human being treating another human being like a piece of garbage. again, this is heartbreaking. if you want to get an idea of how big a problem we have, consider that the department of homeland security says that over the past decade, they've seen a 1,675% increase in asylum cases. in 2019, immigration and customs enforcement implemented a pilot d.n.a. testing program to try and stop this rampant exploitation. they found that 20% of all kinship claims they were able to screen were alive -- 20%. this is a humanitarian crisis, an environmental crisis, and a health and safety crisis, and

the biden administration has lost control of this situation, but there are things we can do right now to protect these children and to put the smugglers in check. this week i introduced the end child trafficking now act, which would require our border agents to administer d.n.a. tests to adult migrants claiming kinship with a minor without the legal documentation to prove it. if the adult refuses, they'll be immediately deported. furthermore, the bill mandates a ten-year penalty for all alien adults who lie about their relationship with a minor. the test is simple. it takes about 90 minutes. 90 minutes could mean the difference between that child finding safety in the united

states and that child being dragged back to a cartel. we're on pace to see 17,000 more unaccompanied minors arrive this month. i.c.e. proved this testing strategy can help protect them. there's no valid fact-based reason not to do it. as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 903 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there an objection? a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mr. padilla: reserving the

right to object, madam president, i share my colleague's desire to prevent child trafficking. trust me, as a parent i know it's a laudable goal. but as drafted, as drafted, this bill would create enormous and instant chaos at airports around the country and every other port of entry. as written, it would require every foreign family that seeks admission to the united states, even just for a family vacation, to have a third party witness attest to their allegation or else submit to a d.n.a. test. i can't imagine any of our airports having the resources to implement this. it was simply -- it would simply lead to the same chaos we saw after the implementation of president trump's muslim ban, or worse, it would overwhelm our

law enforcement officials and create bottlenecks for citizens and noncitizens alike. not to mention the many legal and ethical questions as it pertains to genetic privacy and the surge of that -- storage of that information. i'd be more than happy to sit down with my colleague from tennessee in the context of a larger discussion about immigration reform to see how we can ensure that we include provisions to prevent child trafficking. but i don't think this bill, as drafted, will actually accomplish that goal. and so i object. the presiding officer: objection heard. mrs. blackburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. i think my colleague understands that this bill would apply to individuals, to adults that cannot shokinship and -- that

cannot show show kinship. we know that human trafficking, sex trafficking, child trafficking has become a major industry. we know that child recycling is a practice that is used by the cartels. we know that they are using this to move adults into the country. thereby, this is something that would put the cartels in check and show that we are not going to stand for them -- for them recycling children, claiming kinship to children who are not theirs and trying to move drug smugglers and cartel members into this country. mr. padilla: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: the presiding officer: madam pre

sident. the presiding officer: the junior senator from texas. mr. cruz: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cruz: madam president, i rise today to bring attention to the serious humanitarian crisis at our southern border. right now as we speak, thousands of children who have entered the united states illegally sit in crowded detention centers wrapped up in emergency blankets. hundreds, even thousands of

miles away from home. they are without their families, without their parents. many of them have been trafficked, have been physically and sexually abused along the way. u.s. customs and border protection reported that just last month alone 29,792 unaccompanied children came across our border, including 2,942 children under the age of 12. all of these children came here without their parents, and they have come here in large numbers because they know that president biden is promising them amnesty. the illegal immigrants come here across our southern border right now are not just children. president biden's secretary of health and human services, alejandro mayorkas, has said, quote, we are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we

have in the last 20 years. in february more than 100,000 illegal immigrants came across our southern border according to u.s. customs and border protection, which is three times the number of illegal immigrants who came through the southern border in february of 2019. and it's almost six times the number of illegal immigrants who came through our southern border in february of 2018. the biden administration refuses to call this a crisis, but that's what it is. we have a humanitarian crisis, and we also have a security crisis. of the over 100,000 illegal immigrants who came here in february, 71% of them are single adults, according to pew research center. the biden administration's policy has been to welcome these illegal immigrants and to halt

or slow deportations as much as possible. when joe biden became president, he immediately halted construction of the border wall. he ended the remain in mexico policy, an incredible foreign policy victory president trump negotiated with mexico which stipulated that illegal immigrants from central america crossing illegally through mexico to seek asylum in the united states would stay in mexico during the pendency of their proceedings. president biden ended that, ripping apart that international agreement and instead he reinstated the failed policy of catch and release. so now when we apprehend illegal immigrants, we let them go, including illegal immigrants who are criminals, who are convicted criminals, guilty of violent crimes. president biden's political decisions have produced a crisis

and a crisis that is growing. what the biden administration has made clear in the last two months is that their priority is illegal immigrants and not american citizens. that's why in just a moment i'm going to propound a unanimous consent request that the senate pass kate's law. kate's law is named for kate steinle who was 32 years old when she was tragically killed on a san francisco pier by an illegal immigrant who had several felony convictions and had been deported from the united states not once, not twice, not three times, not even four times -- had been deported five times. but the revolving door of our border, this violent criminal kept being deported and he kept coming back and he kept coming back and he kept coming back,

and beautiful kate steinle was shot and killed because of our broken immigration system. kate's law is commonsense legislation. it would amend federal law to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for any illegal reentry offense. kate's law is critical to ensuring that illegal immigrants who have been deported, especially those with violent criminal records, are deterred from repeatedly entering the country illegally over and over and over again. if the illegal immigrant violent criminal who killed kate steinle had been in prison for illegally entering the united states the fifth time, kate would still be here today. i've had the opportunity to meet kate steinle's family. they don't understand why our system is broken.

they don't understand why we keep letting in violent criminal illegal aliens over and over and over again. and i'll tell you, the american people, roughly 80% of americans agree with kate's law. this is commonsense legislation. we're about to see a democrat object to it because today's democratic party doesn't care what the american people say. but if this were in the realm of sanity, kate's law would pass 100-0. look, we can have disagreements about legal immigration, about what the rules are, but when it comes to violent criminal illegal aliens who enter the country illegally over and over and over again, it ought to be real simple. we ought to be able to come together as democrats and republicans and say, all right, let's draw the line there. we don't need more murderers in

america. i spent a lot of time down in the valley in the texas border. i spent a lot of time with agents of the border patrol. tomorrow i'm going back to the border to see for myself what the conditions are like right now. i'm leading a delegation of 17 other senators, and we're going to talk to customs and border patrol agents, meet with law enforcement and community leaders, we're going to tour the detention facilities directly. you may not see that on tv because the biden administration is refusing to allow the press to see the facilities. for four years democrats went on and on and on about kids in cages. now those cages were built by barack obama, and they're bigger and fuller under joe biden. and the biden administration doesn't want you to see the biden cages, so they declared a media blackout that reporters are not allowed.

