they're scared of what he will accomplish when he drains the swamp and they're scared of what you will accomplish. so remember what president trump taught us. when they attack you, we double down and fight back. we are counting on the people to save this great country. to save america, and save america we will. [applause] >> and i want to end with this, as we embark on the difficult path ahead, i again turn to galation6-9, in due season we will reap it, we do not give up. we the people will never give up on america, i will never give up on you, president trump will never give up on you. thank you, god bless you. god bless president trump and

god bless the united states of america. thank you very much cpac. thank you. [applause] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government who are funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> koolen-de vries syndrome is extremely rare. >> hi. >> but friends don't have to be. >> this is joe. >> when you're connected, you're not alone. >> cox supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> well, it's tuesday, february 27th and on capitol hill, the u.s. senate is about to gavel in this morning. lawmakers are expected to

consider a couple of judicial nominations from florida as well as president biden's nominee for special counsel. three vote series are planned today. off the floor continuing on spending to avoid a partial government shutdown midnight this coming friday. 20% of the federal government, if no deal by march 8th the government would fully shut down. to avoid that the president is meeting with leader schumer and others at the white house today and talks would include approving financial support for israel, ukraine and taiwan. no word when house impeachment managers will deliver impeachment articles to the senate in their effort to remove homeland security second alejandro mayorkas for refusing to comply with the law and breach of public trust. live now to the floor of the senate here on c-span2. ... the presiding officer: the senate will come to order.

the guest chaplain, reverend frank carr, national chaplain of the american legion from halifax, virginia, will open the senate in prayer. s we invite your holly spirit to take control of these your senators today that they will serve the people of this nation with your spirit and truth. we pray your holly hand -- holy hand will keep them righteous, unselfish in the governing of this nation that their decisions will be made for the love of this nation and all the people

they oversee and serve. we pray, father, they discharge their duties with honor appeared dignity. that they will always remember the blessings of freedom was purchased at a great cost. that their loyalty, service to god and country and the spirit of true democracy for our nation will be that god will allow america to be that nation he intended it to be. and now unto him, that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faltless before the -- faultless before the holy spirit, to the only wise god, dominion, democracy and power forever more. amen. ska ska l ska l ska l --{>>}i

pledge alonagnces to the united states of america, 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 27, 2024, under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, i appoint rafael warnock to perform the duties of the chair. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, jacqueline becerra, of florida, to be united states

district judge for the district district judge for the district

we are joined by miles yu, senior fellow at china center director at the hudson institute and he was in the trump administration as secretary of state mike pompeo's china policy adviser. the program. >> thank you for having me.

the "new york times" is reporting growing number of chinese migrants are crossing the southern border. the estimate is over 24,000 chinese citizens apprehended crossing from mexico into the u.s. more than the last ten years combined. what's the cause of his huge influx? >> so this is a crisis of the perfect storm. first of all china's economy is in big trouble. the youth unemployment is really huge. somewhere around 21% to 45% some estimates. and also in the last ten years -- a lot of people feel very repressed so the number of people fleeing china has increased dramatically. in 2013 when xi jinping first come to power people from china

look for political side and the united states. today that number quadrupled to about 100,000. there's a push factor inside china. also the profile to, the united states by far the most generous country accepting immigrants. and, of course, there's also opportunity that is our border is porous, politicians and political paralysis date that of what to do so that creates a lot of opportunities for the chinese want to get out of china. also let's don't forget china is a communist country. it has a massive security and intelligence apparatus. so this is opportunity for them to also exploit this open border and get their infrastructure into the united states. it's a combination of many factors can also from the central american countries most prominently ecuador provide this

sort of mechanism in which chinese nationals could hop on a plane and lan in ecuador. so from there they make the long journey to the southern border of the united states. that's why to such a surge in chinese illegal border crossings trim of a couple things i want to follow up on the one i want to ask about how did he know? my understanding is this like tiktok videos about here's how you get to the u.s., here's what you can cross. there's a hole in the stands or this barrier, whatever. >> guest: there is a demand, there's obviously an enterprise to export this kind of demand. there's a lot of middlemen that organize such a massive exodus from china. the largest -- example is in

ecuador. where a lot of chinese nationals land and yet this will organize organization if some of the chinese allow locals to provide these facilities to make the journey come for a long journey. yet to get out of ecuador and cross countries like columbia and then panama and costa rica, nicaragua, honduras, guatemala and mexico. they go to arizona, texas and california. this is basically a well organized enterprise. this is one of the reasons why it's, the surge is massive and it is continuing. >> host: you said the chinese government would exploit the situation to infiltrate the united states. can you explain what you mean? >> guest: there is many legal ways, a lot of immigration laws.

