quorum call:

ms. hyde-smith: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for mississippi. ms. hyde-smith: thank you, are we in a quorum call? i ask unanimous consent for dispensing with the quorum call, please. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. hyde-smith: thank you very much. mr. president, i rise to discuss the importance of the american energy sector and my concern about president biden's executive orders regarding domestic energy policy. in the first hours of the biden administration the president signed an executive order revoking the presidential permit for the keystone xl pipeline, a

project projected -- a project protected to add 11,000 jobs this year and pump $1.6 billion in wages into our economy. the new administration's actions cease construction work, nullified contracts issued last october to hire an estimated 7,000 union construction workers and disappointed our canadian ally. it is deeply concerning that our national energy policy should take such a dramatic turn away from pro-jobs and pro-american independence. america's unemployment rate is already in a precarious situation due to the ongoing global pandemic and i fail to see how destroying more jobs unifies our nation. mississippians and americans in the energy industry have worked tirelessly for our nation, and in 2019, america became energy

independent for the first time in 60 years. it is thanks to our energy workers that we are no longer forced to rely on foreign powers who do not wish america well. terminating the keystone xl pipeline was just the start of what we now recognize to be a concerted effort to bring down fossil fuel resources in our nation. the administration's subsequent ban on new oil and gas leases on federal lands will result in an estimated $33.5 billion in lost g.d.p. across western states and president biden -- in president biden's first term and risk over $8.8 billion annually in conservation funding. oil and natural gas from federal lands accounted for 6.4% and 9.2%, respectively, of the national total production, jobs

and economic opportunity are being carelessly stripped away. and while my state may not be burned by the federal leasing ban as badly as wyoming, new mexico, and other western states, mississippi will certainly feel the heat from this. mississippi has a significant energy infrastructure which provides thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic output. the gulf of mexico is one of the nation's most important regions for energy resources and accounts for a large portion of our crude oil and federal offshore natural gas production. my state is home to the 1, 1,443-megawatt nuclear station in port gib sorn, mississippi, which is the largest reactor in terms of generating capacity in

the united states. we host a large oil refinery, a natural gas processing plant and a liquidfied plant. the red hills surface coal mine provides energy to the northwest region of along with these great sources, mississippi has growing investments in natural gas and in solar power. destructive policies that make fuel sources more difficult to obtain could greatly harm economic growth and raise the cost of energy prices which will ultimately harm low-income families and many small businesses, not just in mississippi but across the entire nation. my concerns are not based on any objections to green or renewable energy sources. i believe the american people want balanced national energy

policies that promote growth and price stability. however, the early actions of the biden administration are cause for concern and not a source of unity. they signal a troubling willingness to sacrifice strategic industry that are important to our economy and for the jobs that they provide. mr. president, this body should take into consideration important legislation, such as the power act and the conservation funding protection act, which would allow congress to enact responsible energy policies and move away from policies landed in executive edits. during a time when america's energy businesses are seeking recovery from this global pandemic, losing precious jobs that keep the lights on for the constituents, feed their families cannot and should not be the route this administration is taking.

now on a more positive note. i'd like to speak on a separate and special matter. mr. president, as americans and people around the world settle in front of their televisions this sunday to watch the 55th annual super bowl, they will be tuning into an historic event. i'm not speaking about the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the game or tomorrow brady's -- tom brady's record super bowl appearances, instead i will focus on the history made by an exceptional woman from mississippi, my good friend sarah thomas. sarah thomas, a native of pass ka -- of mississippi will be the first woman to officiate the super bowl. sarah has always had a passion for athletics. she made a name for herself in high school sports. she became an academic all american in basketball at the

university of mobile where she amassed a career record of 779 points, 441 rebounds, and 108 assists and 192 steals, accomplishments that illustrate her determination to perform at the highest levels. while the news of a female official for the super bowl is an historic first, sarah is no stranger to making history. following college sarah's attention turned to football, namely officiating game, she earned a representation as an elite referee while officiating high school games, she was the first woman to officiate a high school football game in mississippi. it caught the attention of jerry austin, who invited her to an officials camp.

here again sarah's talents proved impressive and she soon became the first woman to officiate a college football game and the first woman to officiate a college bowl game. she was hired as the first female official in 2018 and in 2019 she was the first woman to officiate an envelope plof game -- playoff game. to me and many others, sarah's selection to officiate at the super bowl is another progression for a talented professional. i can assure you anyone who knows sarah as i do will not be surprised by her successful career. sarah, a mother, a career woman, has all the qualities i imagine the envelope wants in a good -- the nfl wants in a good official. my state of mississippi is extremely proud of sarah thomas and we look forward to watching

her latest history-making appearance at the super bowl. to sarah's children, bridly and brady, congratulations to you and you can be so proud of your mother. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. blunt: mr. president, this week the senate is engaged in what i personally believe to be a disappointing exercise of really partisan political power at the expense of american taxpayers. when it became clear that the senate was going to be split 50-50 -- and, by the way, it doesn't get closer than that -- there was a moment of hope i think on both sides that this would be the opportunity that we'd all have to really begin to seek ways to find how we could work together and not have any 50-50 votes and not keep the

vice president busy breaking ties on votes. so far that hope appears to be a little bit short-lived. we're supposedly voting to pass a budget right now that expresses the priorities of the congress on how limited tax dollars should be allocated. now, you don't have to be a genius to figure out that passing a budget october, november, december, four months into the calendar -- the budget year probably isn't technically to just determine how you're going to allocate limited tax dollars. and frankly there seems to be very little discussion in this budget about limited tax dollars. what we're really doing here is passing a budget that allows us to set up what i think is an ill-advised partisan moment

where one side believes they can do whatever they want to without the other side. president biden campaigning said over and over again that he wanted to work with republicans. i actually believe that's true. in his inaugural address he said, we have never, ever, ever, ever failed in america when we've acted together. now, the inaugural address was only a few days ago. here we are two weeks later. the president and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have decided to go forward, and the only way to go forward is to go forward their way. if that happens to be the way forward, it's going to be a long four years. and for the majority, it might be a pretty quick two years, because i don't think that's the message that people sent on election day that they wanted

one side to be able to do whatever they wanted to do. we've got the narrowest house majority in about 150 years. the senate majority, again, i'll say couldn't be closer than it is. we haven't finished taking down the platform from the inauguration, and our colleagues are already forcings a one-sided end game. mr. president, i will suggest that the end game in this case really just sets the stage for the rest of the time we're going to be trying to work together, and i think we'll look back and find out it didn't set the stage in a helpful way. the plans to muscle through a really partisan $1.9 trillion package that claims to be about covid relief but covers really a number of totally unrelated things -- people have talked a lot about the fact that the minimum wage is there and whether it would meet the standard of reconciliation, haven't talked very much about the fact that the education

money in the proposal that we're looking at for reconciliation doesn't include private schools, even private parochial schools, doesn't include the schools who more than any other have done their best to stay open during the pandemic, really breaks a pattern of recent years for all schools and post world war ii for higher education where public schools was not the defining thing. the defining thing was if you could qualify for government assistance, you were able to take it to any accredited institution you wanted to. clean energy is in the covid relief package. covid relief is different than clean energy. that's certainly a debate worth having, but let's not suggest that it's covid relief when it's not. one half of the senate is

determined to impose its will on the other half without even working to find a real path forward, i think that's an unfortunate sign. democrats have said there's an urgent need for this covid relief, so urgent we can't wait to have a real debate. we just passed $900 billion in relief. we're beginning to talk about such big numbers here that suddenly $900 billion is sort of passed away as, well, that's not nearly enough. but the truth is the $900 billion bill was just signed into law december 27. that was five weeks ago. $900 billion, most of that money remains unspent, and suddenly we want to spend another $1.9 trillion. that's an aggressive pace even by the standards of some of my

friends in the other half of this chamber or the other half of the congress. it really in so many ways is simply too soon to really know exactly what we need next. we haven't taken the time yet to get the other money out of the door. we haven't taken the time to see how it's going and whether the policies we planned were the policies that really work. we haven't taken the time to decide what else we might need to do. but here's what we've done already. we provided $8.75 billion to the centers for disease control and prevention for vaccine distribution. so far they've released $3 billion of that money. so we're rushing with billions more when $5.757 and then $8.75 amount of money for vaccine distribution hasn't been released yet.

with nearly $6 billion left in that fund, how do we know exactly how it's working or exactly how much we need? we seem to be sure that what we've got isn't enough. i'm not sure we even know that yet. but i've been an advocate in every one of the bills we've done for money for distribution of the vaccine, and i'd love to see how the money that's out there works. we need to be thinking about what to do next, but there was a time when debate was part of the senate. debate was very much part of the senate when president biden served in it. it should be part of the senate now. frankly, if we debated and had a, figured out a bipartisan plan, we would get that done quicker than reconciliation. it's going to be several weeks before we can have the vote that

we could have had to provide part of this money right now. a significant amount of this money is agreed to, particularly the amount that does relate to vaccine purchase and vaccine distribution, the parts that relate to testing, the parts that relate to getting kids back to school. that could all be available in a couple of weeks, but it won't be a couple of weeks when we go through this process of reconciliation that i think my friends on the other side will find out is harder to do than they thought and substantially harder to do in a 50-50 senate than it would be anywhere else. you know, in december we provided $82 billion for schools and for education. elementary schools that were supposed to get almost $70 billion of that money to reopen haven't reopened. many of them haven't had a chance to spend the money. in fact, many of the k-12

schools haven't even spent all the money they got in april. so money from april not yet being spent, and we're rushing to decide how much more money they need right now in these last few weeks of the school year. last week dr. fauci said in an interview that was the goal of president biden to get k-8 students back to school in the next 100 days. but in another event that same day, he said, maybe as truthfully as you possibly could be, it might not work out that way. we need to be really committed to get kids back to school. now there are more than a million people who have lost their jobs in education at the state and local level since the pandemic started. that's often given, mr. president, as the reason we need more state and local money. but many of that million-person number were the bus drivers, the cafeteria workers, the coaches, the support staff

that, frankly, if you're not going to school, most districts have decided they shouldn't be paying that staff that's not part of what the school is doing right now. those losses are not about loss of revenue. they're really about the loss of in-person school. you know, i've served as the chairman of the education and labor and health subcommittee and appropriations. i'm now the top republican in that 50-50 committee, and last year our subcommittee provided funding for schools that would help them address the pandemic and reopen. we provided money to develop and distribute vaccines and treatments. we provided money to continue critical funding for programs to address substance abuse and mental health and suicide and things that have been a real problem for an isolated pandemic-bound population.

we need to do all of those things. i'm more than happy to be part of that discussion. i want to help meet these challenges. i hope the administration understands that. i believe my colleagues on the other side of the aisle understand that. but we need to be sure that we know what we're doing before we commit another $1.9 trillion as if that money is really, i'm hearing occasionally not nearly enough. $2 trillion more after five bipartisan bills that produced real results, just kind of out of hand not nearly enough. now that's easy to say because virtually nobody in this chamber or in this country, including me, really has a concept of how much money $1.9 trillion is. so it's easy to say it should be $2.9 trillion or $3.9 trillion

or whatever it is, it's not enough because we don't have a sense of how much it is. we've had real success in developing vaccines. we need to have more success in getting those vaccines out. i've not seen the administration or my colleagues on the other side of the aisle make the case yet as to why we need to spend the amount of money they're talking about spending. i've not seen anyone make the case of why it's good to start off this administration and this term of congress in the most partisan, one-sided way possible before we've really had a chance to talk this out. there are a lot of things here we agree on. there are a lot of things here that could be approved around the margins, but you have to have the willingness to talk about that before it goes forward. i was glad to see the white house accepted the offer of ten of our republican colleagues to at least meet and talk about some bipartisan issues.

but the unwillingness of the democratic leader here to slow down this process and made it clear that really there may not be that much interest in really trying to find a solution, but at least there was some interest in talking about trying to work together. bipartisanship is not something you do just for show. compromise is not my way or the highway way. unity is not telling everyone else the only option is to accept your side of the argument. i hope my colleagues think better of this bipartisan exercise, come to the table and explain why we really need and what we need. if we don't, i hope we can still figure out how to recover and move forward in the only way a 50-50 senate can move forward, and that's working every day to find things that

more than 50 members, and i would hope substantially more than 50 members of the united states senate agree on and send those to the president and get our work done. i yield the floor, mr. president.