the trump administration allowed the media to go to the border. the obama administration allowed the media to go to the border. the bill clinton administration allowed the media to go to the border. the george w. bush allowed the media to go to the border. but joe biden wants to cover up the crisis that his administration has created. and it's a crisis that sadly senate democrats are complicit in creating as well. we've yet to have a single senate democrat willing to break with the biden administration on the unfolding humanitarian crisis on the border. the worse it gets, the more kids that are abused, the more kids that are assaulted, the more americans that are put at risk of covid, the more americans that are put at risk of violent crime, at some point i hope and pray we will see senate democrats willing to say enough is enough, it's time to

stop being angry partisans and it's time to come together with common sense and protect the american citizens. for that reason, madam president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 890 and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: reserving the right to be 0. the presiding officer: the junior senator from new mexico. mr. lujan: there's not a single democratic senator in this body who believes that someone who commits a violent crime should not feel the full weight of the u.s. judicial system for their crimes. i hope my friend from texas

would agree with that. i don't think there's a member in this body, democratic, republican, independent, the staff, not a one. i think this theme holds true for our colleagues who work down the corridor from us in the u.s. house of representatives. now we must do everything in our power to make certain that those engaged in violent crimes face prosecution and feel the full wait of the law. that's not just bipartisan, that's the right thing to do. where i disagree with my colleague is the assertion that immigrants are inherently criminal.

they are not. people that our kids go to school with, that we work with, that grow our food in america, that work to prepare that food or even stock the shelves, teaching classrooms, serving in the united states military, defending our freedoms in the united states of america. so, to my friend from texas, this seems to be a continuance of the harmful proposals from the trump administration. i certainly think that many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle in the u.s. senate also disagree with the hateful pronouncements are from steve miller. this feels like a continue abs of that -- continuance of that. to strike fear in americans and to breed distrust in immigrants. now, i agree with my colleague

that we have to work together to stop that false narrative. this false narrative must stop because it's not contributing to fixing the broken immigration system we have in the united states. i agree with my colleague that we should come together and work this a bipartisan way. to work with one another. i'm new to this chamber, but i'm not new to these challenges. i certainly hope that my colleagues that are traveling to the border -- and i commend them for doing so because this is an important conversation we should be having. i hope they travel to montomo tas. i don't know if my colleague from texas did that. i did. traveled with my colleagues. we had a chance to visit with broarp in -- border patrol in different places in new mexico,

i traveled down to brownsville. we had be a chance to visit with folks on the front lines, knots just wearing the green uniform with our border patrol and those working with the department of homeland security, but those who are also providing humanitarian relief. those camps in montomotos that i went to, they still exist. and the question that needs to be requested, what are these kids going through, what are they thinking about to travel thousands of miles because of the concern they have for their own health and well-being. i hope we can have that conversation and solve this problem. so let's find a way to work together and i said it before and i'll say it again, we need to go after criminals and felons, not children and families. in truth, i think we can get there. so, as i close, i say let's be a

beacon of hope to the most vulnerable. let's make sure we go after these criminals and felons wherever they may be and they feel the full weight of the law, but when it comes to the broken immigration system in america, let's work together to fix it. therefore, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. cruz: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from texas. mr. cruz: madam president, i appreciate the senator from new mexico's warm sentiments. but the american people kl distinguish the -- can distinguish the difference between talk and action. the senator from new mexico suggested that all democrats hold criminals to account. i suggest that it is the contrary. two weeks ago on the floor of this body, we introduced an amendment to provide that $1,400 stimulus checks should not go to

criminals currently in prison. every single democrat voted against that. that failed by one vote. if even one democrat had said, okay, that's reasonable, it would have passed. yesterday i introduced multiple unanimous consent requests to stop money from going to convicted criminals in prison and to send the money instead to the crime victims fund. a democrat objected. i said if you don't want to do all criminals, how about murders? can we agree if you're convicted of homicide, let's not send it to the criminal. the democrats objected. i said how about rapists. democrats objected. i said how about child molesters, we can agree that child molesters are not worthy of a $1,400 bonus. democrats objected. with all due respect to my

friend from new mexico, that democrats support prisoners to day account. today the democrats are pushing forward an election bill, the corrupt politicians act which would allow every felon in america who has been released from prison to vote. it would allow murders to vote, rapists to vote, child molesters to vote. so it's not the case that democrats are willing to stand up to violent crime. there are a couple of things that the senator from new mexico said that i wrote down. he said, the only thing he disagreed with was, quote, the assertion that immigrants are inapparently criminal -- inherently criminal. i challenge anyone watching this exchange, read the transcripts. i'm glad he disagrees. i'm the son of an immigrant who came from cuba. we are a nation of immigrants. i'm not remotely asserting that immigrants are inherently

criminal. there's a right way to come, and that's to come legally. but kate's law isn't about immigrants generally, it only applies to criminals. it is immigrants that have an aggravated felony conviction. so when my friend from new mexico says we need to focus on felons and he closed his remarks with the following quote. we need to go after criminals and felons, not children and families. madam president, indicate's law does exactly that -- kate's law does exactly that. if the senator from new mexico believed the words he said, the next words out of his mouth would not have been, i object. by virtue of objecting, he prevented us from in a bipartisan way going after criminals and felons. kate's law is targeted at those criminals and felons. it's targeted at kids and criminals and felons. i would ask the senator from new

mexico and every senator, what would you say to kate signally's family -- kate steinle's family? you -- if you were looking them in the eye, what would you say to a system where kate stand stand -- stanly's was -- we voted on the floor. every time we voted, every single democratic senator has voted against kate's law. you don't get to vote against kate's law. you don't get to vote against stopping violent criminals from repeatedly entering the country illegally and then claim you're against violent criminals repeatedly entering the country illegally. actions mean more than words. and, unfortunately, the actions of today's democratic party is extreme and out of touch and out of touch with the american people who we were elected to

represent. i yield the floor. mr. scott: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from florida. mr. scott: i rise today to discuss another issue in the democrats' massive covid bill we need to fix. my democratic colleagues want to spend into oblivion, taking our national debt to $30 trillion. this would be bad enough on its own, but tucked into the bloated spending package would put new tax hikes on self-employed individuals. president biden and the democrats didn't talk about it and they certainly aren't talking about as they travel the nation. democrats are quietly raising taxes hoping the american people don't notice.

