that's why today i will gladly vote for this rescission -- for this resolution, rather, which reaffirms that the clean air act requires e.p.a. to take action to protect americans from dangerous pollution like methane. in passing this resolution today, congress is rejecting the trump rule baseless interpretation of the clean air act and in its place reinstating commonsense methane public health and private protections across the entire oil and gas sector. we're clearing a path for other protections from methane and other pollutants. as a senate we're making our intent clearer. the clean air act gives the e.p.a. the authority and mandate to establish methane emission standards, even stronger than the ones we reinstate with this

resolution. this includes all facets of the oil and gas industry now and moving forward from protection to processing them from transmission to storage. we are saying to e.p.a. loud and clear, it is your mission to protect the environment, to protect human health and public welfare from the dangers of climate pollutants like methane. and there's a lot of work still to do before that mission can be achieved. it's time that we get to that work. we don't have a lot of time to waste. and, mr. president, i have a couple of unanimous consent requests i'd like to offer. one is to place supportive materials into the record. i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, to enter into the record several materials in support of senate joint resolution 14 that's before us today. first, the biden administration's statement of administration policy supporting

passage of the resolution. second, two letters of support for passing this joint resolution, one from the 57 leading environmental and advocacy groups and another from shell oil company. these letters demonstrate the breadth of support for regulating this harmful pollutant and rejecting the methane rescission rule. i ask unanimous consent that these be inserted into the record, as appropriate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: now, mr. president, i yield the floor. before i do i want to salute you for your role in an earlier day, in an earlier place, your state of colorado, for helping get this started. we're in our debt. good work, god bless. with that, i yield the floor.

ms. ernst: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: madam president, it's been 100 days since president biden delivered his inaugural address promising our nation unity, not division. he called on all of us to listen to one another, noting that unity requires more than words. i was there, and i was listening. i was hopeful that he actually meant what he said. but that very same day, as soon as he reached the other end of pennsylvania avenue, president biden seemed to forget his own words, as he began signing a

record number of executive orders. with the stroke of a pen, he unilaterally created a new migrant crisis by reversing the previous administration's successful policies and ceasing construction of the wall. he also killed thousands of jobs for american workers by canceling the x.l. pipeline. and that was just his first day on the job. since then, the president and his democratic allies in congress have used a partisan process to fast-track trillions of dollars of new spending for their pricey pet projects. despite the president's call for us to listen to one another, the democrats are planning to once again fast-track another $2.2

trillion package being sold as an infrastructure bill, even though it spends less than roads and bridges than it does on parts of the socialist green new deal and other progressive priorities. and then right after that, they want to ram through another $1 trillion for so-called human infrastructure. the democrats are threatening to end the right of senators to debate by abolishing the filibuster so they can shove through their extreme agenda. this would fundamentally change the senate, which has long been known as the world's -- not just

america's, but the world's greatest deliberative body in which every state has equal representation and every senator is given a voice in our national conversations. it's an interesting twist for the party that just a year ago proudly resisted nearly every effort put forth to address the problems facing our nation. for purely partisan political reasons, democrats even filibustered -- yes, they filibustered -- the justice act that would have provided police reform following the deaths of george floyd and others. this week, the nation will have the opportunity to hear from the author of that bill, my dear

friend, senator tim scott of south carolina, who is delivering the republican response to the president's address this evening. no one better represents the type of positive leadership we need to unify our nation than tim. he truly is the perfect voice for the american dream. growing up in a poor, single-papers household, tim's mother -- single-parent household, tim's mother worked hard to make ends meet. despite some early challenges and setbacks, tim successfully started his own business and was chosen time and again to serve in public office. as a senator, tim is focused on creating opportunities for others by tapping into the potential of individuals and communities.

tim listens, and he works hard to bring people together. and, folks, that is what president biden promised to do, but he's not living up to that promise. frankly, the president only seems to be listening to the far-left progressives within the democratic party who live on their own liberal fantasy island. he and his liberal allies on the left are pushing tax hikes on working americans while giving tax breaks to wealthy coastal elites. they are bringing back corrupt and costly earmarks. democrats want to defund our police and abolish i.c.e.

