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 to be an associate judge on the

superior court of the district of columbia. madam president, i yield the floor. ■ó . the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. lujan: madam president, 78 years ago, 4-year-old anastacio

was living in telarosa, new mexico, a city 40 miles away from the trinity testn site. now, little anastacio didn't know it at the time, none of the families there did, but the world they were living in was conta contaminated, andicles from ther test. anastacio grew to be a big family man, hunting and growing on the land enriched by a ditch system, an system that provided ample water and nourishment. great-grandparents, grandparents, moms, eating and drinking contaminated food.

water sources. later in life, anastacio cordova developed prostate cancer and tongue cancer. the cancer metastasized to his neck and throat before becoming inoperable and c body. his daughter, tina, recalls him being only 125 pounds at the time of death in 2013. today, march 7, 11 years ago on this day, anastacio left us. for anastacio' family, this was just one heart break from a long list of families who've died or became seriously ill from radiation exposure.

tina cord oefsha -- cordova, anastacio's daughter, made it her life's mission to fight for justice, compensation, for her family and the thousands of victims of our nation's nuclear weapons program. this is tina. rosalie is holding her. tina is with us today. bernice gutierrez is us as well. henry adetta from tu

new mexico, and beatrice gutierrez and her friends at a very young age. now, tina tonight at this year's state of the union, and i'm honored to have her by my side in this cause. let me change that. i'm honored that she allowed me on this journey with her to help other people. now, she was with me in■z■ bele new mexico, when the president of the united states, joe biden, was visiting to talk about some of the incredible oppor for economic growth. when i was speaking before the president, i saw tina in the■ aud audience, and i spoke momentarily about the radiation

exposure compensation act and about her, only to be surprised that when the president of the united states followed me he look at tina and looked at everyone in the room and the cameras and said, you have my support to get this done. yesterday, the president of the united states issued a sta statement, a sap, showing support for the passage of this legislation, the radiation exposure compensation act amendments. in addition to language that senator josh hawley has included, and bringing attention to families that need help and need to be seen and heard and deserve, based on storage flaws and exposure to each and every one of them. this is truly a bipartisaof leg reaching out to colleagues in both chambers.

every one of our friends. asking them to take a hard look at this, please give us a chance, let us earn your support. not long ago, when senator hawley had an amendment with this language in it, "oppenheimer" was hitting theaters across america, and everyone was talking about it, a film that was made in new mexico. some people may recognize this from that film. 62 u.s. senators that day stood up and raised their hand and said yes, the united states needs to move forward, take responsibility, give recognition to all of these families across america. unfortunately, it was not included in the national defense

authorization act . well, on sunday, there's something happening in america called the oscars, and there's a lot of incredible actors and actresses that will be recognized because of the story they told with "oppenheimer". that story left out an important part -- the families that we're here fighting for today. and while many of them will receive oscars, no doubt, i hope none of those actors and actresse that are up giving their remarks, when they receive an oscar for telling the story of dr. oppenheimer, that they forget about these families, that they think about them. and the same advocacy i've heard from many of these incredible artists, i hope one of them is willing to say something. but if not, i hope they reflect

on it. now, i'll close by saying this, this particular legislation is not just about new mexico or missouri. this legislation will help our brothers and sisters in arizona, colorado, idaho, montana, nevada, across new mexico, utah, and guam. it will provide more support to uranium mineworkers in washington, oregon, idaho, wyoming, utah, colorado, arizona, texas, north dakota, and south dakota, reaching out to our brothers and sisters in missouri, tennessee, and alaska, and in kentucky. we have to get this done. now, i want to add that since this bill has been scheduled for a vote, i've heard from more colleagues about their communities that have been harmed by our nation's complicated nuclear legacy, specifically people in pike and

siota, out in ohio, armstrong county, pennsylvania, and communities near the site in washington have been exposed to radiation, and they deserve justice too. senator brown, senator casey, senator murray, and sat cantwell, you have my commitment that as this effort moves through the legislative process, i will work deliver justice for your constituents so we can work as a fa family. and madam president, as i close, i ask all my colleagues to please, please take a look at this. please reflect. 62 votes on the first vote. i hope we can send a message to

all those advocates and families across america that they are heard and seen, and that we'll see a stronger showing this af afternoon. generations of families wiped out by lung, ■gstomach, prostat thyroid, skin, breast, and tongue cancer■o didn't get the gl glossy hollywood treatment. and the united states congress has not made any significant progress in correcting these injustices since 2000. shame on us. a lot of us have been praying about this and reflecting on this, and i certainly hope that we have a resounding vote in

just a few short minutes to show our american brothers and sisters that we love them too. i yield back. mr. hawley: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from . hawley: madam pr march of 1865, president lincoln said this, let us strive on to finish the work, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan. madam president, that's why we're here today. we're here today to continue th honor the lives of those who have borne this nation's battles, who have rallied to this nation's f danger, the peo world war ii, who won the cold war, who helped rebuild europe

and japan and our allies, the people who have built this country and are now waiting for us to help them that's what we're about today. there's a reason, madam president, that we succeeded over the last half century. it's because the working people of this country, in missouri and in new mexico and in nevada and colorado and idaho and texas and wyoming and everywhere else from coast to coast, it's because the working people of this country went to the uranium mines for our nuclear program, went to the proc processing sites to make our weapons, volunteered for our army, went overseas to fight, or just raised theiróh familiehono. that's why we have a united states of america. that's why we are the united states of america. but we have not done right by those good people. we have turned our back on them, because so many of them, madam

president, were poisoned by their own government, by nuclear waste and radiation, by nuclear tests that were done without their knowledge, by the nuclear material and the mines they weren't told about. the government exposed them over a periods of radiation and waste, and in almost every case did nothing about it. in many cases, lied to them about it. well, this isn't right, madam president. this isn't just. that's why we are here today. it's the pride of this nation that whenon the second world war, when we won the cold war, we rebuilt the lands of our former enemies. i'm proud of that, as i ever have been. but now it is time to rebuild these communities. it is time to finish the work in the united states of america. it is time to turn to the men and women who have borne the brunt of the battle.

the men and women who gave their health, and in many cases their lives, for their nation. that's what we're here for today on the floor. this isn't about a handout. this isn't about some kind of welfare program. this is about doing basic justice by the working people of this nation, whom their own government has poisoned. this is the day we break the cycling of lies from the government -- when we break the cycle of lies from the government, we break the cycle of passing the buck and ircement from -- irresponsibility from the governme, we say to the people of america we will honor you and we are here for you, when we acknowledge to these americans, you built this country, we will honor you. that's why we're here today. senate has a chance today to make right what has been wrong, to right 50 yrs and 60 years of americans ignored, exploited and lied to. today we can begin to right those wrongs.

