authors, lives of black citizens, emancipation and the life of abraham lincoln. we'll tour the state department diplomatic reception room and interview an author about america's first diplomate, at 7 p.m. eastern we continue with the series free to choose, co-produced by nobel prize winning economist milton friedman and his wife. exploring the american story, watch american history tv saturday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. >> c-span is your unfiltered view oovernment funded by these television companies and more, including wow. >> the world has changed. today, the fast reliable internet connection ive

without. so, wow is there for our customers, with speed, reliability, value and choice. now, more than ever, it starts with great internet. >> wow. >> wow supports c-span as a public service, along with these other televisn a front row seat to democracy. >> the u.s. senate is a■s■put t gavel in. today lawmakers will work on a government funding measure passed by the house with the first of two shutdown deadlines tomorrow at midnight. yesterday majority leader schumer filed closure on the first package and americans who with cancer, exposed to nuclear radiat luthe morgantown, west virginia, will open the senate in prayer.

the guest chaplain: i invite you to pray with me. creator god, from the beginning you have brought order from chaos. and in your wise compassion, you order society by calling people into vocations, masks of god, d; which through others your work is done. we pray your blessing upon our senate this day, and especially upon the many you have called to live out their vocation within and around this chamber; for our setoir staffs, for civil servants and political appointees, for facility workers and security personnel, for lobbyists and support se workers, for press members, for pages and interns, and for all others. provide them all daily moments to remember the source and importance of their call so that they may well and faithfully exercise their vocation, in this

place, for both god and country. for this we pray in your most holy name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one tiod■-■b, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., march 7, 2024. to the senate: under the prio rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael g. warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray presint pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is clos.order, senate will proceed to executive

session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination. the judiciary, aid general general -- adrienne jennings noti of the district of columbia to be an associate judge of the superior court of the district of columbia. ■■x ah■[ 93 ■w

>> we will start our coverage at 8:00 here you can follow along at c-span.org. not only we get a chance to see the speech you'll get chance to in and give your response after it is done and you can do in regards to the top issues you want to participate in our poll

asking you about those results and are currently as they stand, maybe you are in a category, if you want to take your phone take a picture of that qr code you are invited do that. that will lead you to the poll and you can put your data in and will show you those results as the money goes on. 202-748-8000 democrats. 202-748-8001 republicans. and independenceo?■8 202-748-80. ms. heitkamp despite on phone lines, texas at 202-748-8003. you heard speaker johnson. let's take you back one year, a montage a montage of last years state of the union address. >> and two years ago democracy faced its greatest threat since unbroken. war,

[cheers and applause] >> i i want to t voted for the d to vote against it as well. but i'm still, i still get asked to fund the projects in the physics as well, but don't worry. i promised oda president for all americans. we will fund these projects andd at the groundbreaking. instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some republicans, some what medicare and social security to sunset. i'm not saying it's a majority. let me give you -- anybody whot. i'll give you a copy of the a copy of the proposal. >> congrsre the right that was taken away in roe v. wade and protect roe v. wade.lause] >> putin's the nation has been a test for the ages.

test for america contest for tha were to convince the american interest and benefit the world, but make no mistake about it, as we made clear last week in china threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country, and we did. >> public safety def o know. that too often the trust is violated. join us tonight are the parents of tyree nicls, w■,elme [applause] fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict gets us nowhere. that's always been my vision of a country and you know it's many of yours. to rebuild the backbone of america, america's middle class and unite the country. we the job in my view. i get a montage of the speech of

last year. if you go to a website you can see many, many of the stay a union speeches that are taken place across many presidents, if you're interested in learning 202-748-8000 democrats.site at■z 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents 202-748-8002. when it comes republican response for tonight state of the union speech its freshman alabama senator katie britt the youngest female senator shall deliver the speech, 42 come first woman elected to sit from alabama and the joint statement with considerable coup leader mitch mcconnell and house speaker mike johnson sheóf saidt generation to step up. republican party is a part of hard-working parents and families and i'm looking forward to putting his critica r. story adding it becomes amid backlash by your state supreme court that said the frozen embryos can be considered children understand over several clinics announced they were causing idf service as a sort of

the decision-making parents are pursui. t uncertain path reporting this point alabama's legislature has passed legislation to attend to that. when it comes form of counterprogramming former president trump plans to do the same for tonight at least according to his truth social website, a post yesterday saying i'm pleased to inform you tomorrow night we will be doing a live play-by-play of crooked bone china state of union address. i will correct andapnaccurate statements especially pertain to the board and his weaponization of the dj, fbi, agent, district attorneys to go aftl opponent, , something of done before in this country. we did this once before to tremendous success beating all records of support for the country to get. that's a former presidents plan for this evening. let's hear from david in new york republican line. go ahead. >> caller: i think tonight should be about unity and bringing the country together

and possibly solving the debt, the border, education, all of these issues, some of them like student loans, he doesn't have the power to do that. and the federal government holds the debt. i see why congress just doesn't take a vote on it. they should vote on it and say we voted on it, we passed and it didn't pass. but the net can doso if they waf it, congress should vote on it. also think the democrats need to get away from the news agencies and we should have more investigative reporters telling the people the truth. i think that would bring the people together. i think the court hearings with his son and him should also be addressed. i think tha they did to the former president

that he's win be dropped. and what did they do? they tried to bankruptcy in new york, for what reason? , we will take top issues for you and the united states, take a state that you need. the new york democrats like this is francesca. hello. >> caller: good morning. the president should talk■p abot democracy, how are we using our democracy. he should make sure that the people, that the republicans don't get away with taking away our freedom. because they talk about freedom but the congress is not doing anything for the voting rights of people to vote, and voting rights, they're trying to take them away, trying to take the women's abortion. they are the ones, the republicans are the ones that are taking the freedom, democracy and our freedoms away

from the women, and for many other people that wants to vote. they are not representing, so he should discuss that and think about■ should be, be looking and visioning about what they're doing. and even though they are saying the democrats are not telling the truth, they are the ones that are not telling the truth. >> host: okay. steve is next in massachusetts, republican line. >> caller: my main issue i would like to have them talk about the safety in america and whether america safer now than four years ago and we can make it safer, and whether it's the border and all these people come over or it's the fentanyl which way, it comes in marijuana. it comes in cocaine. and it's because they want people to be addicted to fentanyl. and it's like the wars that are going on, in 45 days putin stood

on the border of ukraine and how many times has joe biden talked to vladimir putin? they had one discussion, 45 days, whatt on, what's going on in israel and hostages that are in israel and why haven't we sent, demands to guys and hamas to get our people out of that country? you have a day to get these hostages out of there and it's the safety that goes on america. everyday we have lost, the gas stations have people with tasers don't steal someone's car while they're pumping gas. it's a safety in america that has to be addressed. >> host: carla in austin, texas, democrat's line. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i think the biggest problem in america today is truth. i don't know if the president can do anything about it but the mechanism to get a a news, sof

that professes is a have to havr viable proof in what they're saying before they say it. they can be entertainers and commentators that just say their opinions, but how are people to know what decisions to make if we can't get a hold of the truth works regular people can't verify all the things that are going on in america or allve tht people are just taking the side that they agree with. >> host: james in michigan about■r? top issues you may have leading up to the state of the union tonight. good morning. independent line. >> caller: i name is james from the state of -- independent voter. i used to be straight up democrat but now i'm changing for 2024. i becoming a republican --

>> host: lethe■[ on the because like us it yet to pick the light the best represent you. we have three like you can call in to invite you to call in on a republican mind if you want. 202-748-8000 is like the democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans and independents 202-748-8002. so if you want to call in jane's site have to do that but call in on republic on get you on. new york on a republican line is a a joke. hello, how you doing? i just see it this way, he's going to get on the podium, the president and his own to start talk about obviously the great job he did to america and this and that and his people did this and that. but what he really would like people, the democrat callers tos of the difference on how the country was when donald trump

was in office and biden is in office now, that is coming up to the end of his term? so positive, as far as the board and distorts everything else? he's going to go up there talk s about it and what he did to this country and have great he did a job. the border issue if it does take it up he's going to blame either the republicans or not himself but he's the president who has a and paper that can write everything and stop the border from the way it's going now. scary the way america turn out this last four years, but the democrat callers have got to realize, even though you hate trump of his personnel, the way he was at this and that everything else, the way, way you feel, this country was not doing, wasn't as bad as it is

now. it is horrible and we are a weak country in the world. and that's basically all i have to say. >> host: gel in new york. again president biden expected to tout the confidence of his record runtimes office in tonight state of the union which the for us starts at eight. what happens after two nights speech is highlighted in the "washington post" when it comes to what advisers are planning on saying the campaign now says mr. biden state of the union appears in for congress will mark the beginning of the end of the waiting gam broader network of supporting groups are poised to turn on the machine open the coming months while the former president trump if it's to the general electioní the mission to demonstrate biden's momentum and tapped on party anxiety before the august convention in chicago, use swing state advertising from the campaign in sa group is expected in the coming weeks and months. state leadership teams in the eight al green states including

newly added new hampshire have in order to begin engaging with volunteers and contacting voters to what the campaign has called quote march month of action. win groups will be launched, members of congress will be dispatched, administration travel including why mr. biden will be robust mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr mr. president, tonight the president of the united states comes before congress to deliver his state of the union address to the american people.e for the comma in chief to tell the story of where our country stands today, to hear about the sacrifices we have made as a country, about the challenges we have overcome, and about the kind of future we can achieve if we work together. america has suffered immense challenge in recent years. when president biden took office over 3,000 americans were dying of covid a y. 18 million americ

on unemployment. our democracy was wounded and damaged and battered after january 6. suffocating heights. but today, president biden will make clear that after so much adversitymerica's economy is growing, inflation is slowing, and democrats' agenda is delivering. our economy has added a record+ 15 million new jobs, 15 million new jobs since president biden took office, the gracest turn -- greatest president. last year alone, commit created more jobs than any year of the trump administration. less than two years ago, inflation was at a crushing 9%. today, it has cooled to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. that means over the last year, the prices o milk, eggs, appliances, car rentals and airfare have all come down. across the country, manufacturing and job creation