the $1.9 trillion so-called american rescue plan act of which less than 10% which would help fight covid and 1% to vaccines, had several tax increases and burdensome requirements that impacts the gig workers. those who have been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, starting in 2022, this bill requires many contractors with companies like uber and door dash and air b and b to file 1099 forms. it would go from $20,000 and eliminates the transaction minimum. in late february, before the democrats rushed their spending bill through congress on a purely partisan basis, a coalition of groups wrote to speaker pelosi and leader schumer asking that this onerous new provision, which has nothing

to do with deafg the coronavirus -- nothing to do with the coronavirus crisis be removed or reconsidered. it was signed by the small business and entrepreneurship council, the national asian american chamber of commerce, national association for the unemployed, united states hispanic chamber of commerce, and the national association of women business owners. after receiving such a letter, one would think that democrats would want to reconsider. raising taxes in the midst of a pandemic. this is never good policy, but i can't think of any worse timing. of course democrats kept the provision buried deep within the bill hoping the american people wouldn't notice. the new reporting requirements are effectively a tax hike and would ultimately hurt low and middle-income contractors, many of which have it been devastated by the pandemic.

while the federal government collects more in tax revenue. my democratic colleagues want want us to believe is to -- to defraud the public by not following the law should be condemned and congress should appropriately address it. a report requirement of gig workers is not about catching tax fraud. it's about punishing the self-employed and raising revenues for the democrats massive spending plans. it wasn't that long ago that president biden promised he wouldn't raise taxes on anyone making under 4$00,000. obviously that was not true. but this isn't the first time that democrats have quietly tried to increase taxes and saddle the self-employed with new requirements many they did it with obamacare, when they required businesses to send 1099 forms for all goods and purchases over $6,000 annually. they learned how harmful this

provision was and quickly repealed it. the obama administration praised the repeal as a big within for the self-employed. i guess some never learn. what i'm proposing is very simple. it's what the democrats supported in 2011. today i want to remove this new report requirement and simply reinstate the previous law back into u.s. code. increasing reporting requirements on our g ig workers will create new and unexpected challenges for independent and self-employed workers and entrepreneurs, who are facing an incredible burden created by the coronavirus. increasing regulations on struggling americans is wrong and i hope all of my colleagues will join me today and repeal this bad policy. madam president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate 948 introduced earlier today. i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and

passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. wyden: reserving the right to object, madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, the senator from florida claims to be looking out for gig workers and freelancers. the reality is very different. what is in the bill, which the senator from florida apparently opposes, is a way to make sure that these workers can get the information they need to help meet their existing tax obligations. and without this information, for example, workers may lose out on benefits that would help them pay rent and buy groceries. they could lose out on tax

benefits, like the earned income tax credit. we want to make sure that every eligible worker can get that financial help. and, finally, without reporting workers might jeopardize the size of their future social security benefits, putting their retirement security at risk. so what the senator from florida is up to here would deprive american entrepreneurs and the information they need to keep business records complying with tax requirements, claim important federal benefits for these reasons i strongly object to this request for unanimous consent, and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: objection is heart. mr. scott: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from florida. mr. scott: okay, that sounded good but in is clearly a tax increase. it's a massive tax increase, and it's a massive new reporting requirement on already

struggling americans. our focus ought to be on helping support american workers, especially these gig employee workers that have been hurt so badly. i'm disappointed my colleague wants to increase costs and regulations on american families. what's strange is that my colleague from oregon voted to repeal this bad provision when democrats added to obamacare. so it's crazy is why is he okay today with raising taxes on the american people now? this is all part of the democrats' tax and spending agenda and just the beginning. just remember, with the last spending bill the democrats passed, we will have $30 trillion of debt. as governor of florida, i worked to -- we cut taxes a hundred times and paid off the state debt. we have to think that way here. how can we grow this economy, reduce the costs for americans, not increase the cost to americans. these bad type of policies will ruin our economy and a shot at the american dream which we have all believe in. but i'm going to fight every day to get government out of the way and make sure that doesn't

happen. i yield the floor. mr. scott: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from florida. mr. scott: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. lee: madam president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: i also ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of my remarks, i be allowed to prepare -- present an excerpt of my speech in spanish. i'll provide transcripts both in english and of spanish of those paragraphs. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: madam president, i've read the accounts and so have many of you. a young mother from hon dur raws, two union sisters from guatemala, a 6-year-old child from el salvador, they're all told by a local cartel that for a price, a better life awaits them in america.

they're told as evidenced by those chanting biden, biden at the border that this new president has opened the borders and that amnesty is imminent. so get in while you can. these vulnerable people are flocking to smugglers and violent criminals and paying them all that they have for their chance to get in while they can. in the last month, traffickers have allegedly made as much as $have million a week smuggling men, women, and children across the border. and once indebted to cartels and coyotes, the price these vulnerable people pay is far more costly than money. according to media reports, men are used as slaves, women are raped endlessly. in fact, a third of the women making their way to the border are reportedly sexually

assaulted assaulted is and 68% of the people coming across the border are physically assaulted. children are rented, trafficked and recycled, as they put it forced to pose as the child of one illegal immigrant after another to activate the so-called flores get-out-of-jail free card. one told me that they prefer to use babies because they're unable to tell border patrol agents that these are not in fact their parents. one of those who escaped the clutches of the car -- of those who escaped the clutches of the cartels? as to how many children are currently in customs and border control custody, ranges to well over 15,000. thousands of these children are being held packed into housing facilities for well over the 72-hour limit required by flores

and with no end in sight. the biden administration is doing all it can to hide the humanitarian crisis created by its own immigration policies, a disaster secretary mayorkas refuses to acknowledge as a crisis. they've denied media access and appear to be enforcing an unofficial gag order on border patrol agents. journalists have not been admitted inside since president biden took office. it shouldn't be a surprise to any of us that the biden administration's open-border policies have resulted in this overwhelming crisis and a crisis it is. this is what then-candidate biden promised us in the very first democratic presidential primary debate. he promised us that when he became president, there would be immediate surges along the border. unfortunately, in this case, he

has delivered exactly what he promised. so how -- how exactly did he deliver? well, first, he made it known that once he was elected, the border would be open for business. then he reversed course on a number of trump-era commonsense immigration policies. this incentivized vulnerable people to entrust their lives and the lives of their children to dangerous coyotes and cartels. what are these policies? the safe third-country policy implemented by the trump administration requires asylum seekers to apply for asylum in the first safe country in which they arrive. president biden has moved to repeal that rule. the expansion of the flores settlement agreement also creates perverse incentives in our immigration law. floor ssess about protecting children -- flores is about protecting children and yet in the application of the expansion, we've put children in

even greater danger of becoming victims of trafficking and cartel manipulation. the biden policy of keeping all unaccompanied alien minors in the united states, as my fellow senator from utah has pointed out, actually incentivizes parents to separate themselves from their children by entrusting their children to a cartel or a coyote to bring them to the united states for their chance at amnesty. by moving to loosen the requirements of asylum and expand its application, president biden has invited immigrants who could find safety in other regions of their own country or an adjacent country to make the dangerous journey to the united states. what we need are clear requirements to preserve the opportunities for asylum for those who need it the most. you know, america is the land to which those seeking a better life look for relief, and we

should provide relief where we can. we also have a duty to protect our border, our citizens, and our laws, our national interests. and at the very least we have a duty to eliminate policies that empower cartels and coyotes to exploit women and children. we must stop incentivizing vulnerable people to make a journey that will very rarely lead to the outcome they desire. to this end and together with congressman andy biggs and several of my fellow senators, i've introduced the stopping border surges act to address some of the more egregious loopholes in our immigration laws. this bill remedies the expansion of the flores settlement agreement that puts so many children in change by requiring the release of minors with any adult claiming to be the child's parent.