that's why we're here, madam president. i want to recognize now my friend, my colleague from the great state of missouri, a man who gh;rew up in the st. louis region, right by one of these nuclear processing facilities and a landfill where the government dumped the waste, then lied about it. a man i'm proud to have in this fight, senator eric schmitt. senator from missouri. mr. schmitt: thank you, mr. president. thank you, madam president. i rise today along with my friends from new mexico and colleague who have shown great leadership in this to defend and support the people who have been impacted, who quite literally have been poisoned by their own government. i grew up in bridgeton, new jersey, the epicenter of some of the waste that was dumped, the radioactive waste that was dumped there. and just to that i can

back, after world war ii, st. louis, the city itself, was the main population center. st. louis county, which that they had no idea was in their water, below their feet, affecting them,ing them. and i just -- i think back -- my parents still live there, by the way. i think back to those friends and those neighbors i had, and

as senator hawley mentioned, niece are folks, these are the waitresses, these are the truck drivers, these are the hair stylists, these are people who go to work every single day and they just want a better life for their kids. they might teach in that local school. they were creating these communities that were new, but, again, their government had dumped toxic materials that were poisoning them. and what they wanted, again, was to live the american dream. by no fault ofheir own, they happened to live in an area -- whether they were downwind or whether it was in their water -- that has impacted their -- not just their lives but their families, and generations of their families. in this legislation, it will

make them whole -- it won't make them whole, but it's some measure of compensation. it is some measure of justice. and i know that some people have talked about cost. look, we do a lot of things here. we spend a lot of money, and we can debate on whether or not that's worth it or not or these are our priorities. but i think if we too off the red jerseys and we took off the blue jerseys and really focused on what we should really be doing here, in a government that is supposed to have limited powers, one of the things we should be doing is protecting our own citizens. and that's what this vote is about. it's living up to the promise that we made to the people when we got elected, which was that we were going to fight for them. and this is the opportunity to go do that. it is the ability i a number

of zip codes in states across this country, for people that worked there, who helped -- senator hawley mentioned, who helped build america back up or are working to save civilization in many ws in the middle of the last century. it's for us to make sure we're doing everything we can to see that some measure of justice is se and so i would just ask my fellow colleagues to look within their hearts or looking in the eyes of some of the people who are here today who have been impacted because these folks don't have powerful lobbyists. the people that come to our offices asking about something that's in some bill, theaffectet have those powerful forces at play. this is something that has bubbled up in a bipartisan way, again, to support the people that we represent that have been

impacted, and i am proudly a supporter of this and will do everything i can to help get this passed so that deserve. with that, a i'll yield back the floor. thank you, madam president. mr. hawley: when i have come to the floor in weeks and months past to talk about this cause, because it's more than an issue; it is a ca, it is a cause of doing right by our fellow americans. when i've come in weeks' past, i've often shown the pictures and told the stories of people who have given their health or given their lives for their country. today i don't have any pictures th m because today in the gallery we have missourians themselves and new mexicans themselves and arizonans themselves and members of the navajo nation themselves. they're here right now. they are sitting right there travelling from great distances and i just want to call out a few of their names.

maryddiction on is here from utah. laura greenwood is from texas. phil harrison and lesley begay and rose harrison and tina cordova, all from new mexico. and linda perez has come all the way from guam. all the way from guam. paula tery from idaho and from the great state of missouri, don champman. and ashley and kristin andijan at that and trishans are all here, and from the navajo nation justin and kyl, and there are more in the gallery as well, madaes from all over this country representing every segment of this country, representing the great heritage of this country, representing the great communities of this country. i think of the navajo nation. 50% of the uranium that was mined in this country for our nuclear program, half of it came from the navajo nation, the

workers of the navajo nation who if i'm not mis-stain, v the arm percentage higher than any other community in america. these folks represent here today the best of our nation. they are america. they're here. they're here for us to honor them. you know, as americans, we make a commitment to each other. it's what it means to be an american. we promise that we will live by the ideals that we hold together and by the things that we love together. and we promise to stand by one another. this is about standing by one another. this is about seeking that justice that president lincoln spoke about so many marches agoe year 2024, the united states senate has the opportunity to do its part, it's small part -- its small part to continue to make this nation what 2 could be, what we promised it could be and to put right things that went wrong. as we speak, the government is

testing under the homes in st. louis, under people's basements in st. louis for radioactive contamination, after saying for decades there was no contamination for concerned about, there was something we should worry about, now they're testing in our homes. they've already shut down schools. the water in the creeks is contaminated. the landfills are contaminated, the soil has been contaminated. today we say enough. today we turn the page. today we begin something new. for those folks who are watching now from missouri, whether from their living rooms while their homes are being tested or from the high schools while they're hoping for something better, let's see the united states senate work. let's see what we can do to keep the promises that we've made to each other as americans. and so with that, madam president, i yield all remaining debate time.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the bill is considered read a third time. the question occurs on passage of the bill. mr. hawley: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler.e the clerk: 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.z] ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar.■ mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez.

mr. merkley. . mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen.

ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- butler, coons, hawley, lujan, schmitt, and wyden. -- mrs. blackburn, aye.

senators voting in the negative -- cornyn, cramer,s kennedy, paul, and wicker.éñ the clerk: mr. merkley, aye. mr. grassley, no. the clerk: ms. sinema, aye.

the clerk: mr. crapo, aye.u vote:

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye.

the clerk: mrs. fischer, no. mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: mr. marshall, aye.

the clerk: ms. rosen, aye. mr. rounds, aye.

the clerk: ms. cortez masto, aye. the clerk: mr. moran the clerk: mr. tester, aye.

ms. klobuchar, aye.

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye. mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. welch, aye. mr. hagerty, aye. mr. whitehouse, aye.

the clerk: mr. schatz, aye.

thlee, no. mr. heinrich, aye. hu■?=i

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

the clerk: ms. cantwell, aye. the clerk: mrs. murray, aye. ms. smith, aye. ■lrov.

vote: the clerk: ms. collins, no. dur

mr. fetterman, aye. mr. cassidy, no.■ the clerk: ms. hyde-smith, no.

mr. kelly, aye. mr. reed, aye. mr. markey, aye. casey, aye.

the clerk: mr. padilla, aye. er

ms. hassan, aye.

the clerk: mr. boozman, a.

the clerk: mr. moran, aye. mr. risch, aye. mr. sanders, aye. the clerk: mr. cardin, aye.

ms. ernst, no. mr. thune, no. the clerk: mr. barasso, no. mr.g, no. mrs. shaheen, aye.

the clerk: ms. warren, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. daines, aye. the clerk: ms. lummis, no. mrs. capito, no.

mr. graham, aye.

the clerk: mr. rubio, aye. mr. lankford, no.

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

the clerk: mr. tillis, no. the clerk: mr. mullin, no.

the clerk: mr. cruz, aye. ms. duckworth, aye. mr. cotton, aye.

vote: ■i

the clerk: mr. hoeven, no.■n

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, no.kd

the clerk: mr. king, aye. mr. manchin, no.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye. mr. budd, no.■;

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

the clerk: mr. ricketts, no.z?

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

the clerk: mr. warnock, aye.

the clerk: mr. hickenlooper, aye. mr. sullivan, aye. mr. johnson, no. mr. menendez, aye.

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

vote: vote: ■á

the clerk: mr. schumer, aye. ■ mr. braun, aye. ■p

the clerk: mr. vance, aye. zw

the clerk: mr. romney, no.

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

vote, the yeas are 69, the nays are 30. the 60-vote threshold having been achieved, the bill is passed. under the previous order, the senate will resume executive session. all postcloture time is expired. the question occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet.

mr. blumenthal. mr. booker.

mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. 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.■m 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.■■z ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith.

mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. connell. 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. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmit

mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. south car. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. vote: p÷

the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- bennet, booker, cantwell, cardin, carper, casey, collins, heinrich, hickenlooper,aine, klobuchar, manchin, menendez, murray, schatz, sinema, stabenow,den.

senators voting in the negative -- braun, budd, capito, cramer, gr, lankford, mcconnell, moran, mullin, paul, romney, rubio, sullivan, tillis. the clerk: ms. lummis, no. the clerk: mr. cotton, no.

the presiding officer: the chamber will refrain from making loud noises. the clerk: mr. king, aye. mr. durbin, aye. ms. smith, aye. mr. markey, aye.

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

mr. wicker, no. ms. ernst, no.

the cl aye. mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. welch, aye. mr. brown, aye. mr. hoeven, no.cortez masto, aye. mr. reed, aye. mrs. hide smith -- mrs. hyde-smith, no. mr. warner, aye. the clerk: mr. tuberville, no.s

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye.