they want to remake nearly every aspect of our economy with a radical green new deal. the democrats are plotting to pack the supreme court with you willtory liberal justices and -- with ultraliberal justices and destroy that institution and to pad their numbers in congress, democrats are attempting to make washington, d.c., a state. does that sound like the unity and bipartisanship we were promised on day one? it sure doesn't, folks. if president biden actually listened to the voices of americans who live outside of the d.c. swamp, he wouldn't be hearing a demand for any of those radical proposals. the senate is split 50-50. while democrats hold a

razor-slim majority in the house of representatives. and according to a recent gallup poll, an overwhelming two-thirds of americans say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the united states. based upon those responses, it sounds like the democrats' radical agenda is dividing, not unifying, our country. iowans want democrats and republicans to set aside partisan differences and work together on our national interests. they want students to be able to safely return to their classroom and for folks to go back to work. iowans want us to fix our roads and bridges and expand broadband to rural areas.

they worry about the growing global influence of communist china and the humanitarian and national security crisis on our southern border. they want us to protect the american dream for future generations. folks, we can do this. president biden, if you are listening, please hear me out. giving into the deafening demands of the loudest on the left and attempting to silence half of the country will not solve our problems; it will only divide us more. to succeed, we need to consider the voices of all americans and speak to what unites us so we can overcome our challenges. and we can overcome these challenges together.

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. barrasso: madam president in. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: first, madam president, aid he lake to associate myself i'd like to associate myself with the remarks of the senator from iowa. i admire her fortitude and dedication. madam president, 99 days ago, joe biden took office, took the oath of office. we were there. he gave an inaugural address. he said, quote, with unity, we can do great things. he said, unity is the path forward. well, that was the last example of unity and bipartisanship that we've seen from president biden. he has lost all credibility when it comes to bipartisanship or unity. in just 99 days, president biden has already shown himself to be

one of the most radical presidents in american history. when i'm in wyoming, as i am every weekend and have been over easter as well, traveling the state, talk to people, they ask about two specific issues. one is energy and the second is the southern border. on these two specific issues, madam president, president biden has already done tremendous damage, damage toll our country, damage to -- damage to our country, damage to our people, damage to our economy. right after his inaugural address about unity, president biden drove to the white house, sat there, went in and threw the unity speech out the window and drew a big target on the back of american energy and he pulled the trigger. he shut down the keystone x.l. pipeline, he ended fossil fuel projects on federal lands and cut off traditional energy loans to developing nations that need our help appeared look to us -- and look to us for help.

well, these steps aren't going to reduce carbon emissions. but they will almost certainly reduce jocks and wages for american -- jobs and wages for american energy workers. also on his first day, president biden flipped on the big green light switch on our southern border. he sent out the word, laid out the welcome mat and people from around the world came illegally to the united states. he stopped construction of the border wall and ended a policy successful known as the remain in mexico policy. the result wasn't just one crisis, it was two. it was a humanitarian crisis and it was also a national security crisis. it's a national security crisis because two-thirds of the border patrol agents -- and i went to the border and went with a umin of republican senators and went on a midnight patrol with our border agents, and they told us that two-thirds of the border patrol agents are unable to do their jobs and keep us safe, unable to be there to enforce

the law, and they said that so far people have come into the country illegally from 56 different nations. the whole world knows the border is open. our friends know it. our enemies know it and this will make us less safe as a nation. there's also a humanitarian crisis at the border caused by president biden. just a month ago a 9-year-old from mexico died trying to cross the rio grande river. heartbreaking. that's what happens. this is what happens when more and more people try to come illegal lay to cross our border. children who cross the border unaccompanied are sent to a facility that is prepared and appropriate for about 250 children. the day we were there, there were 7,000 crammed in like sardines.