ms. ernst: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: madam president, on january 20, i joined my colleagues on the front steps of the capitol for the inauguration of our 46th president, joe biden. at a time when divisions run deep within our country, i thought president biden's call for unity, where he pledge to be

a president for all americans, struck just the right tone. as my democratic colleagues in this body can attest to, i'm always willing to work with anyone -- republicans, democrats, and independents -- on issues that will improve the lives of my fellow iowans and all americans. sadly, the actions we've seen in the first few days of this administration do not seem to honor the promise president biden made to americans throughout his campaign and again on inauguration day. in just two weeks, the president has already signed over 25 executive orders. that's a significantly more amount than any president in recent history in this short amount of time. and let's be clear, folks.

he's not just breaking norms. he's obliterating them. even "the new york times" editorial board called on him to ease up on the executive actions. and they're not wrong, folks. that's something that i don't say very often. now, i fully understand that the power of executive order is often unpopular when your party does not control the white house. but when you set out to be the unifier in chief, which is something we hoped president biden would be, one would hope that the actions you take would unify or at least be a little more mainstream. the reality is that's just not been the case. what the new president has done in just two weeks on the job is show us his true colors and his desire to appease the more

radical wing of his party. it's disheartening for someone who believes that the way we should be working together is a bipartisan path. we've already seen disastrous decisions harmful to american businesses and workers, decisions that resemble the likes of the radical green new deal. keeping our air and water clean and protecting our environment for generations to come are shared concerns of every iowan and all americans. but on day one, as many predicted he would do at some point during his tenure, president biden issued a harsh punishment for american businesses by rejoining the paris climate agreement. this agreement saddles hardworking folks with overburdensome government regulations, all while letting one of the world's biggest polluters -- communist china -- completely off the hook.

instead of inhibiting economic growth, we should be focused on reducing our emissions and meeting our energy needs through market-driven, innovative solutions. iowa actually leads the way in creating renewable energy sources, from wind and solar to biodiesel and ethanol. but we haven't done it through heavy-handed government mandates. the president has also raised concerns for folks in my home state of iowa who work hard to grow and produce clean ethanol and biodiesel. with his recent action to begin transitioning federal government vehicles to electric vehicles. ethanol and biodiesel are actually cleaner choices of fuel for folks at the pump. a recent study found that

greenhouse gas emissions from corn ethanol are 46% lower than gasoline. at the same time, renewable fuels provide for the livelihoods of folks across the heartland. it's critical we continue to invest in our biofuel industry, not move away from it. that's why i urge president biden not to give into the misguided political demands of the left. change course and instead promote the adoption of higher biofuel blends and invest in expanding biofuel infrastructure. on the same day he got us back into the paris climate accord, president biden unilaterally canceled the keystone x.l. pipeline, destroying thousands of jurors during a pandemic when millions of hardworking americans are already struggling

to make ends meet. even canada's prime minister, one of our top allies and closest trade partners, expressed his disappointment in the decision. unfortunately, the green new deal lite is not the only policy of the liberal left the biden administration has already chosen to implement. as many iowans know, i've long been working to pass sarah's law, my bill in honor of sarah root, a 21-year-old iowan who was tragically struck and killed by edwin mejia who entered the country illegally and was driving drunk three times the legal limit. while mejia was initially detained by local law enforcement and faced state charges of motor vehicle homicide, a loophole in immigration policy under the

obama-biden administration allowed him to post bond, disappear, and escape justice. sarah's law would close that loophole and require u.s. customs and immigration enforcement to take custody of an illegal immigrant who is charged with a crime resulting in the death or serious bodily injury of another person. it's common sense, folks, and it would prevent tragedies like what happened to the root family from ever happening again. the trump administration was successful in implementing parts of this important legislation, but as many expect, the biden administration is already working to roll back immigration enforcement. that's why last week i reintroduced sarah's law with

the support of 19 of my colleagues, more than ever before, and i'm going to keep fighting to get this bill across the finish line. if the november elections taught us anything, it's that the american people want us to work together. they elected a 50-50 senate and a slim majority in the house of representatives. so, mr. president, it's time the biden administration follow its own advice. i'm an eternal optimist, and i believe we can come together and truly deliver for all americans. but i need my colleagues across the aisle and our new president to do the same so that his calls for unity don't fall on deaf ears. now, on another topic, we did have the march for life this past week. so, madam president, i want to

begin today by recognizing the grassroots advocates of our pro-life movement. last friday thousands of americans and many iowans joined in this year's virtual march for life. these folks are the ones who actively serve our vulnerable women and families who need support in order to choose life. these hardworking americans are the ones who are on the ground changing hearts and minds all year long. and even though things looked a lot different for this year's event, i have no doubt that our grassroots pro-life movement will continue to grow in communities all across the country, thanks to these inspiring folks who understand that protecting life is not just a political issue for debate. in d.c., lawmakers and executive branch bureaucrats get easily

trapped into looking at abortion as just another issue. but that mind-set, even from the pro-life perspective, is a dehumanized approach. i challenge my friends and colleagues on both sides of the aisle to instead approach the sanctity of human life as more than just a policy issue. surely the challenges of 2020 reminded us how very precious life is, taking to heart that we must cherish life, all life, at all stages. if we devalue life in the womb, then we are only setting the groundwork for diminishing human worth and value at every other stage of life. this mind-set is why i approach the duty to protect life with

steadfast determination, and it's why i know preserving life is a cause that can and should bring us together. president biden and his administration have clearly stated their goal is to unify our country, but the recent policy changes and executive actions surrounding the abortion issue have certainly signaled a different message to many americans. there was a time when the most basic policy stance was that taxpayer dollars should not support the abortion industry. it was a bipartisan, noncontroversial stance, one that many of my democratic colleagues used to hold. but the abortion lobby has moved the goalpost so far down the field by making commonsense

safety regulations on abortion absolutely untouchable, whereas my pro-life colleagues and i have always been willing to meet in the middle. think about it. i believe life begins long before five months in the womb, but we know many colleagues feel differently. so senator graham has repeatedly brought the pain-capable unborn child protection act forward each congress in the hopes that protecting our most vulnerable from painful death at the five-month mark of pregnancy would be a unifying and humanitarian cause. sadly, that's not been the case. we had an estimated 143 babies who died between 2003 and 2014,

after surviving abortion attempts. this shows the current law obviously needs to be strengthened there, which is why senator sasse brought forward the born-alive abortion survivors protection act. but, no, even that bar was too high. last year senator cotton and i first introduced a bill that would ensure we have complete and accurate abortion-related data from every state. wouldn't a full picture of the abortion landscape in our country be knowledge that any lawmaker would want in order to make informed and responsible decisions? and when it comes to ensuring women are treated with dignity and respect as patients, i will be introducing the informed consent act to the solidify this commonsense cause. my colleagues may recall a

whistle-blower report from september 2020 claiming that hysterectomies and other sterilization procedures were being performed on immigrant women held at the irwin county detention center in georgia, without their consent. as it turns out, a sterilization or abortion procedure that occurs without informed consent from the patient is not already established as a crime in our federal code. my house colleague, congressman chris smith, and i are introducing this legislation to strengthen the law here. surely this is another baseline that we can find common ground on. i welcome my pro-choice colleagues to join us in this effort and take a step towards unity. i believe once you focus the heart and mind to approach life

as more than just a policy issue, you will find that preserving life promotes unit when i. if you really look at how our culture is shifting, life is winning. at the state level nearly 60 life-affirming laws were enacted across the country in 2019. the vast majority of americans agree that federal tax dollars should not be used to support the abortion industry. so, folks, we do have common ground to stand on going into this new congress. protecting life brings us together, so we must stand up for the most vulnerable. we will be a stronger nation for it. and with that, madam president, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. yesterday i had the opportunity to speak with a group about the legislative priorities for this upcoming congress. and i know you and i are two members of the senate that like talking to the people that we represent and doing that as much as we possibly can. i always try to cover as much ground as i can when i am visiting with a group. but what has struck me recently -- and this was true yesterday -- is that the conversation really started to center around our national security, protecting this nation. and people seemed to have defending this country on their brain, standing up for america.

and some of the things that come up is what they noticed since november when you have individuals that are now a part of the new administration have worked hard to try to erase every trace of the trump era, even the successes. legislation many times that moved forward, things that were done in a bipartisan basis. and part of the problem that people are beginning to have is that president biden signed off on more day-one executive orders and actions than any president in recent memory. indeed, i think you would have to go back to the time of ronald reagan and combine all of those day-one executive orders and actions to equal what president

biden has done. and i had a tennessean say they've kind of lost the ability to keep track of them because there are so many. they're numerous every single day. and this has people very unsettled. they see this strategy, and they think this is oddly familiar. their most powerful leaders are treating policy making like it's some kind of graduate seminar all about theories, not about consequences, not about concrete outcomes, at least not as far as washington is concerned. the message flowing from the white house hasn't helped ease their concerns. you see, the administration has given the impression that when it comes to national security policy, they're going to

exercise strategic patience when engaging with our adversaries. and i'll tell you this, tennesseans back home might not know all the details of what's in store, but they know that the tone has changed, and they don't like what they're hearing. when strategic patience fails to yield results during the president obama administration, analysts dubbed this tactic as strategic passiveity, and i believe that's a very apt description, because at the heart of strategic patience is the belief that the status quo, while less than ideal, is better than many possible consequences of taking an action. it is a dangerous posture, especially when applied to

powerful adversaries like china that are positioning themselves for global dominance. in fact, our regional allies in japan and the philippines immediately expressed concern at the idea that the united states of america would embrace such a tactic. for the past few decades, they have had a front row seat for the rise of chinese influence. they watched as china grew from a struggling regional player into our most significant competitor in every domain. it's important to realize that we allowed that evolution in the hopes that china's transition into a developed nation would foster within its leaders a sense of global responsibility. this approach failed, and now china is a major international player intent, intent on global domination.

i can tell you that officials in beijing are not taking a passive approach in their efforts to surpass us. through the belt and road initiative, the chinese communist party has bought or extorted control over the economies of some of the most strategically important nations on the planet. until recently, their grasp on global supply chains flew well under the radar, but we can no longer ignore the negative consequences of beijing's control over access to active pharmaceutical ingredients and prescription drugs to medical devices, natural resources, telecommunications equipment, and even more defense materials. where they couldn't buy influence, the chinese communist party seized it. if they could not buy it, they seized it.

they took it outright by reducing themes to intellectual property theft and money laundering schemes and more suddenly by installing confucius institutes in american classrooms and universities and putting chinese communist party spies on those university campuses in research positions. beijing is just as brash militarily. chinese aggression and violence in the indo-pacific threatens regional stability in defiance of basic global norms. rulings offered by international bodies and showings of strengths from western military players, the chinese communist party has leveraged all of this against the most powerful nations in the western world, and their blij raines has paid -- belligerence has paid off even when time and

again news breaks of some human rights hor in -- horror in hong or tibet, global leaders hit the brakes on their rebuke of human rights violations because it could draw economic consequences. the term strategic patients had been used by -- strategic patience had been used by now secretary austin prior to his confirmation. we discussed that privately and during his recent confirmation hearing, and i'm confident he knows how important it is to check chinese aggression now, right now, before it's too late. however, the general language used by the biden administration officials in press conferences and other settings reflects former president obama's liberal theories rather than concrete

policies. now to be clear, i think i can speak for everyone here when i say that we're willing to work with the administration on this, but the threat from china isn't merely theoretical, and i hope i've made it clear that we here in the senate aren't prepared to treat it like it is. for decades chinese communist party officials have been successful in using china's modernized economy to distract from the threat their aggressive tactics pose to the international order. the fact is the concept of strategic patience simply does not apply to beijing. the c.c.p.'s influence grows by the day, and far too quickly to be contained by a cautious wait-and-see attitude. we did wait. we tried.