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

the clerk: mr.■6 cornyn, no. mr. cruz, no. mrs. fischer, no. the clerk: mr. vance, no.■

the clerk: mr. merkley, aye. the clerk: ms. rosen, aye.

vote: the clerk: mr. barasso, no.

the clerk: mr. ye.

the clerk: peters, aye.

the clerk: ms. hassan, aye. mr. schmitt, no. mr. scott of

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye.1

the clerk: mr. crapo, no. mr. cassidy, no.

the clerk: mr. van hollen, aye..

the clerk: mr. padilla, aye.

ms. warren, aye. mr. lee, no. mr. lee, no.

the clerk: mr. wish, no. -- mr. risch, no. 6 the clerk: mr. risch, no.■

the clerk: mrs. shaheen, aye. #%

the clerk: mr. ricketts, no. mrs. blackburn, no. mr. kelly, aye. ■k

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. the clerk: ms. duckworth, aye.

the clerk: mr. schumer, no.

mr. schumer, aye.■/

the clerk: mr. scott of south the clerk: mr. scott of south

creating more jobs than in any n less than two years ago, and inflation was out of crushing 9% today it has cooled to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. that means over the past year the prices of things like milk, eggs, appliances, car rentals and airfare have all come down. across the country, manufacturing and all -- job creation is surging. surgeries long overlooked especially in places like upstate new york are getting a second chance. it did not happen on its own.

it's the result of the democratic agenda legislation le american rescue plan. which i was happy to champion. specific and data tells only part of the story. i am honored to welcome five inspired new yorkers and one brave ukrainian soldier as my guest for the state of the union better than any statistic how america is made stronger by the policies of the biden administration and the democratic senate. you can look at the example of andre the 25-year-old ukrainian soldier who has risked his life and lived on the battlefield. after losing his leg in a mine explosion, he came to new york in january for prosthetics and rehabilita island university.

this senate thanks him for his sacrifice. he reminds us all about the stakes of the war in ukraine. of the importance of passing the supplemental. w as hard as i can to make sure we get it done. it is a historic moment for america. we cannot turn our back on ukraine and otherh what we face in the world. you can also get a look at what is the hudson valley. expecting her second child from in vitro fertilization. without ivf k could have never gotten prean. both heartbreaking and enraged that extreme republicans have made people like kate worry that this vital service will be curtailed. am today. i'm also honored to invite my friend kevin mccarthy of suffolk county. the proud president. as well as deborah hawken a retired ufcw member who used

hardworking americans aren't able to keep up. so think about what that means. if you haven't seen your pay rise by mor t17.9% since january 2021, then you're behind because of joe biden's inflation. we know that's the rions of ame real average weekly earnings have fallen 4.3% since joe biden took office. so when the press and biden administration says good news, inflation is cooling, nobody in the real world is because they see it's a lie each and every day. unless we see significant deflation which will only happen if we cut n't be relief that th administration has already caused. one of the best ways to cut reckless spending is to take a serious look at earmarks. now, i appreciate that congress rightfully holds the purse strings under the constitution,

and my colleagues in the senate the biden administration does. this is not about taking away authority from congress, neither congress nor the president's agencies should waste your■4 money. earmarks are pet projects that only benefit a small number of people. they're not voted on separately by members of congress. american taxpayers should not be used as a political piggy bank. earmarks have been so badly abused that we can't let it go on like this any longer. the time for forgiveness has passed. in just the senate, members requested more than 6,000 earmarks to waste your tax dollars on projects like $3.35 million for michigan's thanksgiving parade foundation. $1 million for an environmental justice center in new york. new york city has a budget already of $106 billion. don't you think they could do this on their own. $1 million for social justice organization, san francisco, to make building improvements.

$5 million for a theater, opera house, and other renovations in georgia and pennsylvania. and city hall renovations in washington and r federal govern have to pay for this? states and local governments that take the lead here. today the u.s. national debt is nearly $35 trillion. that's about $6.5 trillion more than it was when biden took office. here's an even more disturbing figure. since january 2023, about 14 months ago the national debt has grown by more than $3 trillion. this explosion of america's debt is a great threat to the national security and stability of our country and it is not going to stop unless we force change. as someone who grew up in public housing and watched my mom table and -- i watched my mom struggle to put food on the table and paid taxes all of her

life,■4 there is a lot of failu in the washington that is hitting families like my mom all across america. 've seen inflation increase 7.9% since joe biden took office. families have$11,400 more to buy the same thing in my state. that's nearly a thousand dollars a month more each and every month just to get by. the status quo is burying america alive. that's why i'm hoping all of my colleagues will join me on the resolution i will be introducing today. earmarks to direct and appropriate taxpayer dollars. it reaffirms the and restore the ban immediately and affirms the need for congress to rein in overspending

to help curb the inflation crisis that is crip manying families. debt matters because it fuels inflation. let's remember that a debt fuels inflation. it makes ider for the federal government to do the things it promised to do, like build roads, fund social security, medicare, medicaid, nationalhat the debt inflation crisis we find ourselves in today was 100% preventable. i believe we ought to fund the things thatational defense, soc security, medicare, medicaid, but that's not going to happen if we don't stop spending money on these worthless projects. if we truly intend to protect and preserve these programs, we have to cut the wreckless spending. if nothing changes, the interest on our debt that is already costing us $870 billion this year, more than we spend on defense -- this is going to keep going up.

soon the government will not be able to keep its promise. that is not fair to each of you and we should not let that happen. we all need to work together to end earmarks and protect american taxpayer dollars. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i have an extraordinary responsibility as chairman of the senate judiciary committee. important legislation, but probably more important the filling of vacancies in our federal of our constitution, we create judges, and there are pproximately 890 the united states.udges across as vacancies occur, as they often do, the senate judiciary committee, working with the

white house and members senate, have to do background checks on these individuals, submit them to the fbi for further background checks, do our own due diligence, consider them in an open hearing before the committee, and ultimately vote in committee before they come to the floor. so far this year -- i should say, in this term, under president biden we've had 181 federal judges that have gone through this process and been cleared on the floor and report out■ó of the senate. they're now serve their nation in this capacity t i can tell you that it's not a an easy process. lengthy questionnaires are given to each nominee to identify so many details of their lives that you find it hard of it. but they did. then of course agencies call to verify the contents and the

answers of those and then they go through a close scrutiny by the staff in the judiciary committee on both sides, democrats and republicans. reckoning when they have their hearing, and in a public set something many of these -- and in a pubcf setting, many of these nominees are questioned extensively by members of the committee. politics ain't bean bag. and when it comes to the questions asked of judicial nominees, it's a serious process. we have gone through more than 200 in this biden administration in the senate judiciary committee. and some of them have had a tough time of it. many of them had an easy time o it. but they all go through the same process. one of the most important aissue mr. s of this ain been -- one of the most important accomplishments of this administration has been the

federal judges to the 181 confi judges, including a number of firsts -- the first black woman and public defender on the supremurt of the united states, the first muslim american judge on a district court, the first asian american judge on the seventh■j. we should add another first to that list -- we should -- adil mangi. he has more than two decades of li muslim american to ever serve on a federal appellate court. nevertheless, he has gone through scrutiny unlike anything i have ever seen. he has been criticized and questioned in a way that i have he never seen before in the committee. unfortunately, many of the questions that have been raised about mr. mangi and his

background have created suspicions in people's mind that his religion is the reason for the questioning. qualified nominee had sometimes reached an all-time low. at the hearing in december, committee republicansngi to com questioning about the israel-hamas war. this is a man who is seeking to serve on a federal bench in the appellate court. the questions that were asked of him were more appropriately asked of thex7 secretary of sta or the secretary of defense. at one point a republican senator asked this muslim amer question -- do you celebrate the anniversary of 9/11 in your home? think about that for a second. because he was muslim, this senator thought it was appropriate to ask him whether he celebrated 9/11 in his hope

he, of said no. he was a resident of new york and thought it was a tragedy that it occurred it our nation, and he had friends and family who were affected by that tragedy. during his hearing under oath, mr. mangi unequivocally condemned anti-semitism in all forms no fewer than ten times. because he was asked ten different times whether he was anti-semitic. he of course said no on each occasion. he also repeatedlynced any form of hatred and bigotry in his answers to written questions. any anti-semitic is rooted in prejudice that has no place in 0 you are country and the claims that were made are false. as he ■explained, and i quote him, i have worked extensively to advance religious liberty, which i consider to be a

