ardens in san francisco. i understand the smell is bad in san francisco from the human feces, from the waste, from the trash, from the litter from the drug add -- drug addicts. bu you know what they need to clean their city up. they don't need to ask taxpayers in kentucky and around the country to plant flowers for them to obscure the smell of their problem because they let their city go to rot and ruin. a nonprofit in minnesota to build a coffee shop for refugees. think about this. you've just come to this country, many of these are good people some of the best americans, they just got here but we want to teach them about america, but instead of teaching that you go to the grocery stored0.26

a cup, you can make your own coffee instead we say, why don't we give a million dollars to a refugee center so they can have a coffee shop and serve up $7lattes to teach the immigrants that this is what is great about america. no it's great about america to get $7 coffee when you'reot when the government is paying for it. $500,000 for a cyber crime vehicle for the honolulu police. you can apparently get two ferarris and two teslas, are they using warrants or ease dropping on all of us? this is not something that the federal government should be funding. $1.2 million earmark for bike

paths in rhode island. look i'm a bike rider, i like bike paths as much as the next person. they should be fded locally. that is not the general welfare. a bike path in rhode island is the business of rhode island. why should rhode island pay for it? because rhode islandbudget. like every other state, they can only spend what comes in because they don't have a printing press. why do they ask the federal government to pay for it they have a printing press, it's hurts the general welfare by causing infl and that's what you get with the bike path. rhode island has 28,000 millionaires. tax the millionaires i they do with their millionaires for their bike paths, let them do it, don't let the rest of the country pay for a bike path in their state. we have a $209,000 for an air conditioner in the charlestown opera house in west virginia.

you might ask how that is of general interest or general welfare, it's right, it's very parochial. you might ask why they spent $100,000 last year fixing it will cost $200,000 this year. these are the ten of over 6,000 wasteful earmarks included in this minibus. i don't know which one would receive senator protection mire -- senator protection mire's golden fleece award. it gets worse. it's leading to generalized inflation. not only are they ignoring the general they clause that it has to be for a general cause, such as the national defense that we don't have for maine or rhode island or

kentucky the national defense is for everyone it is a general cause. but when we spend it on parochial causes when we run up this number deficit, it hurts us all generally. inflation is a general punishment. i would say this bill is not for the general welfare of the country. it is for the general punishment of the country, because it continues a $1.5 trillion deficit that leads to initiation that causes all of us to not be able to afford food clothing gasoline. that's what this is. this bill is an the american people. the earmarks are all the wasteful spending you could ever hope to see. it should be defeated.

the presiding officer: the senator from washington is recognized. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. lee: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah isrecognized. mr. lee: i ask unanimous consent too withdraw the cloture motion. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: i ask the cloture motion with respect to the house motion be withdrawn, and the only motions in order to accompany h.r. 4366 be the following, hagerty 1634, crapo

1625, johnson 1633, leigh amendment 16 -- lee amendment 1623, schmitt 1626, scott amendment 1645, and sc the senate vote on the above motions and amendments in the order listed with only the budd amendmentsub 60 affirmative votes required for adoption. that upon disposition of the scott motion to refer, the pending achlgdz and orb -- and amendments be with with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption of the motion to concur. without further intervening action or debate and with two-minute for debate equally divided prior to each vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington isp recognized. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask that the senator modify his

request, that the cloture motion with respect to the house message be withdrawn and the only motions and amendments to accompany 4366 be the following, lee amendment number 1623, schmitt number 1626, scott amendment of 1645, and scott motion to ref that the senate vote on the above motions and amendments in the order listed with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption that upon motion to refer the pending amendments and motion be withdrawn and the senate vote on the motion to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 4366 as amendmented -- sauchld, if amended with 60 vote required. without further intervening action or debate and with two-minute of debate equally divided prior to each vote. the presiding officer: is there objection to the modification? mr. budd: he reserving the