it did not work. we know it did not work. we see the entanglements and the risk of simply poking at those knots and hoping they'll resolve themselves. instead we need to take a great competition tailored approach right up to the c.c.p.'s front door and craft policy and budget priorities to match. to those who would still embrace the kind of restraint the white house seems to have endorsed, i would ask, what about the status quo looks sustainable to you when you are dealing with the aggressiveness of the chinese communist party? i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: i ask that we have unanimous consent to end the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: two weeks ago i heard these words -- history, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity. we can see each other not as adversaries, but as neighbors. we can treat each other with dignity and respect. we can join forces, stop the shouting, lower the temperature. for without unity, there is no peace. only bitterness and fury. president biden in his inaugural address, some pretty glowing terms. grateful to be able to hear the statements about unity. the challenge now is to actually

life that out and to be able to see that actually done. because while those words are beautiful, the past two weeks there have been almost two dozen hyperpartisan executive orders that have come out of the white house, and there doesn't seem to be a push towards actual bipartisan unity here on this floor. in fact, in the first ten days of the biden administration, he has signed more executive orders than the last four presidents combined in their first ten days. president clinton signed two, president bush signed two, donald trump signed two -- i'm sorry, signed seven, president obama signed nine. joe biden in the first ten days signed 22 executive orders. 22. and some of those executive orders seem to be just purely spiteful, just to say president trump put this in and so it must be bad. let me give you an example. the trump administration

required through an executive order every agency to compile all their guidance documents into one place so that small business owners and people that work in small businesses could find the federal requirements from each agency in one spot. they didn't have to hunt all over the place to be able to find their federal requirements. that doesn't seem like a partisan statement. it seems like good government. in the first ten days of president biden's term, he got rid of the good guidance piece and said, no, federal agencies can play hide and seek with their rules again and small business owners will have to figure out it is. there won't be one place in each agency to find guidance. why would you do that other than just if trump did it, it must be bad? we've got to find ways to actually live unity and to be table to do what's best for the american people. we live in a constitutional

system. we have more than 300 million people. we have great disagreements on policies, but we come together to work them out. during 2020, in a time of divided government, this body, the house of representatives, and the white house passed five different covid relief bills, all with strong bipartisan majorities. we passed all 12 appropriation bills with strong bipartisan majorities. i didn't agree with everything on every one of those bills, but we worked together to be able to resolve it and now suddenly it has become a, we don't want to talk across the aisle anymore, literally two weeks after saying, you know what we need? is a country unity. two weeks later it is, how do we cram through something on a straight partisan vote? how do we block out all republican voices from the entire country and make sure their voices are not heard? does that feel like unity two weeks into a presidency? ten of my republican colleagues sat down with president biden

and we appreciate his time and he gave two hours of time is listen. he's proposed $1.9 trillion in additional spending the very first day on covid. $1.9 trillion. this is only a few weeks after we just passed almost a trillion dollar package dealing with covid that literally two-thirds of that trillion dollar package has not even gone out the door yet. it has not even been spent. it has not even been allocated. there's billions and billions of dollars still unallocated for vaccine, for testing, for schools, all kinds of different things that we allocated in december and it's already like, that's not enough, we need more. literally the c.d.c. and n.i.h. has billions of dollars unallocated right now from previous bills that have already been sent. when my team contacted white house team, we see this big proposal, can you tell us what this is allocated for? their response was, it's an emergency, with we need a big

package. they literally couldn't tell us what the money would be spent for. i have to tell you. this is not just a partisan issue. i asked the exact same thing of the trump administration when they made a big proposal, i went back to them with the exact same question, what is this money to be used for? they couldn't answer it, so i continued to press for months until we got an answer, until we got a right amount. that seems like a reasonable thing to do regardless of who is in the white house is to say this is the american people's money and in this case none of it is actually money that is allocated. all of it is borrowed. so before we spend a dime of money that we borrow from china, we should probably know what it's actually for. and the $1.9 trillion package proposal, there's a section that is a 50 billion-dollar fund to be able to spend for needs. -- needs however the administration wanted to fill that blank in, $5 billion.

no thank you. we have a basic responsibility to be able to ask questions on this. if the reports are accurate, when ten republican senators sat down at the white house to be able to talk about a different proposal to be targeted towards the actual needs right now, if reports are correct, i wasn't there at the time, but if the reports are correct, every time our proposal came up, some of the president's team sitting against the fall facing the president would shake their head every time a proposal came up to signal the answer to president biden, say no to that one as well. listen, we've got to find a way to be able to actually work things out. why is this so difficult when we did it five times with divided government last year and now the focus is we can no longer talk to republicans? where did the unity go? some of these executive orders require a lot more attention and a lot more conversation instead of just imposing things on the

american people because that makes a difficult situation worse. on his first day in office, president biden dismantled the title 9 protections for women and imposed new gender identity requirements. i agree with president biden, every person should be treated with dignity and respect. but i also believe extending respect and dignity means being honest about scientific and biological realities of sex and the difference between men and women. all people -- all people should be afforded equal opportunity, but that also includes women and girls. title 9 was put into place to make sure that we had equal opportunity for women and girls in all areas, and under the guise of preventing discrimination, suddenly women and girls are being discriminated against. president biden's order based sexual identity is forcing school districts to have

biological boys to compete against biological girls in high school sports. you might think what is the big deal about that? in connecticut two high school athletes born as male are now female, they have won 15 different titles. female athletes are losing medals, podium spots and chances for scholarships or chances to play on a team with their peers. every person should be respected in our nation, but there's a reason that title 9 was created. this should demand more conversation in this body, not trying to impose it in an executive order. americans are not united in this issue. we are united that people should be respected and have every opportunity, but don't run over one group to be able to provide special status to another group. i was disappointed but not surprised when there was an executive order that was released on the issue of abortion, in fact, multiple

executive orders on the week of the 40th anniversary of roe v. wade. on the unity, president biden gave the memorandum on protecting women's health at home and abroad, once again a good message, but it falls short about a standard about unity. a marist poll 77% of americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to support abortion in other countries. yet under the guise of unity, we're now spending money overseas on promoting and providing abortion in a time when we have record debts and deficits, the biden administration made one of its first priorities to take some of the dollars that we do have and spend it to promote and provide abortion overseas in other countries, that's our foreign aid now. as if funding providers at home and abrood wasn't enough -- abroad wasn't enough, the memo

directs the united states to withdraw from the historic geneva convention, and it is four pillars, and this is what we withdrew from. pillar one, better health for women, the preservation of human life, pillar three, strengthening the family as the foundational unit of society, and pillar four, protecting every nation's sovereignty in global politics. that was so controversial that the biden administration withdrew from that with 35 other countries. while president biden pulled out of that treaty protecting women's health, he actually installed us deeper into a treaty with russia. in his first week in office, president biden agreed to a straight extension of the new start treaty with russia. it was supposed to manage the proliferation of nuclear weapons between the united states and

russia, the two big superpowers, but it was written so long ago and is so out of date, it completely leaves out other superpowers like china. so while russia has to mind an agreement, china continues to accelerate. current status, china will double its nuclear stockpile in the next decade, but they are not even in this treaty and in addition to that, multiple areas are not even addressed in this new start treaty, that's why there was such a push in the previous administration to renegotiate it because the new start treaty doesn't even include russian weapons like nuclear power, underwater drones, hypersonic glide vehicles, nonextra is it strategic nuclear weapons, they are not included. under this agreement, russia can accelerate in those areas and say they are still meeting the agreement and president biden just extended for five more years and said, we're not going to negotiate it for five more years, let's just keep going. the shift has moved from stopping nuclear proliferation

to dealing with climate change. why can't we do both? why can't we pay attention to the environmental issues of our globe but also pay attention to the issue of nuclear proliferation? it's not like this has gone away. it hasn't. president biden took several issues on immigration, specifically border security. right after the inauguration, speaking on unity, he puts out an executive order with bizarre doublespeak in it that stated the united states is a country with borders and laws that must be enforced, but the order itself after that literally put a 100-day moratorium on all deportations. it's like we need to enforce our laws and and this the first step of it was for 100 days we're not going to actually enforce our laws. this is not -- this is not some

crazy piece here. the 100 day moratorium included individuals that are listed as criminal aliens. it also included people that had what's called a final order of removal from a court. that means that they've gone through every appeal in our court system here and a court said, no, you do not qualify to be here legally, they ordered them removed from the country and president biden said we want them to stay even after a court order. there's this great myth that isis is roaming through cities in america and rounding people up. the fact is 92% of i.c.e. removal 92% have a criminal charge. president biden put a 100-day moratorium and said that those individuals do not need to be deported. thanksfully a federal court --

thankfully a federal court stepped in and this is the quote from the federal court, there's no reasonable justification. i agree. that's not enforcing our laws. that's not engaging in bipartisan unity. the vast majority of americans want legal immigration. the vast majority of americans also believe that if someone has committed a crime in our country and they are not legally in our country, they should be deported. but the message that's been sent out is, those individuals won't. and as odd as it may seem, on january 26, president biden instituted a travel ban from brazil, the united kingdom, ireland, most of the e.u. from south africa and said those folks can't come because of covid threat but at the same time said he wants to evaluate title 42 which may allow people to come into the united states from mexico and do catch and release again here in the united

states. so at the same time saying, business travelers from all over the world really don't need to come because of covid threat, they are also looking at our southern border and saying people coming from south america, central america, they may be okay to be able to come into the country and then to be able to be released while we're pending still a hearing. may i remind this body in the past year we have lost 21 people from the department of homeland security along our southern border, 21 agents and officers have died from covid exposure from interacting with people coming from south america and central america. why in the world do you close down the borders to business travelers and then start talking about opening them up to people not legally crossing the border? this is not what americans are looking for. i had a lot of people in my

state that were shocked in the first days of the biden administration when he stopped the keystone xl pipeline and then he stopped all energy exploration on federal lands. those are jobs in my state. those are -- preb likes to -- president biden likes to talk about union jobs that are all over the country. thousands of people lost their job day one of the biden administration with a unilateral declaration, we're not going to do energy exploration and we're not going to complete this pipeline. what does that mean? that means to the federal taxpayer royalties are down because they are not gaining royalties off of the use of that land. so the taxpayer loses. that means jobs are down all over the country especially in the west. and that means prices will go up for the consumer. we're not running along on electricity, we're running on oil and gas for the vast majority of our vehicles. while i'm for all different types of energy, that's not what's happening right now.

we should address this. we should work for unity. but right now we're not even having dialogue. we're not even included in the conversation. if we're going to have unity, we've got to talk about the hard issues and actually come to a decision on how we're going to resolve those. with that, i yield the floor. mr. barrasso: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: first i would like to associate myself with the remarks of the distinguished senator from oklahoma who has such a good insight into the impact of the executive orders with the biden administration in his state, very similar to my state, and the concerns that he hears at home over the last two weeks are identical to the ones i have heard in wyoming over the last two weekends. it is day 15 today of the biden administration, and on day one, president biden -- and we listened as he spoke -- he promised to usher in a new era

of bipartisanship, he said, and healing. well, within his inaugural address, he said the words with unity, we can do great things. the senator from oklahoma and i agree with the president and the words that he spoke on inaugural day. here we are just two weeks later, and it seems to me it was all just talk. so far we haven't seen much bipartisanship from the biden administration. president biden has already issued more than 45 executive actions, and that's more executive actions than the -- in the first two weeks than president trump, obama, bush, clinton in their beginnings in office. and it's interesting, madam president, because as president biden was rolling out one executive order after another, even the liberal "new york times," which endorsed president biden, had this lead headline, and this was thursday,

january 28. so this was a full week ago. it says ease up on executive orders. "new york times" to president biden, ease up on executive orders. when "the new york times" has to call president biden out on executive overreach, you know that president biden has abandoned the promises that he's made during the campaign and that he made to us on inaugural day. to just kind of go into the editorial, they said ease up on executive actions, joe, they said. they said this is no way to make law. they say these directives are a flawed substitute for legislation. that's what we see the biden administration adopting, a flawed substitute, as they say, for legislation. look, they go on to say, on the campaign trail, president biden touted the skill, his skills at making compromise, and i saw

that when i served with him in the senate. before you got here, madam president, when he and i served together in this body. that was on the senate foreign relations committee, which he chaired. and he does have a history and a skill at finding compromise. "the new york times" went on to say president biden's legacy will depend on his ability to hammer out agreements with congress. that's why we have three branches of government -- executive branch, the legislative branch, judiciary branch. all of the branches of government. that's, as they say, the legacy will depend on his ability to hammer out agreements with congress. and the problem isn't just how many executive orders are being issued. as my friend and colleague from oklahoma said. it's what's in them. president biden has already launched a full-scale attack on american energy. to me, this is the whole green new deal dressed up as executive orders. in fact, the congresswoman from