and to combat religious bigotry against any religious group. i have been proud to represent a unique and massive coalition that i built over many years involving major christian, jewish, muslim, hindu, sikh and other religious groups on common interest r he has also been unfairly attacked for his nominal affiliation with the alliance of families for justice. critics have falsely claimed that because of his involvement with this organization, he has somehow associated himself with violent criminals and supported -- and i use this in quotes -- cop killers. that charge was made on the floor of the senate against mr. further from the truth. as a longtime corporate lawyer, he has never said or written anyt that suggests he supports individuals who have murdered members of law enforcement. he has never, never represented or otherwise providedone accuse

killing a police officer. but during the trump administration, republicans voted unanimously to confirm two judges who had personally represented individuals who had killed police officers. let me add quickly, every one in america has the right to counsel, and the crimes that is they may be charged with could be horrendous, but they still have the right totation. to think they would accuse mr. mangi of somehow supporting cop killers when he has never been involved with a client charged with that crime. it puts his hypocrisy on full display. there cannot be one standard for democratic appees and another for republican appointees. mr. mangi graduated from oxford and harvard law school. he has served as counsel of record in more than 30 matters

before federal appellate courts as well as eight amicus briefs submitted to the u.s. supreme court. throughout his career, mr. a d commitment to probing the work. he has devoted morning business than 4,000 hours to representing clients in religious discrimination, employment discrimination, and asylum cases. given mr. mangi's he has earned the support of a number of organizations. listen to what the national council of jewish women had to say about him. i quote, he is highly qualified to serve on this court, bringing a wealth of professional and in to extraordinary legal qualifications. and yet some of the senators, republican senators on the committee, suggest that he was anti-semitic, prejudice against jewish people. this endorsement by the national council of jewish women clearly says otherwise.

following mr. mangi's hearing, the antidefamation league, an organization dedicated to rooting out prejudice against jewish sent a statement to the committee unsolicited by me. in which they said, berating tm appellate judicial nominee with endless questions that appear to be motivated by bias toward his religion is wrong. he also has the support of a number of law enforcement organizations, from the new jersey chapter of national organization of black law enforcement e to the hispanic american law enforcement association. as mr. mangi stated, and i quote, i am ready and prepared to be held accountable for any statement that i've ever made, any word that i have ever written or any action i have ever taken. and he went 0en to should not b accountable for statements made by people i do not know and events i was not involved in.

mr. mangi is right. he should be based on his record, not on dishonest, insi. i urge my colleagues to support his nomination, and i yield the floor.y we mr. mr. welch: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. welch: thank you. before i begin my remarks, i want to associate myself with the remarks of the chair of the judiciary committee about the nominee. everything he true.

i share his horror at the vilification of him, which i do believe is based on his standi member of the federal court. so thank you, mr. chairman, for your defense on behalf of an excellence nominee. mr. president, i'm here to talk about the post office and the frustration we're havin in vermont with the management of the post office, starting with mr. dejoy,ur general, and his total disregard for what is happening to our postal service in vermont. let me start by saying what the specific incident is that is just baffling to senator sanders, to congresswoman- balance -- balant, and to me. we had a flood in july. the postal building in

montpelier was flooded and damaged and is not going to be opened for years. we've got to get another location for our post office. that was july. it's march now. we have no new postal service. no new postal building. the workers who we are absolutely indebted to, the postal workers, they are fantastic throughout theey work circumstances, understaffed and overworked and do everything they can to get the mail so they are doing what they can but they don't have a place for postal boxes. ie have a place where -- they don't have a place where they can sort the mail, they don't have a place -- actually montpelier places don't have a place to pick up their mail. it is going ton and on and on.cv and despite the efforts of governor scott, who made suggestions on where replacemen

despite the entreaties of senator sanders and congress woman balance latin and me, we get no response. we try to get a meeting with postmaster dejoy, send letters, we make phone calls, and there is no response. montpelier right now has the distinction of being the only capital city in the country that doesn't have a post office. we don't have an mcdonald's either. we're okay with that, but we're not okay with not having a post office where people can pick up their medications, their social security checks, where businesses can drop off their mail going out to customers. and what is so aggravating to all of us is there's no response from the management. that's their job. they just blow us off. can you imagine what it's like if you're a citizen and you're trying to get some response on

the basic right that you have to get your mail on time, the basic right and confidence you should have that you'll giption medica? when not only do they get ignored when they're making a reasonable request, hey, where's our post office t don't even ge response. and you know, for awhile i thought maybe dejoy doesn't like me, doesn't like sanders, doesn't like balant, maybe he doesn't like our governor. that's not what it's about. i wish it was personal. what i'm finding out from talking to my colleagues is this problem of mismanagement and disregard, and disregard for the legitimate concerns of our citizens is widespread. so, for instance, in tennessee, my colleague, former colleueim he's trying to figure out how to get stuff delivered. his folks need the medications,

they need the social security checks. he tried to get the postal service to respond. i'm talk again, the management, because tim, like me, is really admiring of the work of the postal workers. they were concerned, he couldn't get a meeting. finally the postal service sent some people a couple of hundred miles to his district. they sat this for 15 minutesnd made no response whatsoever to the entreaties of the people who had asked for that meeting. and then they vanished. no response, no action. my colleague, senator smith in minnesota, is a rural post office there where people have been told to prioritize the delivery of amazon packages. that's a private company having the postal service do the last bit of work to get that package to the home. but prioritize that for amazon over the delivef everyday

mail for people who are citizens of that small town. and then in in colorado are wai weeks or months at a time to get their mail. "the wall street journal" did a story about this, mr. president, and i want to quote it. a citizen there said christmas cards began arriving in february, but that's not, what's not funny at all, was kind of philosophical about it, was that driver's licenses, disability payments, election ballots and prescriptions were not arriving for months as well. i mean, this is the united states of america. the postal service is older than the constitution itself. the original infrastructure that we began building were roads to connect one postal service to another. that's what it was and it's getting wrecked. and the wreckage by postmaster general dejoy is reflected in his unresponsive attitude

towards everyday americans in every district of this country and it's got to end. there's independence with the postal service, to avoid congressional meddling. is it congressiáonal meddling when we're sticking up for the businesses in our communities, for the senior citizens in our communities, for the kids who in fact do getting cards from their grandfather and grandmother? no, i don't think that's meddling. that's demanding servic what is unacceptable is a postal management service that won't even pick up the phone and meet with members of congress on behalf of their citizens or, more importantly, get the job done on behalf of all the people we represent. mr. president, i yield back.