right to object because this modification removes my amendment. we're in the middle of the worst border crisis in u.s. history. the story of this crisis is one of preventable tragedies compounding day after day, and sad sadly we've seen it in my home state, north carolina less than two years ago when wake county deputy sheriff ned bird was killed in the line of duty. he was murdered by illegal aliens who never should have been in this country. i believe if an illegal alien commits the crime of assaulting a police officer, he or she must be subject to immediate deport deportation. any senator who claims to support the police should have no problem supporting my amendment, which would attach the police act to this funding package. the police act states an alien can be deburpeded for a -- deported for assaulting a police officer, firefighter or other physical therapy first responder. the bill passed the hours, and can be sent to the president's desk by passingit now.

we had good faith negotiation goes onin. we're willing to have the 60-vote threshold. i ask my fellow senators support my amendment. help remove dangerous dividuals before another tragedy strikes. i yield the floor. mr. johnson: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin is. johnson: reserving the right to object because this modification also removes my amendment. the last five months, we've seen a strict of heinous crimes in which all the suspects are illegal immigrants. in september, a disabled person was brutally raped. in december of 2023, a mother and her 16-year-old son were senselessly killed by a suspect was an illegal immigrant. a 16-year-old cheerleader was stabbed to death in edna texas. in my state, a 20-year-old nurse was run down by a drunk driver. the suspect was an illegal immigrant. in january,state, a special olympian was killed by

another drunk driver. in virginia 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted. in february a 10-year-old boy was slain and hit in a hit-and-run in midland, texas. a 2-year-old wasunned down in a gang-related shooting in maryland. in kenna, louisiana, a 14-year-old girl was railed. another individual s -- was raped. another individual stabbed by the same suspect. in maryland an 11-year-old girl was railed. february 22, linken riley was beating to death jogging in athens georgia. now, yesterday, on the house floor, 170 democrats i believe the number was, voted against a bill that simply would have made it law to deport people in this country illegally that have committed crimes. now, that is just common sense to do that.

yet, 170 democrats voted against that commonsensemeasure. this must stop. my amendment is pretty simple. it's designed to pass on a vote of a mere majority because it's completely germane to what we're talking prohibits federal housing funding from going to sanctuary cities that do not reply -- comply with the request to provide advance notice of the date and time an illegal alien is scheduled to be released from local custody. very common sense. let's force thighs cities -- these cities to follow the law and provide notice to dhs. now, the united states senate is supposed to be the world's greatest deliberative body. why are we prevented on voting on an amendment that is germane to the fees of legislation on

the floor -- to the piece of legislation on the floor? it's common sense. if the senate doesn't think it's common sense, or doesn't believe this is good to force cities to follow the law, to provide notice to dhs of an illegal immigrant released from custody, so possibly tt individual could be deported so they wouldn't be around to rape and pillage and murder why aren't weed to vote? i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the is recognized. mr. hagerty: reserving the right to object. this modification removes my amendment and my amendment removes a very perverse incentive for illegal immigration and sanctuary cities. it's very straightforward. my amendment preserves the equal weight of each american

citizen's vote. because it prevents the use of illegal immigrants coming into sanctuary cities from diluting the vote of american cities like those in tennessee. therefore, mr. president, the senate should be voting on this. it is germane. and therefore, i object. the presiding officer: the, to to the modification is heard. is there an objectionoriginal request? mrs. murray: i object. the presiding officer: the objection is e: mr. president.