michigan who is part of the squad has been actually boasting about it. she said the principles and the values in the green new deal are in the executive orders by president biden. she went on to say the green new deal pushed the president toward a much more aggressive approach. i think her statement is accurate. president biden has already shut down the keystone pipeline, drew a big target on the back of north american mirg, and then he pulled the trigger. killed the keystone pipeline. hundreds of american workers have already received pink slips. thousands more will do so, and that will be soon. president biden banned new oil and gas leases on federal lands. madam president, half of my state is federal land, so we know how this works. if a president -- if this president also keeps his promise to ban fracking, this could lead to a total of millions of

americans losing jobs over the next couple of years. at a time when 10 million americans are already unemployed, these figures are shocking. yet democrats aren't stopping there. last week, the democrat leader came to the floor, and he urged president biden to go even further, to do even more, much more that was criticized by "the new york times." he said president biden should declare a national emergency because of climate change. a national emergency, he said. the leader of the democrat party on the floor of the united states senate. leader schumer is admitting that this radical environmental agenda doesn't have bipartisan support, doesn't seem to have even presidential support to that level, but that's what senator schumer is calling for. apparently, senator schumer isn't just wanting to outsource energy jobs. he seems to want to outsource

the work of the united states senate as well. that's not what the american people sent us here to do. they didn't send us here to stand by and watch a president go with one executive order after another after another. they sent us here to get things done. the truth is despite what leader schumer says, there is actually bipartisan support for action on climate change. just over a month ago, the senate passed a bill called the use it act which i authored with senator carper. it came through the environment and public works committee which i chair. it was completely bipartisan. came through the committee unanimously. it doesn't cost a single american job. it makes a difference with regard to climate. that's what the american people sent us here to do, work together to find solutions that work, that don't hurt. unfortunately, it's not the biden approach. the biden approach turns out to be more mandates, less energy

production, and fewer american jobs. now we see president biden pushing a $2 trillion spending bill. he says it's to help fight coronavirus. we just passed a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill about a month ago, signed into law, and as a result, our economy is actually doing better than expected. now president biden with his new bill, he wants to send checks, send checks to families making in excess of $250,000 a year, a government check, paid for by taxpayers, added to the national debt. people making over a quarter -- families making over a quarter of a million dollars a year, getting a check from the government when they never missed a paycheck in the first place. he also wants to give added bonuses for people who are out of work on unemployment. people who are out of work on unemployment need that unemployment. but not with the added bonuses to the level that president

biden is pointing to. and i hear about it in wyoming, i heard about it last week. if we pass what president biden is calling for, the average -- the average unemployed american would receive a little less than $800 a week total from the government. by their regular unemployment and by the enhanced unemployment. that's equivalent to a job making $40,000 a year. people would in many places be paid more to not go back to work than they could earn if they went back to work. so the incentive is to keep them out of work, and at the same time we have help wanted signs up around the state of wyoming. president biden's proposal also includes billions of dollars in spending unrelated to coronavirus. completely unrelated. which is something the american people don't understand. they understand we need to fight coronavirus. they understand we need to get people back to work.

they understand we need to get kids back to school. but to add extraneous spending unrelated to coronavirus is something americans don't understand. now, this bill includes a mandate from washington, d.c., a mandate to the small businesses all around the country, many of them struggling, many of them have a hard time making their payroll, and the washington mandate is you will double the amount of money that you pay right now if you're paying the current minimum wage. doubling the national minimum wage, a mandate from washington on small business. nothing to do with coronavirus, but a lot to do with making it that much harder for the small businesses in the small towns of wyoming to make their payroll and to stay open. now, it makes common sense, when you take a look at that impact, and even the congressional budget office has looked at it, and they have come to the same conclusion that i have and the people of wyoming have. it's going to cost jobs. the congressional budget office says it will cost 1.3 million

jobs across america if president biden has his way and forces a doubling of the minimum wage on small businesses in america. now, in exchange for that federal mandate, the bill pays off states, big cities, blue states, with a long history of bad behavior, to the tune of $350 billion. studies from j.p. morgan just came out, and the study shows that state tax revenues barely dropped at all in 2020 as a result of coronavirus, dropped less than 1%. these states do not need $350 billion of additional federal support. the state needs a bailout, it's not because of coronavirus. it's because of a long history of mismanagement. the biden administration made this proposal without any meaningful discussions with republicans at all. and the administration is even ignoring the democrats.

vice president harris recently went on television in west virginia and in arizona, why? not to put pressure on republicans. to put pressure on democrats. a big story in "the new york times" today, putting pressure on the two new senators, senators sinema and the senator from arizona, senator kelly, the newest elected senator from arizona, put on them to vote for the bill. she also went in west virginia, with senator manchin. not only are they not talking to republicans, now they are trying to pressure democrats. let's face it. the democrats are trying to cram this bill through congress. it's what they are going to do with the vote-a-rama this week. on friday, there was an article in "the washington post." the headline is this -- biden democrats prepare to move beyond efforts to rule republicans. i have to ask, what efforts? i haven't reached out -- they haven't reached out in any serious way. as some of my colleagues have

said, we've proven we can work together on coronavirus relief. we did it five times in the last year. we passed five different coronavirus relief bills. and the total was $4 trillion. the article in the postgoes on and -- in the post goes on and quotes leader schumer. it says we must not repeat the mistakes of 2008 and 2009. he's referring to the fiscal crisis back then. that response was then led by vice president joe biden. yeah, there were plenty of mistakes. leader schumer seems to think that the mistake was that it was too bipartisan, and that's the wrong lesson. the mistake congress made under vice president biden in 2009 was to spend huge sums of money, completely unrelated to solving the underlying problem, yet that's what the democrats seem to want to do once again. the last time the democrats did that, we had the slowest recovery since the great

depression. do you know what got us out of that slow recovery? american energy, which president biden is now trying to kill. there are a lot of lessons to be learned here. so on monday, ten republican senators went to the white house and made their own proposal on coronavirus relief. i really do hope the president listened, because two weeks into this administration, the president's inaugural address is not something that's going to be remembered like john kennedy's inaugural address was in 1960. this inaugural address is going to be remembered for empty rhetoric. president biden has been trying to govern using a pen and a phone, remember that from the obama administration. i would say to president biden time to just put down the pen and pick up the phone. a democrat politician famously said that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. president biden campaigned in moderation, but that's not the

way he's governing. he's governing in partisanship. it's not what the american people are asking for. it's not what they voted for. we have a 50-50 senate. democrats have a very narrow majority in the house. i would urge the administration to change course. this if there is a mandate is a mandate to move to the middle. i urge my democrat colleagues to work with us on real coronavirus relief, on producing more american energy, and in creating more jobs across our country. let us come together and get things done. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from texas. mr. cruz: madam president, i rise today to honor the life of

a dear friend and a former colleague of mine, jerry elliott. some two weeks ago, at just 58 years old, jerry passed away. jerry and i met in june of 2001. we were both working in the george w. bush administration. we were working together at the federal trade commission. i had just been hired at all of 30 years old to run the policy planning office, and jerry was my deputy. i hadn't met jerry. our boss, tim yuris, the chairman, had brought jerry in beforehand. it's always a dangerous thing when someone else hires your deputy about in this case tim did me an enormous favor. he was a colleague from george mason university. a brilliant man, a lover of liberty.

and jerry and i for the next for years ran the policy planning office together and we became dear friends. i don't know that i ever saw jerry without a smile, without a twinkle in his eye. he always had a joyful spirit, a miscleverrous -- mischievous grin. and he believed in the power of truth. he became an economist because i think jerry was born to be an economist. "have no doubt playing with his legos as a child he thought about supply and demand and price elasticity. and he believed in the power of free markets. one of the things that policy planning office did was something called competition

advocacy. the f.t.c. statutory mandate is to defend competition. there are some 75 ph.d. economists on the full time staff at the f.t.c. and jerry and i together when various state legislatures or state regulatory bodies across the country were considering a particular bill, that would potentially have anticompetitive effects, if those state legislatures were regular -- or regulators asked for our input, the f.t.c. would analyze the proposed bill. and we would file testimony, written testimony, oral testimony. both jerry and i testified multiple place. in can't take, i went to my office -- in fact, i went to my office and pulled out the binder of all the competition advocacy that we filed in our time together at the f.t.c. on topic after topic after topic. you know, there are a lot of bad ideas that government considers, bad ideas that come from special

pleaders, someone who will benefit, but the harm to consumers is usually diffused, harder to see, and much greater. and what the f.t.c. would do in competition advocacy is simply quantify the harm. simply provide truth and light and sunshine. and it was incredible that when we would be asked to come in and present that testimony over and over and over again, the decision-makers would choose not to adopt bad policies. simply when they understood through careful and per cal -- empirical analysis how it would hurt consumers. one area that he worked on quite a bit was e-commerce. we started an e-commerce task force. this was 20 years ago. e-commerce was a much more nay sanity -- nasant stage than it is today. we examined ten different

industries, every one of which there were barriers to entry, the existing bricks and more tar -- mortar suppliers would go to their state legislators and seek bare yeses to entry to stop new e-commerce entrance from competing and driving down prices. actually, much of the impetus for the entire e-commerce task force came from a white paper that madam president would be interested to know where this white paper came from president it was the democratic leadership council, a centrist democrat group that had written a white paper entitled revenge of the disenter mediated and it talked about all the industries where e-commerce was benefiting consumers but entrenched interests were fighting against it. and jerry and i together at the f.t.c., we convened three days of public hearings, ten different industries, contact lenses, telemedicine, education,

funerals and caskets, wine. and it was interesting at the end of the hearings we prepared a series of reports. every single industry panel, all ten of the ones who testified, at least one of the witnesses said some variant of the following. i looked at the anticompetitive restraints in these other nine industries. those are terrible. those are clearly hurting consumers. but our industry is different. one of the industries we looked at that jerry took a particular passion for was wine. there were at the time extensive restrictions on direct shipment of wine, shipment across state lines, shipment to your home.

it was heavily, heavily regulated, and the wholesalers did not want to see that change. we began studying and working with what would become a wine report. over a hundred pages long of empirical study on what that was doing. we concluded that for consumers, it was driving up costs dramatically, not just a little bit but dramatically. i'll tell you, jerry took great joy in traveling through northern virginia going to wineries, sampling the wine. i will say he enjoyed that process of it as well. but collecting empirical price data. at the time numerous arguments were raised as to why you should not allow the direct shipping of wine. one was that it would lead to minors drinking too much. i have to admit jerry and i laughed about that.

because i don't know that i've ever known a 15-year-old who wanted a nice perky chardonnay. if you were dealing with home keg deliveries that i will concede would raise an issue. but wine connoisseurs does not match any teenagers i've known. but we decided well, rather than argue about it theoretically, let's find out. so we sent a letter to the alcohol control boards in each of the states that allowed direct shipment and we asked them a very simple question. have you seen any problem, have you encountered any problems with underage drinking as a result of this policy. and lo and behold they all wrote back and said no, we haven't seen it at all. hasn't produced any of that. all that came together in a report detailing the harm to consumers that came from these restrictions. and i'll tell you just a couple of years later, the u.s. supreme

court took up a case challenging those restrictions on the interstate sale of wine striking them down so that now you or i if we want to order a bottle of wine for our home, we can do it on our home and get it delivered at our home. and the supreme court decision striking that down cited that wine report that jerry and i had done more than a dozen times. as i said, jerry believed in the power of truth, the power of facts. simply shining a light this is hurting people. jerry also took joy in that project. you know, jerry was a fan of tiki cocktails and mixology and all of tiki culture for that matter. he would proudly wear hawaiian shirts, loud hawaiian shirts that his daughter kat had picked

out for him. and he'd wear them with a smile and joy he brought every day. he also made some of his own wine for several years heidi and i enjoyed a bottle of cherry port that jerry had made that he wasn't at risk of suddenly going into the winery business but it was still nonetheless an enjoyable bottle of cherry port. another project jerry undertook at the f.t.c. was examining education and school choice. and i sat down with jerry and another ph.d. economist at the f.t.c. and we talked about school choice, and i asked the two of them, jerry and tim, i said let's examine the arguments that are raised against school choice. and the most significant argument raised against school choice is that school choice will destroy the public schools, that it will harm the public schools if you give low-income kids access to scholarships.

