10 a.m. to resume consideration of the nomination of a u.s. district judge in tennessee. at 10 a.m., c-span 3 looks at alleged irregularities in the 2020 elections with former special prosecutor ken starr among the witnesses and the judiciary subcommittee holds a policy towards refugees from hong kong. >> listen to c-span's podcast, the weekly. this week zach smith reporter with the iowa press citizen joins us to discuss the race in iowa's second congressional district called for republican marionette miller meeks by six votes. the contest will be decided by the house of representatives. find c-span's the weekly where you get your podcasts. >> the u.s. senate is about to begin its legislative day. on the stel for lawmakers, more

judicial nominations, this while negotiations continue on 2021 federal spending and heading off a government shutdown this coming friday night as well as the covid-19 relief plan. now to live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. black, will open the senate with the chaplain: let us pray. eternal spirit, our hope for the years to come today teach our lawmakers to do things your way, embracing your precepts and walking in your path.

inspire them to trust you for safety as they receive guidance from you and follow your leading, replace anxiety with calm, confusion with clarity, and pessimism with hope. lord, guide our senators to find workable solutions for the problems of our nation and world. you are our god and the good things we have come from you. we pray in your marvelous name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: could i have one minute for morning business, please? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: we all know that without a doubt 2020 has been a difficult year, but for me it was an important year to continue fighting for iowans and listen to iowans. this year i completed my 40th

year of my 99 county meetings that included a q and a in every one of those counties. this keeps me in touch with the grassroots of iowa and allows me to bring the ideas to the policy making tables here in washington, d.c. with all the twists and turns this year took, my county meetings were more beneficial than ever. and i just want to mention a couple of these twists and turns. the twist and turns involved the big devastating wind storm we called the duratio that went through central iowa destroying 800,000 acres of crops. those twists and turns involved dealing with all the issues coming from covid-19. one thing i know for sure, iowans are very resilient

people. so i look forward to continuing these county meetings, the q's and a's involved with them at the beginning of the new year. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, the democratic leader and i worked into the evening alongside the speaker of the house and the house republican leader. we made major headway toward hammering out a targeted pandemic relief package that would be able to pass both chambers with bipartisan

majorities. we committed to continuing these urgent discussions until we have an agreement, and we agreed we will not leave town until we've made law. the american people need more help, it's that simple. further targeted relief is now months overdue. we need vaccine distribution money. we need to reup the paycheck protection program to save jobs, we need to continue to provide for laid-off americans, congressional leaders on both sides are going to keep working until we get this done. now on a completely different matter. it's both my honor and my unhappy duty to offer one more parting tribute to a distinguished senator who will leave us at the end of the 116th congress, my good friend, the senior senator from kansas, pat roberts, is preparing to close out the

longest congressional tenure the sun flower state has seen. when he arrived at the house, he was a young man among giants, byrd, stephens, dole, but the name roberts has come to define its own brand of heartland statesmanship. pat is the first to admit he didn't establish that name all on his own. he inherited it from another great kansan, charles wesley roberts was a marine, a journalist and leader in republican politics. so get ready to experience some deja vu, mr. president, because at age 16 our future colleague got to attend the 1952 convention that nominated kansas' own general eisenhower. and that early taste of politics planted a seed. part earned his own marine corps

commission. in fact, he served with the first contingent to return to iwo jima where his father fought 15 years earlier and then he decided to apply another family trade. like generations of other roberts men, including an abolitionist man, he was a journalist. only then did he bring his talents to senator carlson's office. by the time his next boss, keith sebilius, retired, pat was running out of excuses to not campaign himself. there were countless road trips across nearly half the state, but listening to neighbors, building relationships and earning trust came naturally. pat's district elected him no fewer than eight times and the whole state sent him here to the senate another four.

before long every small town diner in western kansas was filled with people who saw pat not just as an elected official but as a trusted friend. the way i hear it, you walk into a restaurant or coffee shop with pat and you budget about 15 minutes for conversation before you even make it to your table. many of those conversations revolved around one particular line of work. there's a reason why no less an authority than bob dole would later dub this man mr. agriculture. when republicans retook the house majority in 1994, they knew who had to chair the ag committee. the rest, mr. president, is history for our colleague, for his faith, and for farmers and growers all across america. the 1996 farm bill that pat shepherded included freedom to farm, landmark legislation to

set a new tone for the way american farmers would compete in a global market the now, today, we know that pat would later become the only american to chair the ag committee in both senate and the house. but on this side of the dome he tackled pa few other assignments first. pat had already helped clean up some ethics messes in the house and so his discretion and integrity landed him on the senate ethics committee. in short order, he was chairing it. then came the intelligence committee gavel, and with it more sensitive challenges. our trusted marine had to conduct oversight and ask hard questions in the wake of september 11 and the iraq invasion. he oversaw essential reports and helped shape reform. but we couldn't keep the kanasan away from his top passion for long. so it wasn't long before mr. agriculture was chairing the most important committee of all to his constituents back in

kansas. chairman roberts has been a constant voice and consistent chairman for those who grow crops, raise livestock and as our colleagues like to say, feed al troubled and hungry world. in polarized times, the ag committee has largely remained a haven for bipartisan work, that's partly on issues set where issues are more regional than ideological, but it is also because of the skilled, thoughtful and genial consensus builder at the center of the dais. two years ago, because of the chairman, the farm bill conference report passed by 87-13. 87 votes for our farm bill. by my count that was the eighth farm bill that our colleague had a hand in. it turns out experience actually matters, or as our colleagues

like to say, it takes a long time to do big things -- a long time to do big things. that's true of multi-year farm bills, it's true of the advances that pat pushed forward on geopolitical issues like food security. it's true of other important projects that our friend has taken under his wing like his crusade to make certain that president eisenhower got the monument he deserved here in washington. this pandemic may have changed the unveiling ceremonies this year, but it's only fitting that ike persevered. that'ses thanks to a quarter century of work from pat roberts. there's a reason the people of kansas have rehired our colleague time after time and it's not just for his entertaining wit, although i'll have more on that subject in just a moment. it's because when their senator sees a way to strengthen his home state or his country, he keeps at it until he gets it

done. in short, pat has spent decades making sure that it's not just places like manhattan, new york, but also manhattan, kansas, that get the attention and support they deserve. in fact, thanks to pat, manhattan, kansas, is the home for our nation's historic new national bioand agro defense facility. he played the long game and got his state ready to make the pitch. this state of the art facility will come online at k state, next to the facility that happens to be named pat roberts hall. he looked out for fort riley and its essential missions, he helped greensburg rebuild after a disaster. in every way imaginable, kansas has had its champion. pats' voice has been a -- pat's