the presiding officer: the senator from utah is recognized. mr. lee: mr. president, days ago, we saw the text of this legislation, in its entirety. we saw that it contained among other things more than 600 pages of earmarks totaling over 6,000 earmar money -- spends a lot of money. whether you love it or hate it you can't dispute that the legislation does a lot of things in government it funds a lot in government. there are a handsful of us to

who tried to get votes on amendments because after all, if this is to be put together by one committee of the senate without other members having the opportunity to offer up amendments and debate it and discuss it we are neither a deliberative body certainly not the world's greatest legislative body. it's hard to call us a legitimate body rather than rubber stamp for the prongss -- appropriations committee, if we're not allowed to offer modifications to what the committee puts on the floor of the senate. this has always been a distinguishing characteristic of this body. this is different from the house of representatives, in that each state is represented equally. allowing each state to be represented as a state. it's alsos a body where we're supposed to allow for open amendment. we've been blocked out of this. we offered up just moments ago eight republican amendments. the democrats countered saying we'll give you votes on only

four. now, most of those four, to which they're obje to having any votes are germane. those that are not germane, they're willing to take a vote at 60. yet, sheer still not willing to -- they're still not allowing us to vote. including on things that are very significant and have enormous impact on the safety security prosperity of the american people. why? what are theyo afraid of? why are they willing to ignore two and a half centuries of custom precedent, and practice? why disregard many more centuries of legislative tradition that goes back prior to the time we were even a country? why are they unwilling to do this? so the reason they're able to do it is because the senate has resorted time and again to this procedure known as filling the tree. the majority leader fills the tree and it's shorthand for

he's not going to allow any amendments. what i'do is set that aside, to table the tree-filling amendment. to that end, mr. president, i move to table the pending motion to refer and i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there app the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd.

ms. butler.

ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton.

mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan.

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

mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff.

mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema.

ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance.

mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. firm is budd crapo, grassley hagerty, johnson, lee, thune.

senators voting in the negative -- carper collins, durbin hassan heinrich klobuchar, markey merkley, murkowski, murray padilla, schatz sinema stabenow and van ms. duckworth, no. mr. schmitt, aye.

the clerk: mr. lankford, aye.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, aye. the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina, aye. mr. king, no.

the clerk: mr. kaine, no. ms. hirono, no.

the clerk: mr. romney, no.

the clerk: mr. cortez masto, no. mr. reed, no.

the clerk: mr. rounds, aye. ms. warren, no. mr. ricketts, aye.

the clerk: mr. risch, aye. mr. wyden, no. the clerk: ms. ernst, aye. ms. baldwin, no.

the clerk: mr. welch, n mrs. capito, aye. mr. wicker, aye. mr. boozman, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. warnock, no. mr. mullin, aye.

the clerk: ms. smith, no. the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, no. mrs. hyde-smith, no. mr. hickenlooper, no.

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

mr. schumer, no. mr. whitehouse, no. mr. brown, no. mr. cramer, aye. mr. kennedy, aye.

the clerk: ms. butler, no. mr. rubio, aye.

mr. moran, aye. the clerk: ms. lummis, aye.

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

mrs. hyde-smith, aye. mr. cornyn, aye. mr. lujan, no.

the clerk: mr. paul, aye. the clerk: mr. cardin, no.

vote: the clerk: mr. barrasso, no.

clerk: mr. hoeven, aye. mr. ossoff no. mr. murphy no. mr. blumenthal, no.

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

the clerk: mr. cruz, aye. the clerk: mr. cassy, aye.

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, aye. mr. casey, no. mr. warner no. mr. menendez no. the clerk: mr. braun, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, aye. mr. cotton aye.

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

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

the clerk: mr. fetterman, no. mr. sanders, no.

the clerk: mr. coons, no.)ú

the clerk: mr. hawley, aye. yeas

are 45. the nays are 52. the motion is not agreed to. the senator from washington is recognized. mrs. murray: the mandatory call be waived and that there is six minutes equally divided between myself and senator collins. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington is recognized. mrs. murray: mr. president, we aren't nearly there. and i am hopeful that we can all come together and g an agreement to pass this bipartisan bicameral, full-year funding bills as soon as possible. we all know the deadline. we are here in the senate ready to move quickly in order to avoid a senseless shutdown. and as i have said for months we actually can fund the government when everyone sits down at the table and works in a