is surging, communities that have been long overlooked, especially in places like upstate new york, are getting a second chance. it didn't happen on its own. it's the result of the democratic agenda, a result of legislation like the american rescue plan, chips and science and the inflation reduction act, which i was happy to champion in the democratic senate, as i was majority leader.ata tell only part of the story. today, i'm honored to welcome five inspiring new yorkers and one brave ukrainian soldier as my guests for the state of the union. these six individuals show better than any statistic how america's made by the policies of the biden administration and a democratic senate. you can look at the example of andrechavozarov, a 25-year-old ukrainian soldier, who risked his life and limb on the battlefield. after losing his leg in a mine explosion, he came to new york

in january for prosthetics and rehabilitation treatment at staten island university hospital. honor to welcome andr and the senate thanks him for his sacrifice. he reminds us all about the stakes of the war inukraine, is of the importance of passing the supplemental, and i will continue working as hard as i can to make sure we get it done. it's a historicom cannot turn o ukraine and our other allies and the men eva'ss we face in the the menaces we face in the world. you can also look at the story of kate fally of the hudson valley, who isecting her second child but in vitro fertilization. without ivf she could not have gotten pregnant. it's heartbreaking and enraging that extreme republicans made people like kate worry this will be curtailed. i'm honored to welcome her today. i'm also

friend, kevin mccaffrey of suffolk county. the proud president of teamsters local debra hartman, retired ufcp member who worked at tops supermarket. kevin is the republican leader of the suffolk county legislature. it didn't stop he and i to work to deal with the pensions his members of his local, local 707, might have lost. like many americans, both kevin face the unthinkable llow prospect of their pensions drying up in just a few -- just a few years ago. some pensions cut by as much as two-thirds. people who put in every two weeks money, hoping, knowing, relying on the fact that their retirement would be secure. wouldn't make them rich, but make them secure,

pulled out from under them. from kevin, one end of my state, debra, from the other, we saved those pensions. republicans refused to relief. democrats had to do it. thanks to the reforms in the american rescue plan, millions of union brothers and sters across new york and america have seen that critical pension relief and have their pensions restored. these workers, who saved their whole lives toet dignity, have seen their dignity restored. something all americans can be very proud of. i'm also proud of new yorkers like van robinson who i've nope for decades and partnered with to combat gun violence, and red lead poisoning for underserved communities. van has been a leading voice reconnecting communities divided by highways and tearing down i-81 in syracuse. thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law that i led in congress, we're getting it done

welcome kick speaka -- kim speaka, a technician at global foundries. kim shows what the too much can look like for so many new yorkers. she got her job after finishing a registered apprenticeship program at hudson valley community college. recently, global found ris received the largest preliminary award from chips and science to date, over build a second chip fab in new york's capital region and create thousands of good-paying jobs, like kim's. i was proud to lead the way on chips and science, because i knew what it would would mean for new yorkers like kim in the form of new jobs, greater opportunity, more decent life. if you want to see how far we've come as a country, these new yorkers are a good ine are the reason why we fought so hard to pass ti knew they would make an

enormous difference for new yorkers, like the people who are joining me tonight. democrats' agenda paying off in other ways. americans are paying less for insulin, prescription drugs for seniors on medicare have been capped, student loan borrowers are seeing hundred of billions in debt forgiveness. so tonight the difference between the parties will be as clear as night andused on lowering costs, creating jobs, putting money in people's pockets. but the hard right, which too often runs the republican p in the house and now increasingly in the senate, is consumed by chaos, bullying, and attacking things like women's freedom of choice.n front-runne president has made it abundantly clear that he's not running to make people's lives better but, rather, on airing his grievance. donald trump's cynical power grab even destroyed the best change to border security that congress has seen in decades, a bill that even a "wall street

journal" poll from this morning shows that americans supported. americans wanted bipartisan border security. congress had bipartisan security ready to go, and donald trump and followers are at fault for killing it in its tracks. that is shameful cynicism that, once again, hurts america. ideologues can't run the show here. we have to fight these things. so i thank president biden for his leadership. the road hasn't been easy. the work is not yet done. but we have come far. we have overcome so much. andit the line for american families, american values, and america's future, it's imperative we stay the course and finish the job we began three years ago. on the appropriations bill, well, mr. president, last night the house passed the six appropriationsil

overwhelming bipartisan vote, 339-85. last night the senate took the first step to advance the appropriations bill via voice vote, which i hope portends more bipartisan cooperation moving forward. the watchwords for the senate will be cooperation and speed, as we work to pass these appropriations bills before tomorrow and tonight's deadline, and it's notewohy that a majority of both parties in the house -- a majority of even the republicans -- supported this legislation. of course, never is easy in divided government, but with hard work, cooperation, persistence, good things can happen i together before other -- other -- extraneous and often destructive issues. the senate will continue our work on these appropriations bills today, so we can finish the package before tomorrow night's deadline. we're close to the finish line, but it'll take bipartisan co

and finally, mr. president, on the faa, last night the senate -- i'm glad unanimously approved a temporary extension of faa funding until may 10. this extension will give chair cantwell and the commerce committee the time it needs to resolve the differences between faa ill faa legis house. i'm committed to moving a faa bill passed and signeded into law as soon as we can so we can nations in the world for air travel. getting faa reauthorization done will mean more safety inspectors at manufacturing plants, more traffic controllers, better customer service and mandatory refunds. i have insisted, aided by the families in buffalo, i have insisted it cnot and will not be weakened.

thank you to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for continuing work on the faa, and i look faa reauthorization to the floor and sending it to the president's desk. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

>> now i'm a republican and i think the economy and inflation is the biggest issue. last year i spent seven dollars a gallon for gas twice in 2023. i think the reason why is because we were in the war with ukraine. also i would like to comment on biden taking foreign money for personal gain. because i'm wondering how does he get away with that, let's go to curtis in clearwater, florida, independent line. >> yes. good morning, pedro. talking about the top stories are what o concerns are. >> host: in the united states. >> caller: yeah. what you want to do is read to albert einstein warned in 1949 that the time would come when the very rich so control the means ofommunication that it

would be almost impossible for ordinary people to make informed decisions. and then he says, and so democracy will -al time that ein is talking about. i'm guessing basically being able to take people, be think critically is almost like a lost art. i just, i would like for some media. i think we all would like that. and not for the democrats come seems like they run, they own the di mark in florida. top issue facing the united states, democrat's line, go ahead. caller: immigration here as well. i think biden has an opportunity to present the bipartisan senate

bill that was done by a very conservative republican, and more. with. the presiding officer: without objection.■" mr. mcconnell: well, tonight president biden will deliver the last state of the union address of his term. for the past three years, these speeches haveçg sved markers, but not of any meaningful progress to a more perfect union. instead, each year the american people tune in to see just how far the president's own version of his record has ruined the reality of their lives. for three campaigned as a moders

governed like an activiste furt democratic party. the biden administration's agenda has been -- at home and weakness abroad. itidd to be this way. president biden took office amid strong tailinwiths from an economic recovery -- to a modernization of our military that was well under way. he inhitter herited -- he inherited everything he needed to point our nation towards further secury and prosperity. . but he chose weakness and invited danger instead. nearly voters say our economy is worse

than it was four years ago. not even one in four think our country is on the right track. barely a quart of the country -- barely a quarter of the country expects our economy to improve in the coming year. but that hasn't stopped prident biden from trying to convince working americans that take his word for it and ignore their hone shrinking payce their own shrinking paychecks. he's literally taken a victory tour to try out his disastrous economic record. his administration has declared bidenomics the word of the yr. meanwhe, american consumers are shelling out a bigger portion of their income on groceries than at any point in the last 30 years.

a food pantry in northern kentucky is reporting more and more in demand for enough food to make people's income stretch. across the board, consumer prices are nearly 18% higher today than they were when president biden took office. bi action really means? at kitchenab working families will probably wonder whether the president has any regrets, whether he wishes he hadn't ignored his party's top economists and rammed through trillions of dollars in left-wing spending, inflation in 40 years. or whether he wishes hotal war

affordable sources of domestic energy. the jobs these american industries support. on president bin'watch, overall energy prices are up nearly a third. time after time, when given the choice to lead or to outsource his work to ft-wing activists, president biden has chosen the latter. he's handed his base a blank check for a wish list of social engineering and left the american people to foot the bill. poured gasoline on the fire of left-wing pro-criminal antipolice the cou. the biden administration has

packed its justice department full of le activists overtime to tear serious crimes right out of the criminal code. a couple years back, a district attorney in massachusetts declared she wouldn't prosecute crimes like breaking and with intent to distribute. president biden rewarded this behavior by making raichingins of his first u.s. attorneys. across the country on this president's watch, left-wing pr repeated offenders into the streets, reeñpeerica, violent criminals have learned that they won't face serious consequences, and of course they're acting accord at the same time, left-wing

activists bent on attacking the federal judiciary found an allyb biden white house. the president has tried to give life tenure to a judicial nominee who identifiedwild-eyed. another with a history of supporting terrorist simple pa thighsers and one one who worked to undermine a teenager girl's claim of sexual assault. president biden■8■u■ hasju putt in our nation's institutions, he's spent three years undermining the institutions his attorney general slow walked urgent security measures to protect the supreme court justices and their families from angry mobs and his administration even stood up a commission to explore court tactic, a terrible idea that

hasn't gotten any less terrible 1930's.t was killed back in the mr. president, the rule of law is less stable on president biden's watch. the streets of our major cities are less safe. and, of course,■@ borders are less secure. three years ago illegal immigrants arrived at our southern border in church wearing his campaign logo insisting, as one put it, that, quote, biden promised us that everything was going to change, that everything was going to change. well, they were president biden office, nearly ten million people have crossed our southern border illegally. his administration's abandoning cbp and ice to content with the

highest daily, yearly totals of illegal arrivals on record. as soon as he tkoffice, the president tore up commonsense authorities - to maintain a secure border. instead, he spent years pretending that functionally open borders didn't amount to a crisis. the only campaign promise president biden appears to have kept is the one he made on the campaign trail to people hoping to cross our borders illegally. we immediately border, all the surge to the border, all these people that are seeking asylum. by contrast, it's difficult to think of a pledge the president abandoned more completely than his campaign promise to restore

respect for america on the world xhstage. today the credibility of our commitments is in serious doubt. the west is dangerous moment since the fall of the berlin wall, but our commander in chief just first instincts appear to be hesitation and self-deterrence. president biden's affairs pose embarrassing questions for america and our allies and partners. are we safer after his disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan? allies still take ? did the president's self-proclaimed fear of escalation force putin to back down from his own brutal escalation in ukraine?