some of our policies, passport is amazingly bad. if you are a chinese national your holding the chinese passport but you qualify for some, to become a citizen of united states either through marriage or your own talent and your title four u.s. passport. the u.s. government will issue a passport where the ask whether you still have chinese passport not. as result result we have a lot of chinese nationals for holding american passport as well as chinese passport. that's one of the legal ways they can exploit this openness by the chinese sort of maligned factors security apparatus. this would obviously is more lucrative for the chinese because if you cross border illegally and the registration, tracing mechanism of illegally cross chinese nationals is far

less effective so it's much harder to track them. that's one reason why this is a good opportunity for the chinese state actors to exploit. >> host: if you like to join our conversation with miles yu and ask about those border crossings of chinese nationals, you can do so. our lines are by party, republicans 202-748-8001. democrats 202-748-8000. independence 202-748-8002. you can start calling him id will get to that shortly. miles is a -- he's been on this program. he told foxnews the majority of cross borders are single males of military age. do you agree with that and do you think they pose a security threat to the united states? >> guest: i agree in principle. i think that's an undeniable fact. they are young, military age and many of them actually do not

have economic prospects in china and to think not all the obviously are chinese agent butt i think certainly some of them are acting on behalf of chinese government. we had some cases where they are released inside united states and they come to this country and act on have chinese government. los angeles, for example, and those people using technology particularly tiktok and twitter to basically to spread at the american rhetoric and telling chinese others have terrible american institutions, society is been. this is of the reasons why there are a lot of issues. i cannot say almost everyone of them were chinese agent but definitely of sovereign nation our fundamental fabric as a country rule of law must be

preserved and this is one of the reasons why border issue is not just an immigration issue, not an economic issue. it's really a national security issue, let's talk about national security and the chinese hacking operations that was recently revealed. there's a trove of leaked documents from chinese state attacking groups. showed beijing's intelligence of military groups were attempting large-scale systematic cyber intrusions can you explain what we learn from those documents and what beijing's purposes? >> guest: this trove of documents basically was released by tiktok platform, and it shows something very telling. first of all this scale is massive. this is mostly about the one company in china called i assume. i assume is a company, small but has over 100 clients.

most of them are chinese security and intelligence organizations inside china. so they pack massive amount of data, not just u.s. government, u.s. society but also over a dozen countries all over the world. this is one reason why this is very telling. number one, which was learned from this case that there's no such thing called chinese private company here in china, china has -- national intelligence law and third one is chinese -- those three fundamental laws basically prove every company chinese or foreign company in china at risk because you have to comply with the demands of the government and particularly in common is organizations. that's why this company is acting on behalf of the chinese state.

this is a reason why there is really, really, if you invest in china, every company, chinese or foreign, you have to run a risk of being forced into compliance with chinese intelligence organization. this is just a fact. many people try to find a third way and say we would engage in china economically and then the thing is wettable to get rid of the risk, but if you don't understand this case you will know that derisking itself as a risk because the factory are engaging with china economically you pose risk to yourself or to national security. secondly, the chinese government has been covering this narrative, it's really about china versus the united states. the countries are sort of going up against each other. the fact is this case tells us know, it's not a matter of china versus united states. it's china versus the rest of the world because they hack

every country. so if you have opportunity to do so. this is the one reason why what we are facing mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: later this morning,ly join with leader mcconnell, speaker johnson and leader jeffries for a meeting with president biden at the white house. i expect today's meeting to be an important, timely, and fruitful discussion about how congressional leaders, in conjunction with the white house, can meet the immense responsibilities facing congress at this moment. this friday, unless both sides act quickly, the federal government will enter a partial shutdown, with yet another funding deadline looming a week after that. agriculture, transportation, veterans programs and more will be thrown into chaos this friday if we fail to extend funding. as i've said throughout the 118th congress there is no justification, none, for provoking a government shutdown. democrats strongly oppose

shutdowns, and i know many of my republican senate colleagues, including the republican leader, want to avoid one as well. and we democrats want to work with them to ensure that a shutdown does not happen. look, we realize the speaker of the house is in a difficult position, but he must reject the maga hard right, which wants a shutdown, wants to hurt america, and which does not represent a majority of republicans in the house, a majority of republicans in the senate, and a majority of republicans in america, let alone all americans. so if both sides work together, if we reject poison pills that can never become law, and if we tune out the extreme radical voices of the hard right then the task before us becomes much, much easier. again, these hard right chaos agents in the house do not represent a majority of republicans in the country. they do not represent a majority