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i come to the floor to discuss with my colleagues the fact that agencies of the federal government aren't very insiul to make sure that taxpayers' money are spent pro properly, and also to say how they're not cooperating with the constitutional responsibility of a con sure the money is spent in a legal way. in this case, i'mo talk about the environmental protection agency. on april i began an investigation into an epa

program called the environmental justice collaborative problem-solving cooperative agreement program. that's quite a name, isn't it. on 22 this year, i issued a preliminary report my investigation. the epa program dishes out millions of taxpayers' dollars to left-leaning nonprofits. the funding is from the president biden american rescue plan which was opposed by senate republicans. according to the epa, the purpose of this environmental justice program is to address environmental and public health

issues in underserved communities. as part of tha program, the epa sent 34 individual nonprofits, a combined $4.3 million with each receiving up to $200,000. i think the money was meant to be spent for purpose of improving the d i don't have any trouble with that. but i think you'll see that the grantees didn't use the money for what it was intended for. i wrote to all 34 grantees because i wanted to know how they spent that taxpayers' money. i wrote to the epa because i wanted to know how it was conducting ovsing. you see, it isn't only congress

has a responsibility to see the money spent responsibly and according to congress' will, but it's also up to these agencies to make sure that they spend the money■av accordingly. it's a pretty simple request. i want epa to show your work, how t taxpayers' money is being spent. well, this epa apparently to them, that question is just too much for them to handle. so guess what happened after i sent the oversight letters? the epa intre told these 34 grantees that they, meaning the epa, would handle the grassley request. this led many grantees to refuse

compliance with any congressional oversit and also obstruct my efforts of getting answers for the taxpayers. some grantees emboldened by epa's obstructive conduct that they sent my staff e-mails -- and this is just one example of the e-mails. quote, we report to epa, and they're responding on our behalf. you can make your request to them. we won't be responding further. don't contact ufurther, end of quote. that's how they treat this senator doing his responsibilities. and obviously you can tell from that quote that that isobstruct. what the biden epa has done to

obstruct a core constitutional requirement of the congress, that is knowing how appropriated taxpayer money is being used by the executive branch. moreover, the epa couldn't even respond on above grantees -- on behalf of grantees, and it's pretty simple because the epa doesn't eve possess the records that i was requesting from the nonprofits. that's a whole different problem for the epa. specifically, i asked grantees -- and this is a quote from my letter -- provide all records showing how the taxpayers' money your organization received was spent. in your production, please provide a financial summary

showing what the taxpayers' money was spent for, end of quote from my letter. amazingly, the epa can't fulfill this request for grantees because at this point in the life cycle of the grant it doesn't possess the records that show how taxpayers' moneyas been spent. accordingly, except for my asking these questions, the epa wouldn't have possessed these records at this point in the grant program. the epa only has financial records showing how much money the grantees had drawn down from the overall grant.■ the epa e-mailed my staff this, and i quote, a■■>t the stage in the grant process, this

is the only document detailing financial proess that grantees are required to submit to the agency, end of quote. for context, the quote only document, end quote, referred t what taxpayers' money was being spent by each grantee. now that's beyond embarrassing. it's a disgrace and a slap in the face to the taxpayers who worked so hard for their money that the epa has track their money. the epa is throwing taxpayers' money around a care in the world. my preliminary oversight report

also found that some of t projects didn't even pass the smell test. for example, grantees that did■ respond to us reported projects like empathetic listening training, tree walk and talks, making musical presentations to their communities, and buying clothing. and it turns out the lion's share of the money so far is being used for more salaries pe nonprofit payroll and also other employee benefits. many of the 34 grantees were unable to provide records showing how much money their projects could cost. some were able to provide those records i asked for.

then why didn't all of the grantees? # i think going back to what i previously said, epa said you didn't have to aner i think the taxpayers have a right to know these financial details. with americans suffering from record inflation and being forced to make difficult financial decisions, the epa's obstructive conduct towards congress and the epa's weak and incompetent oversight all are insults to the tax taxpayer. to make it worse, the epa program i've talked about is just getting started. the epa plans to suspend tens of millions of dollars, more in coming years, on similar programs. and have spent according to what

i've been able to assess at thi salaries and benefits probably for the employees of the organizations as opposed to helping our solve our environmental problems. i imagine one would be hard-pressed to find any american taxpayer that would be satisfied with the epa's conduct in how this money is being spent. it's time for theo real over oversight of how this money is spent. the american taxpayers deserve better from its government. so as usual, the grassley oversight will continue. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the crk will call the roll. quorum call:

the clerk: ms. baldwin. ?r

take his word for it and ignore their own shrinking paychecks. literally taking a victory to tout his disaster economic record. his administration is declared bidenomics the word of the year. american consumers are shelling out a bigger portion of their

income on groceries any point in the last 30 years. reporting demand for enough people to make people income stretch. across the board. consumer prices are nearly 18% higher today than they were when president biden took office. this is what it really means? a kitchen table tonight working families will probably wonder whether the president has any regrets. or that he wishes he had but ignored his party's top economics economists and rammed through trillions of dollars in left-wing spending which brought on the worst inflation in 40 years.

or whether he wishes he had not declared total war on our most affordable sources of domestic energy. these americans industries support. president biden's watch nearly one third. when given the choice to lead or to outsource to the left-wing activist president biden is chosen the lateral. he has handed his face for a wish list of social engineering for engineering people to flip the bill. meanwhile, he has poured gasoline on the fire of

left-wing pro- criminal anti- police rhetoric across the country. the biden administration is packed the justice department goal of left-wing activists working overtime declare serious crimes right out of the criminal code. a couple years back, district attorney of massachusetts declared she would not prosecute crimes like breaking and entering or drug possession with intent to distribute. president biden rewarded this behaviory the first u.s. attorneys across the country on this president's watch. left-wing prosecutors have turned and repeated offenders into the streets. president biden criminals have learned that they will not face serious consequences and are acg

accordingly. at the same time, left-wing activists attacking the federal judiciary found an ally in the biden white house viewed the president strived to a judicdenf as a wild eyed leftist. even one who had worked undermining teenage girls claim of sexual assault. president biden had not just tried putting the wrong people in our nation's institutions, he spent three years undermining the institutions themselves. cod short families.

standing up to the court packing a terrible idea. since she was killed back in the 1930s. mr. president, the rule of law is less favorable on biden's watch. the streets of our major cities. of our borders are less secure. three years ago, illegal immigrants were robbed at our southern border and church wearing campaign logo insisting as one put it that biden promises that everything will change. everything would change. well, they were absolutely right since president biden took office nearly 10 million people have crossed our southern border

illegally. the administration have abandoned to content with a high list daily monthly and yearly totals of illegal rivals on record. as soon as you took office the president torah common sense authorities to maintain a secure border. instead, he spent years pretending that functionally open borders did not amount to a crisis. the only campaign promise president biden appears to have ke campaign trail to people hoping to cross the borders illegally.

america's closest ally in the middle east feel like they can count on america's total support and existential fight against genocidal terro world 's sponsor of terror thinking twice before targeting americans like the georgia guardsmen killed in kentucky soldiers injured in the tower 22 attack and jordan. does iran hesitate to stick it proxies on israel or threatened commercial shipping. .... .... ■

it wasn't too late to change course. needless to say he certainly did not take my advise. and he didn't take the american people either when they demand a ballot box the following year. this fall the voters had a chance issue of and, one with a bit more vitality. tonight we will hear from a president who failed in the most basic responsibilities of

government. a record of historic inflation surging crime open borders and weakness on the world stage. then the course the american people wiltness a stark contrast and when senator and coley tells her story and offers a very different assessment of this moment in american history when that makes our nation great mrs. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i'm pleased to senator klobuchar on the in regard today. senator klobuchar is the chair of the committee on competition policy, antitrust and consumer■ on the judiciary. i chair the commerce, justice, and science appropriations subcommittee, and we are her to do a colloquy about the work of

the department of justice's antitrust division and its funding. -- first of all, i would like to thank my friend for her work to strengthen competition policy and protect consumers. her bipartisan bill was signed into law at the end of the 2022 modernized the filing fee structure for the first time in decades. today we're considering fy 2024 funding for the cjs bill as part of the six-bill minibus that is before the senate. i can state with certainty that as a direct result of senator klobuchar's leadership, the bipartisan, bicameral appropriations package that the senate is considering provides the highest-ever appropriation for the antitrust division in

the agency's 121-year history. the antitrust division p vital hole in promoting competition -- role in promoting competition and cracking down on practices that hurt u.s. consumers. that's why despite the ex-stripely tight fiscal congress straints for this year's budget, we fought off the house attempts to impede its vital work. i'm proud that we managed to secure increased funding for the division in extremely tough bipartisan devotions and i want to thank the staff of the commerce, justice, and science committee for their gad work. house republicans wanted to cut antitrust by $32 million or 14%. we ended a 3.6% increase comparo last year. it's one of the only agencies within the bill to receive an increase. and we fought for this increase