that is joe biden's plan for immigration. 10% of these children are testing positive for coronavirus, and we saw the testing process. and we know that every child there was exposed to coronavirus based on the high percentage of those who were testing positive. as these young people are released, those that have tested negative and just been exposed on the day before, they're being sent all across america. they're spreading the virus and unknown variants in this country. joe biden is the super-spreader of coronavirus today. democrats think this is just fine. the vice president of the united states is going to be up here tonight on capitol hill. she says we're making progress. nancy pelosi says we're on a good path on the border. homeland security secretary mayorkas says the border is secure and closed even though he says this is the worst case in

20 years for young people, and we are on a path for up to two million illegal immigrants coming across the border this year. the white house refuses to use the word crisis. in fact, when the president and his press secretary have accidentally called it a crisis -- and they both have done that -- the white house issued a correction. they said no, no, not a crisis. only a challenge. madam president, who do they think they're fooling? two million illegal immigrants this year, that's not a challenge. it's a crisis. it is chaos at the border. it is catastrophic. 99 days ago none of this was happening. for 99 days republicans in the united states senate have repeatedly looked for common ground with president biden and the democrats. we stood for american energy. we worked to secure the border. yet for 99 days those efforts have been blocked by president

biden and a democrat majority, which is hardly a big majority when it's 50-50, which you would think would be a mandate to move to the middle. president biden still has 1,000 days or so left in his term. tonight's speech might sound a lot like his inaugural address with lots of promises. the american people know talk is cheap. it's time for president biden to start to practice what he is preaching. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: thank you, madam president. i'd like to start by thanking my colleague from wyoming and my colleague from iowa about where we are as a country 100 days into the biden administration. it's been discouraging we haven't seen more bipartisan work, and with regard to the border, having been down there a couple of weeks ago, particularly discouraging that we can't come up with a bipartisan solution that deals with the obvious crisis on the

border. of course it's a crisis. everybody knows that, including the biden administration. the question is what are we going to do about it. and some of us have laid out some proposals that we think would be very sensible, that could be done on a bipartisan basis, and yet we are not getting the kind of cooperation from the white house or the other siefl, frankly -- the other side of the aisle, frankly with regard to dealing with a clear crisis. in my time here in congress i've tried to work to bring republicans and democrats together on issues. i think that is the best thing for our country. i think you get better legislation if you get input from both sides. if you don't work in a bipartisan way, what happens when there is a 50-50 senate as there is now and where the vice president can supply the tie vote and if you do things on the basis of reconciliation or getting rid of the filibuster, which is what the democratic majority apparently would like to do, you end up lurching back and forth. you pass democrat legislation, and then when republicans take

over, republican legislation. we should be focusing on american legislation. in my office, we've had some success with this bipartisan approach. 68 of my bills were signed into law by president obama. 82 of my bills were signed into law by president trump. on important issues like the addiction crisis, job creation, natural resource protection. so it can be done. and president biden knows that. he served here in the senate. in fact, he took pride in coming together with republicans and democrats to actually have agreements on some of these tough issues. and although i didn't vote for him, because i thought that president trump had better policy ideas, coming into this new administration i was hopeful that president biden would govern as he had campaigned. he promised, remember in his campaign, to reach out to republicans and democrats alike. he talked about the need for unity. he gave that same speech in the primary and in the general election, which i thought took some courage, frankly, to do so in the primary because most

of his opponents did not take that position. yet now having gotten elected he seems to have forgotten the pledges that he made. i listened to his inaugural address intently, and he talked again about reaching out, going back to the days of reaching out, he focused on unity. i was hopeful with the tone he said that de and i said so at the time. and yet that rhetoric has not been matched by action. it hasn't been matched by action when it comes to key policy initiatives they have put forward including the latest coambt spending bill -- covid-19 spending bill that passed in march. despite a 50-50 senate and tight majority in the house of representatives there was no outreach to republicans on the covid-19 legislation. not a single republican was consulted before unveiling the plan, and once it was out there, democrats chose to work only among themselves and do it under what's called reconciliation where they don't need a single republican vote. this is despite some of us having an alternative which we actually presented to the white