or did it give the ukrainians the critical weapons they needed when they need ed the most.lose middle east, you're lucky they can count on america's total supportn existential fight against genocidal terrorists. the world's most active state sponsor of terror think twice before targeting americans, like

the georgia guardsmen killed and kentucky soldiers injured in the tower22 attack in jordan? does iran hesitate to stick its commercial shipping? did the biden administration's climate diplomacy with beijing close any meaningful gaps iø strategic competition with our top adversary? did it reassure our allies and partners i we understood the importance of hard power? the answer to all these questions is a resounding no.

president biden's three years in office have left american leadership a weaker brand, and our resolve less a fearsome asset. and we'll be dealing with the consequences of his failures for years to come. around the biden administration's hundred day mark, i warned the president that it wasn't too late to change course and start governing as the moderate he promised he'd be. needless to%@ say, he certainly didn't take my advice. and he didn't take the american sterner counsel either when they demanded change at the ballot box the following year. well, this fall the voters have a chance to issue a further course correction, one with a bit morphin naturalty -- bit more finality. tonightailed in the boast basic responsibilities of

government. he'll come to the capitol with a record of historic inflation, suing cre,s, and weakness on the world stage. then of course the american people will witness a stark contrast. they'll hear our colleague, senator britt, tell her story and offer a very different assessment of this moment in american history, one that embraces what makes our nation great. i'm glad for the nation to hear directly from the youngest republican woman ever elected to the senate and one of our iquorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin. ■> 4á

is

. mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. presiden is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, it is. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, deliver his ident biden will state of the union address. it's a natural time to look at a president's legacy. if one thing is certain, it's the biden much for the state of our union. yesterday i came down to the floor to talk about the national security crisis we're facing at our southern border. it's a crisis we've been facing almost since the day the president took office. the president marked his inauguration by taking measures that weakened on our nation's rder security, including halting construction of the border wall, rescinding the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border, deportations except under certain conditions. the effect was to declare to the world that the united states borders were effectively open.

and the number of migrant encounters at our southern border ticked up accordingly. and the has never stopped. president biden's presided over three record breaking years of illegal immigration at our southern border. and it our current track, he'll likely be presiding over a fourth. the first four months of fiscal year 2024 saw nearly one million migrant encounters at our southern border. one million in just four months. these kinds of numbers not only represent a logistical and humanitarian crisis, they represent, mr. president, a in security. there is no question that the kind of numbers we're seeing smooth the way for dangerous ou country. last year 169 individuals on the terrorist watch list were apprehended attempting to cross our southern border■y■ and we're on track to exceed that number this year. and those numbers only reflect

individuals who are actually prehended. with around 1.8 million known got-aways since president biden took office, and an untold number of unknown got-aways, i think we can safely assume take there are plenty of dangerous people making their way into our country without being stopped. and border crisis is not the only way in which he's jeopardized our national security. his disastrous withdrawal if afghanistan weakened our standing with our allies and his failure to prioritize ensuring our military is equipped to meet and defeat sends a dangerous signal to bad actors around the world. then of course there's the fact that the president isf@etting up -- setting us up for a future energy crisis that will jeopardize our nation's security by jeopardizing our energy security not to mention jeopardizing americans' pocketbooks.

the president's hostility to conventional energy production and his us into a green new deal regime that our current energy system simply cannot cope with is setting us up for long-term instability in our nation's energy supply. that threatens our national security which stable access to energy and it threatens americans' financial security as an unstable supply will almost unquestionably result in higher prices. the steep rise in energy prices so far under the biden administration could look small compared to the energy prices americans could see under the green new deal regime president biden envisions for the future. speaking of higher prices, mr. president, perhaps the defining feature of the biden administration is the inflation crisis the president helped create when he signed the rescu act and flooded the economy with unnecessary government spending.

three years still well above the federal reserve's target rate. and americans continue to suffer. today it cost a typical family a thousand dollars more per month to maintain the standard of living it had when prgid $1,000 more per month, just to tread water. grocery prices are up 21% under president biden. the cost of food now takes up a larger share of ■ad#amer americans'able -- disposable income than at any point in 30 years. to earlier.ergy costs i the 10% increase in housing costs. the 27% increase in the repairs. and the list goes on.

the president likes to talk about giving american families breathing room. well, mr. president, president biden has eliminated the breathing room for a lot of ameranfamilies. along with higher prices, much higher prices, on everything from groceries to gas, americans are also with the high interest rates the federal reserve has had to impose to deal with president biden's inflation crisis. those interest rates helped drive up mortgage rates and credit card rates, compounding economic hardship for a lot of americans. it's no wonder that in a r, one the economy was on the right track. of that, 57% of respondents in the economy is fairly bad or very 66% of respondents in that same poll said things in america are

going somewhat or very mr. president, an inflation crisis, a national security crisis at our southern border, . it is no wonder that americans aren't feeling very optimistic about thete nation. it would be nice if the president spoke to their concerns tonight i expect that his speech tonight will have more blame shifting than conclusions to the crises that he helped create,with, of election-year handouts designed to attract voters. americans are looking for relief. they're not going to find it from president biden in his speech tonight to the state to the union. mr. president, i yield the floor. i'll yield the floor.

mr. cruz: mr. pr texas. mr. cruz: mr. president, i rise today to pass the i-27 numberin officially designate the route between laredo, texas, and ratan, new mexico, as the future interstate 27. mr. president, i will say i'm particularly gratified you're presiding, because this is legislation that you and i authored together. it is bipartisan legislation supported by the state of texas and the state of new mexico. this bill is the next step to advance major highway infrastructure in texas and new mexico that will support

trade and commerce and jobs and economic development. what's so important about a future interstate number? by officially designating the highways between laredo and ratan as future interstate 27, this bill is a clear signal to communities and businesses across texas and new mexico that congress supports their work to develop the current highway to become part of the interstate system. communities across this route need better%; infrastructure because of the increasing demands to move goods and people. last year mexico top u.s. trade partner, with $798 billion of trade between our that's higher than the trade with our second and third biggest trading partners, canada

and china. even better, the port of entry in laredo, texas, was the top trade gateway in the united states, outperforming the■e por of los angeles. laredo, texas. this is fantastic news for texas. it means more and economic development in texas to move those goods. it's also part of a broader trend of a flourhing freight business in texas. last year i was proud to pass i legislation to streamline the presidential permit application rio grande river in south texas. four bridges, two in laredo, one in brownsville, one in eagle pass, and two of them are along the future i-27 route, the world trade bridge in laredo, currently eight lanes, the

proposal is to expand thato 18 lanes. and the port of verde bridge. pass passing the i-27 numbering act would support the increased trade we are expecting to come across those new bridges and new lanes of received lett support for the i-27 numbering act from the texas and new mexico departments of transportation. the agencies tasked with building infrastructure along this route. we also have strong support from the ports-to-plains alliance which has worked so hard to bring the port-to-plains route to reality. d cities up and down the future interstate 27. notably, the texas department of transportation is working to improve infrastructure all along future i-27.

tex dot has $5.5 billion in active projects along the route, relating to planning, engineering, andconstruction, including $481 million from the texas transportation commission to upgrade parts of the route to a foure highway. i want to thank senator lujan, who is presiding right now, senator cornyn, my colleague from texas, and senator heinrich, your colleague from new mexico, for working hand in hand with me on this bill. it is notable that all four senators, representing texas and new mexico, are standing in unison with this bill because it's good for texas, it's good for new mexico, and it's good for the country. there should be no objection to this bill. the senate previously passed this bill unanimously in july of last year. it then passed the house, which made some very small technical

changes, in december of last o changes to the bill, which means there should be no objections here now. the senate should pass the i-27 numbering act today. before i proceed, i want to yield to my colleague from texas, senator cornyn. mr. cornyn: mr. presidt. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i want to thank senator cruz for his legislation on this -- his leadership on this legislation, which i am sponsor -- to cosponsor. we represent a booming state. we represent in excess of 30 million people. because of shifts of manufacturing from china back to near shore or places lik mexico, thanks to the usmca, the u.s.-mexico-canada trade agreement, we are mutually depeen china -- excuse me, with mexico and canada, for trade, which creates millions of

jobsn america, and principally in texas. first time i went to lubbock, texas, when i ran for statewide office, a former congressman, before he was a member of congress, told me, he said, there's three things you need to remember about lubbock, texas -- cotton, texas tech university, and ports to plains. it wasthen, and it's even more important today. the ports-to-plains system, as center cruz pointed out, is a 963-mile transportation corridor, and beautifuleding on the success -- building on the success w passing a bill to designate the ports-to-plains corridor in texas and new mexico as an interstate, this i-27 nu i look forward to seeing the ports-to-plains corridor fuel more trade, more jobs, more

agricultural production for years to come. thank you, mr. president. mr. cruz: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from as if in legislati session, i ask the chair lay before the senate the message to accompany s-992. the presiding officer: the cha lays before the senate the following message from the house. the chaplain: resolved that the bill -- the clerk: resolve the bill entitled an act to amend the intermodal surface transportation efish becy -- efficiency act of 1991 and so forth and for other purposes do pass with an amendment. mr. cruz: i move to concur in the house amendment, and i ask unanimous consent the motion be agreed to and that theotion t■o reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. cruz: thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz:president, on monday of this week, i visited the towns of fritsch and burger in the ptexas. fritsch is a town of roughly 1800 residents who are no strangers totimes. in 1992 a tornado a mile wide ripped through the town and destroyed over 1300 homes. and ten years ago, in 2014, is a wildfire in fritschwy destroyed

over 100 homes. it in the past week and a half, fritch and the rest of the texas panhandle and the oklahoma panhandle as well have been dealing with devastating wild wildfires. when i was monday, 242 homes had beenlost. i met with local officials, county judges, chiefs, fire chiefs, volunteers at churches, at charities. i met with families who had been devastated and lost everything. i saw homes that had been burned beyond recognition.