it provides expedited processing for unaccompanied minors from all countries, processes currently available only to children from mexico and canada. immediate processing would blunt the incentive for parents to send their children on this dangerous journey alone. in an effort to end the trafficking of children by cartels, it strengthens protections for children released to adults in the united states. it tightens the asylum process so we can better serve those who genuinely need the protections we can offer, and it incentivizes immigrants to enter our country through official ports of entry. this bill offers a new commonsense series of reforms that will help stem the flood of immigrants after our border and free vulnerable women and children from the clutches of the cartels and of the coyotes. for that reason, i urge all of

my colleagues to support it, to join it, to vote for it. and now having previously received consent, i'd like to conclude with these remarks in spanish. they are remarks directed specifically to those who might be considering making the dangerous, perilous journey to the southern border of the united states or sending their families. [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish]

[speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish]

mr. lee: madam president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 88 had and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. i further ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. durbin: reserving the right to object -- the presiding officer: the senior senator from illinois. mr. durbin: we face a challenge at the border. there is no question about it. but it really strikes me as strange, maybe unusual, for members of the senate from the other side of the aisle to come and yearn for those wonderful days of the trump administration

when it came to the issue of immigration and border policy. remember when we had the longest government shutdown in history paralyzing immigration courts and other agencies? it was of course a shutdown that was sanctioned by the president of the united states over his immigration demands. under president trump, the department of homeland security, incidentally, experienced unprecedented leadership problems. the department of homeland security lurched from one secretary or acting secretary to the next. listen to this, six different secretaries in that agency in four years. only two senate-confirmed. more agency heads in the last four years under president trump than in the 13-year history of the department of homeland security prior to president trump. they couldn't keep anybody on the job. they quit, they were fired, nobody could agree with this president's bizarre ideas 0en

what d.o.d. -- on what to do with immigration. are we longing for a return to those days? president trump unlawfully diverted billions of dollars in department of defense funds to build a wasteful, ineffective border wall which was supposed to be paid for by the mexicans, if i remember. and then he created a humanitarian crisis at the border with a policy known as zero tolerance. zero tolerance. i remember when attorney general sessions came before the american people and actually quoted the bible to justify the forceable removal of infants, toddlers and children from their parents' arms. over 2,200 children were physically separated from their parents as part of the zero tolerance policy. it wasn't until a federal court judge in southern california finally said to the trump administration, i demand that you account for these children

and i demand that you reunite them with their parents that they set out to do it. today, years later, years after zero tolerance, there are still hundreds of children separated at that time that have never been reunited with their parents. do we want to return to those wonderful days of the trump administration immigration policy? i don't think so. children in cages, children lost, adrift on a bureaucratic sea doesn't speak well of america's values. president trump tried to end a day is almost protections for children -- asylum protections for children and other vulnerable migrants. i cut aid to central america directly adding to violence in the region. more refugees were driven to our border because the president shut down legal avenues for immigration. el salvador, guatemala, and h1n1. now -- and honduras.

now comes the senator -- we worked on legislation in the past. i don't think that this approach is one but perhaps is the beginning of a conversation. the president's former republican allies in congress claim that the real cause, the real problem behind our immigration policy is humanitarian protection for children. they claim that we can protect children by overturning these humanitarian protections, either that have been entered into a consent decree in court or by law, and subjecting children at the border to indefinite detention and deportation without adequate due process. but there's no evidence that this will deter desperate families from fleeing to our border. there is you a one thing the senator from utah and i agree to on -- many of these children and families are being horribly, horribly exploited by coyotes and kidnappers and very bad

people. many of these people and their children are suffering in unimaginable ways because of this. i renew the plea that has been given across central america by this administration -- don't send your people to our border. don't send your children to our border. it is not something we should encourage under the circumstances. it has to be orderly, and this is not in many respects. there's no evidence that ending this humanitarian protection for children will deter desperate families from fleeing to our border. the bill before us today includes no assurances that children will be humanity treated or safe from violence one they are deported. this notion that once these children come across the border are taken into custody by the united states government, that sometime two weeks, four weeks, six weeks later they're turned

loose again does not dispense our moral obligation. we want these children to be safe. that's what the laws are, the flores decision and others. this bill does nothing to address root causes that are causing migrants to flee the northern triangle in record numbers. if people were migrating because of so-called legal loopholes, they would be coming to our southern border from all over the region. instead, the vast majority come from three countries -- honduras, el salvador, and guatemala. those countries have the highest homicide rates, some of them in the world, and girls face a constant threat of sexual violence with little prosecution from local authorities. they are doing desperate things because of the desperate situations in these countries. we're told by the senator that we have to overturn the bipartisan traffic victims protection reauthorization act which passed by unanimous consent in the senate, was signed into law by republican

president george w. bush, but the tvpra makes sure the united states meets its international obligations to protect unaccompanied children seeking safe haven in our country. it was a response to a bipartisan concern that children apprehended at the border patrol were being returned to countries where they might be exploited even more. children from the northern triangle are transferred to the department of health and human services and placed in deportation proceedings which gives them a chance to finally make their case to a judge. consider samuel and amilie, siblings ages 3 and 6 from honduras. they arrived in the united states traumatized, age 3 and 6. said nothing, silent. after being transferred to h.h.s., amilie revealed that both children had been raped by drug cartel members. without tvpra protections, the two would have been returned to honduras and almost certain

further exploitation. democrats are trying to work on a bipartisan repair of this immigration system. it's long overdue. in 2019, after president trump finally agreed to end the longest government shutdown in history, congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill, including $414 million for humanitarian assistance at the border and then passed an emergency supplemental for $4.6 billion additional funding to -- to alleviate overcrowding at detention facilities. in 2018, senate democrats supported a bipartisan agreement including robust border security and funding and dozens of provisions to strengthen border security. but president trump threatened to veto it. instead pushed for his hard-line plan with the largest cut in illegal immigration in almost a century. when it comes to refugees, after world war ii when the united states sadly turned away hundreds of thousands of ultimate victims of the holocaust, would not accept them