because antitrust mission is as critical as ever. decades of consolidation americ and less innovation, and effects of that consolidation can be felt in all facets of american life. so this funding will further the agency's critical mission to promote competition and level the playing field for the american people. now, the antitrust division is funded primarily through fees that are paid by companies seeking to colleague's legislat increases fees that are paid by large corporation and big mergers and decreases those on small businesses and smaller mergers. for the first time, it adjusts the filing fee amots based on changes in the consumer price index. hopefully we got that right, senator klobuchar. ms. klobuchar: thank you it senator shaheen. i'm pleased to be here with my

colleague from new hampshire, mr. president. as i said when i came to the floor earlier this week, i appreciate the tough negotiations that my colleagues on the committee, including senator shaheen with her very important subcommittee, had to go through in crafting this ■4]gbill. there are many good things in it, and crucially it keeps the federal government open and working for the american people. however, as i noted last week, the technical language released by the appropriations committee on sunday restricts the titrust division from using funds generated from merger filing fees that exceed the appropriated amount collected in f.y. 2024 to own force our competition laws without a separate act of congress. and so the reason this has become a major deal for many of us that are simply interested in

allowing the department of justice to do i work on some very important cases, which are well-publicized, that are pending now, is that it conflicts with the intent of senator infrastructuresly's and my -- senator grassley's and my bill that passed last congress. this bill provides enforcers with the resources necessary to take on the anticompetitive practices by the biggest companies the world has every known, anent that the world has change add. prior to sunday, appropriators had had for decades allowed the antitrust division to retain and use all merger filing fees it equity collect -- it collected without limit. if the fees are high, that means mergers arerampant, the antitrust division needs additional funding for review and challenge and tight competitive mergers when they are anticompetitive, while simultaneously maintaining its

non-fee-generating work of generating price fixing conspiracies. unfortunately, the language in the current appropriations bill could divert fees away from the antitrust division in f.y. 2024 if the fees ex-seated $233 million, potentially eroding the intent of the bill that senator grassley and i passed, along with senator lee,with overwhelmingtle over a year ago. yesterday senator grassley and i, along with a bipartisan the made clear that the bill's unambiguous intent was to allow the antitrust division to real estatetain and use all fees generated. i just to clarify with my friend from the great state new

hampshire, i ask her if it is her understanding to provide additional resources to the antitrust division by increasing merger filing fees. mrs. shaheen: as somebody who voted for that bill, i certainly do agree with that, and i hope that in fact going forward we will see the antitrust division produce more fees so that we can get over the amount in the future as we look at putting together the appropriations bill for 2025. ms. klobuchar: thank you, senator shaheen. i understand that this year's appropriations bill was a product of negotiations in especially difficult circumstances, given the senator murray for successfully fighting to secure an increase in funding compared to last year for the antitrust division. but■■ as we've noted, this year compromise to restrict the

antitrust division's access to merger filing fees in years when those filing fees exceed the appropriated amount should not and cannot set a precedent for future appropriations bills. this language is limited to this bill, and this bill only. moving forward, we must include language that allows the antitrust division to retain and use the additional fees it collects under our bill. the bill that was passed with 88 votes in this chamber, signed into president, pa passes ed the house. to empower the antitrust division to own force our competition laws. one last question of the senator from new hampshire -- and that is, will you commit to prioritizing and doing everything in your power to include language that will allow the antitrust division to retain and use all the fees it collects above the appropriated amobudge the law's insurgent?

mrs. shaheen: absolutely. i hope in 2025 we are able to convince our republican coea in the house that this is something that the original legislation that you and senator infrastructuresly passed intde senator grassley passed intended and that hopefully we can engage senator grassley and senator lee to help us do tha ms. klobuchar: well, thank you very much, senator shaheen. there's major, major investigomehow already suits have been filed, actually from the prior administration going forward into this administration. they have been bipartisan in that way, all investigations. so i do thank you for your commitment and look forward to working closely with you and the democratic and republican members of the appropriations committee on the fiscal year 2025 process to you know -- to

uphold this commitment. mrs. shaheen: we're about to start the 2025 appropriations process, i look forward to desired losely while we provide outcomement. ms. klobuchar: thank you very much, senator shaheen. mr. president, we yield the floor and the floor and i believe there are other senators ready to come to the floor to speak. so keep us in the quorum. thanks. ■fxs

the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, later this evening we are going to hear the president of the united states tout the successes of his administration over the last year. he will say that our country is a better place because of his leadership. are you ready? are you looking afford to hearing how grocery costs, energy costs, and the gas prices have all gone down over the last year?ybe you're eager to hear at joe biden's solution to the historic border crisis, one which hcreated, by the way, that has crushed our rural

hospitals, our schools, and so let me save you some time. here's how president biden's speech is is going to go. the economy has never, ever been better. this is a lie. grocery prices are up 21%. inio is up 18%.up 32%. credit card debt for the average american is at an all-time high. do those numbers sound like the economy is better than ever? well, i don't think so. he'll say america has never been safer. this is a lie. cities across the country are experiencing surges of

homicides, muggings, and carjackings. new york city just deployed the national guard to combat sub-way crime. let me read that one more time. new york city just deployed the national guard to combat subway crime.t. this is obviously a democratic city. washington, d.c., right here in our nation's capital, saw last year its deadliest yearh that doesn't sound like this administration and have prioritized the safety and security of americans, which, by the way, is administration's top responsibility.

joe biden will turn to ukraine next and say that by to send billions of dollars to secure their border, we'll protect our country. billions more dollars. yet, that is another lie. we have already spent and sent toefr ukraine -- sent over to ukraine $120 billion only to watch their war descend into a year-long stalemate with hundreds of thousands of people killed and no end in sight. we are $34 trillion in debt and borrowing an additional $80,000 r right. we're borrowing $80,000 per second. that's $4.6 m minute. we are increasing the debt at a rate of 2.5 trillion per year.

our munitions are depleted because the president has continued to give it away to other countries. we're defenseless. we are broke, and we have little to show for it. our streets should be made of gold. we should have fast trains across the country. our airports should be immaculate. we have nothing to show for a $34 trillion debt. president biden will also say the border crisis could have been solved with the biden-schumer border deal and claim that republicans blocked the bill from moving forward. i was looking forward to this bill, but surprisingly this is another lie. the biden-schumer border deal was a border giveaway. the bill did not stop the administration from paroling

thousands of people per day into our country. to me, that was what a border deal was supposed to be about. the bill did not authorize funding to complete the border wall. it's simple, put up a wall. we just put up one the capitol here today to keep out the mean people from coming to this speech tonight. the bill will not stop fng sanctuary cities where criminal aliens are protected from deportations. the president will claim he's done everything he can do to secure the border. republicans have tied his hands. that's what he'll say. to clarify, the president of the united states will claim he cannot secure the nation's border at the end of the night. how embarrassing. what a shamelessduty. a bold-faced lie. he thinks the americans are

either too stupid to see what's going on here or he might think they just don't care. but i think they do. he's wrong on both tuesday's primary rates results proved just how wrong he is. when i last spoke on the floor one week ago, i said i time an killed by an illegal alien. well, here i am, and it's far too soon. this weekend, this past weekend 27-year-old washington state patrol christopher gad was killed by an illegal alien. this is he right here. raul benetiz santana, drunk behind the wheelrashed his car into trooper gadd and killed

him. trooper gadd was a husband, father, and son. benitez santana has been arrested multiple times before states illegally, illegally over the last ten years. and this because of that. he has been charged several times for driving with suspended license in addition to possession of and domestic abuse. he should have been deported long ago. but he wasn't. now trooper gadd is dead. does anybody care other than his sadly, marysville, washington, where the crash occurred, is a sanctuary jurisdiction. i still haven't figured that out. and i've spoken about sanctuary

jurisdictions before. they are cities, counties, and states where local elected officials prohibit from cooperating with federal law enforcement officers to get criminal aliens out of our communities and into proceedings to be deported. but if you're in one of these sanctuary cities, that doesn't happen. this tragic event is but one in pattern of occurrences happening across our country in which the lives of u.s. citizens are put at risk because joe biden's refusal, absolute refusal to secure the border. so earlier today the house of representatives voted on the laken riley act. we talked about her a couple of weeks ago right here on this floor, the young killed by an illegal alien at the university of georgia. laken riley act, detention of i

aliens charged with crimes as small as shoplifting. that is exactly what laken riley's killer had been arrested for previously. by the way, he had also been arrested fendangering a minor before he was charged with laken riley's murder. this bill today that was voted on in the house, 170 democrats voted against this bill. the blame for the state of this county, the blame for the state of this country rests solely with president biden. he's the boss. he's the leader, period. does he care about you? care about you as a taxpayer and citizen in this country?