one home i was parked a truck that had been utterly burned and charred. the heat was so intense that the windshield, the glass, had melted into just pools of glass on the hood. i also saw in front of a house a motorcycle, i think it was a harley, that had been utterly incin incinerated. the tires were burned and gone. i saw a boat. i think it was a bass boat, a fishing boat, again, utterly incinerated, nothing but fiberglass just melted on the ground. one ever the officials i met with was volunteer fire chief zeb smith. i met with chief smith on m

monday, less than 24 hours after he and i met chief smith passed away fighting that wildfire, running into a home that was on fire, trying to stop the blaze. he had been fighting fires for nine days straight when he entered that home first thing asked chief smith, i said, have any firefighters been injured yet? he said, thankfully, no. i knew were having that conversation that 24 hours later he would be the first, and he would give his save his community. these wildfires have been raging for a week and a half, and they'veke fritch, all the way f lake meredith to canadian. one of the fires, the smokehouse

creek fire, is the largest wildfire in texas history and the second largest in our nation's history.■r the scar from these fires can be seen from space. and they currently cover more■4f rhode island. these fires is have had a devastating impact. more than 500 structures have been lost. 10,000 miles' worth of barbed wire has been destroyed. and it's still unclear ectattle but we know it is thousands upon thousands of cattle who've been taken by the fire. a good friend of minwho is

canadian, i asked her how she was doing? i didn't expect her response. she responded, well, not too well. my home burned down. so did my barn. and i lost half my cattle. but then she actually feeling lucky because the ranchers on both sides of me lost all their cattle. and i got to say, i prayed for my friend, i prayed for all the men and women in the panhandle, but that response also embodies the frontier spirit. these are tough texans. the destruction we're seeing is enormous. however, throughout all of this, to date there have been only three deaths attributed to the wildfires.i

that is extraordinary, given the magnitude of this disaster. it could easily have been scores and scores of death. that's a testament to the firefighters and the f responders in the pan handled who have been -- panhandle, who have been tirelessly working to t harm's way, to contain the fires, and at times the fires have been travelling more than 200 per second. that's how fast these fires have been moving. mr. president, right now, as this disaster is unfolding in texas, the first priority is to contain these fires, to put them out. texans are working to stop their spread. the weather has been a big factor. a few days ago, fortunately,

there was some cold, there was some wet weather with snow and ice. that slowed the fires some. but then the weather got drier and windier, which is ideal conditions for spreading fire. so right now there are firefighters heroically battling massive fires, risking their lives. when i was there, i was told that over 60 fire departments from across texas and across the country have sent firefighters to battle the blaze. monday night i was at the houston livestock show and rodeo. i saw the houston fire chief. he told me houston had sent firefighters all the way up to the panhand battle the blaze. to anyone in the panhandle who sees this, i want to ask you,

please listen very, very carefully to your local officials. listen to emergency responders. order, treat it seriously. keep your family safe.at the en tragic when someone loses a home, but a home can be replaced. your family members cannot. this fire is dangerous, and our first priority needs to be preserving life and getting people out of harm's way. the second step is to shift to relief and rebuilding. and rebuild something a process that's going to dish and rebuilding is a process that's going to take years. in the short term, there are charities that have stepped up and are engaged, including the cross, and there are local

churches. and, you know, i want to say something. i've been in the senate 12 years. texas is a big state and a big state we have our share of natural disasters. from hurricanes ravaging the to enormous devastation to this wildfire raging in the panhandle right now. and as texas' senator, it is my responsibility to stand with those communities in the time of crisis and in the aftermath rebuilding. and every time we've had a natural disaster in texas, it's loss of life and the suffering. but consistently it is also ins reaction of texans in a time of crisis, they come together. texans helping texans. holding onto each other,

supporting each other. when hurricane harvey hit the gulf coast and home after home was flooded, i remember texans would go and rescue their neighbors. they were jumping on bass boats because the streets were flooded and they'd go from house to house pulli people out of harm's way, rednecks in bass boats is what i called them. and it was the spirit of texas, and the beauty in that time par. there are no republicans and democrats. people don't care about race or ethnicity or religion. it's just texans helping texans. and that's what i saw in fritch and borger, that same spirit of texans helping texans. and i tell you, in a time of is up, and the church should -- the church

should show love. when i was in the panhandle, i stopped at multiple churches and relief centers. i thanked the volunteers that were there. they were giving out food, water, diapers, supplies for people who had lost everything. and i thanked them. i visited with one woman had bu daughter's home had burned down. and yet, i'll tell you, she was smiling and in good spirits. she says, my family is in safe. i mentioned in fritch 240 homes had burned down. the county judge told me, though, there were only a half dozen people in the local shelter that they've stood up because everyone else whose home had your honor -- had burned down, they were presumably staying with friends or family or loved ones. you lost your home?

come stay with me. that's inspiring. it's powerful. that's what texans do. there are also things that we can and should do at the federal level to help the panhandle. with every local official i ensured, do you have the federal resources you need? do you have the assistance you need right now in crisis? and going forward, my office has been working hand in hand with state officials, local officials and beginning to coordinate federal resources to fight the fires. and indeed i've already filed an amendment to the minibus the senate is considering right now to increase the funding for wildfire relief, to help the people impacted by this. and i'll continue working disas relief for texans in harm's way, from the people who've lost their homes to our ranchers who've suffered devastating loss of livestock.

we need to to understand with the pan hand -- we need to stand with the panhandlend help recover from this historic disaster. mr. president, there's an old p panhandle saying, up here, people have panhandle spirit. a spirit of humility, a spirit of companionship, a spirit that when a neighbor needs help, by god, you help them. the whole country has seen thatspirit in the past few -- has seen that spirit in the past few days. thousands of bales of hay truck. hundreds of pallets of water and food and clothe have been donated to help people in need. that that built texas, it is the same spirit that makes the lone star state so unique. that's the spirit that keeps our firefighters fighting the blazes, that keeps our ranchers

rebuilding the fences, and people picking up the pieces and rerooting in the land they love. together with that same spirit and that same determination that people in the panhandle plains have had for generations, we will rebuild. we will come back even stronger than ever. god bless our firefighters. god bless our first responders. and god bless all theost their past few days and those texans who have lost loved ones. we are praying for you and we will help you rebuild. mr. president, i would like to close by again talking with chief smith. the loss of zeb smith has left a huge hole. the fritch volunteer fire quote know that right now we are not okay.

we love our chief, our brother, our friend. please be patient with us. the hutchison county office emergency management team stated about chief smith, quote, his exemplary leadership was evident in his tireless effortsi over te past week where he worked diligently to protect and safeguard his community and fellow citizens. chief smith was a hero. his name will not be■l forgotte. in his honor, i had a flag flown over the united states capitol to recognize his heroic service. chief smith gave his life on tuesday of this week.

so that his fellow texans can live. to the family and friends and loved ones of chief smith, we are mourning with you, and we are celebrating a life well-liv may god bless the people of texas. we will defeat these wildfires. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. heinrich: mr. president, nearly 80 years ago, as you know, in central new mexico's actual -- t thank you. larod.tula rosen base in, the world changed. the trinity test was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon

in human history. and the families who live downwind from the trinity explosion have lived the consequences of that day for every moment of their lives. these families were never told that the white dust falling around them that day would contaminate their bodies, would contaminate the bodies of children they had yet to bear, that it would contaminate the crops and the water and the livestock that they had built their communities around, and they were never told about the kinds of cancers that they would get. the conditions that they would suffer through or the loved ones that they would lose. these families still to this day have not received the recognition or the compensation for what they endured so that our nation could be victorious

in the second world war. nearly a century later, 80 year. they deserve justice. it is long overdue for congress to finally -- finally amend the radiation exposure compensation act, reca, to include the trinity downwinders, to include all americans who were directly impacted from our nuclear tests and programs and to include the uranium workers who were exposed to radiation in service to our national defense. that's what we're voting on this week in the u.s. senate. today we have a chance to finally deliver justice for the trinity downwinders and for all americans who were exposed to radioactive nuclear materials, and i want to thank especially the presiding officer, as it has been one of the honors of my

career to fight alongside him reca, for our entire congressional careers. i want to urge all of our colleagues to stand with us on the right side of history today and to support this legislation. mr. president, i rise now as th■ ■zchair of the appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, rural development, food and drug administration and related agencies. for the better part of nine months i have been negotiating a bipartisan agricultural appropriations bill, and my singular goal was delivering a bill that invests in rural communities, supports our farmers, delivers for america's appropriations bill does, and i

am proud to have gotten us here alongside ranking member john hogan and his great staff and with the immeasurable leadership ofchairwoman patty murray, our bill will help farmers support healthy food, it will help working families put food on the table. as we went through the negotiations, i had to stand particularly firm to protect the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, what most of us know as wic. i can't think of a more important program and a more important constituency in our country than one that delivers food to babies toddlers. my constituents in new mexico agree, dr. lawrence shandler is a piae put it in a letter to my office, the impact of delivering this support goes way beyond the

food itself. there shandler shared how children who have received wic have increased immunization rates, reduced health care costs, and better referrals to social services for families. he said now time to scale back on wic. i couldn't agree more. and i'm proud to say that despite house ■wrepublicans' be efforts -- and believe me, they tried -- we have fully funded wic. this is a major win for families across the country. we are ensuring that none of the seven million women and children who depend on this nutrition will be put on a waiting list or denied assistance outright. i'm also proud that we have fully funded snap, a program that helps 42 million americans put food on the table each month. in doing that, we also blocked

house republicans' attempt to impose new red tape and ive res eligibility for americans who count on snap. because what working families need right that will fight for them, not one that will make their lives more difficult. our bill fully funds childvk nutrition programs like the school lunch program, the school breakfast program, and the summer ebt program to ensure that children don't go hungry. our kids should be able to focus on learning in the classroom, on growing, on making new friends. not worrying about where their next meal will come from. we also are maintaining our strong support for the agricultural producers who grow our food. i know how much that means to the presiding officer. that includes maintaining support for vital agricultural research and our nation's next generation of researchers

through funding for both the agricultural research service and the national institute for food and agriculture. these funds support scientific discovery at land grant universities and research centers all across our country, including new mexico state and my home state. our bill also delivers investments to help our nation's farmers and producers make their operations more resilient to an ever-changing climate. farmers in new mexico are grappling with drier conditions, dwindling water sulies. and they're not alone. i know that farmers and producers are eager to improve the long-term health of their working landscapes. they just nd to improve soil health, conserve water, conserve energy and manage their risks. speaking of managing risks and improving safety, our bill also

supports the food and drug administration's critical mission to safety and the security of our nation's supply chains for food and for medicine. our bill will also deliver important economic investment developments to revitalize communities across america. that includes support for the rental assistance program at usda that ensures americans living in rural areas have access to safe and affordable housing. we deliver vital investments for public safety that will help communities across new mexico to taos county to san juan county. we were able to fund fire engines and ambulance and build new emergency; response facilities. and finally, at a time of mounting international conflict