of republicans in the senate. they do not even represent a majority of republicans in the house. yet, they are trying to bully everyone else into submission to get what they want, and what they want, make no mistake about it, they say it openly, is a government shutdown, with the harm it will do to millions of people. the chaos we've seen over and over again in the house, just goes to show you that the hard right is not serious about governing. the only tactic in their pla playbook, the only tactic in the hard right playbook is to try to bully the rest of congress to bend to share views. by now, i expect many house republicans are beyond exhausted by their colleagues' bullying tactics. it's one of the biggest reasons the republican majority in the house can't get anything done. but for all their bullying, all their bluster, all their attempts at intimidation, the

hard right's efforts have consistently, consistently ended in failure. i hope this time will be no different. i hope that in the coming days serious-minded house republicans can work with democrats to find a path out of the shutdown threat. there's every reason in the world for both sides to work together this week and in the weeks to come. so i look forward to making that case to congressional leaders at the white house. speaker johnson, we are looking forward to working with you to avoid a government shutdown. on ukraine, today at the white house i will also make a strong case to congressional leaders, especially to speaker johnson, about the immediate need to pass the national security supplemental. i just got back from ukraine a couple of days ago. what i saw there, what i learned there will stay with me the rest of my life. the people of ukraine, for all their courage, for all their

spirit, for all their ability to defend their homeland, are dangerously close to running out of supplies. ukraine is low on ammo, on anti-defense -- anti-air defense systems, munitions and long-range artillery. in is creating asim think on the -- asymmetry on the battlefield. russia can fire, but ukraine can increasingly not fire back. they don't have the weaponry with the length of the russian weaponry. as president zelenskyy has said to us, if ukraine gets the package of aid they need, they will win the war, is but if they don't get those armaments, they will lose. the senate has stepped up to the plate. we have passed a strong, bipartisan supplemental, 70 votes. the speaker must likewise put the supplemental on the floor for a vote. i believe that if the supplemental were voted on in the house right now, it would

pass with similar bipartisan support that we saw here in the house. i hope that we -- that we saw here in the senate, rather. 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 those who died in the war, i hope speaker johnson recognizes that history is watching us and watching him. failure would be the best thing vladimir putin could hope for. now, on the ivf presser. mr. president, following the alabama supreme court's stunningly radical opinion jeopardizing in vitro fertil fertilization, democrats are taking action do protect every american's right to ivf. i just returned from a press conference led by senators duckworth, murray, and several other democratsic colleagues, senator klobuchar and baldwin, expressing our support for protecting the right to

repr reproductic -- reproductive technology. i commend duckworth and murray. i strongly support their efforts to strengthen ivf access for all americans. make no mistake about it, mr. president. what happened in alabama is a direct consequence of the hard right maga supreme court's decision to overturn roe roe v. wade, and make no mistake about it there will be other awful restrictive decisions emthatitying from the dobbs -- emanating from the dobbs decision. just like the supreme court decision to overturn roe, there is only one word to describe last week's alabama supreme court decision, shameful. it's shameful that families trying to get pregnant now have to worry access to in vitro fertilization will be taken away. it's channelful that in the 2 -- shameful that in the 21st century women have to travel

hundreds of miles for basic health care and doctors fear criminal prosecution just for doing their jobs. it is shameful that the united states has become an embarrassment to the world when it comes to reproductive freedom. it's especially shameful that hard right republicans, who spent decades parking our courts -- packing our courts with hard right judges are trying to backpedal and sound reasonable in support of ivf. that back-pedaling won't last. it's as if they lit a match, the house is on fire, and they say why is that house on fire? they did everything to lead up to this. we know that. make no mistake, the shameful state of a woman's health care and reproductive freedoms is the product of a hard right republican agenda. the minority, small minority, there this country -- in this country who are hard right are very happy with this decision,

but no one else in america is. the american people watched for decades as the hard right led a relentless campaign against the fundamental right to choose. republicans aren't fooling anyone by now trying to run away from their record. republicans own the disasters of roe v. wade. republicans owned what happened in alabama. and republicans will own the consequences. i yield the floor.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader.