house. the next day we were told thank you, but we're going to take the reconciliation approach and we don't need any republican input. that's too bad because the covid-19 issue obviously is one where there has been not just bipartisanship, but nonpartisanship. five times last wreer we passed -- year we passed major covid-19 legislative initiatives with huge majorities. in one case, the biggest bill, the cares package passed with a 97-0 vote here. this is one where we've always been able to work together. unfortunately the biden administration chose the partisan path. right now the biden administration is repeating this same mistake as far as i can tell because they've introduced their $2.3 trillion infrastructure package without consulting again any republicans. and we now hear that the white house and some democratic leaders may want to pass this latest partisan proposal by reconciliation as well. i hope that's not true because, again, this is an area,

infrastructure, where we have been able to work together on a partisan, on a bipartisan basis and get things done. typically that's how it happens with infrastructure. last congress we passed a bill out of the committee on highways and bridges with a unanimous vote, not just a majority vote, a unanimous vote by republicans and democrats. but the proposal they put forward first is not really about infrastructure because it dramatically expands the definition of infrastructure so that it is not at all what traditional you would think or i would think of as the kind of hard assets, roads, bridges, ports, airports, transit, even broadband, even the most generous description of infrastructure applied to this bill means that less than 20% of it, 20% of $2.3 trillion is about infrastructure. it's about other things, and we can have a debate on those other things, whether it's nursing home subsidies or whether it's subsidies to electric car companies or whether it's more child care. those are all issues we can

discuss but they are not obviously infrastructure issues. by proposing to pay for this huge plan with taxes on american workers makes it even worse. so the $2.3 trillion plan is not mostly infrastructure. 80% is not. but then the taxes that would apply to america and to american workers would be devastating, making us noncompetitive in the global economy again after finally we were getting our act together, and in 2018 and 2019, we saw a big increase in our economy, large increases in terms of employment but also wages were going up, the lowest poverty rate in the history of our country going back to the 1950's parliament because we were putting -- partly because we were putting in place policies that make sense in terms of tax reform to create more incentives to invest and bring jobs here to this country. that would all be changed under these tax increases that are being proposed to pay for this big new biden infrastructure package. making us less competitive in global markets and putting american workers at a disadvantage is not the right

way to go. the american people don't want that. the american people think we should be doing all we can to get businesses back on their feet right now so people can get employment and so we can ensure that the economy continues to improve as we come out of the coronavirus pandemic. infrastructure again has always been so bipartisan. why wouldn't in this case we want to take it down the partisan road? past presidents by the way have shown that they can get big things done early in their administration. during this first 100 days there was an opportunity to reach out. i hope in the second 100 days that will be different. let me give you a couple of examples. when president bill clinton got elected, he worked with republicans and democrats to pass what was called the north american free trade agreement. he got a lot of support from the republican side of the aisle. in fact, even more than he got from the democratic side of the aisle, and he pushed that through. ronald reagan's economic reforms of 1981 passed the senate with an overwhelming margin of 89-11. last night is c-span allowed us to look back at history at some of the speeches presidents gave

after their first 100 days and one was ronald reagan's speech to the joint session that i saw last night. it was amazing, republicans and democrats alike were standing because president reagan said i want to work with all of you. and he showed he would work with all of them by passing those economic reforms in 1981. we should all want the biden administration to succeed in putting in place bipartisan policies that help our constituents and help our country. but that can only happen if they agree to reverse course and engage with republicans in a genuine way. that's clearly what the american people want. in a recent poll "the washington post" and abc poll, 60% of respondents including two-thirds of independents said they wanted the biden administration to work with republicans to make his proposals bipartisan. twice the number that wanted him to pursue the partisan path chosen so far. i suggest to my constituents in ohio and all americans who will be listening tonight, don't just listen to the rhetoric. look at the actions because the rhetoric thus far has not been matched by actions.

we were promised bipartisanship as a path toward unity. for the sake of our country, it's time to keep that promise. i yield back. mr. hoeven: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: i rise to talk about how congress can work together to pass bipartisan legislation following my colleague from iowa, my colleague from north carolina is here as well. there's a real desire to come up with a infrastructure package, but we want it to be bipartisan. republicans and democrats agree that investing in our national infrastructure is necessary to increase economic growth, ensure global competitiveness of american businesses, and create new high-paying jobs.