and global food insecurity, we are reaffirming america's moral leadership in fighting hunger worldwide. maintaining our supportúó for international food aid programs not only demonstrates our nation's commitment in the fight against hunger, but it helps us build new marke for our agricultural exports. as we drafted this bill and steered it through negotiations with the house, we had to make some very difficult decisions on how to best invest taxpayer dollars. we had to stay within the very thin margins for top-line funding levels that were agreed to last year by president biden and house republican leadership. but i am very proud of where we landed in this comprehensive bipartisan legislation. i especially want to thank the staff on the subcommittee for all the work they didbill. and i would just urge all of our colleagues to support these investments that will make a

real difference for working families, for farmers who produce our food, and for rural economies. finally, mr. president, i want to ask unanimous consent that devon gorby, gewish, max cass, john yapp, all felling lows in -- fellows in my office be granted privileges to the floor until january2025. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. heinrich: with that, i would yield the floor. ■

the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to -- the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call: a senator: mr. president. i would unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. heinrich: i have six committees with the request to meet today. they have the approval of the minority leader and majority leader. the presiding officer: duly noted. the clerk: cloture motion, of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 506, adrienne jennings noti, of the district of columbia, o', to be -- district of to be an associate judge of the superior court of the district of columbia. the presiding officer: is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of adrienne jennings noti, of the district of columbia to be an associate judge of the superior court of the district of columbia 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. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly.

mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan.

the clerk: 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. ricket mr. risch.

mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. the clerk: mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida.ina. 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: snirm snirm bennet, booker, butler, cortez masto, gillibrand, hassan heinrich, king, manchin, merkley, padilla, smith, welch, and whitehouse. senators voting in the negative -- braun, marshall, scott ofvance, and wicker. mrs.cg capito, no.

mr. durbin, aye. ms. warren, aye. hickenlooper,

aye. mr. warnock, aye. mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: mr. tuberville, no.

the clerk: mr. schmitt, no.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no. mr. cassidy, no. mr. warner, aye. vote:bi the clerk: mr. schumer, aye.

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye. mr. barrasso, no. mr. cotton, no. the clerk: mr. kaine, aye. mr. wyden, aye. mr. reed, aye.

the clerk: mr.

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

mr. graham, no. the clerk: mr. mendendez, aye. mr. carper, aye. ■n

the clerk: mr. lee, no.

the clerk: mr. rubio, no. mr. rounds, no.

the clerk: ms. ernst, no. mr. ossoff, aye. the clerk: ms. collins, aye. mr. van hollen, aye. mr. tester, aye. mr. hawley, no. mr. murphy, aye.

the clerk: ms. lummis, no.

the clerk: mr. moran, no.

the clerk: mr. cornyn, no. mr. hagerty, no.7

the clerk: ms. baldwin, aye. mr. schatz, ay costs.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, no.

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

. thune, no. mr. br-- mr. brown, aye.

the clerk: mr.cramer, no. mrs. hyde-smith, no. ms. cantwell, aye. mr. tillis, no.

the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye. mr. crapo, no. mr. fetterman, aye. ■> the clerk: mr. paul, no.

ms. klobuchar, aye. mr. grassley, no.

the clerk: mr. casey, aye. mr. ricketts, no.■) the clerk: mr. young, no.

the clerk: mrs. shaheen, aye.

mr. risch, no. mrs. murray, aye.

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

the clerk: ms. stabenow, aye. ■b

the clerk: ms. rosen, aye. ms. duckworth, aye.

the clerk: mr. kennedy, no. mr. lankford, no.

the clerk: mr. mullin, no. ms. hirono, aye. mr. cardin, aye. mr. boozman, no.la

the clerk: mr. markey, aye. the clerk: mr. budd, no.

vote:

the clerk: mr. romney, no. mr. hoeven, no.j/■u5vuá■

the clerk: ms. sinema, aye.conn.

the clerk: mr. cruz, no.

the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 52. the nays are 46. and the motion is agreed to. under the previous order, the senate will resume legislative session and proceed to the consideration of s. 3853 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 336, s. 3853, a bill to extend the period for filing claims under the radiation exposure compensation act and so forth.e

the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: we're not in a quorum call. okay. yes, thank you. mr. president, i hours before p biden's state of the union address to discuss the reality of the past three years and curre■w circumstances of our nation. together, my colleagues and i are here to speak on behalf of the american people who have been forgotten and left behind . those who know the true consequences of his administration's policies and who are really feeling the pain have defined president biden's time in the white house. i have been guided by my eternal opt optimism. i feel like i can see beyond the gloom and push towards a brighterfuture. but, however, it is clear this is not the perspective felt in communities across our country,

as americans realize that the state of our nation is not as strong as it should and could be. they continue to battle ecomic challenges that are making the american dream unaffordable. there's a continued assault on american energy, which started by canceling keystone xl pipeline, and now just several weeks ago the disastrous halting of the construction of the lng export terminals. they see the unmitigated flow of illegal crossings at our southern border. they face the threat of rising crime. and they see the weakened state of america's standing on the global stage. president biden remains the common denominator across each of these issues, and he continues to prove, and this is harsh, that he's just not up to the task of leading our country. perhaps the most consistent issue that defined president biden's tenure in the white

house, one tt about back home, the state of our economy and persistence of high interest rates and inflation. despite president biden's claims that inflation -- despite president biden's claims, inflation has not hikes have w consumers over the past three years. m ma macing -- making necessities, like food and housing, nearly unaffordable. the price of food at the grocery store, anybody listening who has been to the grocery store knows this better than anybody, the price of food at grocery stores and restaurants increased 2.6% just in the last year. but, this is top of the staggering 10% that food prices rose over the last year. what used to be a hundred dollars worth of groceries in 2019 now costs $125. just last week, it was revealed that food cd to

income have hit a 33-year high, with american consumers spending over 11% of their dissa income on food. that means that the last time americans paid this much for f food, "terminator 2" was in the movies, michael jordan had just won his second mvp award, and h.p. introduced the first color scanner. that's how long ago this was. adding to this, u.s. home prices are at an all-time high, housing costs have now become unaffordable for a record number of u.s. renters. and that is according to a recent harvard study. make no mistake, this is the economy that president biden campaigned on, and it's the economy that his policies of reckless spending and high taxes were destined to create. the president has gone even as far as establishing a strike

force, i don't know if we're going to hear about it tonight, a strike force on unfair and illegal pricing, which is nothing more than a cover so he can blame others for the effects of his policies. another issue that will forever define president biden's tenure is the historic crisis at the southern border, something we've all addressed on this floor repeatedly. and the devastating consequences that it has created. the most recent data shows there were over 176,000 crossings along the southern border last january -- this past january. w record and the sixth consecutive month where record was being set. that brings us to a total of nine million, nine million illegal border crossings understand president biden's watch. adtionally, there were another 7,000-plus migrant encounters at the southern border on monday, marking the fourth day in a row

7,000 encounters. while the white house remains committed to their message of no executive action can alleviate this crisis, they fail to mention the executive andses -- actions they took literally hours after president biden was sworn in. these executive orders, on day one of biden's administration, dismantled the effective immigration policies of president trump. the truth is president biden can take basic steps and end this chaos, but in some of them, it already be too late. the barbaric murder of laken riley is a national tragedy and was completely avoidable. the catch-and-release policies of president biden and secretary mayorkas have allowed the catastrophe at our southern border to impact every community in our country and every state. crime is all too familiar to this administration, especially

right here in the president's backyard. while the administration is touting a drop in crime across other cities, violent cri right here in washington, d.c. is up a staggering 39%. multiple members of congress have been recent victims of crime in this city, as have multiple members of my own staff. we must remember president biden owns this issue more than to ad. last may, he vetoed bipartisan legislation to overturn police reforms right here in washington, d.c. speaking of ownership, another issue president biden owns is the recent weakness america has displayed on the international stage. we're living in a time where our nation faces the most dangerous global threats we've seen in dec decades. yet probe has proven to be a -- yet president biden has proven to be a president of weakness while our adversaries are watching how t united states

reacts to the challenges of our time. this display of weakness started with the disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan, whichd unreliability to our allies and weakness to those who want to do us harm. then, president biden did nottrr putin, suggesting nato and the u.s. might not take any action if russia underto in -- incursion. next, the biden administration engaged with iran on fruitless nuclear talks while the regime built up their nuclear capabilities and their malicious -- their militias attacked our u.s. troops. now there are over 170 attacks on servicemembers, with minimal responses taken. this has also culmi three of ou reserve soldiers. during the state of the union tonight, president biden will draw a proverb line in the

sand and will ask the american pe people, which side are you on? i encourage my fellow americans not to fall for this attempt to separate us or label us as enemies of one another, but rather we should join t■ogether in realizing it doesn't have to be this way and that the american people truly deserve better. this leads to perhaps the biggest broken promise from the president, that was his pledge to unite our nation. we're fractured. there's no dou it. in this administration, anyone who disagrees with their policies is an extremist and a threat to our freedoms. i know the country deserve better from the white house, and the state of our union has become weaker over the past three years. so i hope the president addresses these issues tonight in a meaningful way, that doesn't finger-point, doesn't

blame, but that takes the issues and unites the country and finds solutions. with that, i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, as my colleague from west virginia has noted, and as the nation knows, the world knows, president biden will deliver his third, perhaps final, state of the union address tonight. obviously, the border is a major issue confronting the nation, and i have to say that coming from texas, with the 1200-mile common border with mexico, washington is just -- has just recently acknowledged, the president recently acknowledged something we've known has been a problem for a long, long time, without really any help to deal with this flood of humanity and drugs across our southwestern

border. i expect president biden will do as he always does, blame somebody else for this problem. even though he has had the same tools president trump has had with which to deal with it from the day he stepped into the oval office. the american people are pretty smart, and they're pretty perceptive, and they understand that the crisis at our border is a man-made crisis, and that man is president biden. he's opted it, rather than secure the border, to issue dozens of executive orders dismantling, piece by piece, the border security protections that president trump had put in place. things like the remain in mexico policy, where people who would otherwise be released into the interior of the united states would have to remain in mexico while their asylum claims have

been determined. under president biden, u.s. customs and border protection has encountered nearly seven million migrants. i've heard numbers as high as nine million. the truth is we don't really have an accurate number because it is virtually uncontrolled. but we know it's more than the past two administrations combined. in years president biden has allowed more illegal migrant encounters across the border than in president obama's term and president trump's. well, you would think, with president biden knowing he has a huge political liability, that he would seek advice from the exp experts. but former u.s. border patrol chief raul ortiz said that president biden and vice president harris never even spoke to him during his time in

office. this is the man, the expert, who's in charge of the border for the u.s. government, and the president and the vice president didn't even speak to him. well, because of the welcome mat that's been laid out by the biden administration, border officials are preparing for yet another spike in the record levels of migration. the biden administration is under fire for reports that it flew 320,000 migrants from foreign countries directly into the u.s. without vetting them first. words fail to describe the unprecedented nature of this cr crisis. it's so bad, i keep asking myself, what's it going to take before the president wakes up?