voice has been a powerful presence in these halls. in rare moments when he wasn't get his resolve, his voice has helped us pass. pat is one of the best senators in a long time, not funny, mr. president, humorus. it's not just pat's quick wit or his punchlines themselves that take the cake, the best part is the unpretentus fearlessness with which he will go after a good laugh in almost any situation. it's a daunting task to convey his winsome humor as a party, it's a package deal, the voice, the expression all work together. i will share one example. several years back pat i and honored bob dole and howard baker. pat had been asked to offer some remarks in bob's honor. apparently he decided a conventional toast would not cut

it. the fancy evening would need shaking up. it happened that pat attended kennedy center honors that honored kneel diamond so when he took the podium with the famous tune sweet caroline stuck in his head, he wound out leading the audience in the new original song, sweet robert dole, bob, bob, bob. a little unusual? sure. but somehow it was the perfect contribution. it literally, mr. president, brought the house down. so, mr. president, we have here a senior senator from the state that expects greatness from its representatives. they gave america a young man from abilene who led the fight against tyranny in europe and became president. they gave us another son from russell who fought in that fight, came home, became majority leader, and ran for

president. but let's add one more name, one more name to that distinguished company historians certainly will. he is the third kansas statesman from holton who belongs on that list. eisenhower, dole, and roberts. in his own farewell speech, pat quoted his first boss in washington, senator carlson. he said there are no self-made men and women in public office. it's your friends and family who make you what you are. well, more than all the bills he passed, above all the outcomes he willed into reality, pat says his family is his crowning achievement. some have concluded by thanking pat's magnolia blossom, franki, for her generosity in lending pat to us all these years and everything she has done to make it possible. and the senate thanks their

three kids and their eight grandchildren for making due with less of our colleague's time than they deserve. so pat, we know we're going to laugh less without you. i'm afraid we might not get as much done without you. but you have made us better for knowing you. the senate is better for having you. and kansas and your country so much better for your devoted service. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, as we rapidly approach the end of the session, senators are working in earnest to find a bipartisan government funding bill, as well as an emergency federal relief package. over the past several weeks, the bipartisan gang of eight came together to provide a framework for an agreement on emergency covid relief. that framework has been the behaves of -- the basis of discussions between four congressional leaders -- speaker pelosi, leader mccarthy, leader mcconnell and myself. secretary mnuchin has been in our talks as well, representing the president. yesterday, we had two very long

and very productive meetings. our final discussion stretched late into the evening. and as we race the clock to reach a final accord before the end of the year, we are close to an agreement. it's not a done deal yet, but we are very close. now, for democrats, this has always been about getting the american people the relief they need at a time of an acute national crisis, of an emergency to so many americans. this has been about delivering a lifeline to americans who are laid off through no fault of their own, families struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table, small businesses hanging on for dear life. this has been about saving our schools, our health care system, and delivering the resources to produce and distribute a vaccine that should finally, finally help our country turn the corner and defeat this evil disease. we're on the precipice of

achieving these goals. we democrats would have liked to go considerably further, but this won't be the last time congress speaks on covid relief. right now, we must address this emergency over the short term. but make no mistake, we will work in the future to provide additional relief as the country requires, but we need to provide a platform to build on, we need to address this emergency right now. at the end of one of the most difficult years in recent american history, a vaccine has given us all a reason for hope. let's give the country another reason. the finish line is in sight. everyone wants to get this done. let's push through the few final meters and deliver the outcome that the american people very much need. i yield the floor. and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: quorum call:

mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the

senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, katherine a. kritser, of tennessee, to be united states district judge for the eastern district of tennessee. mr. thune: mr. president, yesterday afternoon the commerce committee on technology and the internet held our final hearing of the 116th congress. the title of yesterday's hearing was betting on the rest, expanding american entrepreneurship outside traditional hubs and it focused on examining where venture capital is being invested. and how to expand in other parts of the country. oaf the past 50 years -- over the past 50 years, it has advanced entrepreneurism. it has gone on to become some of america's most profitable

companies. and many of the technologies and services we rely on today would not be around if venture capitalists had not been willing to take a risk on investment. however venture capitalism in the united states has been highly concentrated in certain areas of the country. in 2019 california-based countries received 50% of all of it. it accounted for almost 75% of venture-backed investment in the country. there are a lot of reasons for this concentration, however this geographic imbalance means a majority of regions within the united states are be often shut out from the kind of investment that enables jobs, revitalizes communities and creates the pursuit -- enables the pursuit of the american dream. without greater access to capital in underserved regions, the flow of talent, wealth, and opportunity will continue to

move to only a handful of coastal cities and the full reach of diversity of american ingenuity will go unrealized. there are individuals in the private sector who have expanded venture-backed investment to other parts of the united states. we had an opportunity to hear from some of them yesterday. we had a south dakota entrepreneur among our panelists, and i'm committed to making sure that the federal government serves as a help, not a hinderance to the expansion of venture capital investment. i took the reins of this committee at the start of the 116th congress. we've had an active congress, holding eight hearings in washington, d.c., as well as my home state of south dakota. these hearings looked at broadband investment in rural america to the -- i introduced

several bills that have been informed by our work at the committee, including the pac act, trace act, and the streamline small cell deployment act. a priority of mine over the past several years has been ensuring that america stays ahead at the next wave of internet technology, which is 5g. in addition to the tremendous benefits that will result from 5g, staying at the forefront of the revolution will create a lot of great american jobs. i spent a lot of time working on this issue when i was chairman of the commerce committee in holding up the communications, technology, innovation and the internet subcommittee in this congress has allowed me to focus on 5g deployment. last year i introduced a streamline small cell deployment act along with senator schatz. our legislation would help expedite the deployment of the small cells that are a key part

of 5g infrastructure. this year i introduced the telecommunications workforce act to address another part of the 5g equation and is to make sure that we have the workforce in place to maintain 5g technology. mr. president, as a resident of a rural state, ensuring access to broadband internet in rural communities has long been a priority of mine. i introduced legislation this year it direct funds from radio spectrum auctions to expand rural broadband access and i'm continuing my work to ensure that rural communities get access to 5g technology. 5g has the potentialal to offer -- potential to offer benefits to rural p communities to precision agriculture technologies and i'm committed to ensuring that rural communities are not left behind in the 5g ref liewtion. mr. president, pretty much every american has been forced to deal with annoying and illegal

robocalls. they are a major nuisance and too often they were more than a nuisance. every day vulnerable americans fall prey to more sophisticated scammers and have money or eye didn'ty stolen. i worked on -- identity stolen. i introduced the robo telephone abuse deterrence act along with senator markey. while this legislation won't stop every robocall, the trace act provides tools to discourage illegal robocalls, protect consumers and crack down on offenders. last december the president signed our legislation into law. mr. president, more and more americans get news and information from social media sites and particularly during this past election cycle a lot of questions have arisen about the ways that social media platforms are filtering information that we see. internet platforms cultivated the notion that they are

providing the technology for people to communicate and share ideas, but the reality is somewhat different. sites like facebook and twitter make use of recommendation engines to shape the content we see on these platforms. now, content moderation can improve the user experience. most of us would prefer that the youtube recommend videos that match our interest. the problem is the content moderation has been and largely continues to be a black box with consumers having little or no idea how the information they see has been shaped by the sites they are visiting. last year i chaired a subcommittee hearing on this issue and the information we gathered helped inform two pieces of bipartisan legislation that i introduced this congress, the filter bubble transparency act and the platform accountability and consumer transparency act or the pac act.

