beyond if you will and that is to ensure although it is a public site, it is still being managed with a sense of privacy they go with the expected

projects are conversation with jon at mesa founder and ceo of platform hedgehog. tom is in ohio republican nine lineyear old i guess good morni. >> yes i wanted to mention because the narrator brought up fox, fox news is owned by a democrat and it is a good company, thank you. >> okay. i want to ask you over the last several years, including recently we have had social media companies come before congressei to defend their practice with the regulation of social media practices what he think of the possibility of that? >> it is interesting. when it comes to regulations sometimes it is done with good intentions and gives bad outcomes. there's a lot of things we could do to really improve whether or not children or young adults are using social media online.

i personally think any kind of legislation to help children or people 18 and under to either avoid or give them certain protections online i would wholeheartedly support that. hedgehog is 18 and up even outhough we do not allow nudity, pornography and i still do not think it's okay for minors to be online as much as they areo today. so regulation on that front very good. i just hope any regulation that might occur d are being considew does not hurt competition it's really important have competition online. especially in tack there's so few large companies that have ability to crush competition we need to promote it and make sure still protected. >> when he think is a regulation that could kill her crush competition? >> who got to be careful a section 2:30 breed section 2:30 is a provision that takes a liability away from social media companies for what people are posting on it. although sometimes i think

section 230s taken too far when people are using algorithms feeds and they are using complex editorial decisions hidden behind algorithms to convince the general public that somehow it is organic when in fact it's not organic so addressing that issue is t interesting. it could see some merits if we take section 2:30 to interpret lots of legal liability for social mediaia you could basicay end any ability to compete with twitter, tiktok and other companies and that would be a travesty. >> are probably aware of the supreme court even today is going to consider two cases whether to uphold the publican backlog in florida and texas that would impose restrictions on social media companies to moderate content based on the claim they diss a favorite conservative speech what you think of that? >> on one g hand it once again it's good intentions they want to make sure free speech is protected and free speech is a fundamental backbone of this country respecting each other's

ability to have thoseon conversations. the problem is social media and online is different than real life if you can set up a bot army in the middle of siberia and attack online communities in the united states and have an effect on the discussion there, you should not be required to host the bad actors. so, on one hand you want to respect people's right to free speech while also preventing a community from beingom derailed from itst original purpose. right now section 2:30 and with the way the rules set up allow the platform to determine what is and is not allowed. until we can come up with a solution that works for everybody what we have now is at least a start we are keeping those protections. >> all this week we a featuring state of the state drses from across the country from coast-to-coast in the speeches by governor's offer a wide range of perspectives highlighting priorities and chlenges faced by different regions in the u.s.

tonight will have the governors maryland, west virginia, south carolina, wiscons, colorado, and wyoming. we'll have more later this week starting each night at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cspan2. ♪ c-span's "washington journal" alive of form involving you to discuss the latest issues and ingovernments, politics and pubc policy. washington d.c. and across the country. coming up tuesday morning roll call budget appropriations reporter aiden quickly discusses the latest on negotiations to avoid a partial government shutdown this friday. and then miles of the hudson institute examines the increase in chinese national entering the u.s. illegally and china's hacking operation against the u.s. msnbc host political analyst joanne reed talks about her new book and the love story that awakened america.

also detroit free press stars todd spangler previous michigan republican and democratic presidential primary. see spans "washington journal" join in the conversation live it seven a.m. eastern tuesday morning on c-span, she spent now every mobile app or online at c-span.org. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> are you thinking this is just a community center? it is way more than that comcast is part of the 1000 committee centers to create wi-fi enabled so students from low-income families get the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast support c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> democrat westmore's been the governor of maryland for just

over a year. he gave state of the state address earlier this month before a joint session of the legislature in annapolis he shared his vision for the future and education. job creation and reproductive health care government more is marilyn's first black governor in just the third african-american elected governor in u.s. history. his speech is 45 minutes. >> madame speaker. >> mr. president. madame lieutenant governor, members of the general assembly, members of our congressional delegation, collects state and local government, and my fellow marylanders. one year ago we began our work together. and we knew, what we found the opportunity in the state and we had blinding potential in this state we also knew we were

leaving too much potential on the table. and a one year later we still have got work to do. we have learned a lot of lessons, some hard lessons. [laughter] but solving big problems does not happen overnight. but let's be clear, a change is happening and today the state of our state, it is strong. [applause] we have announced the creation of nearly 40000 new jobs, many of them and communities that been historically left behind. [applause] we have the lowest unemployment rate in the country for the fifth month in a row.