mr. mcconnell: nearly 20 years ago, russian president vladimir putin described the peaceful dissolution of the soviet union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. and for decades he's worked incessantly to revive the repressive empire built by stalin, including by redrawing european borders by force. back in 2008, he said the russian military -- he sent the russian military to bring georgia, a sovereign democracy, to heel. his forces occupy parts of that country right up to today. precisely ten years ago today,

putin launched a military invasion into ukraine to seize crimea and the donbas region. of course, today isn't the anniversary of a settled event in the past. it's a mile marker in a campaign of subgags, and conquest that remains very much alive. over the past ten years, putin's invasion has grown from an initial incursion by to a massive ground campaign to seize all of ukraine. but as russia aggression escalated, two things remain the same. first, the incredible resolve of the ukrainian people to defend their sovereignty and second,

the tendency of western partners capable of supporting ukraine's defense to hesitate instead. think about america's own behavior back in 2014. president obama was six years removed from a promised reset relations with russia. and a little more than a year removed from mocking his opponent on the presidential debate stage for warning of the threat posed by putin. as he put is smugly to our coll colleague, my opponent romney, the 1980's are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back. that same year then-vice president biden said our colleague from utah was, quote,

mired in a cold war mindset. well, of course, the obama-biden administration didn't just scoff at realism on russia. they assiduously avoided it. when ukraine's pro-western democratic leaders face an incursion by russian troops, they begged for lethal web pops to defend -- weapons to defend their sovereign territory. but the obama-biden administration worried about escalation and sent nonlethal supplies like blankets and mre's instead. the next year the west' collective failure to support ukraine militarily or impose -- of russia resulted in cease-fire agreements that at best would have frozen the conflict in

place had putin actually respected them. even as the next administration moved to provide lethal assistance and training for ukraine and begin the process of rebuilding our own military strength, too few european allies were taking russian aggression or their own pledges to increase defense spending after putin's 2014 invasion seriously enough. unfortunately, president biden compounded the problems he helped sow back when he was vice president. from a disastrous credibility -- withdrawal from afghanistan to his costly refusal to steer european allies away from reliance on russia and especially russian energy. it's not a mystery what putin --

that putin was undeterred. the weakness and indecision that defined the obama-biden administration's response to putin's 2014 invasion have actually echoed in the biden-harris administration's response to his 2022 escalation. for months as russian forces massed on ukraine's borders and for months as their brutal campaign got under way, the biden white house mostly managed to deter itself from equipping ukraine at the speed of relevance. this is not to say that western allies and partners aren't making historic investments in deterring common threats. the free world is indeed finally waking up. in the last two years, nato allies have spent more than $120

billion on cutting edge u.s. weapons and capabilities while also making historic investments in their own defense and industrial capacity. and just think of the lessons russian aggression is teaching about the interconnected nature of the threats that we face. consider how unwaveringly our allies in the indo-pacific have supported ukraine's fight both in word and in deed. as taiwan's foreign minister put it over the weekend, on the two-year anniversary of the 2022 escalation, here's what he said. ukraine's resistance was, quote, showing us what fighting spirit is and passing it on to taiwan. or take the encouraging news just yesterday that sweden is

now finally poised to become the newest member of the transatlantic alliance. i visited stockholm and helsinki in a show of solidarity last march when the parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining nato. there is no question that sweden and finland joining the most successful military alliance in human history will further contribute advanced capabilities to our collective security and make the west and america safer. across the world americans' allies and partners have drawn sobering lessons from the latest chapter of russian aggression in ukraine. but we have yet to learn some of the same lessons ourselves. it's time to recognize how pass

passivity and delay have brought the west to this particular moment. and when they take us, if we don't reject them and chart a new course. we should reflect on the mistakes of the obama-biden administration. the failure to respond forcefully to aggression. and we should resolve not to make those same mistakes ourselves. for ten years our adversary has showed us by his actions that russia's appetite for conquest grows with eating. we can no longer afford to pretend otherwise. mr. president, on another matter, last week the biden administration's left-wing majority on the national labor relations board issued a ruling in a case with far-reaching consequences for free speech.

the decision had its roots in a quest by the board's activist general counsel to appease the court alliance of big labor and progressive activists. this comes after president biden fired her predecessor just months after his inauguration. facts of the case are simple. an employer terminated an employee for violating a content neutral company dress code that prohibited employees from displaying -- displaying causes or political messages unrelated to workplace matters. the employee refused to comply and was fired. breaking decades of precedent, the nlrb now says that the employer was wrong to do so and

must rehire the employee and provide backpay. for decades american labor law maintained important and fairly straightforward speech protections at work. employees have a right to speak about work. employees have the right to concerted activities in the workplace when they relate to wages, hours, and working conditions. they can also work together to form or join the union. but these protections included a clear distinction between labor advocacy and political agitation. people have the right to say what they want on their own time, but our labor law only protects political activity or slogans that are a logical outgrowth of speech related to