both of these bills would increase transparency around the content modernization process so they would have a better sense of how the information being presented to them is being filtered. the two acts will go a long way toward making social media and other sites more accountable to other consumers and i will advance these legislative efforts here in the senate. mr. president, i'm grateful to have had the opportunity to chair this subcommittee over the past congress and for the opportunity it has given knee work on the important issues in the legislation i mentioned. i want to thank senator schatz for all the work he has done to make our committee so effective. i look forward, mr. president, to continuing the work with all my subcommittee colleagues to advance the 5g revolution, address the challenges presented by the internet age and to make life better for the american people. mr. president, i yield the floor

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

quorum call:

mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, in a moment i'm going to make a

unanimous consent request on a piece of legislation that my eastern oregon constituents have done an extraordinary job with respect to building a coalition that brings people together on a contentious issue. they deserve enormous credit and i'll describe their efforts here shortly and i also want to thank, as we begin, senator barrasso. senator barrasso will be taking a new role on the senate energy and natural resources committee in january, and he and i have worked together often and i have appreciated him talking with me on this matter as he begins to look to his new duties in january. so, mr. president, as if in legislative session, i would ask

unanimous consent that the energy committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 2828, the mauer county empowerment act and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further, that the amendment be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. barrasso: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: reserving the right to object, mr. president. i do appreciate the work of the senator from oregon, the work that he has done on this public lands bill. i know that the amount of effort that has gone into this legislation is significant. locally driven public land bills take an incredible amount of time to get right.

this legislation has gone through intensive local stakeholder involvement, very similar to what we've done in wyoming with the wyoming public lands initiative in my home state. the public lands -- the wyoming public lands initiative was are spearheaded by our wyoming county commissioners association. this initiative was started in order to resolve through local negotiations the status of temporary so-called -- so-called temporary wilderness study areas in wyoming that have now seemingly become permanent. i rig and understand -- recognize and understand public lands negotiations often result in compromise. this give and take is a good thing and let's people closer to the issue have a significant voice. i appreciate the efforts the stakeholders on the ground in oregon have made to get this bill to where it is today, however, i believe additional work is still needed, mr. president, and i would let my friend from oregon know that i will work with him and any

other senators with public land issues before the energy and natural resources committee. we may not always agree on a given outcome but i am committed to having those discussions with members of this body and for this reason, mr. president, i object. mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i know my colleague does have other business that he has to get to, but before he attends to that, i want to thank him for spending time with me on this issue. i'm going to outline the extraordinary effort that was made by my constituents. i think we all know, and i'm going to discuss it, that in the west very often citizens feel nobody is listening to them. nobody cares about them, and you and i have talked about this, and this is a question of kind of how do you empower them with a framework that can help them but also serve as a model for

the country. so a big thanks to my colleague and i'm looking forward to working with him on this and other matters next year. mr. president, what senator barrasso and i are discussing is the malheur empowerment act known in our part of the country as the malheur c.e.o. act. the bill has been in the works since 2018. back then when a group of ranchers or business people who live in malheur county came to see me. they came to talk about this incredible part of oregon that they call home. it's wide-open country, not many people live there, but those who do want to make sure that they have a say in how it's going to

be preserved and managed for the future. and when i say that the bill has been in the works since 2018, that's not the whole story because the fact is the groundwork for this bill has been in the makings for decades and it is only recently that an incredible coalition of oregonians from across the political spectrum have come together to make it possible for us to propose this legislation. as i touched on with senator barrasso, in rural areas of the west like malheur county, there's often a feeling that people from thousands testify miles away, particularly in d.c., think that they somehow know better than rural citizens

about what's good for those rural communities. there's a feeling -- i guess i'd sum it up in rural areas there's a sense that somehow often elites just look down on them, that nobody's listening, that people in power consider them kind of simple cowboys who care little about saving land, air, and water. now, i have town hall meetings in every county in oregon, had 970 of them until earlier this spring when you couldn't do them in person so we started doing them virtually, and i know from all of those town meetings that residents of eastern oregon are actually working every day to try to propose commonsense

practical policies to preserve special places for your kids and our grandkids. and they know that they are working for all americans because all americans own public lands. eastern oregonians believes, and i think it's a very powerful point, that nobody cares more about protecting treasures than those who live every day in those communities and are always thinking about what the future is for their kids and their grandkids. so i'll repeat that. folks in rural oregon know that the land is public land. it belongs to all americans, and they know that their communities' future depend on keeping the lands healthy and usable. the ranchers of malheur county

want to be active participants in improving and keeping the ecological health of our public lands, and with this legislation that we're discussing today, will have a are real shot at doing -- a real shot at doing that. the fact is there have been bad actors in the west abusing and flouting the law in a dangerous way. for example, in 2016, a heavily armed groups of streamists who -- ex extremists who weren't from oregon and they were led by members of the bundy family. they stormed the malheur wildlife refuge and then there was a standoff that people all over the country saw with federal, state, and local law enforcement. there was one death.