seven million to nine million illegal entries into the country? 300,000 children placed w sponsors in the interior of the country, and as "the new york times" noted many of them forced into involuntary labor. and then, when wellness checks are made to see where these children are after they're placed with these sponsors, in the case of "the new york times" they said 85,000 of those sponsors didn't even answer the phone or the door. so, we don't know what happened to those children, those 300,000 children. then there are the drugs that flow across the border border patrol is overwhelmed with mass numbers of migrants. well, here's another problem -- those who are old enough to remember september 11, 2001,

when 19 saudi nationals flew two planes into the world trade center and crashed another one at the pentagon, 19 foreign nationals killed 3,000 americans that day. so far this year, the border patrol has apprehended -- apprehended, 169 individuals who are on the terror watch list. so far, this fiscal year, they're apprehended 49. but here's what should keep all of us awake at night -- approximately 1.7 million got-aways, in other words, a large number of these migrants turn themselves in knowing they're going to be released, and that's the easiest way to make it into the united states, and to probably end up staying for the rest of your 1.7 million people who came

across the border evaded law enforcement, they call those got-aways, people caught on cameras or some sensor. how many more people on the terror watch list were among those 1.7 millionot-aways? it should alarm all of us to think abouthose who made it into this country who have not yet been caught. and then there are the drugs. last year 108,000 americans died of drug overdoses. 71,000 of those from fentanyl poisoning. last week the border patrol2,80 fentanyl, and heroin. now, that's great, but how many their way into the united states undetected? but that's $12 million worth of narcotics in just one week, and, of course, who is reaping the

benefits of the current border policies? i.t. the drug cartels -- it's the drug cartels. it's the human smuggling networks. they continue to get richer and richer and more and more powerful. over the weekend, six sexual predators were arrested who were illegally crossing the border. again, we don't know how many more were among the got-aways i mentioned earlier. this follows a nationwide law enforcement effort last month where u.s. immigrations and customs enforcement issued 275 known sex offenders who had entered the country illegally. all this while the country continues to mourn the death of 22-year-old nursing student laken riley. she was killed while■ jogging i broad daylight on the campus of the university of georgia.

jose antonio ibarra, who entered the■ united states i wllegally was released by the biden administration has been charged with her murder. this week white h press secretary has asked if president biden plans to address laken's death during state of the union speech. she said she had nothing to share on that topic. if the biden administration had not abused the parole system -- that means the catch and release in which individuals like mr. ibarra were released into

the united states, the president has no plans to acknowledge her death let alone take re for it. in the last three years i've spoken on the floor of the senate about these issues moreb times than i can count. because texas is on the front line. but with precious little assistancel government. that's why governor greg abbott has used the national guard and the department of public safety to do what t federal government should have already been doing, and that is to provide security for our borders. this is one of the most urgent catastrophes of our time, and it's a huge political liability for the president and his party. because they've been watching this catastrophe get worse and worse and worse and done next to nothing about it.

we reached the breaking point a long time ago, and nowvery state is paying the price of president biden's failed policies, from texas all the way to new york. as las■ president refuses to do his job and enforce the laws already on the books, deadly drugs will continue tont dangerous criminals will threaten our citizenry and many more lives will be lost. i hope the president accepts happened the last three years, and i hope his remarks reflect the urgency of this crisis that he created. but the truth is, i won't be hold holding my breath. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mrs. blackburn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate my colleagues and their comments, and i know that senator hyde-smith is also going to speak on this issue. and as we have heard, the president later today is going to talk about his record, and he's going to try to sell that record to the american people. and, as we've heard, many of his policies are failures. this record is a broken record. and much of it, just sasse my colleague from -- and much of it, just as my colleague from texas was saying, is a record that has failed the people of our states. now, for three years, the american people have truly suffered immensely during this

record of failure and broken promises, and some of the actions that president biden has taken, beginning on as he issued executive order after executive order. now, let's talk about we set tht he will talk about tonight as his three-year record. on day one, president biden took actions per taping to -- pertaining to the border and illegal immigration. and here is what wehe did. he paused deportations, paused them. that means he put up a halt sign and said, you cannot deport people that have illegally

entered the country. he limited which illegal aliens could be arrested. now, that was an action that he took. he said, well, you can't go arrest certain groups of illegal aliens, even though they've broken the law coming into this country. so he put those protections in place for people that had broken the law entering the country illegally. he hn of the border wall, and he ended the remain-in-mexico policy.■> now, during his first 100 days, he took a total of 94 executive actions that made the border

less secure and■a2 weakened illegal -- and weakened legal immigration and encouraged illegal immigration and tried to make illegal immigration legal. because of that, since he took the oath of office, nine million -- nine million -- illegal immigrants have entered this couny. that is more than the population of 38 states. these are the actions that he has taken. in addition to the nine million illegal immigrants, you've got known and unknown got-aways. the unknown got-aways are untold numbers of drug traffickers, human traffickers, smugglers. that is what is coming into our

country because of this porous border. in addition, tens of thousands of people from countries of interest, in addition, terrorists that have been apprehended at our southern border trying to enter that's a those are the ones that we know about. . americans are indeed -- tennesseans certainly are -- enduring the consequences of this open-border agenda. and over the past few weeks, we've seen countless illegal aliens who should have never been allowed to set foot in this country be arrested for sexual assault, rape, and murder. one of the victims, laken riley you a 22-year-old nursing student in georgia, was

allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant who was paroled into this country by the biden administration. now, paroling someone into the country grants special privileges. they can get a work permit, they can get benefits, and if you look at preside paroled about people a year in the country, same for president trump. but president biden has gone more than 200 times this every year. 2022 he paroled 800,000 people into the country. 2023, 1.2 million people. and one of these parolees is the alleged killer of laken riley. there are others that have committed rape against children,

that have bludgeoned our citizens. president biden's policies are directly responsible for these crimes. now, there is also a bucket of economic failures that i want to touch on. we all know that when president biden came into office, inflation was 1.4%. and since we have seen inflation skyrocket. we've seen federal spending skyrocket. we know that trillions of dollars have been added to the debt. much of this comes because of his agenda,s a lost -- agenda, a the green new deal. energy and now, president biden had claimed that his agenda would -- and i am going to quote him -- that it

would grow the economy fm t the. instead, what it has done is to cause the worst inflation in four decades. since inauguration day for joe biden, prices have been on the uptick, and when you talk to tennesseans, they can tell you how much the cost of food is up. it's up at least about 20%. rent, housing■j is up over 20%. and then you look at the cost of energy, whether you're filling up the tank or whether you're paying the electric bill or the gas bill for heating and cooling of the house. that is what this economy has done. and, you know, mr. president, as we look at the issues, we know that economy, we know that this has such a negative impact on the amount of money that

people have in their pocket each month because in tennessee this means that in 2023 alone that an average family had to spend over $10,000 more just to tread water. just to stay even. so is, as we look at this, as we know the president is going to stand and insist that the state of the nation is strong, we know that there are going to be millions of americans that say, no, it is frayed, it is fractious, it is hurting, people are broke, our border is broken, crime our communities, and all of this is directly related to the policies of

president biden and his agenda. mrs. hyde-smith: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mrs. hyde-smith: mr. president, i also rise to discuss the biden administration's failure to kwontain the -- to contain the crisis at our southern border and how that's having extreme consequences and endangering our very own citizens. time and time again, republicans have warned about the damage being done to our country by open-border policies launched on president biden's first day in office. for more than three years, we've witnessed this president and his administration tell us over and over that there is not and that secure. i, like most americans, know

that is absolutely not true. bis state of the union address tonight, and i hope the american people will listen with some level of skepticism. should he discuss his recent election-year plans to address illegal crossings at the border. the american people deserve for him to be forthcoming about the border crisis, a crisis that is manifesting itself more and more in serious and violent crimes committed by illegal migrants allowed to stay in our country. the american people deserve to know how executive a enforcing the law, the laws currently on the books. yes, executive orders have the force oflaw, but they are based on existing statute. simply put, this administration needs to enforce the law.

americans are taking of joe biden's policies as crime runs rampant at the hands of illegal immigrants. st encountered thousands of illegal aliens with prior criminal convictions, including assault, rape, and murder. make no mistake, it is thanks to joe biden's policies and his refusal to enforce the law that has allowed such criminals into our country, and now americans are becoming victims of their crimes all across the country. over just two weeks this january, law enforcement arrested more than 100 illegal immigrants in 25 different u.s. cities. over half of the illegal aliens arrested had convictions or pending charges for assault against children, including sexual assault against children. a month ago just outside of

minneapolis, a man who was previously detained dressed as a delivery driver to sneak into a home and murder three people while two small children witnessed this crime. just a few weeks ago in new york, several migrants were arrested for sexual assaulting a pair of police officers. of course they were almost immediately released when the manhattan district attorneys office did not seek bail. they were seen diminishing and using obscene gestures for the media, showing no remorse for their actions. from the same mob assault, one of the migrants allegedly involved was arrested again just days later, this time for robbing amacy's in queens. and now just the other week a university of georgia nursing student, with her whole future ahead of her, went on a popular trail in broad daylight only to be brutally charged wi

entered our country illegally. these crimes combined with the district attorneys and mayors across the country, those who advocate for sanctuary cities and other soft on crime policie everyone who wants to live peacefully in their communities without violence. where i@,srempassion for americs and communities experiencing these horrible acts? during his brief and sanitized visit to brownsville last week, why did the president dodge questions about the murder of 22-year-old laken riley at uga? why is his administration reluctant to prioritize their safety? ihat the perpetrators receive justice, and i pray the families of these victims receive god's comfort.