wages, hours, and working conditions. well, this particular nlrb aparentally sees no daylight between activism and political causes and advocacy connected to working conditions. in a fit of wokeness, the biden administration's regulators managed to throw out decades of careful distinctions designed to protect employees, employers, and customers alike. so progressive political messages may now be protected by federal labor law, but does the road go both ways? the next time someone gets fired for donating to a conservative cause, will those same progressives leap to his defense? i wouldn't hold my breath. the decision will have even more consequences for employers. employers will have to associate

themselves with the politics of their employees or else face rebuke from federal labor regulators. this is a government mandated speech, and its antithetical to our principles. it continues an alarming trend on the left, empowering the government to choose, to choose which speeches are acceptable and which is not. -- mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, it was over ten years ago there was a state of the union address about to take place, and as members of the senate were given a ticket for a guest to attend. my staff came to me and said,

who would you like to invite? i said, why don't we call out to walter reed hospital and see if there is an illinois soldier there who is physically up to coming up to capitol hill for the occasion. they said we'll check it out. they came back to me an hour or two later and said we found a veteran. she's a member of the illinois national guard. she's recuperating at walter reed and she can attend. and i said fine. i look forward to meeting her. the night of the state of the union address, they told me that the officer from the guard was in my office and opened the doors and in came tammy duckworth. tammy was in a wheelchair in full dress uniform, being pushed by her husband brian, also a mechanic of the illinois national guard. this was in the month of

january, toward the end of the month. and with a big smile on her face, she told me the story of how as a pilot of a helicopter with the illinois guard, she was shot down over iraq in the first week of november. this was january. the first week of november. and she'd gone through a series of surgeries. the result of that was she had lost both of her legs. at the time her arm was -- right arm was still in a sling and there was a question about whether or not she would lose that as well. so she was in serious medical condition but you would never know it. she was just beaming with pride and happiness, and i thought what a remarkable human being. so she became not only an acquaintance but started to become a friend. has become a very dear friend to me today. i'm so honored that we have as good a relationship as we do. it's perfect. i'm for tammy.

whatever she's for, i'm for tammy. and i found that that's a good standard to live by in illinois and american politics. so i worked with her through several political campaigns. her first race for the house of representatives ended up in defeat. a big disappointment but she never gave up. she never does. ran again, elected to the u.s. house and eventually filled the vacancy of barack obama when he moved to the presidency as she became the -- my colleague and senator from the state of illinois. we have a great political friendship, a great governmental friendship, but a very great personal friendship. mr. president, i remember the day i was driving from springfield in central illinois to bloomington, illinois, for a meeting. the phone rang and it was tammy duckworth calling many she said i have news that i want to share

with you. i asked, what's that? she said, i'm about to become a mother. i couldn't believe it. i literally couldn't believe it after what she and that valiant body had been through in combat for the united states i couldn't believe she had that opportunity to start a family, and she did. the reason, of course was in-vitro fertilization. she had been working on it for a long time with brian to have their first child. they had all but given up, when a mutual friend of ours, judy gold, there is one more expert you have to see, he never fails to create a family. she went to this man and thank goodness it worked. she became a mother, and it was a remarkable achievement after all she had been through and all her body had been through that she could reach that point. it couldn't tell you the pride

that was beaming in her face when i first saw the baby. she really chiefed something -- achieved something many people didn't think was possible. fast forward, if you will, to several years later, and she said to me on the floor of this senate, i need to talk to you about something personal. and we went up to my office and closed the door and she said, i'm going to have another baby. i said, i can't believe it. she said the ivf worked the second time. so she now has two daughters, beautiful family, she loves them dearly. i think about that when i think about the debate that's going on now, the national debate that was manifested in the decision of the alabama supreme court last week. when they decided that -- that court decided, consistent with the dobbs' decision, that ivf would no longer be legal in the state of alabama. as a result of that decision,

ivf clinics were threatened and some even closed in the area for fear of criminal prosecution for bringing to this earth children from loving families just like tammy's. tammy duckworth has spoken out even this morning on the issue and what it means to her personally and what it means to all of us who value those individuals who fight so hard to create a family. which is what she did and so successfully. mr. president, it was nearly two years ago the supreme court's right-wing majority made the disastrous decision to overrule roe v. wade, striking down the constitutional protections that afforded women when, how, and whether to have children. that is at at hard -- at the heart of this whole debate, it is at the heart of the ivf issue. now we live in a world of dobbs