further south in nevada, the bundies are not only stolen millions of dollars of grazing fees from the american people, they also basically pushed aside basic environmental standards laid out by the taylor grazing act, leading to degraded landscapes. now malheur county, just a few hours from wide-open spaces, east of that malheur wildlife refuge that the extremists took over, in malheur county, not far from there, our ranchers, our small business people, to their great credit, they said we're going to take a better path. in malheur county, you don't have the bundies breaking the law. they are committed to being

better and doing better, but that doesn't mean that they aren't skeptical of people coming in, changing the rules when it comes to changing public lands surrounding their communities. so in 2018, the awahe stewardship from malheur county came to washington to meet with me. mr. president, and senator barrasso would be interested in this. so this group of ranchers and small business people came to me with a very improbable request for a democratic united states senator. would i be willing to work with them to pass land management legislation that could serve as an alternative to a designation as a national monument? and i thought this was a point

that my colleagues would be interested in. i asked one member of the group if they came to me because they thought i might take leave of my senses and say yes to their request. and when i asked them, the person who was looking at me said, yep, that's what we thought, ron. looming over the discussion was the history of this wonderful part of eastern oregon. i'm not going to take my colleagues through a long discussion of the history of the taylor grazing act, it goes all the way back to 1932, so i will start with the fact in this area of malheur makes up most of the bureau of land management, which, of course, is part of the department of interior. it was the poster child for

scientific raising management in the 1960's and 1970's under the taylor grazing act. did it live up to its potential? i would say it didn't because its efforts weren't adequately fund and it lacked consistent monitoring or adaptive management needed to make it work on the ground. and that raises the question of what results are really at issue. the taylor grazing act is about turning cattle out on to public lands and attempting to assure that they don't destroy the land. but where is the act when it comes to fighting invasive weeds and actually improving soil health and responding to climate change and the effects of range land fires? this bill, looking at what happened over the decades, the 1930's, 1960's, 1970's, this

bill says we're going to answer those questions for 2020. the owyhee basin stewardship county from malheur county wanted to work together. i was glad they came with their improbable request and i said we've got one additional chance here on our watch. to bring people together, to come up with a sensible proposal. and when they indicated they wanted to work with me, i basically said how could i refuse? and knowing the violence that can erupt in the west when people become closed off, when people just refuse to talk, that's when you have a prescription for trouble. as long as we're talking, as long as we're coming together, as long as we're sitting with each other and maybe just having

a coffee, a tuna fish sandwich, you have got an opportunity to come up with solutions. that's why i agreed. i agreed in effect, mr. president, to try to match the courage of these ranchers and business people in coming forward, and i said if they're going to be willing to think through how to do this, i'm going to join them. now, the other area i want to touch on is i said at the get-go, i think this has implications for dealing with public lands in the west. i said there have got to be two requirements to help us all protect the land and preserve the ranching way of life. first, we have to bring everybody to the table,

environmentalists, ranchers, local folks, and we have to bring some of the folks from the more metropolitan area as well. and that's because in effect when i said that, they said okay, you know, you know your way around legislation. we'll depart of trying to find common ground. and there is common ground on the key question, mr. president, in every -- and every nook and cranny of oregon cares about our treasure in the owyhee canyon lands. malheur county as part of the east in our state may keep its clock on idaho time, but it is enormously loved all across our state. and in my view, that alone ought to be a reason, after decades

and decades of differences with respect to how to manage these treasures, that alone is a reason to work together. the second role of our discussions were all about we were going to try to make sure that we were going to not get everybody frustrateed at the get-go because we weren't going to litigate this with the press and outside groups every time somebody had a little question, any kind of a dispute. so in effect, we had set it up so that other groups, environmental and ranchers, there was going to be a lot of opportunity for folks to have their say and that there would be an understanding that we would respect our environmental

laws. that was also very pivotal. in march of 2019, we got our group together, the conference at the national guard area in that area, and those were the things that we wanted to start with that gave us a chance to build this coalition that could lead to passing legislation to manage these treasures. so we have ranchers, environmentalists, local businesses met essentially every other monday for months and months. i also want to thank the bureau of land management and the u.s. fish and wildlife service, oregon state parks, and fish and wildlife management agencies and local tribe representatives who put in enormous amounts of time offering information, expertise, and goodwill. i met with local county

officials as well, relearning their thoughts with respect to roads and water infrastructure and their most important local economic needs. so that's what really led to this legislation. and finally, what we said is we've got to make sure that people have an opportunity to also talk sort of a little bit offline. and so after these sessions, we always found a way to make it to a coffee shop somewhere where people could just have a soda or perhaps something a little bit stronger and we could just take the time informally to talk about what we thought the future was for this incredible part of the world.

now, in closing up, i want to mention that i think land designation discussions pit people against one another in the west if you do it the traditional sort of way. we needed some unity if we were going to come together on a bill, so that's why we wanted to make sure everybody had a shared understanding of how this would be addressed, and i particularly want at this time, mr. president, to commend sara bittleman who is sitting here with me who month after month after month, call after call after call, e-mail after e-mail after e-mail, always tried to keep this on focus, and i also want to mention at this time our inspiration with the late mary

gatrow who was in our office for over two decades. she was the spirit of this effort. she lived in portland. and yet, she was beloved, beloved by the people of rural oregon, the people in malheur county. so with sara and mary as the energy behind this, we really set out to build this coalition which has gotten to this point. it was a coalition driven by the fact that people would take the time to do this right. when i brought it up to the attention of senator barrasso, who obviously will play a key role in the energy and natural resources committee, the first thing he wanted to hear about was the kind of groundwork that had been laid for local input,

for local stakeholders, and i described to him much of what we have been talking about. so i introduced the malheur c.e.o. act in november of 2019. it was part of a legislative hearing. and let me just very quickly describe a couple elements of it. it works this way. it includes range land management enhancement, loop roads to focus tourists and build the local economy, and about a million acres of wilderness designation. it also moves around a million acres of land now being studied with multiple use management. the bill implements a few key strategies, a plan to let ranchers do range imimprovements, irrigation systems removing water-sucking juniper and replacing invasive

weeds with needed grasses and improve the ecological health of the rangeland. so here are the pictures to my left. the first is a picture of rangeland being overrun by weeds. the second shows rangeland in a native, healthy condition. now, the bill also a malheur community empowerment for the owyhee advisory group so on an ongoing basis it can advise the b.l.m. on land management and it provides substantial funding for the b.l.m. so it can finish environmental soil surveys and to carry out environmental policies associated with this and monitor the implementation of the bill. the bill includes funding the study and designation of loop roads, design the visitor experience to keep visitors out

of trouble and direct traffic to the small retail businesses, which i think we all understand desperately, desperately need our attention. and i also want to thank at this moment while i'm on the floor senator grassley. he and i have led the bipartisan effort on the finance committee. i see senator manchin here. he knows how strongly we feel about getting the small businesses the deductibility associated with these p.p.p. loans, and i bring this up only by way of saying that we're grateful to senator grassley for working with me. he is the chair of the finance committee, i'm the ranking democrat, but senator manchin and others deserve credit for helping us get that proposal moving. and we made it clear we have to get that in before we go home, and part of it is our concern for the small retail businesses that we saw in the owyhee. finally, the bill provides for amenities at the owyhee

reservoir with a marina. that is good for the local economy. recreation is a big part of our world. the last point i will just mention is the bill is a compromise. everybody had to make some concessions. there are folks feel that the environmental groups got too much here. there are folks who feel the ranchers and the small business people got too much. but the fact is all sides said we have some core values and some core priorities. let's see if we can address the core values and the core priorities on both sides of this so that this spectacular portion of eastern oregon could be protected and preserved and we could respect and empower the people who call it home and work so hard to make a living there.