in fact, just last congress the senate environment and public works committee unanimously approved a five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill which included about $300 billion for roads, bridges, and that actually represents a 27% increase over the fast act. we really feel that that bill, with its bipartisan support, creates a starting point, starting point on a bipartisan basis for the negotiations that we should have in developing the infrastructure package. tonight we expect the president will outline his american jobs plan, but unfortunately it's not focused on infrastructure. it's a massive $2.25 trillion tax and spend bill that dedicates less than one-third, about $600 billion toward actual

traditional infrastructure. the administration's plan would increase the corporate tax from 21% to 28%, resulting in reduced wages, increased cost for consumers, and a reduction in economic growth. the biden plan would revert the u.s. tax system to a worldwide tax system, increasing taxes on u.s. multinational corporations, reducing the competitiveness of american businesses, and driving u.s. jobs and profits to other countries. the 2017 tax bill brought the u.s. into a territorial tax system, for the taxation of multinational companies, it's worked. from 1985 to 2017, 85 u.s.-based multinational corporations took advantage of corporate inversions, resulting in a $9.5 billion tax revenue loss to the u.s. government.

since the 2017 jobs and tax cut act, there have been no corporate inversions. the biden plan would abandon this successful approach. further, the administration has proposed a $35 billion tax increase on u.s. energy producers, endangering u.s. energy independence, costing u.s. jobs and empowering foreign energy production. a recent study from the national association of manufacturers shows that nearly one million jobs would be lost in the first two years alone if this tax increase goes through. tonight we expect to hear from president biden on additional proposals to increase taxes on american workers as well as increase our debt and deficit. for instance, we've seen reports today that the president is going to seek to repeal

stepped up basis. while the administration indicates there may be some exceptions, repealing stepped up basis would place a significant and complex tax burden on small businesses, and particularly family farms, ranches, not only in my state of north dakota but across the country. right now the average age of our farmers in america is about 60 years old. and we need to get the next generation into farming but they can't do it if they have to sell the farm to pay the tax. a repeal step-up basis would discourage investment, reduce the wages of workers and stunt economic growth in both the immediate and long term. a recent analysis from ernst and young shows that eliminating step-up basis will result in the loss of 80,000 jobs a year for the next ten years and a loss of nearly $10 billion in g.d.p. growth per year.

what we continue to emerge from the covid-19 pandemic, we should not be straining economic growth by increasing taxes and regulation. instead we should be -- we should maintain the pro-growth low-tax regime put in place in 2017 by the tax cut and jobs act and make targeted investments and traditional infrastructure while reducing regulatory barriers to provide long-term certainty to americans. last week i met with president biden at the white house to share this very message, that republicans stand ready to work with the administration and their democrat colleagues on the infrastructure package in a bipartisan and targeted manner focusing on updating our roads, bridges, railways, airports, broadband, and other traditional infrastructure. we also support investing in energy infrastructure, including enhancing the tax credit to accelerate the depolite of carbon capture and sequestration

technology as well as pipelines to provide the safe and efficient transportation of our natural resources. we should be working together for the american people to enact policies that will improve our national infrastructure. i want to highlight a number of bipartisan proposals that i've been working on with my colleagues across the aisle. i've introduced bipartisan legislation with senators smith, senator capito, senator whitehouse and others to enhance the 45q tax credit for carbon capture and sequestration. also senator smith and i have legislation that would empower rural electric and telecom cooperatives town vest in existing debt, expand broadband delivery to more of their rural customers. likewise, the senate finance committee -- likewise senate finance committee chairman wyden and i have introduced a bill that would encourage private investment in infrastructure by

expanding private activity bonds and creating a new infrastructure tax credit. additionally, i've introduced legislation with senator bennet that ensures that our farmers, ranchers, and producers have the regulatory flexibility needed to safely and efficiently move their products, livestock in particular to market while ensuring the safety of all road users. we don't need the burden hardworking americans with increased taxes in order to pay for this. there are a number of potential options to provide the necessary revenue for a targeted infrastructure package. for example, we can make modest changes to our user fee-base highway trust fund system ensuring that electric vehicles pay into the fund. we can repurpose unused federal spending, including using funds from the recent american rescue plan act. we could also use revenue generated from energy production on federal lands. and these are just a few of the ideas we've put forward.