where republicans have seized the opportunity to restrict the reproductive rights, health and freedom of families across america. since dobbs' ruling, there are abortion bans that threaten women's life and republicans in congress are trying to pass a national abortion ban. now it has gone one step forward as we knew it would. last week the alabama supreme court, which is made up entirely of republican appointees ruled that frozen embryos are children and their destruction could be the result of destruction of a child. i might add, if you read excerpts of the decision, they not only relied on a warped view of the constitution and other statutes, at one point the chief justice said that was at issue was the wrath of god -- the

wrath of god. think of that for a moment. in a civil court in america in the state of alabama that was his basis for part of his ruling. this unprecedented decision had already had serious consequences for reproductive rights in the state of alabama as major health care providers have halted in-vitro fertilization out of fear of prosecution. for those who desperately want a baby but struggle for infertility, for cancer patients who must safeguard future options as they undergo treatment, for same-sex couples who use ivf to expand their families, this ruling is devastating. how can congressional republicans call themselves pro-life, the pro-family party when they have actively preventing women from using modern science stoort that family? -- to start a family? how can they be for life when

they are supporting laws that enare danger women's -- endanger women's lives? predictably, republicans are steering away from this theory, fearing this will hurt their election chance bes -- chances in november, republicans are saying they continue to support ivf while codifying the bills that says life begins -- that would have established federal protection for ivf and other family treatments, the junior senator from police miss blocked it on behalf of the republican caucus. that was just two years ago. because of these extreme republicans, we now live in a country where women are forced to carry pregnancies, including victims of rape and incest, women carrying nonviable pregnancies and women who put

their own lives at risk, and because of the same extreme republicans, we live in a country where women who desperately want to become mothers but who need the help of i ivf may now be denied that opportunity. it is unconscionable that republicans would go this far, but not surprising. remember that quote from mia anglo, when someone shows you who they really are, believe them the first time. republicans have told us that they will continue to attack women's rights, sadly i believe them. we would be foolish not to take them at their word. remember when donald trump said he would appoint supreme court justices that would overrule roe v. wade, he did and they did. i will work with my colleagues to safeguard women's rights, and i do this in memory of my friend tammy duckworth, she is standing

with women all across america who want the opportunity to create their own families. we are going to have a hearing on this issue in the judiciary committee. it is important enough that we do it and do it effectively. mr. president, i want to raise another topic in the jurisdiction of the committee. in december of 2021, bobby everson was killed while he was in the care and custody of the federal bureau of prisons allegedly by his cell mate. at the time of his death, he was housed at the federal prison in thompson, illinois, in the special management unit, known for poor management, harsh conditions, even before the bureau of prisons moved into thompson from u.s. president lo louisberg in twakt -- 2018.

i asked the inspector general, michael horowitz to investigate thompson. one year ago the special management unit at thompson was finally closed for good and now we have the findings of the inspector general's investigation. the inspector general found things that are truly disturbing about our american prison system. he reports that operational and managerial divisioncies -- deficiencies have created threats to incarcerated individuals. like the failure to comply with policy, understaffing has increased the risk and contributed to more and more deaths that are preventible. a prison sentence should not be a death sentence in america. the inspector general's report also highlights that over half of the deaths in the scope -- in

the scope were suicides and almost half the suicides occurred in restricted housing otherwise known as solitary confinement, the gao released a compelling report on solitary confinement. the be findings were extremely troubling. as of october 2023, the bureau of prisons household almost 8% of his prison population in solitary. almost 8%. in many cases they were confined for 23 hours a day. we know that this causes last -- lasting harm to people. that's why i want to reintroduce the legislation that will reduce solitary confinement.

denying incarcerated persons of human rights, the bureau of prisons must do more for safer conditions. there are annual oversight hearings for the bureau of prisons, we will hear from the ig michael horowitz to examine what led these deadly failures many we must rehabilitate offenders and have them successfully reenter society. solitary confinement is not the avenue to pursue to assimilate these people back in america. it is long past time for bop to go back to transparency and reform. it's been years since i read an article in "atlantic "magazine,

a physician who is now -- who worked in the -- who is working in the biden administration. he wrote an entire article about the impact on the human mind of isolation and confinement. he started talking about prisoners of war like john mccain, a national hero, and the impact five-year plus of incarceration had on him and his attitude toward life. and he went on to say that incarceration in our penal facilities is not the right preparation for individuals who ultimately will be released into he -- into society. i held two public hearings on solitary confinement, and brought in one man who had been on death role in texas for ten years, he is an emotional basket case, another man in a similar circumstance in another state seemed to assimilate well, he is now an on the road truck driver