mr. president, finally, i'm going to put into the record the names of all the people who worked so hard on this effort, our owyhee basin stewardship coalition. they are ranchers. they are folks on various kinds of environmental organizations and groups, and they deserve incredible credit for being willing to put in the time and effort on something that seemed so improbable. finally, i want to thank my partner here in the senate, senator merkley. he has been terrific as we worked on this. we both share a love of the land in eastern oregon. as i say, we will walk through all the people at b.l.m., fish and wildlife, and oregon state parks deserve credit. now it's up to the united states senate to get this passed.

it isn't going to happen today, unfortunately, but i want the senate to know i'm going to get at it -- i'm going to stay at it until this gets done. i think it will be of enormous benefit for rural oregon. i thinkal be of enormous benefit for our state, and i think it will be a model for to how our country brings people together, particularly as it relates to issue where we have been polarized in the past. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. manchin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: mr. president, i would like permission to be able to complete my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. manchin: thank you, mr. president. i want to start boy thanking all of the members, and i mean all of the members who worked so diligently to produce this product. this is the product we produced with the so-called gang of eight, but it turned into a bigger gang than that because more and more people want to work in a bipartisan way in the senate. and i have said it's alive and

well. we just have to exercise it more. we did that. we brought over the bicameral group for the problem solvers, and they were tremendously instrumental in being involved in this process. and i'm so pleased to have that bicameral work, bipartisan work, and we need more of it, and we're going to basically demand more of it. with this product right now when the four corners are working, this is the template they have used. leader schumer has said that this is what they have used because the legislative language has already been produced. there might be some tweaks to it, but there are so many people. let me tell you how it started. my dear friend, senator durbin, is here. after the election, we called each other back and forth, a few of us, said something has to be done, nothing is moving, people are hurting. they couldn't figure out why we hadn't done anything. i had no good explanation because basically the two leaders on both sides of the aisle were locked. and i said we didn't know how to break it. the only way we could break it is by doing something showing we could come together. we did that. we did that in the way we had a

dinner. senator mark warner from virginia said let's have a dinner. senator lisa murkowski said let's come to my house. we go to lisa murkowski's house, and there are eight of us. we had four r's and four d's. we grew from there. on our side, there was senator mark warner, senator dick durbin, senator jeanne shaheen and myself. on the republican side, there was senator lisa murkowski, senator susan collins, senator bill cassidy, and senator mitt romney. from there it grew. we brought the congressmen over and the problem solvers and we kept growing from there and we had more senators coming in. so we got input from every quadrant that we could possible in order to do what we did. if took quite a while. the biggest hurdle we had was how much could we agree on how much we needed for emergency. the republicans were at one, two, one, three. we said let's look at the emergencies and everything that will run out of time in december

and be nullified and people will lose their lifelines many we started putting those figures together and came up with a $700 billion figure. and i understand they are still at $900 billion. i am hopeful that we can break the deadlock, but there's so much more that has to be done and so much more need that will need to be done and we must come behind president-elect joe biden and make sure that we do it and look at the base of the need of america, not the greed of america. trust me, if you're sending checks, everyone's in line. we've all said, we can't go home until we do something. guess what, if we don't do anything, a lot 0 of people don't have a home to go to this holiday season, they truly don't. they are being evicted, losing their lifeline, their shelter, food assistance. think of the people in need. have you ever seen the lines of

people who have never been to a food bank or food line. these are the things we addressed in the most compassionate way. that's our job. i understand that our four corners are close to a deal. i think will be ton. i know it will be done because we have to do it. failure is not an option. we will work hard to continue to do that. let me tell you we have unemployment assistance, people who who lost their jobs, food assistance, shelter assistance, we have small business debt relief, student loan forbearance, and we have so many other things that people are depending on us, we included $300 a week, i'm not sure what the final bill, it will be in that realm, with we had $13 billion for food assistance, snap benefits helping people who are falling into that welfare that need help. $35 billion for health care providers. we had a 20% set aside for the -- for the rural hospitals and -- and rural clinics, we had $16 billion for testing and

tracing, i understand they are increasing that, 12 billion-dollar for community development, $5 million for substance abuse and prevention treatment and mental health services, $82 billion for education, $20 billion for basically higher education, $10 billion to support child care, $10 billion for broadband and for distant learning and $4 billion for transportation. so many -- so many needs that we have out there. we had a second bill foo. i'm understangd that -- understanding that is more controversial. there was no controversy on the first bill, democrats and republicans all had input to make it happen. the staffs have worked yeoman's job and have done a terrific job. the state and local, i believe, myself personally, there's a need. i've seen the frontline workers and the amount of revenue we

would lose for people not to have those services that are essential. they are depending on it. we might lose them because of states or the localities don't have the revenue. we have to address that. if we don't do it now, we have it to -- have to do it when president-elect joe biden takes over. we have to do that. we've come together. we've come together and also what we're saying is the money that the governors and everyone had left over, they will have extensions on how that's used. we want to make sure the locals have opportunities here, some of the local communities and local municipalities did not get the revenue they should have gotten in the first tranche of money so we're hoping that is taken care of also. so all these protections that we've put in there we're trying to help, we're are trying to get a pathway forward to bring our economy back to make sure that we're table it to -- able to. but this is the product that got it going and this is the group of people that made it happen. the bipartisan group that has worked day and night and i can't

thank them more and i can't be more proud to be with a group that i consider to be true americans that stepped up to the plate and got something done when we didn't think it could be done. i want to thank my republican colleagues and friends and democratic colleagues who worked so hard and everybody who's going to benefit. i think it can be a merry christmas. it can be a much more happier christmas for sure what -- when we look at our constituents to say ee it everything that we could to get you through the most challenging time and this bill goes through april 31. i noticed we're ready to go. thank you. the presiding officer: all postcloture time is expired. the question occurs on the crytzer nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber who wish to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 48, the nays are 47, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the senator from missouri. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection.

the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on of joseph dawson, iii, of south carolina, to be united states district judge for south carolina. the presiding officer: the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on joseph dawson iii, of south carolina, to be united states district judge for south carolina, shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call rolt. -- call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 56, the

nays are 39. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: the judiciary, joseph dawson iii of south carolina to be united states district judge for the district of south carolina.