sadly, my hom state felt the consequences of joe biden's policies with many instances of human trafficking. last year four illegal immigrants were discovered with a 7-year-old migrant child after being pulled over and detained for$b driving without a license. after homeland security investigations was contacted, the driver attempted to flee on foot and was captured. hsi determined the child was not related to anyone in the vehicle. in another a mississippi highway patrol trooper identified an illegal migrant driving on i-10 in jackson county with i.d. a passenger, also an illegal immigrant, revealed that they were on their way to houston, texas, to pick up another man, a woman, and three or four children. after a legal search of the

vehicle, items consistent with human trafficking were discovered in the vehicle. instances like these are unfortunately happening across the country, and our communities are in danger. if you think this isn't happening in your backyard, then think again. because of the state of our country, there is growing concern and fear among americans who are wondering if or someone they love will be the next target. in fiscal year 2023, there were over 15,000 criminal noncitizens arrests. there were over 2,000 criminal illegal drug possessions and trafficking convictions. additionally, there were almost 9,000 driving under the influence convictions. there have been nearly 200 murders committed by illegal immigrants since joe biden took office. 200 lives under president

biden's watch. this is not how the greatest country in the world should operate. robbery, sexual assault, crimes against children, human trafficking, and murder are just some examples of the crimes these illegal migrants are willing to commit in our country. we have to stand against this. president biden claims he needs more authority to get control of the border. this is blatantly false. the previous administration successfully enforced border laws crossings to record lows. the biden administration repeatedly refuses to acknowledge the border crisis for what i -- a crisis. he opened the border and he can close it. as the president prepares his state of the union speech, i call on the biden administration and democrats simply need to enforce the law. let's just start with that. we must make this a priority.

americans deserve nothing less. thank you, madam president, and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. a senator: i rise today joining my colleagues to discuss the biden administration's failed policies and their impact not only on my state in north dakota but on all mrnas. as we prepare to tho the president give his state of the union tonight, i want to share my perspective about the past three years and where we are today. mr. hoeven: but it's not just my perspective. it's what my constituents are seeing on a day-to-day basis. they see a country that is less secure, a dollar that doesn't stretch as far as it used to, and policies from this administration that are making things worse. the reckless tax and spend policies of this administration have led to increases in inflation levels that we haven't

seen in decades. in this day inflation remains persistently high. and the deficit spending continues as our debt now totals more than $34 trillion. last month the congressional budget office published its year budget and economic outlook which revealed this year the interest payments on our national debt will exceed spending on national rising in payments that will crowd out our ability to fund our priorities for the future. this deficit spending has led to inflation that has made everything more expensive for all americans. tax, spend, and regulate policies have led to this inflation. in my state of north dakota, according to the consumer price index data, families have experienced a cumulative price increase of about 18%. 18% since president biden took

office. that means paying more for everything, from groceries to housing to transportation and energy. north dakota is actually among the youngest states in the nation with a median anl of just over 35 years of age. many of our young looking to bu start families, but this administration's failed economic policies have caused the inflation that has simply put homeownership out of reach. according to freddie mac, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage continues thof ver at about 7%. before biden took office, less than 4%. the bottom line, the policies of this administration that e call you less for more. not more for less. less for more. and at the same time president biden and his -- he has his green new deal agenda over our national security interest.

and that's because the cost of energy -- excuse me. the average price for a gallon of gas was$2.40 on january 20, 2021, when president biden took office. this week gasoline prices are 42% higher. $1 higher. so instead of $2.40, now you pay on average $3.40 for every gallon. it's simple economics. energy prices remain high becauseemand exceeds supply. and because the cost of energy is built into every good and service that we consume, we need to ince the supply of energy to help bring down inflation. yet instead of unleashing, unleashing the full potential of ou nation's vast energy reserves, the biden administration's regulatory onslaught will only favor foreign adversaries at the

expense of our own domestic energy industry. the biden administration is imposing new costs■ and regulatory burden on federal energy leases, for example, while reducing what's available for new leasing. maximizing access to new leasing today is directly tied to growing production and supply for the long term. further, the biden administration unilaterally has now banned u.s. lng export approvals forcing allies in europe and asia to increase imports from russia, iran and qatar. according to u.s. energy administration, global energy demand is expected to grow of t economy through 2050, and our nation is fortunate to have abundant ey the capacity to ramp up production and counter adversarial foreign producers from countries like russia, iran, and venezuela.

but the biden administration continues to handcuff our producers with burdensome regulation after regulation. that's why president biden needs to take the handcuffs off our energy producers and work with us to boost american energy independence instead of passing regulation after regulation that shuts our energy industry down. producing more energy here at home is the ultimate solution to not only lowering energy cost, but to strengthen our national security and our geopolitical standing in the world. and in addition to those issues in regard to bidenomics, i want to talk about his failuren the border. 2023 was a record year for president biden's border policy. breaking. -- it was printed in the record breaking. by the end of the year 2023, the united states saw the most ever annual encounters at the

southern border, almost 2.5 million. mind-boggling. 2.5 million. in 2023. president biden's border policies broke records again as over 300,000 illegal encounters took place in december. just in december, one month, 300,000 in one month, december 2023, the most encounters in any month during his administration. the cause of this crisis is clear. president biden's failure to secure the border. simply put, his failure to enforce the law. the duty of a president is to enforce the law. he is not doing it. the american people consequences because the biden administration refuses to enforce policies that protect our southern border, including reinstating the migrant protection protocol or the remain in mexico policy, enforcing third safe cou agreements, and resuming

construction of the border wall. the president's failed border policies led to increased instances of hum and drug trafficking at the southern border. and it's not just human trafficking. it's the fentanyl. it's all of the problems that go with an open border. the biden administration must address the border crisis. the biden administration must enforce the laws that kept monthly encounters to vastly, vastly lower numbers under the trump administration, and they need to do it now because border security truly is national security. in reverse all of these metrics, but it's going to take the president embracing the realities facing american families. and given his track record these past three years, i'm not optimistic that we will hear him signal a r but he needs to for

of the country. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.country. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. budd: president abraham lincoln once said no administraon by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of only four years. now, that statement might need to be revised if lincoln witnessed the first three years of president joe biden. our country has been through failure and crisis, with a leader who bows to his far-left basin -- and has policies for people -- president biden has presided over the worst border crisis in u.s. history.

millions of illegal crossings. hundreds of individuals on list tens of thousands of pounds of deadly fentanyl. nearly two million known got-aways. millions more unknown got-aways, including terrorists, human traffickers and other bad actors. the crisis at the border is a crisis of president biden's own office, president biden has unleashed dozens of executive actions that telegraphed that his administratn was no longer interested in enforcing the law when it comes to illegal immigration. here are some of the most devastating examples. of the border wall, leaving the physical defense of our nation's border to scattered areas of old, rusty barbed wire.

he ended the remain in mexico policy that ensecured that illel ail grens -- aliens were turned away. the result? untold millions are being encountered at the border, when caught, the biden administration releases 75% of them into the interior of the united states, some with tax-payer funded escorts and travel. the biden administration halted deportation of those of those who illegally entered our country. in fact in the last year immigration and customs enforcement only deported 5% of the millions that they encountered at the border. taken together, what is the message that this president has sent to a would-be illegal immigrant? for one the united states won't construct physical barriers to stop you, we won't lock the

doors to our own house it seems, if caught the u.s. will release you a off with money out of our own taxpayers' pocket. the united states will never deport you. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why this crisis persists. it doesn't have to be this way. immigration was at a record low. make no mistake. president biden, he already has the power to fix this. it was his executive actions on day one that caused this mess, and he can clean it up by unge orders on day 1142, today. we are witnessing in realtime a national decline. the good news is that decline is a choice and our time for choosing is coming. it's not too late. despite all the things broken,

we can be a strong nation as long as we have a leader with the strength and a willingness to get the job done. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator fromwyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to honor the life of an agricultural icon, pat o'toole. i'm here in a bipartisan way with both senators from wyoming and both senators from colorado to talk about this remarkable man who was with a true cowboy and a dear friend. pat passed away from complications following a stroke february 25. he was surrounded by his family, including his loving wife sharat and sharon met when they were students together at colorado state university. they have#' three wonderful children, six grandchildren, and we are honored to be joined

today in the senate's gallery by pat's wife sharon and his daughter bridget and daughter shavon. they owned a ranch outside the snake river. the ranch straddles lines of wyoming and colorado, which is why all four senators are here on the floor to pay honor, tribute, and recognition to this remarkable man. it is a large-scale cattle and sheep operation. it's been in sharon's family since 1881. now, mr. president, that is nine years before wyoming became a state. we're talking about a long history. pat and sharon liked to tell people, and they did when they would come to washington and pat would when he would tf here capitol hill, he said they raise

cattle, sheep, horses, dogs, and children, and, mr. president, they didt and do it very well. i deeply admire pat for his passionate work on conservation, on water and on agriculture. i saw the difference that he made, that pat personally made by partnering with others regardless whether they were republicans or democrats. pat didn't care at all about party affiliations. he was famous for working with anyone anywhere who was generally interested in making life better for our western agriculture communities. pat also served wyoming in the state legislature for six years, three full terms. in 2005, pat was elected president of the family farm alliance. well, he brought this experience and expertise right here to congress. he testified many times before the committees in the u.s. house and senate. here's a point where he was

testifying in a committee in which i was involved. members committees learned a valuable lesson. the lesson is this, pat o'toole was as reliable as a witness as former chairman of the environment and public works committee, i had the privilege on calling on pat to testify numerous times in the senate on both committees. most recently he testified in an energy hearing on extreme drought and wildfires in the west. pat's first-hand experience pro the committee with much-needed western perspective as well as offering solutions. pat o'toole leaves behind a passion for conservation, his love of the land and especially the little snake river valley. it has been such a privilege to help induct pat and sharon both

into the wyoming agriculture hall of 2022, recognized statewide for their long service to the people in the state of wyoming. pat truly represented the best of wyoming and the best of western interest and he did it with dedication and distinction. it's a great joy know him, a great joy could work with him of. mr. president, i would like to yield the floor to my colleague fromwyoming, senator cynthia lummis. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. ms. lummis: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise to pay tribute to a cowboy state giant, colleague and friend, pat o'toole. he was not born in wyoming, but you never would have guessed that. there was no one more dedicated to carbon county or to the state than pat.