in the midwest, they told what it meant to have 23 hours of isolation and one hour where they knew there was another human being on earth. that sort of treatment is inhumane and it is are hard. sometimes it is absolutely necessary to maintain order in a situation, i understand that, but it should never be encouraged. unfortunately, i'm sad to say that despite my interest in this issue, i have not made an appreciable difference in the people who are in solitary confinement in our prisons. becan do better -- we can do better, we must do better. the hearing from the inspector general will give us the guidelines to follow to improve the situation. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with, and that -- also i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to complete my remarks prior to the scheduled roll call votes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, president biden's war on -- in made in part to satisfy climate activists on tiktok and win a few votes in the upcoming election, there was a pause on liquefied approvals threatening the energy security of our allies. mr. president, it is difficult to count all the ways in which

the president's export approval pause is a terrible decision. but let's start with the national security concerns that it presents. at a time when russia and iran are flexing their power with russia entering the third year of its unjustified war in ukraine, and with with raufrnian backed militia in the middle east, the president's actions threaten to enrich these two countries by increasing demand for their natural gas. in russia and iran -- and russia and iran are ready to oblige. russia has a new liquefied export facility and iran is working on one as well. it is ironic that as the president talks about the importance of opposing putin, setaking a step that could strengthen putin's hand by increasing dependence on russian energy. europe struggled to wean itself

off russian energy, around american exports played a significant role in replacing russian imports. now president biden's decision is calling american reliability as an export partner into question, and as a recent article noted, i quote, is s spooking europe's fragile energy industry, end quote. let's be very clear, mr. president -- the president's export pause, ostensibly taken for climate-related reasons, does nothing to reduce global emissions. in fact, if it returns the risk of increasing global emissions by pushing other countries to import natural gas from less environmentally friendly exporters, or continue to rely on other forms of energy, like coal. russian natural gas production, for example, is nowhere near as environmentally responsible as american natural gas production. and we have nothing to gain and

much to loose environmentally by pushing countries to import gas from places like russia. finally, of course understanding there's the risk that the decision juntas mines the -- undermines the u.s. energy sector, something we should build up both for the jobs it provides americans and the able to strengthen u.s. influence globally. mr. president, president biden's decision to pause liquefied natural gas exports approvals is of course just one in a string of decisions he's made throughout his presidency that imperil the future of domestic production and threaten our nation's energy security. simms taking office, president biden 's pursued a -- namely oil and natural gas. he has done everything he can to push our nation into a green new deal regime that our current energy system simply cannot cope with. at the top of the agenda has been a determination to force

americans to adopt electric vehicles on a broad scale within the next decades, a deeply concerning move because our supply chain and electric grid are nowhere near capable of supporting that kind of widespread transition to electric vehicles. in fact, our nation's energy grid, which has been stretched by increased demand in the move away from conventional energy sources, is already in serious trouble. we're rapidly approaching a situation in which we simply won't have the ability to keep up with current electricity demand. add charging for hundreds of thousands, or millions, of electric vehicles on top of that, we could be looking at a future of widespread blackouts and brownouts, to say nothing of soaring electricity prices. look at california, which has been a leader in implementing the kind of green new deal policies the president wants to impose nationwide.

a recent article noticeded -- noted, and i quote, there is intensifying political pressure on state lawmakers to do something about utility bills that have shot up by as much as 127% over the last decade, end quote. let me just repeat that, mr. president. there is intensifying political pressure on state lawmakers to do something about utility bills that have shot up by as much as 127% over the last decade. americans have already faced a substantial increase in energy prices under president biden. gas prices alone are up 33% since president biden took office. but if the president succeeds in fully implementing his green new deal visions, today's gas and utility prices may look cheap compared to the energy prices americans will face in the future. mr. president, in his three years in office president biden

has built an energy record that threatens to do long-term damage to america's energy security. and with eight months to go until the election, and more environmentalists on tiktok to attempt to satisfy, i'm worried that the president's liquefied natural gas decision won't be the last terrible energy decision we see from the white house in 2024. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. merkley: i ask unanimous consent for my intern sophia delamilio to have permission to be on the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. vote:

the clerk: mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker.

mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell.

mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty.

ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich.

mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar.

mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young.

vote: the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- baldwin, butler, cardin, coons, duckworth, graham, hassan, hirono, kaine, kelly, lujan, menendez, merkley, murphy, padilla, reed, rounds, schatz, shaheen, stabenow, tester, warnock. senators voting in the negative -- boozman, budd, capito,

cassidy, cotton, lankford, mcconnell, sullivan, thune.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no. mrs. murray, aye. the clerk: mr. cornyn, no.