he doesn't show and care about r family? does he care about keeping them nothing happens to you?luck that i don't think he does. will he protect you? ■i don't think so. hasn't shown that. he didn't protect laken riley or trooper gadd here. but i'm sure talk about laken or trooper gadd in his speech tonight, but he should. their names should come up. eir families are grieving, and it's just unfortunate that he doesn't take the leadership role and the blame. these two americans don't support his narrative of a successful presidency. he's going to say he's had a successful first thee years and lacht year was -- and last year was successful, but we've lost a

lot of people because of the decisions that he's made at the border. and there's been many, not just these two.many. i don't know how many people are supporting, will support this talk tonight. i'm aious to anxious to hear wh writers got together and said about our country and what's happened over the last year a what he foresees in the future. it had to be hard. but unless drastic changes are made to our nation's leadership in the very near fure citizens to be on their own. it just going to be by luck whether you're going to neighboring or not make -- whether you're going to make it or not make it. i'm not talking about just financially, but i'm talking about life or death, because we're losing people almost

daily. so o, i'm looking forward to hearing president biden's speech tonight. i hope the american people will listenin, listen in hard to what's going on, because this is our country and our country is in trouble. and i hope to god that we make the right decisions come this november. god bless. mr. president, i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the distinguished senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: thank you, mr. president. women and families across the country are confronting impossible choices because of republican extremism on abortion. do you risk your own health with a high-risk pregnancy or do you risk being thrown in jail for abortion? do you stay in a state that forces you to carry for months a nonviable pregnancy to ? do you travel hundreds of miles in secret to get access to a legal abortion in some other jurisdiction? if these choices sound awful, it's because they are. the chaos and the is not

just limited to red states. these attacks affect take hawaii, which legalized abortion over 50 years ago and has some of the strongest protections in the country. yetthere's a case before the supreme court right now trying to prevent people from accessing medication abortion by telehealth. that means if you live on an island like hawaii and rely on telehealth to get reproductive care, you'd have to take off work and get on a plane tf you' thinking i'm safe, you are not. republicans are coming after all of it, and no one and nothing is off limits. attacks onrú abortion threaten e entire system of reproductive care including things like contraception, family planning programs, and early misca are

terrified of providing care that will lose their license or land them in jail.ce, if you're an ob-gyn in a state like texas, you might be forced to delay or deny treatment to a patient an ectopic pregnancy because there is enough gray rather that the state can arbitrarily decide that you broke the law and punish you for providing care. doctors are not lawyers, and many in these states are understandably either retiring early or quitting or to a state that doesn't make criminals out of them simply for doing their jobs. i'm joined here in the gallery today by an ob-gyn resident from hawaii, dr. maniyan.úa a chief resident at the university of hawaii and next year she'll begin her specialization in complex family planning focsing on abortion

training, complex contraception and reproductive justice. we need more people like dr. maniyan,[4 n less. people who are passionate about providing accessible and equitable care to their communities. we ought to be celebrating their contri■ybution■8s, but instead republicans are hard at work criminalizing the whole profession. republicans are cg after all of it, and they are not going to stop. they've said what they're going to do, and now they are doing it. and i t challenge for those of us on this side of the aisle is what they're doing is so bananas, it's so offensive, it's so cruel, it's so unpopular that when we describe it accurately, it sounds like we are being hyperpartisan and freaking out for no reason. that's what it sounds like, i grant you that. but it's literally what's

happening. ivf banned, contraception, not sure. ectopic pregnancy, you've got to carry that to term. nonviable pregnancy, you've■z g that it's nonviable. even if your doctor says it's nonviable. the cruelty knows no end. so if you are a kind of uncomfortable with abortion, and so maybe i think i'm pro-life, i want you to understand what it means to be pro-life in the context of this 50-year■ -- they are not stopping at ivf, they are not stopping at contraception, they are not stopping. they want to control people's bodies. stopping all of this means fighting with as much coordination as the anti-abortion movement has been doing for decades. and that includes men too. this can't solely be asue.

we don't get to sit this one out. these extreme policies affect everybody, and everyone wishing to start ail for someone who's pregnant and so we all need to get involved. and when and if we have the house and s and the presidency, we should enshrine all of these reproductive freedoms in federal statutory p that the following remarks appear in a separate part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schatz: mr. president, the senate will soon vote, how soon, unclear, but soon vote on an appropriations package, whichth from the transportation, housing and your ban development subcommittee, which i chair. i want to take a moment to talk about what's in it and why it matters so much. the united states is experiencing an unprecedented housing shortage. homes are increasingly out of reach for so

individuals and homelessness continues to rise to record levels. there's no question that the federal government must acts. -- must act. and no appropriations bill, especially one negotiated under difficult spending caps under house republicans will solve our decades-long housing problem, but what this bill does is provide for rental andnce for millions of americans. it also provides $100 million for yes in my backyard program which will incentivize housing and exclude zoning that long kept housing supply it includes modernization for transportation and make it safer and more accessible. it fully funds thet can staff up and maintain a traffic control system. les also is funding for the

rail system. crucially the vital funding for tribal housing and infrastructure, including $1.3 billion for n housing bloc that is a record increasing for tribal housing of more than $300 million, which will help tribes, alaska natives build affordable housing in their communities. these bills are the product of a lot of hard work and patience, especially from our excellent staff, and that's been particularly true this year. they have worked so hard, long, long hours. when we make a deal, the work begins, and whenever we decide that we have consummated our sa look, i'm in the middle of a kid's baseball game or i'm at a doctor's appointment o run or i just woke up, they have

to draft the appropriations. they have a lot o sleepless nights, my staff, the t-hud committee, and everybody worked their butt off to make t!his possible, and i want to appreciate them. i also want to take a moment to thank ranking member cindy smith -- cindy hyde-smith and representative cole who worked in good faith to get us■ here. there is more we need to do to invest in housing and transportation around the country but this bill funds enormously important priorities and projects tha rely upon. it is essential that we pass it along with the rest of the bills. we have aline of tomorrow -- ad tomorrow night at midnight. i'm confident we will make it to the deadline but we have to run it across the finishr.

president. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

i've visited towns in the panhandle of in 1992 a tornado, a mile wide ripped through the town and destroyed over 1300 homes and 10

years ago in 2014, a wildfire destroyed over 100 homes. in the past week and a half fresh and the resf oklahoma panhandle as well have been dealing with devastating wildfires. when i was there on monday 242 homes had been lost. i met with local officials, county judges, mayors, police chiefs, fire chiefs, volunteers and charities. i met with families who have been devastated and lost everything. i saw homes that had been burned

beyond recognition. once he i saw outside sparked a truck that had been utterly burned so intense the windshield, the glass had melted and there were just pools of glass on the hood. i also saw in front of the house a motorcycle, i think it was a harley, that been utterly incinerated to the tires were burned and gone. i saw a boat i think itas a fishing boat again utterly incinerated nothing but fiberglass just melted on the ground. one of the officials i met with was a volunteer fire chief ted smith.