when pat met his wife sharon, he fell in love not just with her, but as senator barasso said, his adopted home of wyoming and together they raised cattle, sheep, horses, dogs, and children. my own daughter annalise was born the same month thatamond o'toole was born, sharon and i would enjoy the fact that our children would get to grow -- get to grow up together. he often joked that he was raising a menagerie with sharon, but his commitment to ranching was far beyond his property as he would dedicate his life to serving the agriculture and conservation communities. i had the privilege of meeting pat when we served together in the wyoming legislature. his stories and infectious smile loomed large. he quickly learned the -- earned

the reputation for finding common ground with anyone, and we always looked forward to hearing stories about nearly getting arrested, being accosted by a someone in argentina, or hitchhiking from maine to florida with a buddy from college. pat o'toole lived an interesting and large life. he was also larger than life in the best way, and he cared deeply for the people he served. foll in the wyoming legislature, pat was appointed by president clinton to the western water policycomm and he focused on the future of water in the west. he was instrumental in providing very carefully thought out testimony regarding the future of the colorado river.

we all benefit now, as senator hickenlooper and senator bennet and i condition to work on colorado river issues together. the position he held the western water policy commission deepened his love for conservation efforts and led him to serve on many advocacy groups to fight for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities until he died. as much as pat dedicated his life to protecting western landscapes, he'd be the first to tell you his family was his greatest achievement. please join me in keeping his family and your prayers as we come together to celebrate his life and the indelible on his b i yield the floor.

mr. bennet: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you, mr. president. i want to say what a great privilege it is to be out here today with my colleagues from wyoming and my colleague, senator hickenlooper, from colorado to celebrate pat o'toole's life. he was a rancher, as you heard, and as conservationist and his family's ranch statles the colorado -- stratles the wyoming and colorado border. the proud son of immigrants, he had a calling to the west. he attended colorado state university where he met his beloved wife sharon, who is here today. after graduation, they were both accepted into law school, mr. president, but instead they pooled their savings to buy some

old used and take over sharon's family's ranch. they lived on the ranch without electricity or running sound lp to a lot of people here, but knowing the two of them, i bet n one of the most beautiful places on this planet. in the summer they camped while they built the herd. pat was a fervent advocate for the west. he cared deeply about all tst, colorado river, and protecting american agriculture. pat lived a life of service. he served as president for the family farm alliance for nearly 20 years. he sat on the boards of the intermountain board joi ventures and was with senator lummis a member of the wyomingp

when i came to the senate in 2009, pat was kind enough to recognize my failings and my lack of background and lack of experience in the things that he cared most about, and he was kind enough to bring me up to speed on colorado and western agriculture. i'm still trying to catch up, but this is it a photo i wanted to bring today. this is a photo of pat telling me what i need to know about western agriculture -- western agriculture on his ranch. you can tell i'm listening more intently, mr. president, than i often do certainly on this floor. but there was not a word you wanted to miss from pat. there was nobody better to be the guide of people in this

place so far from the ranch where he and sharon raised their family. and w needed to listen because ranching touches every major western issue. water, immigration, tribal rights, conservation, and even access to health care. pat cared about all those things. those who were lucky enough to know pat know he had a lot of big ideas and he had to drive to get those big ideas done. he was a doer. and he also had an amazing rolodex. most recently pat brought together a broad coalition with the goal of restoring the stress landscapes of routt and medicine bow national forest and yampa and little snake. my staff and i were honored to

be included in that coalition. it was one of the amazing things about pat. he could have cared less what your title was or whether you were a senator or not. his interactions with the staff were just as significant, i think, and just as meaningful for getting something done as they were with elected officials. and i hope and believe that that coalition will work to carry on pat's legacy of conservation and tireless work to improve watershed health. in 2018, i had the pleasure pat the little snake river valley and saw firsthand the conservation practiceslace to restore fish habitat and improve the resilience of the operation. there are a lot of people that could learn from what they've done. after touring the ranch, pat

brought together people from all over the west, and democrats, and as senator barrasso said, it never happened. never talked about what party anybody was in. to join us on their porch for a big cookout while we talked about the new generation of ranchers in the west and how we grandkids a better future. he actually knew that the state -- while the stween color technically divided the ranch, that a political boundary like that was not the important boundary. what he would tell you is that the watershed is what actually matters. and that's why it's not surprising that he brought together people, a rare occasion really for an elected official from colorado to meet with people from the wyoming legislature who were there that day hear from what pat had to say. covered topics on that

day that ranged from conservation throughout the west to how we could work together to protect our water and lead a -- leave a viable future for the next generation of farmers and ranchers. there were always young people around pat. there were that day and when he brought people to washington as well. mentioned, pat and sharon's house was in wyoming, they made sure my staff and i had the farmhouse across the street on the colorado side of the road where we could spend the night under our own stars inur own state. the next morning at the end of our visit, pat showed me around the barns and shared with me a branding iron from the ladder ranch which i still have in my office in denver, although come to think of it, it could be more

use here in washington, d.c. anyone who knew pat knew about his love for his family and he proudly brought his children and gran of the ranch. it's an amazing testament, i think, to the way hehed that world and that business and that enterprise because each of us today is reminding people here today that he cherished the idea that their ranch raised cattle, sheep, horses, dogs, and children. i'm sure not in that order. and he managed the ranch with these kids and these grandkids in mind. i want to recognize pat's wife, sharon, her daughter brigette and granddaughter siobhan who are here in the gallery. they're carrying on pat's legacy and the legacy of the ladder

ranch. when i was flying back last weekend from ukraine, that's when isage that pat had a stroke and was in grand junction at the hospital. i had the -- i landed at the ir. i suppose there's some -- something in that -- and was able to have a conversation with shted to tell me -- she was by pat's side in grand junction. the first thing she wanted to tell me was that siobhan was coming back here to carry on pat's legacy, to advocate as part of the intermountain joint venture fly-in. pat was on the board of that and they're all here today. and i want to thank them for traveling here to be here today. our thoughts are with you and

the entire pat o'toole family but really there for all of us in the west that have lost not . pat's life is evidence that division is not the way to make progress in our country. it's not the way to make progress in american agriculture when it comes to water. pat showed us what it tak headw thorniest issues that we confront. we would do well to remember that example every day. he demonstrated the importance of finding common ground to build little by little towards something greater for the next generation and at least with me he showed infinite patience. i hope that's something that we can all carry on in his absence. he was larger than life, and we

will miss■í him dearly. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. hickenlooper: mr. president, more beyond what has already ch been said. i come to the floor today to remember and add to the remembrances of the life and the impactful legacy of pat o'toole. senators barrasso and e fellow colorado senator bennet have been very eloquent, but i think sometimes really it has to be said by every one if everything has already been said. as was mentioned he lived on the little river snake valley that lines along the border of colorado and wyoming and he did make a very big impression on both states.

he may have legally resided in wyoming, but both states claim him. and more than anything else, he was a westerner, in many ways a consummate westerner. pat understood western water and agriculture. he understood conservation. and just as the west was built by barn raisings more than ssed power of collaboration to really get to the heart of the complex discussions on managing our water and our natural resources. he was not only a graduate of colorado state university, he was a longtime supporter. obviously he fell in love, met his wife to find his future at csu before he wind off to south america for a little serve as t longtime president of the family farm alliance which stood up for irrigators all over the west and recognizing the importance of

food to the future of the country. and he touched many different groups at that intersection between agriculture and the environment 6789 his public service and engagement spanned decades including services in the state -- state legislator in wyoming and as an appointee on president clinton's western water policy commission. but pat's impact wasn't just limited to the west. he was well known here on capitol hill as each of the other senators have said, he testified many times, more than 20 times here in congress. and this was not because he liked doing it. or he enjoyed it. but he recognized he had a responsibility to share his expertise and to engage on legislation. he did it not because he found

coming to washington pleasurable but because he believed in the west and his responsibility to make sure that the west, that decisions affecting the west were made wisely. and he really pushed to make sure that we had advancements i. as western states continue to wrestle with the extreme droughts caused by clfrp, pat's wisdom -- climate change, pat's wisdom is going to direct us to good solutions and his attention to process is going to inform us. i think it's important to remember that no matter how many hats he wore a rancher at heart. raising cattle, sheep, dogs and children on his family ranch. he was deeply committed to preserving the farming and ranching character that is so essential to the west. and he recognized the importance of conservation and protecting and maintaining that heritage. pat's enduring love of the land is an example to all of us.

i understand and recognize that the great loss to the family and appreciate that sharon,siobhan . but really it's all of our loss and he will be sorely missed by our entire country. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. a senator: mr. president, i ask following senators be permitted to speak prior to the scheduled vote. mr. peters: senator peters for up to five minutes. senator lujan for up to five minutes. senator schmitt for up to five minutes and senator hawley for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. peters: mr. president, i rise now in support of adrienne noti's nomination to be an associate judge on the superior court of the district of columbia. the d.c. superior court is the local trial court here in the

nation's capital. it handled some of the highest caseloads in the entire country. it decides matters that impact the fr the safety of families all across the district of columbia. unfortunately, the superior court has struggled with high judicial vacancy rates in recent years. 12 of the 62 seats on the court are now vacant, and two more will open up in the coming months. this place is serious -- this places serious burdens on current judges and delays resolutions for the parties before the court. the district of columbia deserves to have these seats filled by dedicated, qualified judges. adrienne noti is more than up for the job. she has spent the last years as a magistrate judge on the d.c. superior court and in that role, she's worked across every division violence

to family law to landlord tenant issues to criminal cases. she' proven herself to be a fair and effective and has shown a deep commitment to the local community here in the district of columbia. before she joined the d.c. superior court, judge noti spent a decade law representing underserved clients and teaching as a clinical law professor. she has spent her career fighting for equal justice and teaching others in the legal community how to do the same. judge noti is highly qualified to serve as an associate judge on the d.c. superior court. and it's past time that we confirm her nomination. while i'm glad we will soon fill one vacancy on the superior

court, we must take additional action to confirm the six other nominees that my committee has advanced this congress, many with strong, strong bipartisan support. these are notonminations, and i colleagues will join me in working together to quickly confirm the other nominees and ease the facing the superior court. today's vote is a critical step in that work, and i urge my colleagues to join me in confirming judge adrienne noti