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

the clerk: ms. rosen, aye.

the clerk: mr. schumer, aye. mr. booker, aye.

the clerk: mr. young, no. the clerk: mr. wyden, aye.

mr. markey, aye.

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, aye.

the clerk: mr. marshall, no.

the clerk: mr. cramer, no.

mr. heinrich, aye. the clerk: mr. casey, aye. mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: mr. wicker, no.

the clerk: ms. ernst, no.

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

. the clerk: mr. vance, no.

the clerk: mr. daines, no. the clerk: mr. grassley, no.

ms. klobuchar, aye.

the clerk: ms. smith, aye.

the clerk: mr. romney, no. the clerk: mr. whitehouse, aye.

the clerk: mr. carper, aye.

the clerk: mr. moran, no.

the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. hagerty, no. ms. cortez masto, aye. the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith, no.

the clerk: mr. paul, no. the clerk: mr. brown, aye. mr. rubio, aye. ms. cantwell, aye.

cleric cleric mr. hoeven -- the clerk: mr. hoeven, no.

the clerk: mr. durbin, aye. vote: the clerk: mrs. britt, no.

ms. warren, aye. the clerk: mr. johnson, no. mr. cruz, no.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. risch, no.

the clerk: mr. sanders, aye.

the clerk: mr. hickenlooper, aye. mr. braun, no. mr. bennet, aye. the clerk: mr. schmitt, no.

the clerk: mr. barrasso, no. ms. sinema, aye. mr. scott of south carolina, no.

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye. ms. lummis, no. the clerk: mr. lee, no.

the clerk: mr. tuberville, no.

the clerk: mr. mullin, no.

the clerk: mr. manchin, aye.

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

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

the clerk: mrs. fischer, no.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 56, the nays a 40. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 470, david seymour liebowitz 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 david seymour liebowitz 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 mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper.

mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley.

mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee.

mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch.

mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen.

mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- cardin, collins, coons, hickenlooper, hirono, king, manchin, murray, schatz, sinema, smith, and wyden.

senators voting in the negative -- barrasso, capito, fischer, hawley, paul, and scott of south carolina. mr. kelly, aye.

the clerk: mr. rubio, aye.

the clerk: ms. cantwell, aye. the clerk: mr. braun, no.

the clerk: mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. risch, no. mr. cruz, no. mr. mullin, no.

the clerk: mr. tester, aye. mrs. blackburn, no. mr. thune, no. mr. whitehouse, aye.

the clerk: mr. cotton, no.

counsel. . the clerk: mr. marshall, no. mr. grassley, aye.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. romney, aye. the clerk: mr. kaine, aye.

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

the clerk: ms. baldwin, aye. mr. padilla, aye. mr. cornyn, aye.

the clerk: mr. heinrich, aye. mr. hoeven, no. mr. murphy, aye.

the clerk: ms. hassan, aye. ms. klobuchar, aye. mr. lujan, aye.

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

mr. markey, aye. mr. casey, aye. mr. lankford, no.

the clerk: mr. brown, aye.

the clerk: mr. sanders, aye.

the clerk: mr. kennedy, aye. vote: the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. durbin, aye.

the clerk: mr. cramer, no.

the clerk: mrs. britt, no.

mr. reed, aye.

the clerk: mr. merkley, aye.

the clerk: mr. lee, no. mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: ms. ernst, no. ms. ernst, aye. the clerk: mr. daines, no.

mr. scott of florida, aye. ms. butler, aye.

the clerk: mr. johnson, no. mr. schmitt, no. ms. duckworth, aye.

the clerk: ms. cortez-masto, aye. the clerk: ms. rosen, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. moran, no. the clerk: mr. rounds, aye.

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. the clerk: mr. graham, aye. mr. sullivan, no.

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye. vote:

the clerk: mr. warnock, aye.

the clerk: mr. warner, aye. the clerk: ms. warren, aye.

the clerk: mr. wicker, no. mr. menendez, aye. mr. vance, no.

the clerk: mr. mcconnell, no.

the clerk: ms. lummis, aye.

the clerk: ms. hyde-smith, no.

the clerk: mr. welch, aye.

the clerk: mr. bennet, aye.

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

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

vote:

the clerk: mr. cassidy, no. the clerk: mr. schumer, aye.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 64, the nays are 33, the motion is agreed to. the senator from louisiana. mr. cassidy: i ask unanimous consent -- [inaudible]. the presiding officer: objection is heard. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 2:15 p.m.