the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: much ink has been spilled the past few years over the threat of foreign influence in our politics. it's a topic i've spoken about many times on this floor. this issue has become highly politicized, but it requires bipartisan agreement to address. it's increasingly clear that our adversaries will stop at nothing to influence political discourse in our country. we can all agree that there's a real need to improve our nation's foreign influence laws. fortunately the senate has a real opportunity today to finally do something about it. in 1938, congress passed the foreign agents registration act referred to by the acronym fara. they did this in 1938 to expose

nazi propaganda and identify foreign attempts to influence policymakers and the american public. the bill was last updated in 1966, now requires those who lobby on behalf of foreign governments and interests to register affiliations and activities with the justice department. fara reflects the fundamental principles that transparency brings accountability. until recently, however, the law had been seldom used, and a few on k street paid little attention to this, to the necessity of registering under this act if they were lobbying for a foreign country. of course that's not due to a lack of foreign influence efforts. given fara's important transparency provisions, its lack of enforcement was shocking

to me, and that's the problem that these several legislatures sponsoring this legislation are trying to correct. i first raised concerns about lackluster fara enforcement in april 2015 when former clinton white house staffer and lawyer for georgia political party failed to register his foreign agents. i also raised concerns about work for ukrainians by paul manafort and the podesta group. i raised concerns when the firm behind the discredited steele dossier failed to register for its lobbying work to repeal u.s. sanctions against russia. i even subpoenaed manafort to test at the judiciary committee hearing on the lax fara enforcement. i praised mueller for dusting off the law that had been

ignored for so long. i conducted fara oversight without regard to power, party, or privilege. americans expect equal application of the law, no matter which political party someone is affiliated with. i'm an equal opportunity overseeer. fara ought to be better enforced and equally enforced. that's why my office worked to expose holes in the existing fara law and find ways to shore it up. my bipartisan foreign agents disclosure registration enforcement act is a product of years of oversight and policy work. the bill requires the justice department for the first time to craft a comprehensive fara enforcement strategy and to

release advisory opinions to promote transparency. it gives fara investigators new tools, including civil investigative demand authority to help identify violations. the bill appropriately limits those who in the justice department can use this authority and provides essential due process protections. in fact, it's based on identical authorities in the false claims act which i sponsored now 35 years ago, which for years that false claims act has helped to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. the bill also enhances penalties for fara violations to deter future abuses. it requires foreign agents to immediately disclose their clients. that way policymakers know the true source and can make the most informed decisions.

finally, it requires a review of lobbying disclosure act exemptions to determine whether it's been abused to conceal foreign influence efforts. legitimate interests engaging in legitimate conduct shouldn't bear any unnecessary burden. that's why our bill strikes a real and right balance. but we must also ensure that fara's exemptions haven't created loopholes for foreign governments to hide their true intentions. i'm pleased to have the support from the chairman and ranking member of the judiciary committee, the chairman and vice chairman of the intelligence committee. we have bipartisan support on the foreign relations committee, including senators shaheen, rubio, murphy, and

young, who have all worked to shine light on foreign influence. and we now have the sign-off of the chairman of that committee along with support from this administration. groups like the project for government oversight and another group that goes by the name of issue one endorse the measure saying, quote, it directly addresses structural weaknesses of fairness. this is truly a bipartisan bill with common ground where it's usually tough to find it. the senate should send a clear signal today that it's serious about shining a light on foreign influence by passing this bill. and before i make a u.c. request, i'd like to ask one of the leaders in this area, senator cornyn, to make comments, and then i'll do the

u.c. request. corn corn mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, let me start by thanking chairman grassley for his leadership in this. this has been a bipartisan endeavor, and we look forward to working with senator menendez, the senator from new jersey, who says that he supports the spirit of what we're trying to do. and i'll let him speak for himself and describe it. but let me just tell you what brings me to this issue. it's an experience i had, we had in 2016 when we tried to pass the justice against state sponsors of terrorism act. this was provided a carve-out in the doctrine of sovereign immunity that would allow americans to sue foreign governments for financing terrorist attacks on american soil. and if that sounds familiar, it's exactly what they believe happened on 9/11, that a foreign government financed a terrorist attack, taking the lives of their loved ones on

9/11. when we passed, when we tried to pass the justice against state sponsors of terrorism act, i got called by a former colleague here in the senate who happened to be representing the kingdom of saudi arabia. they were doing everything they could to prevent the passage of the bill. and i know they were working the phones trying to get anybody else they could get to object to unanimous passage of the bill and overriding president obama's veto. next we were met with not only lobbying, but veterans who were enticed to come to washington,d.c., and stay at a local pricey hotel and to try to lobby congress to make the argument somehow this was hurtful to our veterans who had served in the military. it didn't make any sense to me then. it doesn't make any sense to me

now. but what i'm suggesting is that our rivals around the world will use a number of creative ways to try to influence us -- by lobbying, that's why the foreign agent registration act is so important that we're talking about here. we've even seen a recent report of a chinese intelligence officer trying to influence a member of the united states congress. fortunately, according to public reports, he got a defensive briefing, as you should under those circumstances, and was able to break off that relationship, according to published reports. we know that the communist party of china is investing in things like the confucius institutes around our institutions of higher learning to try to influence the education of our next generation of leaders. in other words, what the communist party of china is doing and what other countries will do is use, they'll stop at nothing to try to influence the policies that come out of this

body and out of congress and out of washington,d.c., and bend them in their favor. so i'm an enthusiastic supporter of what the senator from iowa is trying to do and look forward to working for a, maybe even something better than what we're proposing right now. and i understand the senator from new jersey is committed to doing that. but this is a serious problem, and i will bet you there are a number of ways foreign governments, not just china, but other countries around the world try to influence policies here in america, and we don't even know they're doing it. and this foreign agent registration act and reforming the lobbying disclosure act make sure that people have to file for full transparency that they represent a foreign government is so important. so i appreciate the leadership of my friend, the senator from iowa, and look forward to working with our colleague across the aisle to try to get this done.

mr. grassley: two sentences before i ask unanimous consent. i think this gives the senate an opportunity to send a clear signal that is serious about shining a light on foreign influence by passing the bill. opposing it in fact would only help our foreign adversaries continue to hide what they're really doing. so as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the foreign relations committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 1762 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion be reconsidered -- the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. menendez: mr. president. the presiding officer: ?iewrnlin gs f the senator from new jersey.