in refugee status, we set out to prove to the world that we have learned a valuable lesson, and we led the world in offering refugee status until president trump. and he brought the numbers down to record low levels. that does not speak well of the united states or it shouldn't be a source of tried of anyone reflecting on his administration. we need checks immigration reform. i support it. eight years ago, 2013, i was part of the gang of eight, a bipartisan group. four republican, four democratic senators. we produced a comprehensive immigration reform legislation that passed the senate 68-32. the senator from utah voted against it. and unfortunately, the republicans who controlled the house of representatives refused to consider it. so here is my invitation to the senator from utah and everyone else interested. let's sit down again and write that bill. let's do it at a fashion that really does bring reform to our system. i just talked to -- a meeting,

bipartisan meeting on the subject earlier. one of the senators from the border said people in my state don't expect the federal government to do anything. it's been so many years since they have done anything. it's time for us to prove they're wrong. we have the authority. we have the opportunity. we have the challenge. making this sort of request on the floor, i know, is symbolic, but i have to say that it's not the symbolism we should follow, and i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the senior senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, i appreciate the sent sentiment expressed by my friend and colleague, the senior senator from illinois, particularly when he expressed the desire no longer to have people send their children on the long, perilous journey from central america to the united states. on that, he and i certainly agree. just as we've agreed on a number of other issues over the years. i do think it's regrettable

we're not able to reach this agreement today. this is something we ought to be able to solve right here, right now. this is a very dire set of circumstances. and we have to remember what we're talking about dealing with the flores agreement. we're in a position where so many of the children coming up through these caravans are in danger because we've got in place policies that require the release of minors to any adult claiming to be the child's parent. we ought to have expedited processing requirements for unaccompanied minors, just as we have in place already for unaccompanied minors coming from mexico and coming from canada. it makes me wonder what is it about children from central american countries, from any country other than canada and mexico that makes them

undeserving of that same expediteed processing requirement? this is something we need to do. and yeah, i understand that our immigration system is a mess and it needs reform, but i don't understand why it is that anyone would want to accept the default assumption we can't fix anything with immigration. we can't even fix this problem subjecting these unaccompanied minors from central american countries, including guatemala, honduras, and el salvador. why can't we give them any relief here until such time as we can come up with a comprehensive immigration reform proposal? it's disappointing to me that we can't do that today. we will keep trying. we will keep moving on this effort. this is important. and there is -- look, regardless of where one stands politically, what party one belongs to, i

don't think it's too much to ask to suggest that we shouldn't give kids over to anyone claiming to be their parent without proof, without processes to make sure that's a safe person. we wouldn't want our own children treated that way. we shouldn't treat them that way. thank you, madam president. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i have a unanimous consent request. i ask unanimous consent the cloture on calendar number 30, the nomination of adeweale o. adeyemo to be deputy secretary of treasury be withdrawn and notwithstanding rule 22 on thursday, march 25, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to the executive session, vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order, that any related statements be printed in the record, that the president be immediately

notified of the senate's action, the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i want to come to the floor to bring up four subjects. the first one is 30 seconds. we hear from democrats that they want to do things in a bipartisan way. last year, senator wyden and i developed a bipartisan bill that would save the taxpayers $95 billion and reduce the costs of prescription drugs. everybody wants that. president trump wanted it, president biden wanted it, and there is no reason why in one week we couldn't get that bill passed, and we don't have to wait until several weeks down the road to do something like that. it didn't come up last congress because both senators schumer and senator mcconnell were against it. it is bipartisan.

we ought to move on that. on another subject, over the years, the consolidation of the beef industry has threatened the livelihood of iowa farm families in rural communities where they reside, and it is not limited to just iowa. this would be farmers all over the country. i have been working since 2002 to increase the producers' leverage against processors, improve market price discovery, and better situate independent iowa in the fed cattle markets. this past year, they issued -- these issues became even more apparent and urgent because of the covid pandemic. while the cattle industry has internally looked for ways to increase the amount of cash trade, it has not been able to find a solution. unfortunately, this means that government intervention is

needed, as it is past time for a solution. government then needs to step in to guarantee the -- that the free market treats cattlemen fairly. from the 2012 usda agriculture census to the 2017 agriculture census, iowa lost nearly 1,500 cattle producers. while we don't have usda statistics from the past two years, the release of the 2022 usda agricultural census will likely see an even more dramatic loss of producers because of the pandemic. i know this because of my many conversations i have with independent producer cattlemen from nearly every county in iowa. during my meetings in all 99 iowa counties, cattle market

transportation and my bill introduced last congress with senator tester mandating 50% of negotiated cash trade in the cattle market is one of the most mentioned topics at those county meetings. the aid that congress offered via the usda coronavirus food assistance program provided over $7 billion in assistance to cattle producers so far. however, this assistance is merely a band-aid covering a gaping wound. congress must step up again and instead of providing payments to producers, make sure that producers have access to fair and transparent markets. from the holcomb, kansas, fire at the tysons facility to the widely reported closures of processing plants through the

coronavirus outbreaks, we continue to see a wide disparity between the cash price of fed cattle and the price of box beef, which in turn the consumers -- affect consumer costs. normally, the packers spread between the price of live cattle and box beef is $120 for body weight. but the usda report on the coronavirus shutdowns showed that last may this spread was $279 as opposed to that usual $21 per 100 weight, the highest since reporting began 20 years ago. it is just part of a pattern that has evolved during my time in the senate. that pattern is farmers getting a smaller amount of the overall

dollar for their food production. i appreciate the leadership from secretary perdue in issuing their usda report last august, and that report helps the cause for the grassley-tester legislation. beyond just highlighting problems, perdue also offered recommendations, one of which was for congress to consider a mechanism to mandate a level of negotiation -- negotiated cash trade. this is not a new issue in the beef industry. in fact, i first introduced a bill that would mandate cash trade way back almost 20 years. today, on behalf of iowa's independent cattle producers, i'm proud to reintroduce my bill with senator tester to mandate negotiated cash trade at 50%. without a mandated amount of cash trade, producers continue to be residual suppliers and

will lack leverage to fairly negotiate with packing companies. early this month, senator deb fischer of nebraska introduced the cattle market transparency act of 2021. there are some excellent provisions in senator fischer's bill, such as the creation of a contract library, as well as new required reports on the number of cattle scheduled for delivery. these provisions will add great transparency and great price discovery. they are important to iowans as they are to nebraskans. however, when it comes to a negotiated amount of cash trade, senator fischer's bill only mandates a regional minimum. this means price discovery would still be reliant upon cattle producers who already are

negotiating. so what is price discovery? well, put simply, price discovery is where a buyer and a seller agree on a price and a transaction occurs. cattle producers of all sizes and in all regions recognize that price discovery is a public good, a very good public good. these producers also realize that the thinning of the cash market is a serious problem for all market participants. producers in the midwest of the united states reporting regions already providing ample price discovery by putting in hard work and selling cattle using negotiated means at nearly 60%. they do this while producers who sell with formulas use these prices in their contracts.