last week ranking member capito of the environment and public works committee along with members of banking, commerce, energy, and finance committees unveiled the framework of an almost $600 billion infrastructure package which focuses investment and traditional -- in traditional infrastructure. we should use this framework and begin working through regular order in a committee-driven process to produce a bipartisan targeted infrastructure bill that does not increase taxes on american work eshes. -- american workers. that way we truly upgrade our infrastructure, create jobs, and keep our economy growing. madam president, that's the right approach. and we need to work in a bipartisan manner to get it done. and with that i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. tillis: thank you, madam president. i want to thank my colleague from north dakota, ohio, and wyoming and iowa who have spoken before me and my colleague from kansas after me. i think senator portman ended his statement by saying we've heard the rhetoric but we haven't seen the actions. well, north carolina, our state motto in latin means to be rather to seem. and i think our state model does a good job of summarizing the first hundred days of the biden administration. as a presidential candidate, know biden -- joe biden made it seem he would govern as a moderate, pragmatic dealmaker and he set the bar high at his inaugural address. he said, my whole soul is in this. bringing america together, uniting our people, and uniting our nation, i ask every american to join me in this cause.

i was actually inspired by that statement and i'm one of the americans who was willing to work for him on that cause. in fact, i was one of ten republicans that had the first official meeting with the president to see if we could come to common ground on the covid relief package after having successfully passed five bipartisan covid relief packages in the last congress. unfortunately, the president's actions have not corresponded with those promises to date. instead of leading on his instincts to bring america together, president biden has followed his advisers' recommendations to go it alone. he's pushed a highly partisan, ideologically driven agenda and you don't need to take my word for it. new york representative owe occasion crow cortez -- ocasio-cortez recently declared that president biden has exceeded the expectations of progressives. indeed, there's been a lot in

biden's agenda for the left to like. it's an agenda designed to pass for no need for moderation and not a single republican vote. no consensus whatsoever. proposing tax hikes on american families and businesses at a time that they're trying to rebound from the pandemic, ladies and gentlemen, we are in the middle of a national emergency. we are in the middle of a pandemic. we have spent an appropriated billions of dollars to help care -- to health care, for businesses to recover. and now, long before the pandemic has been declared -- or the emergency, national emergency has been declared done, we're talking about taking those same dollars away. offering mixed messaging and failed policies that have caused a humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border is another issue. when i went down to the border about a month ago, the press

secretary said, it's not a crisis. it's a situation. now, a month later, the press secretary and the administration says it's a crisis but now it's a catastrophe. i saw a dead body floating in the rio grande river. other people have died. we heard the report of the 9-year-old. that doesn't even count the number of people who die along the way. it also doesn't count the 300 or 400 people who are called the gotaways. not the thousands that are coming in and going to the border agents but the hundreds every night who are crossing. they're bad actors. many of them are gang members or smuggling drugs, human traffickers that are evading arrest. it's creating a dangerous situation. it's a catastrophe. the president hasn't spoken on it. to my knowledge the vice president has never gone down there to actually get a bird's eye view. the president has embraced the green new deal policies like canceling the keystone pipeline.