mr. menendez: mr. president, reserving the right to object. let me thank senator grassley for his work on this issue, and i agree with him that our current foreign regime is in need of updating. i look forward to working with him and senator cornyn and senator whitehouse and shaheen, both who came to me to speak to me about this as well as chairman risch and the cosponsors of this legislation in engaging in a comprehensive effort to do that. fara is perhaps the most critical tool we have for shining a light on foreign influence efforts in the united states. its aim is to ensure that the public knows the source of foreign directed efforts that are intended to influence american public opinion, policy, and laws. and i agree with the senator that the past few years have demonstrated that changes are sorely needed to fara, but they also demonstrate that the statute may need more than a few tweaks. and before we have, determine

exactly what the most needed reforms are, it seems shortsighted to provide additional enforcement tools before we have figured out what the regime should look like. indeed, adopting ad hoc changes rather than looking at more comprehensive reform could actually create more problems down the road. many have noted that fara's definitions and requirements are broad and sow confusion over exactly when and under what circumstances an individual must register and report covid activities. there's no denying that it has changed since fara was enacted in 1938 or even readvised in -- revised in 196. we live in a dramatically more interequity can asked and complex world today. foreign influence and disinformation have made their way to the top echelons of this government and this body. it seems only prudent that we

step back and examine whether there are blindspots in the current fara regime. there are a number of bills pending in both the house and senate reform to fara. some proposal additional disclosure and registration requirements, significant changes to the current fara exemptions or more electronic reporting. yet none of those have been given thorough or indeed any consideration by the senate foreign foreign relations committee. there are also a number of concerns about the current fara regime as well as how it has been applied that deserve consideration. some nonprofit organizations, for example, have raised serious concerns about how fara could be applied to them and are seeking additional changes to this bill to ensure it is not weaponized. and as other countries such as russia and hungary adopt their own versions of fara laws and

look to use it to crack down on civil society groups and nonprofits, we should be especially concerned about the signal that any potential weaponizing of fara sends. the past few years have shown how critical it is that we not adopt a patchwork approach but that we get it right. the disturbing rise of foreign influence campaigns that use a variety of measures to mask who is the ultimate source of beneficiary should serve as an alarm bell for all of us. so, mr. president, before this body passes any tweaks or new tools and adds to the current patchwork of fara regulations and exemptions, i think we should take a step back and take a comprehensive look. and we've not done that. so respectfully, mr. president, these changes should not pass this body without careful consideration by the committee of jurisdiction, a committee markup is the appropriate vehicle for considering such changes to assess the ramifications can of the changes in this bill and to see if other

changes are warranted. i stand ready and willing to work with chairman risch, with senator grassley and other colleagues to make any needed changes to fara. but because of all of these concerns that i have, i object today to passing this bill out of the senate without first giving the committee the opportunity to consider it and other potential reforms. i urge my colleagues to give us the opportunity to work through this together and ensure the foreign assets -- foreign actors registration act is fit for the 21st century. because of that, i do object. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: objection is is heard. the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: of course i am disappointed but i know that senator menendez is a serious legislator and if that's what we have to do to do something in this area is work into the next congress on this issue, i look forward to continuing to work. the reason i am disappointed is the fact that we had two democrat bills and two republican bills.

i introduced my first bill in 2017, and it took a lot of work to put together the bill that i asked unanimous consent on, without objection work out differences in several different approaches and i thought we had taken everything into consideration, particularly bringing together people from the intelligence community -- judiciary committee, i should say, that have interest in this legislation as well. and maybe another reason i'm disappointed out of that hard work that so many people put into this is the fact that on the part of particularly of our democratic colleagues, we've heard so much over the years lecturing about foreign influence and that's why i thought it would be easy to move forward today. and i'm sorry i.t. not.

but i -- and i'm sorry it's not, but i look forward to january starting over again and working with senator menendez to get this job done and hopefully not take three years more to get something done. i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i look forward to working with the senator from new jersey and the senator from idaho. as i said, this is a very serious problem for the u.s. government and, thus, for the american people. one of our greatest assets is also one of our greatest vulnerabilities. we're an open society.

our adversaries are not. and, thus, they use things like the internet for information warfare, whereas we see it as a valuable tool to do business to stay in touch with our families and to communicate with one another. and our adversaries are determined and they are relentless, and so i hope that just this little colloquy today will help alert more of our colleagues about the importance of us working together to address this. and i look forward to being part of that process. nothing happens very quickly around this place. sometimes you have to work on things for years to get them done. but speaking of working hard to solve problems, my hope is that we are closing in on our ability to pass the next covid-19 relief bill. as the presiding officer knows,

we've been at this for a while. it's been since march that we passed the cares act, and we've tried a number of times to try to pass additional relief to our small businesses and individuals, provide more resources to our frontline health care workers, make sure they had the p.p.e., the testing and the vaccine that is now here can be deployed in a way that as many americans who can get the vaccine as possible will do so. but, again, we know that the intervening election has been a problem because some people saw benefits to not solving the problem and that that would somehow gain them advantage at the ballot box. and still today there's still disagreements over a handful of controversial provisions. but as we enter the final days of the 116th congress, it's now time to break that

stalemate. there's no doubt in my mind that every member of this body has a little different vision about what the next relief package should look like. but as the old saying goes, we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. the search for compromise, which is really part of our job description here, on some of the most controversial measures has left us empty-handed. and it's time to set aside those pieces that we can't agree on and make progress on the ones we can. first and foremost is funding for vaccine distribution that i alluded to a moment ago. last week the f.d.a. approved the first covid-19 vaccine and the process of vaccinating our frontline health care workers is already under way. and there is a good chance by that time next week millions of doses of a second approved vaccine will be en route to hospitals across the country. there's no question that the

race to develop an effective covid vaccine has been a success. it's really been nothing short of a miracle. now it's critical we take additional actions to ensure the race to distribute the vaccine is successful as well. we've been waiting and planning for a vaccine all year, but funding congress provided in the cares act to help execute the nationwide distribution project has run dry. while the cost of the vaccine itself is already covered, there are a host of other expenses that come with vaccinating tens of millions -- maybe hundreds of millions of people. states are dipping into their other sources of funding to ensure they have the capabilities to carry out this widespread effort. but it takes specialized equipment from ultra low temperature freezers to store the vaccine, to masks and gloves and other p.p.p. to protect

those -- and p.p.e. to protect those administering it and the costs add up quickly. so the time for politicking and campaigning is over. now is the time for us to solve this problem and ensure that this vaccine distribution program goes off without a hitch. this is the silver bullet we've been praying for and hoping for, and it would be shameful if our partisan dysfunction in congress stood in the way of the success of operation warp speed. second, we must support the men and women whose livelihoods have been upended by this pandemic. we all know that. we've done a lot, but we need to do more. we didn't know in march how long this virus would last, how many lockdowns would ensue. in april, as businesses closed doors to stop the spread of the virus -- from the virus, our nationwide unemployment rate skyrocketed to 14.7%.