that's why something must be done. any legislative solution should address the imbalance of the cash trade across the entire beef belt. so my bill with senator tester would simply shift the burden of price discovery from independent producers like those in iowa and spread it evenly among all cattle producers. i'm looking forward to working with senator fischer and the entire senate agricultural committee to make permanent changes in mandatory price reporting which needs to be reauthorized by september 30 of this year. cattle producers are counting on us to make changes. we can no longer take a wait-and-see approach. the beef industry employs hundreds of thousands of hardworking men and women who work each day to help feed our

country and the world, but the usda agricultural census shows we are losing these producers. i'm asking my colleagues in the senate to cosponsor my bill with senator tester and to ensure that the strength of the supply chain and the support for our cattle producers. then on another subject, i want to speak about, again about the border crisis created in the biden administration. i spoke on this subject just last week, and the situation has not improved since then. encounters with family units and unaccompanied alien children continue to increase. these are now -- there are now new reports that in some segments of the border, illegal

immigrants are being released into the interior of the united states without receiving a notice to appear in immigration court. to be clear, it appears that the administration is now releasing some illegal immigrants into the united states without even attempting to give them an immigration court date, much less taking any real steps to ensure that they actually schedule their hearing and show up for their court date in the future. so once again, this is totally unacceptable. this is catch and release without even pretending to care whether the immigrants show up for court or are removed from the country in the future. this is also not sustainable. every sovereign nation has a right as well as a duty to its

citizens to control its borders. when we are -- what we're seeing from this administration isn't border control or security. you see it on television. it's chaos. it's what happens when you broadcast to the world that you have no intention of enforcing our nation's immigration laws. the president could take action to end this crisis today if he actually wanted to. he could restore migrant protection protocols and the asylum cooperative agreement that the trump administration signed with el salvador, guatamala, and honduras. he could start building a more physical infrastructure along our southern border as administrations of both parties have done for over 20 years, including the administration which biden served as vice president. so fencing isn't something new,

and it has not been a partisan issue until just here lately. rather than propose unserious blanket amnesty legislation that contains no real border security, the president could work with congress on commonsense changes to our immigration laws that we all know are needed. finally, the president could make clear that he is in favor of fully enforcing our immigration laws as written across the board, remembering that he takes an oath that has the words to faithfully execute the laws. unfortunately this administration believes that the surge in migration at the southern border due to its policies is a process to be managed rather than a crisis to be stopped.

as long as that's the case, we won't be able to truly secure our border and cut off the flow of illegal immigration to this country. let's hope things change soon. and then on one other very short matter, i want to speak about something that's going on in the house of representatives that i think we all ought to abhor. congress should not overturn a legal state certified election. i defended president trump's right to litigate claims of election irregulators in our independent court system and deferred to the judgment of independent judges. i was initially criticized for that position by partisans on the left who wanted me to make some sort of independent determination of election claims before the courts had ruled. i maintained that my deference to independent judges once the

court had ruled and trump partisans did not like the rulings. so what happened? it led to criticism of me from the right then. when objections were raised to counting certain state electoral votes based upon state certified elections, i voted against overturning those elections. my position remains the same with respect to the purpose of my remarks today, and that is the state certified election of representative miller meeks who now ably represents iowa's second congressional district. miller meeks opponent chose to forego her rights under iowa law to present any claims of election irregularities to an independent panel of judges. guess what? that's because under iowa law, she has no legal claim.

representative miller meeks won fair and square as certified by iowa's bipartisan election board. the house administration committee is moving forward with the process to overturn this certified election, stating it will exercise its discretion to depart from iowa law. that's a quote i just gave from information given to the house administration committee. they are proposing that the house of representatives exercises its discretion to depart from iowa law. they were elected under iowa law. every one of the 435 congressmen were elected under the laws of their state, and isn't it a

little bit outrageous that people would say we ignore the law of iowa in this case. i hope that we can get every one of iowa's four congressmen and women to vote to keep miller meeks in office. i want to hear from every one of my colleagues that decried overturning state certified elections in january if they still hold that attention. and of course even attention to the press gallery. i was asked more times than i can count if i accepted the results of the presidential election. it would be very timely and a very relevant question to ask senators in the hallways if they accept the certified election of representative miller meeks. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i'm glad to hear the distinguished senator, my colleague and friend, speak about the

problems on the southern border. i feel for president biden because he inherited a horrible mess from his predecessor, a man who said that he would build a wall, which he didn't, a wall that would stop immigration, which it didn't. that he would build it, saying he would get the money from mexico, knowing that he would not get one cent from mexico, but he repeated that falsehood hundreds of times around this country. and gave us -- and also actually took money away from housing for families on our military bases, families living in substandard housing, the money that the congress had voted to repair that housing to make it safe, to remove lead,

mold, and so on, he took that money to build the wall, which as i said, he claimed that mexico would pay for. i wish what we had done when this, when i was chairman of the judiciary committee, we passed by about a two to one margin after months and months and months of debate and work, an immigration bill here in the senate. republicans and democrats voted for it so that it could have solved all of this problem. it went over to the house of representatives. there were enough votes to pass it there, but it would not be a majority of the republicans, and the republican speaker said they could not bring up the bill, even though it passed, because it violated a rule very sacred to them, a rule named after dennis hastert, a former speaker. and they could not violate the great respect they had for dennis hastert and his rule. and so even though it passed,

they did not bring it up. of course it was subsequent to that that dennis hastert went to prison for child abuse. now on another matter, entirely different matter, i want to speak about a dear friend. u.s. second circuit court judge peter hall who died on march 11. and ever since then i thought back to the conversation i had with him, just like many, many conversations i've had with judge hall over the years, i had one just a few days before he died. he was telling me about the health concerns he had, very serious ones, but that he was going to try one other thing

that weekend we hoped may give him a longer spell of life. well, it didn't. it was only a matter of days after that last, as i said one of many conversations i had with him, a few days after that last conversation he died. he died on march 11, and one week after announcing his decision to take senior status and chief judge of the second circuit, judge debra ann livingston gave a remarkable tribute when she acknowledged his death. speaking for the court, chief judge livingston said judge hall was our beloved colleague and it's a grievous loss for our court and for all of our judges. over the course of nearly 17 years in the court of appeals, judge hall distinguished himself as a thoughtful and humane jurist. he was generous with his

colleagues, ever considerate in matters both big and small. judge hall was committed to public service. he tout us all by -- he taught us all by his example. he was a kind and very dear friend. this is a sad day for the judges of the court of appeals. now a deeper read of the two-page announcement offered more insight to help us understand what made judge hall the exceptional jurist he was. she noted that he left a lasting mark on a generation of law clerks. chief judge livingston shared an anecdote as told by one of those clerks. she said one winter morning we were working away in chambers and he had not turned up. not unusual but we were all wondering if something had happened. he rolled in midday with his

dirty work pants and torn flannel shirt -- in other words, no more haggard than usual. he explained he had taken his truck through the woods that morning after taking care of his horses. but had gotten stuck. luckily he had an ax. it was only a matter of chopping down a few trees to put under the truck tires for traction. he freed himself and made his way into chambers like it was nothing. just another day in the second circuit. chief judge livingston repeated that story told by one of the clerks. you know, the story speaks to the person judge hall was. never too important to carry out the chores of the day, never too far from the vermont woods he loved so much.