and we sat down and said all right, let's treat that argument seriously. let's not dismiss that out of hand. let's treat it seriously. because if it were true, i would oppose school choice. that's a serious reason to oppose it. let's find out if it's true. so jerry and ken, as economists want to do, they framed the problem more broadly. they said what is the impact in a regulated monopoly or al goply when ole goply when competition is introduced. in particular, what is the impact on quality for the customers who remain with the incumbent providers, not the folks who go to the new entrant but the customers that just remain with the incup want provide owe incumbant provider. they went through and examined multiple other industries that had been regulated monopolies or ologopolies which there was data. they looked at airlines, surface

freight transportation. and as they detailed in each instance when competition came in, quality went up. competition was good. they then examined every empirical study that had been done to date, school choice programs that had been implemented across the country. and they found that unsurprisingly again competition was good, something we've seen in the two decades since that when kids get options and competition is brought in and scholarships are available, that the equal til of education -- quality of education in struggling public schools gets better and better and better. that article was published, competition and quality and deregulated industries, lessons for the education debate. another example of how jerry recognized the facts that reason can be powerful. when i left the f.t.c., jerpy

went on to take over the office of policy planning. he led that office of lawyers and economists who loved jerry, loved his principle, loved his drive, loved his warmth, loved his humor. he was a professor for decades, beloved by his students. he spent decades mercada studying regulations, studying the impact of overregulation, analyzing it. he just finished his tenure at the chief economist at the federal communications commission. he was a brilliant guy. when he passed two weeks ago, an untimely death, talented economist from government, the academy, they mourn jerry. writing touching words in

discourse magazine published by the mercada center. the chairman of the f.c.c. for whom jerry worked as chief economist wrote that he would always remember jerry's warm smile. quote, jerry would always start off the conversation with a warm smile which put everyone at ease. he would then explain in a collegial tone how he thought we should proceed, wisdom that always informed our ultimate decisions. smiling and speaking gently are small things perhaps. but at a time when the currency of public policy discourse is too often pounding the table, jerry's approach was memorable. he loved his work. he loved economics. he loved free markets. and he loved his family. jerry was blessed to have an incredible wife, sandy, who is a dear friend as well. their daughter kat whom they

adore, an irch credible -- an incredible loving, fun family. you know, when they are on road trips, jerry would eat grilled cheese sandwiches made by his daughter in a toaster oven in the car because he loved kat so much. jerry, like myself, was also a big fan of the movie "the princess bride." jerry's death so early is inconceivable. god bless the memory of dr dr. jerry ellig. god bless the ellig family. in heaven the lion lies down with the lamb and jerry, may

there be no transaction costs and may the coast theorum always fully operate. we love you and we miss you, jerry. god bless you. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: thank you, madam president. we are one year into the worst pandemic in a century, and it is clear that native americans have felt some of the most severe impacts of covid. here's what we know. the number of confirmed cases per capita among native americans is 3.5 times that of white americans, and that they are almost twice as likely to die from covid than white americans when they contract it.

and that over a third of all native americans are at high risk for serious covid-19 related complications, the highest percentage of any group in the united states. native americans need help now, and it is our job to deliver. president biden has proposed a bold plan, with unthat meets the moment -- one that meets the moment and one that helps our most vulnerable communities. the president's plan includes more than $28 billion for native people, making it the largest investment in indian country in american history, from hawaiian homelands to villages, pueblos, rancherios, our fellow americans who live in or on these lands need immediate relief, not half measures, not delays. as the new chairman of the senate committee on indian affairs, i urge my completion to

-- my colleagues to join me in voting for this resolution ants delivering critical relief to all native americans, native hawaiians, alaskan indians and native americans. we have to invest in health care, and that's why this resolution includes millions of dollars in critical resources to support the native hawaiian health care systems and more than $6 billion for the indian health service, which is the primary vaccine deliberator for -- distributor for tribes and indian organizations across the country. these funds are going to help enhance health care services, particularly by improving the i.h.s.'s telehealth infrastructure. i.h.s. and tribal health care facilities are overwhelmingly located in rural and isolated settings with little access to specialty services like cardiologies. so expanding telehealth so that more people can get the specialty care that they need

wherever they are is a game-changer for native communities. finally, these health care funds will support the medical workers on the front lines every day caring for native families and fighting the virus. we also need to shore up tribal governments and federal programs and services that native people rely on with an infusion of resources. that kind of historic critical investment is exactly what president biden proposed to do, because tribes are uniquely dependent on their business enterprises to fund essential government services for their citizens, this budget resolution calls for $20 billion to support tribal governments. to put a fine point on it, the gaming operations are mostly closed, and that's how they fund health and education in many instances. these funds will enable tribes to continue to provide services like elder care and the deliveries of medicine and food that are particularly critical during the pandemic.

and it will help us to keep the lights on at their businesses. there's also $750 million to address overcrowding in homes and homelessness, circumstances that disproportionately affect native americans because housing stock tends to be scarce, and this problem compounds people living in tight quarters and being unable to avoid the spread of covid-19. ensuring native americans have access to safe and affordable housing is essential to stopping the spread of covid and crushing this pandemic. the plan also includes $ 900 million for the bureau of indian affairs to support critical programs that keep people safe, protect kids, and help to deliver water to native families. now, especially during this pandemic, the b.i.a. should step up, own its fiduciary responsibility, and help the tribes fight the negative impacts of covid in their

communities. and there's also $850 million for the bureau of indian education. schools, colleges, and universities to address critical education infrastructure and to enhance distance learning capabilities and hopefully bring kids back into the physical classroom. but you can't do that without money. you can't do that without crushing the pandemic. you can't do that without safety. we must make sure that native students don't get left behind and that we protect the health and safety of students and teachers. now, we all need to work together and support native families and communities across the nation. as i think about the history of the senate committee on indian affairs and i think of the -- my two predecessors, daniel inouye and senator daniel akaka and the legacy they built of bipartisan -- so, i understand we're about to have a fight this week around

a very silly process called vote-a-rama, but we need to remember what this is all about. this is not about a goofy 10-hour or 12-hour or 15-hour process where we stack amendments and try to set each other up, that we'll somehow trick someone into taking a bad position that can be turned into a campaign advertisement. that's tomorrow. and it is nonsense and everybody should ignore it if they can. do anything to not watch vote-a-rama. it is boring and it is the worst part of the united states senate. but it is a very important means to an end. it is a very important means to an end because we were elected to deliver covid relief, and once we get through this goofy process tomorrow night -- or maybe it's friday morning or whenever it is -- we're going to be in a position to deliver covid relief and then we're going to be in a position to talk to our republican colleagues on and off the committee, representing indian country, representing alaska native communities, representing native hawaiian communities, and figure out how to make sure that

the people who are suffering the worst during this pandemic, the people who are suffering the worst during this pandemic, get the help that they need and deserve, and that's something we can come back together on as we move forward on this legislation. with that, i would like to yield to the senior senator from nevada, a member of the indian affairs committee, senator cortez masto. ms. cortez masto: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. ms. cortez masto: thank you. madam president, i rise to join my good colleague, the chair of the senate indian affairs committee from hawaii, and couldn't agree more with him in my support of the budget resolution that is coming before the committee in the senate this week. in nevada and across the country, our tribes are hurting.

they're trying to do too much with far, far too little. some of them are still under lockdown, desperate to protect elders, often the gatekeepers of rich native languages and cultures. from the impact of the virus that they see that is devastating their communities. and many are centeringeling to business -- and many are struggling to keep business doors open. all of them are stretched too thin. sadly, this isn't new. tribes were suffering from unstable funding streams and budget shortfalls even before the coronavirus pandemic affected their economies. now on shoestring budgets with staffing levels that were insufficient even before the pandemic hit, they're trying to address the myriad urgent needs of their communities. that means administering covid-19 testing and getting vaccines into arms, all while providing a whole range of other critical health care services like behavioral health care and primary care.

it also means administering affordable housing programs, supporting tribal businesses, and ensuring the safety of students and teachers in native communities. the needs are immense. the coronavirus relief for nevada and the nation's tribes has to address the disparities that have made natives up to 3.5 times more likely to contract covid-19, and it has to make sure tribes can build back economically after the pandemic ends. to do this, we have to start by replenishing the coronavirus relief fund, the education stabilization fund, and the homeowners assistance fund, all of which have been providing valuable lifelines to native communities impacted by covid-19. the federal government absolutely has to do more to support these efforts and uphold the federal trust responsibility.

it can help tribes navigate the federal bureaucracy and ensure that funds allocated to tribal priorities actually get into the hands of those who need them. congress also needs to make sure that we are meeting our treaty obligations to provide health care for american indians and alaska natives, even when they live in urban areas rather than on tribal lands. we can start by passing the urban indian health parity act, to shore up medicaid funding for urban indian health care facilities and put them on a level playing field. looking forward, we also must do more to permanently and robustly fund the indian health service. this pandemic has only shown the risk of underinvesting in native

health in native communities and we have to make sure that i.h.s. is able to prepare for emergencies like this one far better in the future. leaving american indian and alaska native communities without sustainable funding streams for the health services that they were guaranteed by this government is a violation of our treaty obligations, plain and simple. i support every resource we can get for nevada's hard-hit native communities and our communities across the country, and that's why i urge my colleagues to support this budget resolution that will help these hardest-hit communities. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor to the my new colleague from the great state of new mexico. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico.

mr. lujan: madam president, i rise today to speak on the resolution's investment of $8.6 billion in the senate committee on indian affairs. our native american brothers and sisters on tribal lands are four times more likely to contract covid-19 and twice as likely to die from it. the navajo nation has seen extended families ravaged by disease, families like the muskets who were careful to protect their elderly parents, benjamin and louise, from the virus. despite taking the necessary precautions and having access to electricity and running water, something many of our navajo brothers and sisters still lack,

the whole family became ill because the overburdened i.h.s.-run medical center closest to them was unable to treat benjamin's advanced conditions, he was flown to one of the nearest facilities in albuquerque that would have taken hours to get there by car. he died far from his beloved louise, and five days later louise also passed. in new mexico, community members and students are still mourning the loss of laura escalante, a beloved teacher at a tie school from the pueblo. ms. laura, as she was known, imparted on her students a pride through themselves through language and her funeral procession from the pueblo

brought mourners out from their homes to the roadways to bid farewell to the teacher of more than 20 years. sadly, there are too many native american families and communities mourning loved ones. this resolution strikes at the heart of the health disparities and circumstances that make tribal communities more vulnerable to covid-19. it provides tribal and public governments can critical funding to take action against the deadly virus and the havoc it has wreaked on their citizens, their economies, and public health infrastructure. the budget resolution provides necessary investments to support tribal governments who have struggled to maintain public and

social safety network services. it also provides the indian health service, which is the primary vaccine provider for over 330 tribal nations and urban indian health organizations, with funding and resources to respond to this crisis. access to nearby hospitals and emergency services, maybe dozens, even hundreds of miles away in my state. we must do everything in our power here in the senate, here in the house, and in washington, d.c. to ensure that every hospital and clinic has the staff and supplies to get families the care they need. our response to covid-19 must support and protect the most vulnerable amongst us. today's resolution recognizes that, and i'm proud to support it. madam president, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, for ... madam president, for

more than a year our country has been in the grip of an unprecedented health and economic catastrophe. it was january, you will recall, of last year when the first confirmed case of covid-19 was found in our country. since then more than 444,000 of our fellow citizens have died. more than 26 million have been infected. millions have lost their jobs. and every day there are another thousands more deaths. a year ago former president trump boasted -- just think of this. it was a year ago. there are only 1,500 covid-19 cases in this country. he said soon the number would be zero. for months he told the american people there was nothing to worry about. nothing to worry about?