i met with chief smith 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 tuesday morning. on monday i asked chief smith, have any firefighters been injured yet? he said thankfully, neither he nor i knew when we were having that conversation he would give his life to save his community. these wildfires are have bee r week and a half and they have devastated communities like

fritch from lake meredith to haney. one ofbó■he fires the smokehouse creek fire is the largest wildfire in texas history and the second-largest in our nations history. the scar from these fires can be seen from space than they curreny more acreage than the entire state of rhode island. these fires haveed ranchers in . more than 500 structures have been lost. 10,000 miles worth of barbed wire have been destroyed and it's still unclear exactly how many cattle have perished but we know it's thousands upon thousands of cattle who have been taken by the i texted a good friend of mine

and i just asked how she was fi. i didn't expect her response. sheoo well. my home burned down and so did my barn and i lost half of my cattle. but then she responded you know what, i'm actually feeling pretty lucky because the ranchers on both sides of me lost everything. and i've got to say i. for my friends and i. for all the men and women in■o e panhandle. that response embodies the spirit tough texans. the destruction we are seeing, and throughout all of this today

there are been only three deaths attributed to the wildfires. that is extraordinary given the magnitude of thisas it could easily have been scores and scores of deaths. as a testament to the firefighters in the first responders in the panhandle for the bin tirelessly working to get people out of harm's way to contain the fires and at times the fires had been traveling more than 200 yards per second. that's how fast these fires have been.

spread. the weather has been a big factor. the. a few days ago fortunately there were some hope. there was some wet weather with snow a i fire some but then the weather got drier and windier which are ideal conditions for spreading a fire. so right now there are firefighters heroically battling massive fires, risking their when i was there i was told that over 60 fire departments from across texas and acrosshe■ fireo battle the blaze. monday night i was at the and ro and i saw the houston fire the houston fire chief and houston had sent firefighters to the panhandle to help ta the blaze.

to anyone in the panhandle who has see to ask you please listen very carefully to your local officials. listen to emergency responders. if they give you an evacuation order, treated seriously. keep your families safe. at the end of the day it's tragic when someone loses a home but a home can be replaced. family members cannot. this fire is dangerous and their first priority needs to be preserving life and getting people out of way. the second step is to shift to relief and rebuilding. the 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 salvation army and the red cross

and localhu say something i have been in the senate for 12 years. texas is a big state and it's a big state and we have our share of natural disasters from hurricanes ravaging th tornadoeg enormous devastation to this wildfire in panhandle. and as a texas senator is my responsibility to stand with those communities in a time of crisis in the aftermath rebuilding and every time we have had a natural disaster in texas, it's heartbreaking when you see the loss of live in the suffering. consistently it's also inspiring. it is inspiring because direction of texans in a time of

crisis is 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 every member texas would go and rescue theirs. they were jumping on bass boats because the streets were flooded and they would go from house to house pulling people out of harm's way, it was the spirit of texas and the beauty oft time is there are no partisan divisions. there are nowhere public and the democrats. people don't about race or ethnicity or religion. it's just texans helping texans. and that's what i saw that same >> of texans helping texans and

i'll tell you the church steps and the church should. the church should show love. when i was in the panhandle stopped at multiple churches and relief centers and i think them. they were giving out food and giving out water and giving out diapers and supplies for people who had lost everything. and i thank them and i've visited this one woman whose home had burned down and her daughter's home had burned down. she was smiling in a good spirits. she said my family is alive. i mentioned in french 242 homes had burned down. the county judge told me though there were only a half dozen people at the local shelters because everyone else whose home had burned down were presumably staying with friends or family or loved ones and other texan

said hey you lost your home, come and stay■ with me. that's inspiring in its powerful. that's what texans there are also things that we can and should do at the federal level to help the panhandle. every local officials i ensured you'd have the federal resources you need to need to have the assistance for the crisis in goingwace has been working hand-in-hand with state officials local officials and beginning to coordinate federal resource to fight the and i filed an amendment that the senate is considering right now to increase the funding for wildfire relief to help the people impacted by it. and i will continue working on measures to provide disaster relief for texans in harm's way

from the people who have lost their homes, to our ranchers whs of livestock. we need to stand with the panhandle and help recover from this historic disaster. mr. president there's an old panhandle saying up there that people have panhandle >> , a spirit of humility, a spirit of companionship, a >> that when a neighbor needs help by, you help them. the whole country is in that thousands of bails of hay and cattle feed have been trucked out daily from ranchers wantingr food and clothing have been donated to help people in need. that same >> that built texas is the same

>> that makes the lone star her firefighters fighting the blaze, the keeps our ranchers rebuilding and people picking up the pieces and read routing in the land they love. together with that same >> , that same determination that people in the panhandle have had for generations we will rebuild. ever. god bless our first responders and god bless all those in texas who have lost their homes in the past few days and those texans who have lost loved ones. we are praying for you and we will help you rebuild. bn■mr. president i would like to close by again talking about the loss ofas left a huge hole in the community. on social media the fritch

volunteer fire parmet wrote quote right now we are not okay. we love our chief, o b friend. please be patient with us the hutchinson cy emergency management team stated about chief smith quote is exemplary leadership was evident in his tireless efforts over the past week where he worked diligently to protect and safeguard his community and fellow citizens. chief smith was a hero. be forg. in his honor i had a flag flown over the united states capital to recognize his heroic service. chief smith gave his life on

tuesday of this week so that his fellow texans could liv and the family and friends of loved ones of chief smith we are mourning with you and we are celebrating a life well lived. may god bless the people of texas. we will defeat these wildfires. i yield the floor. mr. present prison come to the co his stated beginning address. the time to look at a presence like c. and one thing is certain that biden presidency hasn't done much for twn to florida to talk about the national security crisis we are facing at the southern border it's a crisis we have been facing since the day the president took office. the present marked his inauguration by taking measures to weaken our nation's border security including halting

construction of the border wall presenting the declaration of a national emergency on our southern border and pausing deportations except sfundetions. the effect was to declare to the world that the united states borders were effectively open. the number of migrant encounters at our southern border to accordingly. the surge has never stopped. president biden presided over three record-breaking years at our southern border and if we continue on our current track it will likely be presiding over a fourth. the first four months of fiscal year 2024 so nearly 1 million migrant encounters at our southern border. 1 million in just four months. these kinds of numbers not only represent a logistical and humanitarian crisis, they represent mr. president a gaping

hole in internationalthere is ns of numbers we are seeing smooth the way for dangerous individuals to enter our country. last year 169 individuals on the watch list were apprehended attempting to cross our southern border and we are on track to exceed that number this year. those numbers only reflect individuals who were actually apprehended. around 1.8illion known g a since president biden took office and an untold number of unknown got a. i think you can safely assume there are plenty of dangerous people making their way into our country who are not being stopped. president biden's border crosses jeopardizes our national security. his disastrous withdrawal from afghann their with our allies ensuring her military to defeat current and future threats since a danger

signal toad actors around the world. that course there is the fact that the president is setting up -- setting us up for a future energy crisis that will jeopardize our nations security to jeopardizing our energy security not to mention jeopardizing americans pocketbooks. the president's hostility to conventional energy production and his determination to push us into1#eenergy system cannot coph is setting us up for long-term instability in our nation's energy supply. that threatens our national security which depends on stable access energy and it threatens americans financial security is an unstable supply will almost unquestionably result in higher prices. the steep rise in energy prices so far in the biden frustration could look small compared to the

energy crisis americans could see under the green new deal regime president biden and visions for the future. speaking of higher prices perhaps the defining defining feature of the item is graciously inflation crisis the present helped create when he signed the so-called american rescue■f plan act and flooded te economy with unnecessary government spending. three years and inflation is still well above fedal reserve's rate. americans continue to suffer. today a cost for a typical family, a thousand dollars more per month to maintain the standard of living it had when president biden took office. $1000 more per month just to tread water. grocery prices are up 21% under president biden and the cost of food makes up a larger share of americans