i don't know how many times i would talk with him and -- we might talk a little bit about the law or things like that and then we'd quickly go to tales of other vermonters we knew, things they had done, places that we liked especially in our state. and i thought as most tributes flooded in, the most memorable about judge hall were decent, gentle, caring. he spent years in both private practice and as a federal prosecutor before joining the bench demonstrated his commitment to the rule of law. it was a commitment that he showed early on when he served as president of legal aid clinic, while still earning his jurist doctorate at cornell law school. when i was chairman of the senate judiciary committee in

2003, i was proud to recommend peter hall for the circuit court vacancy left by another dear friend judge parker. it's no surprise to me that his nomination was met with very little resistance from the white house or from democrats and republicans alike on the judiciary committee. i teesed him sometimes about the fact that -- teesed him about the fact that he was born in hartford, connecticut, but moved to vermont at the age of 11. did that make him a real vermonter? and the reaction i got from him was, patrick, my great-great-grandfather served as governor of vermont in the late 1850's. i had to admit the judge had me there. he always considered vermont as home, and we're grateful that he did. marcelle and i enjoyed our

friendship and we send our sincere condolences to his wife maria and his five children and five grandchildren. i would also note in concluding that judge hall's former law clerks released a touching tribute, and i ask consent -- i will ask consent in a moment it be printed in the record along with a list of their names. over 60 law clerks. and i ask consent that at the conclusion of my remarks, their statement and their names be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: madam president, vermont and the legal community and the federal bench have lost a great champion of justice. as chief judge livingston concluded in her statement, peter hall lived a life of

fidelities, life of principles, and service to the community. he'll be greatly missed. is this a -- this is a great truth. madam president, i yield the floor. ms. smith: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. smith: madam president, i want to also just thank my colleague from vermont for their lovely tribute to judge hall. i can see that he meant a lot to you and was a great public servant. so, thank you, senator leahy. madam president, in a year of so much heartbreak and grief and death, it almost escaped notice that we had gone in this country a year without a mass shooting in a public place. but now we face the grim reminder of our american reality in the space of a week two separate mass shootings stole the lives of 18 people.

and just weeks ago we suffered a mass shooting in a health clinic in my home state of minnesota. so here we are again thrust into a familiar cycle of collective grief and frustration and anger. our hearts break for the families and loved ones of those whose lives were stolen. our voices cry out for change to end the scourge of gun violence. and our anger grows as our voices are ignored and we are told by republican leaders that there is nothing that we can do to protect american lives from gun violence. colleagues, it is our job to protect american lives. today i want to share with you the voice of veronik delarosa, her son was killed at his school

in sandy hook. i will read this entirely so it will be included in the congressional record and serve as a reminder of the human toll that our gun culture has taken. she says, the sky is crying and the flags are at half mast and it is a sad, sad day. but it is also your day, noah, my little man. i will miss your forceful and purposeful little steps stomping through our house. i will miss your perpetual smile, the twinkle in your dark blue eyes framed by eye lashes that would be the envy of any lady in the room. most of all i will miss your visions of your viewrt. you wanted to be a doctor, a soldier, a taco factory manager. it was your favorite world and no doubt you wanted to ensure

the world kept producing tacos. you were a little boy whose life force had all the gravitational pull of a celestial body. you were liked and loved, mischiefs and pranks, you enjoyed your family with every fiber of your 6-year-old being. we, all of us, elevated in our humanity by having known you. a little mavrick who didn't always want to do his schoolwork or clean up his toys, who practiced his ninja moves or super marrow seemed -- super mario seemed far more important. noah you will not pass this way again. i can only believe you were planted on earth to bloom in heaven. take flight, little boy, my boy. soar. you now have the wings that you always wanted so go to that peaceful valley that we will all one day come to know.

i will join you some day. not today. i still have lots of mommy love to give to danielle and michael, sophia and arielle. until then your memory will fly in our hearts forever. she should not have had to eulogize noah, her 6-year-old son, one of 20 killed at sandy hook. i ask my republican colleagues to think of her when you suggest that families exaggerate their anger, their anguish for political gain. just yesterday one of my republican colleagues dismissed this grief as theater. no. this is life and death. so i'm angry -- i'm angry because i know that we have the power to stop this violence and yet our republican colleagues

stand in the way. they refuse to work with us. they continue to put the demands of the n.r.a. above the demands of the people we are elected to serve, that we stop this horrific gun violence, that we protect the people that we are elected to serve. madam president, we need universal background checks. we need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. we need to end this cycle. and we need all of us in congress to find the strength and the humanity to take action. madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, madam president. madam president, small businesses and their employees are the backbone of our economy, particularly in states like

those of the presiding officer and the state that i'm privileged to represent, the great state of maine. later today the senate is slated to vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to h.r. 1799, the p.p.p. extension act of 2021. as the sponsor of the senate companion bill, along with my colleagues senator cardin and senator shaheen, i urge my colleagues to support the cloture motion. we're also delighted that several of our colleagues have joined us as cosponsor of the senate companion bill. madam president, the paycheck protection program continues to be a lifeline for small businesses. it has made the difference

between their shutting their doors and laying off their employees and their being able to remain open, survive the pandemic, and most important of all, send paychecks to their employees. since the program was created last year, more than $718 billion in for giveable -- forgivable small business administration loans have been approved, securing tens of millions of jobs in this country. the program has also been responsible for bringing approximately $3 billion to the state of maine in forgivable loans that have allowed our small businesses, particularly those in the hospitality industry, to survive the pandemic and continue to send

paychecks to their employees. the current application deadline for the p.p.p. is march 31. that is just days away, madam president. i continue to hear about the urgent need for more p.p.p. assistance from maine small businesses and to hear from others who are eligible for assistance but whose financial institutions are getting error messages from the small business administration's computer system. originally the s.b.a. had used the e-tran system. for some reason it switched computers for this round of p.p.p., and we understand that there are more than 190,000