tens of millions of americans simply had no way to earn a paycheck. to cover their bills or even put food on their table. many relied on bolstered unemployment benefits which helped cover bills and expenses until they were able to resume their jobs. fortunately, our economic engine did not remain stalled for long. that's not only due to what we've done here but what the federal reserve has done. and over the past several months, the unemployment rate has gradually ticked down and reached 6.7% in november. i have no doubt that we'll continue to rebuild our economy and put more people back to work who are eager to get back to work. but the reality is it's going to take a while. there's still workers with no way to earn a paycheck, and unless we take action, they're sure to face an even more dire economic strain in the days ahead. the day after christmas -- the

day after christmas, two key programs from the cares act expire, which will leave the millions of americans without the jobless benefits that they and their families need to survive. that would be a shame, it would be embarrassing, and frankly it would just be flat neglect on our part if we did not intervene to make sure that we established a continuum of support for these folks who through no fault of their own find themselves without work. these are the same people who, again, through no fault of their own, had the rug pulled out in under them earlier this year, and we can't leave them hanging. we have to help. and, third, we need to continue supporting our small businesses. congress invested $670 billion in the paycheck protection program. every time i say a number like that or $3 trillion, i still have to pinch myself that we are

spending money. we need to spend this money in order to meet this pandemic, but the paycheck protection program in particular has been a lifeline for america's small business owners, especially in my state. texas received more than $41 billion through more than 417,000 individual p.p.p. loans. this has given our businesses the resources they need to stay afloat and stay equity canned to their employees continue -- and stay connected to their employees until things could return to what the next normal is. but we know the process is happening fastert for some businesses. it is interesting a number of businesses, i would say, are flourishing during the pandemic. it's really, really interesting -- while others are just flat on their back or nonexistent. many small businesses that have already received p.p.p. loans are still operating at a significant loss. they're unable to bring in enough revenue to keep their businesses and please above

water, and they need more -- and employees above water, and they need more assistance. and that's not because of a lack of demand or restrictions, governments have placed in the interest of public health. some them seemingly pretty arbitrary. i won't go down that path here. but these folks need help. currently, those businesses aren't eligible for a second draw of the p.p.p., and unless we want main streets across the country to turn into ghost towns, that needs to change. we need to reopen the p.p.p. with additional funding for the hardest-hit businesses to receive the second loan. this is the most effective way of keeping americans connected with their employer and more small businesses on track for a strong post-pandemic recovery. and there are a number of other businesses, small businesses, that didn't qualify for the p.p.p. which need our assistance, too. things like small independent

music venues are the best example of a critical main street industry that's dying under the current covid restrictions. that's why i worked with our friend from minnesota, senator klobuchar, to introduce the save our stages act, which will keep independent venues across america from closing their doors for good. this wouldn't just apply to live music venues in austin, texas. this would apply to symphonies, to potentially broadway, across the board. i'm proud to say 56 cosponsors applied for save our stages. so, again, the presiding officer, i know, has had his shoulder to the grindstone on this topic for a long time now. we still have a lot of work to do, but we don't have much time. beyond these three goals there's a lot more i'd like to see in the relief bill, and i guarantee all 535 members of congress would like to see more

or other things in a relief bill. but the fact of the matter is we've been unable to reach an agreement on a bill that includes the most controversial priorities, and it's time to take action where we can act, where we do have consensus and come back next year and try to do more and try to do better. each of these areas i mentioned -- support for vaccines, our workers, the small businesses have that strong bipartisan support. so i think all 100 of us, whether we're republicans or independents or democrats, should be able to line up behind a bill that supports these goals. over the last several days we've seen more bipartisan communication and cooperation than we saw in months, in the months leading up to this point. certainly since march. and i hope we're able to reach an agreement and pass another relief bill before gaveling out. as a matter of fact, i heard the majority leader say we're not leaving until we do, and i agree with that. the american people have repeatedly called on congress to

provide support for those hit hardest by this pandemic, and we simply cannot and will not let them down. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mr. boozman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. bosnia bosnia thank you, mr. president. i -- mr. boozman: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to the recognize a significant legislate tough victory the senate delivered for women veterans that will eliminate carriers to services that many women face when accessing the department of veterans affairs. the v.a. estimates that women make up approximately 10% of our nation's veterans' population. that number is expected to increase to more than 16% within the next 25 years. as a result, the number of women veterans receiving health care from v.a. has more than tripled since 2000. the changing face of our military requires us to reexamine how we can best serve these veterans. the v.a. has been slow to modernize its delivery of health

care and benefits to support their needs. women veterans are more like lie to face homelessness, unemployment, and go without needed medical health care. they were elected to turn to the v.a. for help. more than 50% of women veterans believe they are not entitled to or eligible for v.a. care. we must do more to fulfill our promise. we need to create a culture that -- at the v.a. that welcomes women veterans and makes them feel like they belong. it's long overdue and we are -- we need to update the belief that when a woman seeks care at the v.a., it's because her husband is the veteran. so often it's not uncommon for a veteran employee to pass a woman in line and ask, you know, is her husband around. arkansans have shared with me suggestions for improvement that

include expanding care options women can access at the v.a. to reduce need for referrals to community care, increasing trained medical professionals who specialize in women's health issues, enhancing privacy in exam rooms. these are reasonable steps that the v.a. can implement to ensure equitable access to services. the good news is we are one step closer to making these upgrades a reality, thanks to senate passage of the deborah sampson act. the veterans affairs ranking committee member, jon tester, and i introduced this legislation fittingly named after a revolutionary war veteran who disguised herself as a man to help defeat the british. in her spirit, we must do more to address the gender disparities at the v.a. we used the recommend dogs we heard from veterans -- we used

the recommendations we heard from veterans from all across the country to develop our legislation to eliminate the barriers to care. the deborah sampson act creates a dedicated offers of women's health at the -- office of women's health at the v.a., expands the reintegration and readjustment group, counseling groups for women veterans and their families and improves call center services. it increases the number of gender-specific providers and coordinators. it trains and retrofits centers to improve the environment. it provides access to legal services for women veterans and expands child care for veterans receiving health care at the v.a. these are just a few of the improvements this bill requires the v.a. to implement, so we can better serve the needs of women veterans. i appreciate the leadership of senator tester and the support

of veteran service organizations that encourage members of congress to support this legislation. i applaud the senate for advancing the legislation and urge my colleagues in the house of representatives to quickly approve this bill so we can ensure women who served in uniform receive the care and services that they so earned. also, as always, i want to thank the staffs of myself and senator tester that worked so hard in this regard and simply this would not have become law without their tremendous efforts. so with that, a mr. chairman -- madam president, i yield back.