tell the 26 million who have been infected, the nearly half a million who have died. because it's obvious to anyone paying attention to the country's public health experts that unfortunately he had no idea what he was talking about. but of course he wasn't interested in what anyone else had to say. all of us can see so many unforgivable mistakes, so many missed opportunities in dealing with this virus that we and the world are now facing a calamity unlike anything in modern history. the last administration, rather than unite the country against the virus, it chastised people for wearing masks. they vilified governors who

tried to stop the spread of the virus. former president trump said it would disappear like magic. over the summer we lost even more time with the inexplicable decision to take a pause and delay further covid relief. that was precious time that could have been spent trying to get the pandemic under control. time was wasted while the virus spread and mutated, and now we're dealing with multiple variants, some of which are more easily transmissible, possibly more deadly. the previous administration's handling of this disease was a monumental, unforgivable failure of leadership. tens of thousands of americans would be alive today if the trump administration had done their job, or at the very least

stopped making it impossible for the people who wanted to do their job. historians are going to judge him harshly. my job now is to rally behind the president who understands the seriousness and urgency of what we're facing. the $1.9 trillion package proposed by president biden is the kind of bold, comprehensive proposal we've needed since last spring. i felt privileged to sit with him this morning along with other senators and discuss it because we know the president's plan would provide the resources to mount a national vaccination program, safely open our schools, restore american global leadership, and provide direct support to the people in need. now everybody here wants to

reopen our economy, but we can't do that if we don't defeat the virus. president biden understands that, and he also understands that as long as the virus is spreading anywhere, it threatens people everywhere. that's why we need a global response. as incoming chairman of the senate appropriations committee, i'm committed to supporting the president's proposal expeditiously. the american people have endured enough despair, sickness, and death due to the incompetence of the previous administration. i also share president biden's desire to make this a bipartisan process. he and i served together in this body, and i know he wants to do

that. but the price of bipartisanship cannot be a package that falls far short of meeting the needs of the american people. there are painful consequences for delaying another broad relief package between april and december of last year, even though many of us wanted to bring it to the floor of the senate. and so now there are reasons why states today don't have the quantity of vaccines they need, why our schools remain closed, why millions are out of work, and why the virus is spreading out of control. valuable time was squandered. countless people suffered and died as a result. so i certainly cannot accept a piecemeal approach or months of further delay. the clock is ticking. in mid-march key benefits that millions of americans are relying on to survive will begin

to lapse. we can't allow a self-inflicted wound to make their lives even worse. i'm glad to see several of my friends from the other side of the aisle putting forth their own plan. i'm afraid the plan they've shown so far shortchanges america in critical ways. it provides little of the resources needed to reopen schools. it doesn't include money for state and local governments on the front lines fighting this virus. and those state and local governments have been forced to lay off more than a million people since march. it cuts direct payments to struggling families from $1,400 to $1,000. if you're one of those struggling families, it not only hurts, it can be devastating. and their proposal completely

ignores what every single public health expert knows -- if we don't help the lower-income countries protect their people, we cannot defeat the virus. this is a global pandemic, and as long as it is spreading in central america and africa and asia, the virus and more deadly variants will find their way here. we learned that when we got together and fought ebola, when it was only an airplane flight away. well, these strains are popping up all over the world. we have to work with other countries. so i'm hopeful there may be a bipartisan path forward, but i'm not going to concede any tools at our disposal that can deliver the relief the american people need, relief long overdue. i support the budget resolution that's been introduced. it put us on the path to passing a covid relief package to the

budget reconciliation process. and there is no reason a reconciliation bill can't be bipartisan. we passed at least 17 bipartisan reconciliation bills since 1980 on behalf of the american people, and i welcome any republican who would like to discuss where we can reach a compromise. but let us not forget for a moment we're in the midst of a public health emergency, and right now the virus is winning. we're not winning. the virus is winning. so we can't waste months like we did last year negotiating a plan that fails to mount an effective response to the virus and a full response to the economic havoc it's causing. we need quick action. we need a cold and comprehensivd comprehensive plan to fight the virus. we need to get people back to

work so our economy can recover. that's what president biden proposed. you know, there's greater danger in doing too little than in doing too much. secretary yellen stated it so well when she recently stated the smartest thing we can do is act big. so it's been more than a year since this disease arrived in our country. it was never going to just disappear. viruses never do that. so there's no excuse for dragging our feet. let's all support the bold package proposed by president biden for the american people. i know i will. i see the distinguished senator from ohio on the floor as i yield to him. mr. brown: i thank the president

pro tempore of the senate. madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. it's an honor to speak after senator leahy who has served his country and his state for more than four decades. this debate, madam president, this debate is really about one simple question -- are we going to do whatever it takes, whatever it takes to get our country through once-in-a-generation crisis? we did that in march a year ago. we haven't done it since. now is our opportunity. i join some of my colleagues today at the white house to talk with president biden about the urgency, the urgency to get this done, to go big. his plan will finally start to make real progress against the pandemic and make a real difference in people's lives. the american people made it clear in this election they want a government that's on their side. it's our chance to deliver for them. we know we can. as i said, we did it last spring. we came together across the aisle. we passed the cares act.

we expanded unemployment insurance. we provided direct stimulus checks. we kept -- and this is remarkable in the midst of a pandemic -- 13 million people in this country out of poverty. it gave tens of millions more peace of mind with a bit of a cushion to weather this crisis. think about that. congress came together, government did the right thing, 13 million people did not -- were prevented from falling into poverty. but then, madam president, as you know, what happened is because we didn't act in may, in june, in july, and august, that help started to fall away and thousands of people every single day in milwaukee and in cleveland and around this country, in racine and in dayton, thousands fell into poverty. my colleagues say we've done that. tell that to the americans who haven't gotten a vaccine yet. tell that to the parents who wonder when it will finally be safe for their kids to go back

to school. tell that to the laid-off restaurant worker in madison, wondering if she'll be able to pay rent and pay the electric bill. tell that to the bus driver in columbus, wondering if she's going to lose her job. we're the wealthiest country on earth. doing the bare minimum simply isn't good enough. slowly vaccinating people when we know we're facing a new, more contagious virus variant isn't good enough. letting our economy, economic recovery limp along instead of roaring back isn't good enough. luckily we have real leaders who aren't willing to settle for less. president biden is already doing everything possible to ramp up vaccine production, to get new covid tests on the market. he promised a million vaccines a day for the first hundred days of his presidency. we are exceeding that number. it will help people keep them in their homes, it will help keep workers from losing their jobs. we need to give the president and our leaders in states all over the country every tool we can. our plan puts money directly in

people's pockets with the extended stimulus checks, with tax cuts for workers and families, for expanded earned income tax credit and child tax credit. as chair of the banking and housing committee beginning tomorrow, i'm committed to keeping a roof over people's heads, giving lifelines to small businesses, keeping our buses and our subways running, keeping workers on the job, giving president biden every tool possible through the defense production act to get more vaccines to more people. our plan will help us dramatically expand american manufacturing, the presiding officer has led this senate on by america, we will do that through the production act, we will produce more p.p.e. essential workers -- and i heard grocery worker in southwest ohio told me several months ago, they call me an essential worker but

i felix pendable -- i felix pendible. they need buses and subways to get to work in hospitals and grocery ri stores, we need the transit systems running and running safely. we need to keep bus drivers and construction workers on the job and on the job safely. our plan will get more support to more minority-owned businesses, we know the biggest corporations have done better than ever, amazon, wal-mart, comcast, they are doing just fine, they pretty much always do no matter what is happening to the rest of the country the they paid their shareholders, had stock buyback, we have seen restaurants close in our neighborhoods, some operateing for decades, we have watched corner stores and dry keeners shut their doors. our plan will not only keep p.p.e. going, it will expand access to capitol for the small

entrepreneurs, our plan will help families pay the bills and keep the heat on and lights turned on. in december, madam president, one in ten homeowners reported being behind on their mortgages. for black, latino -- for black, latino and asian homeowners, that number is one in six. one of every five renters is behind on rent, for latinos renters if it is one in four, for african american renters it is one in three. they are not paid enough, it they come home anxious about making -- passing this virus on, they have to worry about paying their rent, they have to worry about food for their kids, they have to worry about whether the schools are open and kids can go there while they are trying to balance their work lives. we've got to do everything we can to alleviate that stress. a moratorium on eviction for --

on evictions and on foreclosures help keep people safe in the short run, but there's simply not enough for all the people behind with to this way to catch up. thankfully, we had moratoriums on evictions, they haven't always worked, they work most of the time. but that moratorium that stops you from being evicted is another month you owe rent when the time comes. we know that. economists estimated that renters already owe $57 billion in back rent at the end of january. that's twice the aid we provided for renters in december. so the package that most of us voted for helped a lot in december but it's clearly not enough, that's why president biden and the senate and the house have to go big. how can we let millions of families lose the home they love or get trapped in a downward spriel debt d -- spiral debt because of a virus beyond one

person's control. i ask my colleagues, what do we do? there's no time to quibble over senate procedures. families don't care about senate rules, they care about a vaccine, when their kids go back to school, and they care about keeping their jobs. they don't care how we get it done. they care about results. they have used this time and time in times ler dire than now -- less dire now. leader mcconnell had no problem using the fast-track proceedures they now oppose to pour money into the coffer tax cuts. the last time i was invited to the white house was president trump inviting a group of us on the tax writing committee to try to sell his big tax giveaway to corporate america and the richest people in the country. we sat around the table in the president's cabinet room with two, i believe, of his

billionaire cabinet members who benefited handsomely, as did his family from this tax cut. big, big giveaway to the largest corporations, big giveaway to billionaires and the richest in the country, but so little for the economy, so little for workers. so senator mcconnell, whose office, as we know, is just down the hall. you will often see lobbyists lining up -- back in the tax cutting days, you saw lobbyists lining up to see what tax breaks they could get. that was then. we used the fast-track procedure when it was an emergency, this is now an emergency and we can't wait and negotiate and negotiate an negotiate and take forever to get this help. someone came to our banking housing committee and said, you know, before d-day, they didn't have a meeting in the white house and congress thinking, can we afford this? can we afford this war?

can we afford equipping our troops at normandy? of course we couldn't because we were in a war. we're in a global crisis. it's a war. we need to meet this. we grew the middle economy and paid down the debt with rising wages. americans elected new leaders now, last november, because they were tired of a president and a majority leader who refused to treat this war -- this war against covid with the same ucialtioncy. people are really sick and tired, you know, and -- and -- all over this country, they are sick and tired in dayton and akron and canton and mansfield of a president -- of people -- a president saying -- then a majority leader mcconnell saying, we can't do it, we can't afford it. we've done enough. let's deliver for people with whom we serve, let's raise the stimulus checks to $2,000, money

that will make a difference for so many families, let's cut taxes for working families, let's keep people in their homes, let's keep small businesses open, let's give every american a vaccine -- a vaccine that will save their lives. that's a decision before the senate. do we just say, we can't do very much, we ought to wait a while, let's see if the last thing worked. let's come together, let's pass this, let's, madam president, make a real difference in the american people's lives. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: madam president, i rise today in support of the budget -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. peters: i'm sorry, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. peters: madam president, i rise today in support of the budget resolution and the american rescue plan proposed by president biden. it is without question a necessary next step in our fight against the coronavirus pandemic. just last month, roughly 100,000 americans lost their lives to covid. to date, we have lost more than 430,000 americans to this virus, including in this number is over