reasonable bipartisan way and that is what we have done. getting here has not been easy. we had to work through some really tough top-lines. we had to fight hard to keep out extreme poison pills. we had to work long days and nights and through weekends to hammer out the tricky details of this bill members had the chance to weigh in with their priorities. our work is not done yet. we have six more bills. we are working on all of them right now, but this first package is evidence that we can get things done whether everyone is focus -- when everyone is focusedon what can actually help folks back home and what can actually pass in a divided have written on my own but i'm proud we have protected absolutely vital funding that the american people rely on in their daily lives. this package fully funds wic so moms and babies will not be denied nutrition assistance. it sustains our investments to help people keep a roof overtheir

head. it protects core programs to make sure we can continue to deliver on historic climate action while safeguarding our environment. it invests in keeping americans safe and in keeping america moving forward as we rebuild our country's fraurnth. it strengthens our investments in cutting-edge scientific research from manufacturing to a.i. and clean energy. and critically delivers record investments in supporting our veterans. really i could be here aent, talking about the many investment ss in this bill that we all care about but time is of the essence. this bill i will remind everyone received overwhelming support in the house. it won the vote of a clear majority of republicans and democrats, 339 votes in favor. that doesn't happen every day. i have to say it wouldn't have happened at all without a heck of a lot of people who have been

working a long long time on these bills so i want to thank everyone who put in the long days and nights for weeks on end to get us here including my staff on appropriations committee, vice chair request collins and her chair. senators shaheen, merkley, schatz and vice chairs senators hoeven moran, kennedy, murkowski, boozman, and hyde-smith, and leaders schumer and mcconnell. there are many people who worked hard to get us where we are today today. bills. they provide crucial support to all of our communities. and they are long overdue. ull of my colleagues to vote yes so we can finish these bills. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine is recognized. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i had intended in my remarksach of these bills and point out how

critical they are to our communities across america. the chair has done that to some extent and she has also thanked our great team of appropriators for their very hard work. instead of going through the want to offer my colleagues a ing. if we do not act, at midnight tonight we will have a partial government shutdown. it will affect the department of agriculture agriculture. it will impair the work of the food and drug administration. it will prevent military construction projes from going forward. do we really want a veteran who

has bravely and loyally served his country, and is now trying to file a claim for benefits to find veterans benefits administration administration's doors are closed to him or her? is that what we want to have happen? it also would enact the -- affect the transportation and housing and urban development departments. we've got an affordable housing crisis. wants ins to go out to -- notices to go out to those working on transportation projects that ty may lose their job if they're in the private sector because we didn't get our work done? it would affect the departments of energy the army corps of engineers. why in the world would we want

to shut down government and stop serving the american people? i have heard a lot of statements made on the senate floor and elsewhere that regrettably are not accurate. one is that none of these bills has been subjected to the opportunity for debate and amendments. the fact is mr. president every single one of these appropriations bills was individually considered by the appropriations committee. every single one of them was subject to robust debate and to amendments. every single one of them. many of them were passed unanimously. others with only one dissenting vote. and furthermore, three of the bills that we're talking about right ag fda, mill

come hud, were brought to the senate floor. to say, as one of my colleagues did, there was no opportunity for amendments and debate is flat out wrong. those bills were on the floor for about seven weeks. we hadamendments. so i would urge my colleagues to stop playing with fire here. the house, controlled by republicans republicans, passed these bills as a package, the six bills, with a very strong bipartisan vote with the majority of the majority voting for be irresponsible for us not to clear these bills and do the fundamental job that we have

of funding government. what is more important? so i urge my colleagues to vote yes on cloture i hope next year that we can bring all of the bills to the senate floor robust debate and amendments that we had on three of the six bills before us but keep in mind that each and every bill had, in committee, after we had 50 public hearings and briefings. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to close debate to concur

in the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 4366, an act making appropriations for military construction department of veteran affairs and related agencies for yoifshg ending -- fiscal year ending september 2024 and other purposes. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of senate that debate on the motion to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. making appropriations for military construction the department of veterans affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2024, and for other purposes shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. 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. cott. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin.