applications that are pending for approval that are likely eligible for assistance but are held up because of computer glitches or other errors. the bill before us today mirrors the legislations that i introduced with senators cardin and shaheen and that is provides for a clean extension of the p.p.p. application deadline. it would simply extend the application for p.p.p. loans from march 31 to may 31, just two more months, and then it would provide an additional 30 days for the s.b.a. to process pending applications. so if a small restaurant, for example, applied for a second p.p.p. loan for which it's

eligible because it's ref -- its revenues are down by 25%, comparing similar quarters, in 2019 and 2020, it would not lose out because it applied in may and the s.b.a. did not get time to process the application. madam president, our bill has been endorsed by more than 90 organizations, including the nation's largest small business advocacy group, the national federation of independent business, which is key voting of this vote. it has also been endorsed by the u.s. chamber of commerce, the american hotel and lodging association, the international franchise association, the national restaurant association, the u.s. travel association, and the independent community

bankers of america. the house passed this clean p.p.p. extension last week by an overwhelming margin of 415-3. with the house now in recess and the senate leaving this week, advancing a clean extension through the senate ensures the continuation of this vital relief for our small businesses and their employees. we simp lip have to get -- we simply have to get this done. madam president, i agree with my colleagues that there are further improvements that could be made to p.p.p., such as addressing an issue facing certain sole proprietors. unfortunately, the new administration changed the rules so sole proprietors who applied early when the program reopened in january were treated

differently than sole proprietors who are applying now. that obviously doesn't make sense. we should have the same rule. i have talked with the new s.b.a. administrator about this problem. she agrees that it is unfair and needs to be fixed and has committed to working with all the sponsors and with the house and senate small business committee to find a solution to ensure that the program is implemented as congress intended. but in order to ensure there is adequate time to develop and implement these improvements, we must first without delay pass h.r. 1799 to keep the p.p.p. open for another two months. i urge all of my colleagues to support cloture and passage of this important bipartisan

legislation. it truly is vital. thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent that senator murray and i be permitted to complete our remarks prior to the votes for up to five minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, today the senate is going to vote on the nomination of david turk would will be serving as -- who will be serving a deputy secretary of energy. if confirmed he's going to play a critical role in our nation's energy agenda and in leading the department. his experience in energy policy is extensive. he served in leadership positions at the international energy agency, the u.s. department of agent, the u.s. department of state, and the national security council. he's an expert in the field and his qualifications are very clear. it's also clear from his nomination hearing that he is dedicated to all types of american energy. this sf critical if we're going to keep america and -- keep

america an energy dominant. utilization and sequestration technologies. during his hearing he said there are huge opportunities on carbon capture utilization and sequestration if we can work together and really go to scale. he also emphasized the need to construct co2 pipelines to move the captured carbon and i agree. carbon capture technologies hold the key to major emission reductions while enabling america to use the tremendous natural resources in which we are blessed. this issue has broad bipartisan support. last congress i worked with democrats including sheldon whitehouse and tom carper as well as republicans, including shelly marcapito to pass the it into law. it will support the development and direct air capture techniques. this kind of groundbreaking research is already happening in wyoming. the integrated test center

located outside of gillette, wyoming, is hosting carbon capture research teams today. these research teams are looking at how we can take captured carbon emissions and transform them into marketable products like building materials, clothing, and even hand sanitizer. so i would welcome mr. turk and the energy secretary to come to gillette to see the fantastic research taking place there. mr. turk was also very responsive to the committee's questions for the record. that has not building the case with everyone of president biden's nominees so far. if he's confirmed, mr. turk must prioritize priorities and policies that take advantage of the enormous economic and natural security -- and national security benefits generated by america's oil, natural gas, and coal resources. the biden administration has taken a sledgehammer to the economies of wyoming and other western states by declaring war on these natural resources. let me be very clear.

coal, oil, and natural gas are not going away. america is going to rely on these resources for decades to come. we need to use and plow motor -- promote every kind of american energy and the thousands of jobs that come with them. coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power and renewables are all essential to america's energy mix. mr. turk demonstrated that he understood that reality during his nomination hearing. he can be sure that i will hold him to the commitments that he has made during his nomination hearing to expand carbon capture as well as nuclear power. i'm going to continue to hold the biden administration accountable as well. and as i did in committee, madam president, i will support mr. turk's nomination on the floor today. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. i rise today to strongly urge my colleagues to support the nomination of dr. rachel levine. she's a highly qualified public health expert to serve as

assistant secretary for health. as the highest ranking official on pennsylvania, she led the state's covid-19 response by focusing on transparency and clear science-based communication giving daily briefings on the status of the pandemic, and advocating for the resources and support pennsylvanians needed. dr. levine has been on the front lines of this pandemic which is why she knows firsthand what our states and communities need from the department of health and human services. and even before this crisis, dr. levine established herself as a trusted voice to the people of pennsylvania on matters of public health through her work to establish opioid prescribing guidelines and education for medical students. make lifesaving treatment for opioid overdoses widely available, combat eating disorders, increase health equity, and help the lgbtq community get health care. she was confirmed to both of her positions in the state with broad bipartisan support. she passed out of the help committee with support from

republican colleagues last week, and i hope she will be confirmed today in a strong bipartisan vote as well. and i want to take a moment to acknowledge what her confirmation today would represent for our country. because in addition to being a highly qualified nominee, dr. levine is also a historic one. upon confirmation, she will be the highest ranking openly transgender official in our government and the first one ever confirmed by the senate. ive he always said the people -- i've always said the people in our government should reflect the people it serves and today we will take a new historic step towards making that reality. i'm proud to vote for dr. levine and incredibly proud of the progress this confirmation will represent for our country and for transgender people all across it who are watching today. i hope all of my colleagues are as well. i'd also like to say today how glad i am that yesterday we voted to confirm dr. murthy as surgeon general. during his last tenure, he established himself as a trusted voice on matters of public

health, help see our nation through the zika outbreak and published groundbreaking reports on the opioid epidemic and rising youth tobacco use. i'm pleased to have dr. murthy returning to the role of surgeon general at this critical time. madam president, when it comes to ending this pandemic, we have a lot of work to do and no time to waste. we're going to need all the help we can get particularly from experts like dr. murthy and dr. levine to get it done. thank you. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the levine nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

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the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 52, the nays are 48. the nomination is confirmed. the question occurs on the turk nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

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the presiding officer: the yeas are 98. the nays are 2. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the

motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 11, h.r. 1799, the p.p.p. extension act of 2021, signed by 16 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous -- h.r. 1799, an act to amend the small big act and the cares act to extend the covered period for the paycheck protection program and for other purposes shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll.

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