15,000 michiganders. millions of americans have become sick as a result of this deadly virus, and far too many people in michigan and across the country are suffering from the unprecedented economic crisis that this pandemic has caused. families are struggling to put food on the table and put a roof over their heads and just to pay bills. the relief package was passed in december, provided important emergency relief, but it didn't go nearly far enough. i had the honor of meeting with president biden and vice president harris today at the white house to discuss the need to work together to act boldly and quickly to deliver urgently needed support. more than 120 economists are pressing congress to pass sweeping relief -- a sweeping relief package. and the danger is not going big but rather failing to meet the urgency of the moment. these 120 economists were --

wrote, and i quote, history shows that what our nation cannot afford is inaction. or being timid in the face of what many consider to be the greatest economic disaster since the great depression, end of quote. it is clear to me we must extend unemployment benefits to those who are out of work through no fault of their own. we must pass an additional $1,400 in stimulus payments to individuals. we must provide more food assistance to ensure that no child or family goes hungry because of this crisis. and we must ensure small businesses can stay afloat. we must provide more funding to speed up the distribution of vaccines so that we can get more vaccines in the arms of americans quickly, safely, and equitably. and we must provide more resources so that schools can reopen safely under the guidance of public health officials and

experts. we must deliver relief to communities on the front lines of covid response efforts to make sure that they are not forced to cut essential services for our residents or lay off health professionals or teachers or firefighters or law enforcement officials. we must replenish the disaster relief fund which will help give our cash-strapped state and local governments the resources they need to pay for personal protection equipment, aid in vaccine distribution, and provide additional support services to communities struggling with overwhelming coronavirus cases. and we must provide funding to ensure there is strong oversight of how federal taxpayer dollars are actually being spent on federal covid efforts, ensuring resources and support that congress has authorized is actually reaching the people who need it the most. one of my top priorities and an issue i hear about every day

from michiganders is the need to extend unemployment benefits. over three million michiganders have claimed unemployment insurance since the start of this pandemic. that's around one-third of the entire population of michigan. and unfortunately, we are not out of the tunnel yet. over half a million of these claims are still active. and it's not just impacting one part of my state. all 83 michigan counties are experiencing higher levels of joblessness, a disturbing trend that we have seen continue into this year. michiganders want to work, they want to keep their families safe, and they want to put food on the table, and in order to do all of this, we must first get this pandemic under control. while helping families and workers make ends meet. they need and must have our

continued help and our support. as the biden american rescue plan recognizes, federal unemployment assistance programs are essential to bolstering our state programs, and while 1.9 million unemployment claims in michigan during 2020 have flowed through the state unemployment program, nearly just as many claims, 1.7 million, were made possible by the federal payment unemployment assistance program -- federal pandemic unemployment assistance program. it was a program i helped to establish last year in the cares act. pandemic unemployment assistance is a lifeline to workers who are self-employed yet had their source of income interrupted by the pandemic, including gig workers and freelance workers and small business owners. i certainly agree with president biden that we must continue federal unemployment assistance programs through september of 2021. implementing this rescue package means we will not abandon

millions of workers who otherwise would be ineligible for assistance or whose benefits would have long run out. it would also mean that the level of benefit that they receive is closer to the amount necessary for their families to have some measure of financial stability. in michigan far too many families are finding it difficult to feed themselves and their children. michigan had the sixth highest rate of projected food insecurity in 2020. nearly two million individuals lived in food-insecure households. that means each day almost one in every five michiganders worries about whether or not they or their loved ones are going to get enough to eat that day. the number of michiganders struggling with hunger has increased by around 600,000 since the start of the pandemic,

and sadly, most of this has been as a result of an uptick in child hunger. our food banks across michigan are doing all they can to step up to the challenge, but they're experiencing unprecedented surges in demands as more families seek assistance. food assistance is one of the top reasons people contact my state's emergency hotline. the federal government must do more in providing food assistance to these families. the american rescue plan will extend the 15% supplemental nutrition assistance program, snap benefit, while maintaining an increase through the coming months and through the summer, a time when childhood hunger is at its highest levels due to the lack of school meals. it is a critical backstop against rising food insecurity, and this change will help keep hunger at bay for around 40 million americans.

the rescue plan also supports these efforts by providing a one-time emergency infusion of support for state antihunger and nutrition programs. this will ensure that benefits quickly and efficiently get to children and to those families that are in need. according to the nonprofit no kid hungry campaign, this funding will amount to around $25 more per person per month for those who are currently struggling. a family of four will get an extra $100 a month. this is an investment we must certainly make. the proposal before us will also invest $3 billion to help women, infants, and children get the food that they need. this multi-year investment in the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children known as wick is needed to account for increased enrollment due to

growing hunger and to increase outreach to ensure low-income families have access to high quality nutritious food and nutritional education. during this dark, challenging winter, we must address the hunger crisis in michigan and across the country. another issue i hear about constantly from michiganders is the additional support we must provide to our small businesses. many small businesses, the very backbone of michigan's economy and the economic driver in many of our local communities have been forced to shutter or just barely hanging on. nationally, small business revenue is down 32%. and at least 400,000 firms have permanently closed. minority-owned small businesses and those in hard hit industries like restaurants and hotels and entertainment have suffered disproportionately. whether it's a boutique in plymouth, a family-owned farm in

michigan's fruit belt or a restaurant in detroit, these small businesses bring our state character, community, and a sense of place. congress must do everything we can to assist our small businesses, and we must ensure that covid-19 small business relief assistance is clearly administered and is easy to access. that is why afought for a vital -- owe why i a fought for a vital increase in the small business funding like the paycheck protection act that was included in the cares act and subsequent legislation that i was proud to help pass. in michigan over 120,000 paycheck protection loans were approved before the program first expired totaling over $16 billion in funding. and although the paycheck protection program brought hope to many in this crisis, it alone was simply not enough. we must continue to expand access to small business grants

and loans for michigan businesses. the american rescue plan is ambitious, but it is achievable. and will help our small businesses survive and help rescue the american economy as we work to recover. i will support communities that are struggling in the wake of covid-19 by providing support for the hardest hit small businesses, especially small businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color and protecting jobs of the first responders and transit workers and other essential workers that we depend on each and every day. it will provide grants to more than one million of the hardest hit small businesses, flexible, equitably distributed grants that will help small businesses get back on their feet and put the current disaster behind them. additionally, it will leverage government funds into additional small business lending and investment. by investing in successful

state, local, tribal, and nonprofit small business financing programs, congress will exponentially generate low-interest loans and venture capital to help our small businesses to survive, to create and maintain jobs, and to continue to provide the essential goods and services that our communities depend on. according to an independent analysis conducted by moody's analytic, the american rescue plan will help great 7.5 million jobs in 2021, double economic growth, and return the united states to full employment a full year faster. small businesses in michigan and across the country need this help and they need it now. passing the american rescue plan will help us get through this economic crisis and come out stronger on the other side. and i know we all look forward to the day that we can visit our small businesses. i know i'm excited to see

michiganders going out to eat in greek town before visiting the park. they will stroll through downtowns like birmingham and grand rapids. they will drive up north and spend time in small businesses in marquette and maybe swing by a local brewery or enjoy boating on one of our beautiful great lakes. i will never stop fighting to make sure that when the day comes, michigan small businesses will be up and running. but as we address the economic impact of this pandemic, we must also use this relief package to address the public health crisis. since the outset of the pandemic, fema has stepped up to assist in response to the covid-19 crisis by coordinating medical supply acquisition and distribution and assisting state and local governments with funds for response activity, such as overtime pay for public health officials, and now fema is

taking on an even larger role as we continue this critical phase of response which is vaccine distribution. when i spoke to the president and vice president earlier today, i was pleased to hear their vision for using fema resources and expertise to provide essential staff, supplies, transportation, and other resources necessary to ensure that every vaccine dose is actually reaching the arm of an american. these activities are all supported through fema's disaster relief fund. and we must provide the funding needed to ensure that fema can have the maximum flexibility to help our state and local governments and resources needed to deploy covid-19 vaccines and combat this pandemic. there are so many faces who have been on the front lines of responding to this unprecedented public health crisis. our health care workers, delivery workers, grocery store

employees, and so many others who have sacrificed so that we can have the care, the goods, and the services that we need to get by. essential workers include our dedicated civil servants who work tirelessly to serve the american people in countless ways, from providing medical care to delivering our mail to safeguarding our national security. we truly appreciate their continued service under incredibly challenging circumstances. to help ensure the health and safety of federal employees and their communities, we must provide funding to the emergency federal employee leave fund. this fund offers emergency paid leave which ensures workers can stay at home if they're feeling ill and by doing so, prevent community spread of covid-19. this provision will also provide much-needed flexibility to our civil servants and their families as they juggle care giving for children and other family members with their remote

public service work. our nation's postal workers who work tirelessly to deliver prescription drugs, essential goods, and even our holiday gifts throughout the pandemic are facing unique challenges. federal employees who interact directly with the public like our hardworking postal employees and letter carriers need better access to workers compensation benefits if they contract covid-19 in the line of duty. the effectiveness of our ongoing response to this pandemic depends on our career federal work force and these two policies are an important step in ensuring the safety of civil servant, their families, and their communities. and finally, we need robust oversight to make sure relief dollars are spent appropriately and are going to families and small businesses, hospitals, and the communities who need it most. when this body considered the cares act, i worked across the

aisle with senator johnson and the house to create two oversight mechanisms to provide transparency and accountability to the american people. first we created the pandemic response accountability committee or prac. prac is a new efntsty made up of inspectors general, independent industry watchdogs and charged with overseeing the entire federal government coronavirus response and all of the associated spending. we also charge the government accountability office, congress' watchdog to conduct similarly wide ranging oversight. in just ten months these oversight bodies have published reports on issues ranging from vaccine development to the paycheck protection program and the prac has established a website where anyone can go and see exactly where their hard-earned tax dollars are going. we must continue to support both the prac and the g.a.o. so that they can continue this critical

work keeping congress and the american people informed, ensuring taxpayer dollars are used responsibly, and helping to restore public trust in our federal government during this coronavirus response. so, madam president, it's clear we're facing a crisis unlike any other in our nation's history. we must work together to pass robust and bold covid relief package. michiganders and the american people are counting on us to do the right thing, and it's now our time to deliver. madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. cardin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i'd ask consent that the quorum call be a dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: madam president, i take this time as the incoming chairman of the small business and entrepreneurship committee to just go over with our colleagues the importance of this budget resolution as it relates to the small business community. i think members of this chamber know that small businesses represent the growth engine of america. that's where job creation occurs at the greatest numbers. almost half of the jobs in america are in small companies. and just as importantly, when we look for innovation, we see

innovation in small businesses. they're ones that figure out how to do things more efficiently and better, and that's also been true during covid-19. as we've seen small businesses around the nation struggle, we've seen how creativity among small business has saved so many small businesses in america, where they figure out a better way to deal with the food service because they can't have in-restaurant service and how they've dealt with the service industries generally and how they'll dealt with safety with covid-19 and delivery and internet. they have a come up with -- they've come up with better ways to do things. that's why our economy is performing at the level it is, not the level we want it to be but because small businesses have figured out ways to do things better. but there's another characteristic of small business i think we all understand. they don't have the same degree

of resiliency. ie have the deep pockets. -- they don't have the deep pockets. they don't have the outside finances. so they don't have the big reserves. so when we hit a bump in our economy, small businesses really suffer. so in every economic downturn we know that small businesses are going to do worse than larger companies. and during this pandemic, it was particularly important for us to respond to help our small businesses so that when we get out of this pandemic, when our economy returns, the small business community is healthy and our economy can continue to grow. this has been made even more challenging because we have imposed restrictions as a government on the operations of small businesses during covid-19. we've told restaurants they couldn't serve in-restaurant, we've limited the number of

people who can gather. all that has affected the economic strength of small businesses in america. so congress has responded. we have responded. we need to do more. our first major response was in the cares act. let me remind the president said that bill was passed in mid-march. it was a bipartisan bill, and it was bold. it was a major effort to deal with the pandemic as we understood it in march of last year. so we recognize that the first thing we had to do, if we were going to help rebuild our economy, if we were going to help small businesses, the very first thing we had to do is get the virus under control. and that's why the cares act in march had what we called the marshall plan for health care to

put money into the development of a vaccine, to put money into protective equipment, to put money into testing, to put money into public health. because we recognize, yes, we have a responsibility as the federal government to control this pandemic -- but it was also help our economic recovery because we knew that consumers could not go out until the virus -- in right numbers until the virus was under control. but we also knew we had to do things for small businesses directly. and we acted in a bold manner. we passed the paycheck protection program, the p.p.p. program. a new program. we did this in a bipartisan manner. we did it to keep employees on the payroll. we recognized at that time, yeah, you could lay off workers and they can collect unemployment. but wouldn't it be better if we could keep them on the payroll? and the paycheck protection

program was an immediate influx of help to small businesses to keep their payrolls strong, and it worked by these forgivable loans that have been used for that purpose. the entire loan could be forgiven. and in mid-march when we passed this, we didn't know the demand. we didn't know how much would be needed. and we certainly thought by sometime we hoped during summer of last year the pandemic would have been behind us. well, we were wrong on both accounts. there wasn't enough money in the program, and we needed to recognize that more help was needed than what we just did in the cares act. so we replenished money, put more money into the p.p.p. program, we made it more flexible for small businesses, recognizing it was going to be a longer period of time during the pandemic. and if you look at the numbers on how the paycheck protection program has been used, through january of this year six million

loans, forgivable loans, six million to the small business community, representing $595 billion of federal help. that's a significant amount of funds. but we recognized last march and we've continued to realize that one size does not fit all for all small businesses. and where forgivable loans worked for some small businesses, it doesn't work for others. so that's why we enhanced the economic injury disaster loan program, the eidl program. the eidl program consists primarily of disaster loans that are given out during natural disasters. the very first bill we passed for covid-19 for the pandemic was to make those that were

suffering as a result of covid-19, those businesses, eligible for eidl loans. normal lay it's natural disasters, but -- normally it's natural disasters, but we included this pandemic. now, why is that important? well, yes, forgivable loans equal to two months of your payroll plus some additional expenses help keep your payroll, but small businesses need additional capital beyond just covering their payroll and some rent expenses. so the eidl program provides much more flexible funds, a large -- a larger amount of money so that small businesses can get through this economic downturn. it's low-interest 30-year loans with very favorable repayment schedules. and the good news about what we did in march is that we made the paycheck protection program and the eidl program, you could do both. so you could get the influx to help you with payroll, and you could get the longer-term financing.