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

ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski.

mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rose mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina.

mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse.

mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- bennet blumenthal booker cardin cassidy, collins, coons cortez masto, durbin heinrich,

hickenlooper smite smith, king, merkley, murray ossoff, peters, romney rosen, sanders, schatz sinema smith, stabenow tester, van hollen warnock, warren welch, wicker and young. mrs. menendez -- mr. menendez aye. ms. cantwell, aye u senators voting in the negative -- barrasso braun, budd crapo, cruz daines, graham hawley kennedy, lee, lummis paul rubio, scott of florida tuberville, and vance.

ms. hassan, aye. ms. butler, aye. the clerk: ms. duckworth, aye.

the clerk: mr. schmitt, no. the clerk: mr. kelly, aye. mr. johnson, no.

the clerk: mr. kaine, aye.

the clerk: mr. cotton, no.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no. ms. klobuch

the clerk: mr. casey, aye.

the clerk: mr. marshall, no.

the clerk: mr. cornyn, no. the clerk: mr. murphy, no. mr. markey, aye.

the clerk: mr. grassley, aye.k: mr. ricketts, no. mrs. gillibrand, aye.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. lankford, no. the clerk: mr. risch, no. mr. brown, aye. mr. hagerty, no.

the clerk: mr. moran, aye. mr. boozman, aye. a= mr. padilla, aye.

the clerk: mr. warner, aye.

the clerk: mr. cramer, no. ms. baldwin, aye. the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. mr. whitehouse, aye.

mrs. fischer, no. mr. mullin, aye. mr. hoeven, no.

the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye. mr. tillis, aye. the clerk: mrs. capito, no.

mr. carper, aye. the clerk: mr.rounds, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. mcconnell, aye. the clerk: mr. wyden, aye. vote:

es. ernst, no. mr. sullivan, no. the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 63, the nays are 35. three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the motion is agreed to. cloture having been invoked, the motion to refer and the amendments pending thereto fall.

a senator: mr. president. mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president as the senate conside the appropriations bills -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. whitehouse: for fiscal year 2024, i want the record to reflect, i filed the top line known as theproceed, it complies with the spending agreement between the senate majority leader and the speaker of the house. this bill h major wins for workers, families and for our climate safety.

first, it resisted house republicans' to add harmful environmental riders this toxic poison pills have no plac any spending deal. they are backdoor attempts to jam through unpopular legislation that would never withstand theorder. this bill includes funding our energy future including $1.7 billion to continue nuclear energy research and development, including funds for microreactors and $60 million -- the presiding officeou in the chamber? mr. whitehouse: $60 million for dod's grid office more than $950 million for industrial decarbonization to make american companies more competitive in the global marketplace and address greenhouse gas and $137 million for the department of energy to accelerate the

deployment of wind energy. these are meaningful clean energy provisions that will sustain the the way our children. this includes carbon management tojs to assist industries in removing carbon dioxide from industrial facilities power plants and from the air, these tolgs will resuesduce the harmful ee he effects of carbon fuel emissionsnd increase economic opportunities across our entire country. while this bill includes climate wins it also includes many other policy wins that will promote a stronger safer, and more prosperous american future. we all benefit by passing these bipartisan spending bills and avoid a government shutdown and i am happy to make the budgetary

adjustments. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. murkowski -- i wanted to speak about the interior andt related agency bill. i happen to be the ranking member on that subcommittee and i thought it might be interesting to actuallyk about what is contained in one of these six appropriations bills that are on the floor while discussions are going on as to how we move forward now. and i'm -- i am one who is proud of the committee product that we have produced. it was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. it's always hard but this year it has been even harder. this is -- this is an agency --

well within interior that really have oversight of all of our major federal land management agencies. this national park service, this is it the bureau of land management fish and wildlife service, forest servicehe environmental protection agency the epa. included in this broader bill is funding for indiana health education, resource management programs through the bureauaffairs. and to add more complexity in terms of the scope of our committee, we provide funding for importante the smith smithsonian smithsonians the national gallery for art and the national endowment es. i want to recognize the work of the chairman of the commtee, senator murray and the vice

chair senator collins who has worked advance these 12 appropriations bills through the committee. it seems like decades ago, in fact it was last summer that we were able move them through. the interior subcommittee bill moved through unanimously. pretty good given the complexity and, again, the scope within the interior department. but i that allows members to have mengful input -- meaningful input. i understand notbody in the senate is on the appropriations committee, but the process we went through was transparent and i appreciate the effort that went into by members as well as their staffs and then the able to advance. the interior budget is pretty important to a state like mine

where some 60%-plus of our lands are held under federal so there is a lot of space here where when we're trying to advance priorities it seems we can't move without permission from one federal agency or another. and so we pay attention, pay attention to these budgets. and it's not just the land management agencies it's the fact that we have such a significant native population in the state of alaska. so the bia, the ihs, these have great implications for us. and within the epa agency itself when it comes to funding for clean and safe drinking water, these are clearly areas where in states like alaska where our infrastructure is so declayed -- delayed, these budgets are important.

so as we are moving through a somewhat tortured process to get these bills through to avoid a government for this senator, there's no value in seeing the interior department being shut down because we have failed to meet our requirements when it comes to delivering on a budget. the interior bill's allocation is $38.5 billion. this is a reduction of $1.5 billion to the enacted level. this is about a 3.8% cut. this is pretty substantial. and when you have cuts of that nature it really does require some very difficult funding choices. soho you you balance -- so how you balance all this how you work to address the most pressing needs within the bills, well ensuring that you do

have -- you do have meaningful reductions that are able to help us meet the terms under the fiscal responsibility act. it isn't an easy endeavor. one of the significant areas that we're responsible for within the interior bill is when it comes to wildland fires. mr. president, you come from a state where you have seen your share of wildfires, certainly in alaska but in so many of our states this is a real -- very real and immediate threat. so one of the most important investments that we made was in our wild land firefighters to protect capacity to fight fire by maintaining the salary increases that we provided in the infrastructure bill. without this additional support, those who are fighting on the front lines of wildfires were facing 50% cut. we've already seen the impact

the hard times that we have in being able to attract and retain. you're not going to be able to keep many folks if they're going to be looking at a 50% pay cut. so we were able to make that investment. for that come from states where again a significant part of your state is held in -- federal lands occupy so much of your state whether it's alaska nevada utah payments in lieu of taxes is a very important account. we have fully funded this. it's estimated at $515 million. what this helps do when you don't have a tax base in your state because so much of your state is occupied as federal land where do you generate that tax base to provide for the needs of local communities, whether it's for county roads or public safety or schools? well pilt helps with that. to support energy development critical to our nation's economy, recreation activities that power our real -- rural

communities, conservation efforts to protect our public lands and wildlife so much of this comes under this category. we also are very focused o we are providing investments for the general operation and delivery of critical programs throughout indian country and i'll speak to that in just a moment here. within the epa account, we provide the environmental protection agency with $9.2 billion in grants and program funding. this is close to a 10% funding cut within epa to the level. what we attempted to do within this budget is to prioritize funding for those programs that actions to improve the quality of the environment across the country. and i think we tried to ensure that the mission moved forward in a way thatdoes again, allow

for that protection of the environment but recognizing that there are many areas within the epa budget that we could look to to reduce. one of the things that was pretty important to me was ongog funding for contaminated lands. we have significant issues in the state of alaska when under the ala native claims settlement act, native people were promised lands and those lands -- many of those lands that were conveyed to them were conveyed as contaminated properties. so we have critical funding to help clean up contaminated lands. we also address the issues of air quality. and one of my interior communities, fairbanks, they have struggled to meet the pm 2.5 requirements and providing for these types of issues for our communities as they try to