and the numbers are impressive here, madam president. 3.7 million loans under the eidl loan program, $200 billion in loans were given out under eidl. but let me point out, as i said one size does not fit all, loans work for some businesses but not all. so we wanted to do a grant program for those small businesses that are intimidated by taking out a loan because they said they can't even pay their existing loans; how can they take out more loans. so we start add new program, an eidl advance program that provided grants up to $10,000 for our most vulnerable small businesses. this was a lifesaver for so many small businesses. this advance helped businesses get the resources, the immediate cash without having to worry about an additional loan on their books. and, quite frankly, this

program, along with strengthening the existing tools that were very important for small businesses, helped save a lot of small businesses. we also created a debt forgiveness program for a certain number of months, we would forgive your current 7-a loan or 504 loan. not just the interest payments but the principal payments were forei have goin' and we strengthened the microloan program and reinforced the 7-a programs. we did all that. we did this starting in mid-march with the hope that this pandemic would be over by last summer. we learned a lot from that bill after it passed. and the lessons learned we need now deploy in order to finish the job to make sure small businesses are protected through

this pandemic. so what were the lessons learned? well, we first learned that the underserved and underbanked community had special needs. this is the minority community. this is the businesses located in low-income communities, businesses that don't have traditional banking relations with a commercial bank. they all in the beginning part of the p.p.p. program were left behind. why? because in order to get the help under the p.p.p. program, you had to find a commercial lender who who would make you the loan, 100% guaranteed by the government, forgivable, but the financial institution wanted to the protect their existing customers and they wanted to make the larger loans because it was more lucrative for them. so the smaller of the small businesses and those that did not have a preferred relationship with bankers had a

larger time getting that loan. that showed up in the numbers we saw when the p.p.p. program started last year. now, it's interesting ... senator shaheen and i recognized this as we were crafting the bill. so we put a provision in the cares act that said that the s.b.a. needed to prioritize loans for underserved small businesses. we knew that this was a likely thing to happen, so we asked the s.b.a. to make a special effort to deal with the underserved community. they didn't do it. the s.b.a. i.g. in its report said that the s.b.a. did not fully align to congressional intent the way they implemented the p.p.p., as it relates to the underserved communities. it's interesting, a group of stakeholders, of advocates on behalf of minority businesses started what's known as page 30 coalition. the provision i talked about was on page 30 of the cares act.

and they've been advocating for change ever since. so starting with the replenishment of the p.p.p. program and continuing in the omnibus bill we just passed this december, we have tried to build up the capacity for the underserved communities. we've done that by putting money aside for mission lenders in the omnibus bill. there's $10 billion that was put aside to build up the capacity of cdfi's and minority-owned institutions. i want to thank my colleague, senator mark warner of virginia, for his efforts in putting that together. and that provided greater capacity for mission lenders who were more likely to help in the underserved communities to be there with the capital necessary to participate in the s.b.a. programs. we also decided that we had to do more than just that. we got set-asides for mission lenders in the act and we had

set-asides for smaller of the small businesses. the smaller the small businesses are the ones that had the greatest need. lessons learned from what we did. and that was that the eidl program was not set up as congress intended. when you look at the demographics as to what type of company uses the eidl program as compared to the p.p.p., the smaller small businesses, the more vulnerable part of small businesses, were likely to use the eidl program. so we anticipated, as i said, the eidl advance, which was so important to small businesses who really don't believe they can take out a loan. we anticipated they would get $10,000. guess what? the average grant size as implemented by the trump administration was between $4,000 and $5,000. the average size of the business that applied for an eidl advance was between four and five

workers. the real ma and pennsylvania workers. but they needed -- the real ma and pa workers. but they needed more than $4,000 or $5,000. they needed $10,000. then the island loan program, by statute, and then the eidl loan program could give you a loan up to $2 million. but the s.b.a. under the trump administration put a cap of $150,000 on those loans. again, it compromised the effectiveness of those programs. so we need to learn from what we did. and as i said earlier, more help is needed. the proposal that we are looking at in this budget resolution will provide that additional help, and that's why it's so important to pass this budget resolution. and let me just give you a few of the details of why it's important to move this budget resolution. first, as i said on the onset of my remarks, we have to get this virus under control, and

the budget that's before us will provide substantial help for virus, for the vaccine distributions. i don't know about the, what's happening in minnesota, but i can tell you in maryland, people are frustrated that we don't have a more efficient system on the distribution of vaccines. we've got to answer that. the supply chain use the defense production act, use that in order to get the vaccine distribution done in a way that's fair to the american people. the budget before us will helps achieve that, will provide the money for testing and protective equipment which is desperately needed to get the virus under control. the budget before us will allow us to open schools safely. we need that for american families. we need it for our children and we need it for small businesses. because when schools are closed and children have to stay home,

our small businesses suffer. they suffer in their workers not being able to show up to work and they suffer in the customers not being able to shop. but we also need direct help for small businesses. in this legislation there is $50 billion allocated to the small business administration. to deal with the hardest-hit small businesses. let me just mention where we need to put our attention. in the hospitality industry. we did that in the previous administration, in the cares act we made provisions for restaurants. that was the right thing to do. in the omnibus bill we provide some additional help over and above other businesses under the paycheck protection program second round, and that was right. but we need to do more. the national restaurant association has informed us that 110,000 restaurants have either closed temporarily or permanent ly as a result of covid-19. 2.5 million less jobs in

restaurants today than at the pre-covid level. and at the worst point, we were down eight million jobs in that industry through layoffs and furloughs. we need to take a look at a special way to help preserve our restaurants, because they depend upon groups attending. they depend upon catering. ne depend upon the restaurants being fully filled, and they can't do that under covid-19. so we need to provide some help, and this budget resolution will allow us to do that. in the omnibus bill, we provided money for shuttered venues. these are our entertainment venues, our museums in which they have been ordered to be closed, they can't operate because of covid-19 and government orders. i'll give you one example. merriweather post pavilion located in howard county not very far from here. 100,000 jobs has been impacted by the fact that they have not

been allowed to have live entertainment since covid-19 last march. we passed legislation to provide help. we need to improve that legislation, and the budget resolution before us will allow us to get that done. let's talk about nonprofits for one moment. johns hopkins university has told us that we've lost a million jobs in the nonprofit sector as a result of covid-19. we have nonprofits that have not been eligible that should be eligible to get help under these packages, and this budget resolution gives us an opportunity to take care of that need. and then lastly, let me talk about one of the priorities that president biden has talked about, and that is getting the information out so small businesses can take advantage of these programs, because so many have not taken advantage. they are the most vulnerable. so he has what he calls the community navigators. we know that from the affordable care act, how helpful they can be in getting information out in particularly hard-to-serve

communities. so they understand the tools that are available and they can apply for the tools and get the help that they need. we build on the community navigators with our resource partners, our women business centers, our minority business centers. let's build on those, and our veterans. let's build on our resource partners in order to make sure that the help really is targeted to the small businesses of greater need. so, madam president, this budget resolution is a bold approach because the problem is so great. i urge my colleagues to support the budget resolution for so many reasons, but as the incoming chairman of the small business and entrepreneurship committee, on behalf of america's small businesses, i urge my colleagues to support this budget resolution. with that, i would yield the floor.

a senator: madam president.

the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: we're not in a quorum call. mr. casey: thank you very much, madam chair. it's good to see you in that chair and grateful for this opportunity. i just wanted to raise a couple of issues that are relevant to the budget resolution that we're going to be working on over the next few days and beyond. there are so many issues to highlight, i'll only mention two issues, two big issues. but i think most generally when i consider what we should do, i think it's my belief that we need a substantial, robust bill to meet the moment, the moment that we're in, which means dealing with the pandemic effectively and putting the virus behind us by accelerating vaccinations, making sure that we're taking every step possible to open our schools, to reopen

schools i should say in some cases, and then thirdly, to make sure that we're helping those who are vulnerable, whether they are folks without a job or folks who are hungry and their families are hungry. so many other traumas that have been heaped upon our families. so a lot to do, and that requires a substantial investment, not a limited investment. i'll just mention two issues today. one is home and community-based services, and the other is child care and a ticktacks credit that's relevant. home and community based services, as many people know, have a huge impact on older citizens, seniors throughout the country, as well as people with disabilities. and even has an impact upon children. i'll focus most of the attention for purposes of today on the

impact on seniors and people with disabilities. if there was ever a time when a care setting that's in the home or in a community was more beneficial to a senior or to a person with a disability, if there was ever a time, it is now. we know that if someone is living in a congregate setting, they're more likely to get the virus. and we know the horrific numbers, just about 40% of the deaths that have occurred because of the pandemic in the united states have occurred in long-term care settings. it's right now i think at last count approaching 150,000 americans who lost their lives from the virus who were in long-term care settings. so seniors, i think a lot of

seniors, a lot of family members would prefer often that their loved one is in the, is getting care in a home or in a community setting. the same is true of course for people with disabilities. so we have a chance in this legislation to finally make an investment in home and community-based services. do those services exist right now? they do. how do they exist? pretty much in the united states by way of a waiver. so it is not the standard policy it is done by waiver. we want to make sure that it's a, more of a standard feature, really a choice that people have to get the care in the community or in the setting that they want. so, it's critically important that we have in the reconciliation instructions a commitment to home and

community-based services. we have that now, and we want to make sure it remains in the bill in final form. the other benefit, or i should say the other priority here is not simply those receiving the care in home and community-based settings. it's those providing the care, those heroic frontline workers who often are not talked about enough who provide this care. most of the care provided in these settings are provided by low-income women of color who disproportionately make up the workforce and often are making about $12 an hour. they should have a decent wage. they should have benefits like sick and family and medical leave. and they should have access to p.p.e. protection so that they have the protection they need to

do their job and to care for those individuals. i see the distinguished majority leader, if he wants to take a moment, i'll yield. mr. schumer: i thank the senator from pennsylvania, and i won't be that long. madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. resolution 27 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 27, relative to senate procedure in the 117th congress. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to 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? without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, pursuant to the provisions of s. res. 27, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 28 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 28 to constitute the jarrett party's -- the majority party's membership on committees for the 117th congress or until their successors are chosen. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to 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? without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 29, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution

29, electing m. barry as secretary of the senate. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to 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? without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate res. 30 which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 30 to amend s. res. 458 of the 98th congress as amended. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. schumer: i further ask that the resolution be agreed to 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? without objection.

mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. thank you, my good friend from pennsylvania, and i yield the floor. mr. casey: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, madam president. i will continue my discussion about home and community-based services. it is critical to have these services available for seniors and people with disabilities, and it's also relevant in the life of a child. we know, as the presiding officer knows well in her efforts to provide these services to those in the disability community and among seniors, we know it's important to children as well. medicaid home and community-based services provide over $4 billion right now in support so that children can receive therapy and other