meet these attainment levels of cleaner air. what we do within the epa account to invest in critical water and wastewater projects and again in many places where you lack existing infrastructure these funds are critically important. there has been some discussion about what our -- the interior bill does when it to the superfund program because we did take reductions to the superfund program itself. that was not something i was initially cgnfortable to do. i think we recognized that we have such an obligation to address the contaminated lands throughout this country. but what we have allowed for is funds that will help to address the needs in front of us but also recognizing that we're receiving significant resources from recently reinstated taxes. so that will allow for the

funding levels to really address the needs within the superfund program. wildland fire activities again as i mentioned are key for so many of us in the west. the forest service receives an as the department of interior to address wildland fire activities but what we needed to do was to end the practice of paying for annual wildland fire preparedness and suppression out of emergency funds. these are happening across the landscape every year. and so how we accounted for the increase demand that we see in this account has been important. . i mentioned the support throughout indian country,

particularly as it relates to indian health service, there are many programs tha an obligation to fund that are so vital. many of the costs within these programs have grown particularly within compact support. a senator:s -- compact support services leasing associated with health care centers operated under hhs or under tribes. these are required to fund. so the bill supports these necessary increases. and i mentioned the cultural institutions like the smithsonian's national gallery of art, national endowment for arts and humanities. we basically have kept funding level for operation and maintenance of our museums and centers. but we were able to in a tough budget environment put together a bipartisan bill.

it's a bipartisan bill that protects our land and people. it enables infrastructure projects provide clean and safe drinking water. it helps communities provide think many take for granted. but we also help to shape this bill so that it reflects the priorities of members on both sides the aisle and i'm proud of the good work that we've done to make sure we're really targeting and directing federal resources where they are needed most. there's been a lot of discussion on this floor, particularly on this side of the aisle, about earmarks or congressionally directed spending. i am one who again you hear me talk about the needs whether it's for infrastructure water and sewer, some of the -- some of the statistics that drive our state that make us so unique i am not afraid mr. president, to stand on this floor and say when my constituents come to me when

i have city leaders, when i have legislators, when i have the state of alaska come to me and say these are our priorities these are where we would like you to focus your energy this is how you can make a difference for our communities, and i -- i look at those. we go through a very transparent process. in my office when we get a cds request, it's -- we post. you can go to an interactive map on the state where you can click on and see what congressionally directed spending requests have been allowed to advance. and so view this as my job because i don't really feel comfortable in telling my state legislators, the governor my mayors my city council that thank you for letting us know what your priorities are, but in

order for you to make sure that they're growing to be included in the president's budget or that agency is g you, you've got to go -- you've got to go visit the blm. you've g visit the epa. you've got to petition. you've got to make your case. that's why we were here. that's why w to advocate and stand up for the people that we represent. so i will -- i'll stand in fronds of any of -- front of any of my colleagues and again remind them that these are not priorities that lisa murkowski has invented. these are priorities that have come to us from the communities, from the regions where they have debated and weighed and an lied -- analyzed and stacked and racked and said we need help.

help us. i'm going to be there for them. i'm going to stand up and say yes. this is our job.role. this is congress' role. it's not the agency's role to determine what that targeted for. so we are dealing with those issues today. my hope is that we're going to be able to advance to this measure, that the issues that have brought us to this mid afternoon worked forward. i know that there are requests for amendments. i don't know why we're having such a hard time figuring out how we deal around here. it's just not that hard. it's just not. i don't think that there's anything out there that should scare any of us about taking an amendment. and if you win, you win. and if you lose you lose. but the fact that we cannot figure out how to get to a time

agreement because the democrats don't want to entertain amendments or they want to direct what amendments we have i think we can do a little bit better. the last thing i'm going to conclude with is something that senator sullivan and i have been working on for a actually regret saying that it's just the two of us that have been working on it because this is a national issue. this is a national security issue. and this relates to ice breakers polar security cutters. u may all not think about them in arizona as being something that is important to you. but i would suggest that in every state, every corner of this country needs to know that we have security through