that one stroke of a pen ended thousands of labor union jobs, good-paying jobs. but even more heartbreaking is that the communities that would have benefited from all of that commerce occurring in some of the most rural areas, the most exikly -- economically challenged areas in our country. they rammed through an entirely partisan $2 trillion spending package. they called it covid relief. but only about 9% of it actually had anything to do with continuing to recover from the damage that covid has caused this country. and now i'm sure the president will talk about it tonight, a $2.3 trillion -- air quotes -- infrastructure bill that isn't actually an infrastructure bill. in fact, they've been a little bit more intellectually honest. now they're calling it human infrastructure. i think most americans, when you think about infrastructure, you think about roads, you think about bridges, you think about broadband. you don't think about human

infrastructure. but that's what's being pitched today, and it's being pitched on a partisan basis without even attempting to get a single republican vote. americans did not elect president biden to enact any of these partisan policies. they trusted him to come in and make deals, to settle for something less than a hundred percent but something that was going to be embraced by more of the american people versus half, which is about where the president is today. and he's pursued this for the first hundred days. i hope he changes his mind. but here's one reason why i'm not optimistic. his most audacious action in my opinion is placating the far left and entertaining the idea of nuking the senate legislative filibuster. in this very chamber, 21 years ago, then-senator biden declared that defending the filibuster

was about defending compromise and moderation. the promises he made on the campaign trail, the promise he made on the day of his inauguration. he noted that his speech was one of the most important he would ever give as senator defending tthe filibuster. it's ashame that president biden isn't displaying the same political courage that senator biden did two decades earlier. the kind of demonstration we're seeing owe -- owe instead the president has entertained the far-left push to eliminate the filibuster and destroy this institution. to end bipartisan and compromise is really no longer a necessity. so that any piece of fringe legislation can pass with a simple majority. the president, a 30-plus-year defender of the filibuster should know better than anyone.

he knows that the left is demanding a bargain. trading two years for the far left to have free reign in exchange for permanent destabilization of our republic, emboldening future demagogues on both ends of the spectrum. our country doesn't need more partisan pandering or political brinksmanship. from this administration or from either party. that's why i stood against nuking the filibuster about three years ago, and i will as long as i'm a u.s. senator. there are plenty of republicans like me who are willing to work with president biden and even put some of our supporters out of their comfort zone for the good of this nation. in fact, when i was sworn in, i said i'd work to find common ground in areas where we may agree and i'd vigorously oppose policies where we do not. unfortunately to this point, i've only had the opportunity to do the latter.

the willingness to negotiate has only been a oneway street on the part of republicans. i went to the white house to try and find common ground on another bipartisan covid package. but it's ultimately up to the president whether he leads on bipartisanship instincts or follows his advisers who are pushing him to keep governing from the left. quite frankly, it doesn't matter what the president says about bipartisanship and uniting the country. it's what he does. and tonight i hope we'll see it for the good of our great nation. thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. a senator: thank you, madam president. on january 20, president joe biden gave his inaugural address to the american people saying that in order to overcome the challenges we face as a nation and to, i quote, to restore the soul and to secure the future of

america requires more than words. mr. marshall: it requires that most illusive of things in a democracy, unity. unity. i end the quotes. he says for a second time unity. in fact, he mentioned the word unity nine separate times throughout his inaugural remarks. unfortunately that unity president biden preached about is nowhere to be found. 100 days in office and there's been zero bipartisanship from the white house on any major issue. we've seen zero effort by the white house to take any republican idea or concept seriously. in fact, they've done very little to reach across the aisle, engage republicans, or have a serious conversation with us. they've shown that they are interested in -- are not interested in bipartisanship as they continue to jam through their radical agenda and seek power grab after power grab. we've seen a record number of executive orders, the first partisan covid relief bill, steps to grant d.c. statehood to

tip the powers of scale, a directive that threatens property rights, the cornerstone of our democracy, an attempt to federalize elections and destroy election integrity with h.r. 1. threats to eliminate the filibuster, increase gas prices for americans at the pump, efforts to pack the supreme court, measures to pass the green new deal, calls to defund the police, mandates to allow biological boys to compete in girls sports, and tax increases on all americans and much, much more. madam president, things are changing in d.c. history will record president biden as having spent more money than any other president in u.s. history in his first 100 days. i'm warning everyone, grab your wallets. history will record president biden's misguided policies as making our nation less safe, having created a health crisis, a national security crisis, and the humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

what i hope and fear from president biden this evening is not likely to be covered in a speech. he's going to try to explain to us even though our economy is recovering and we just borrowed and spent $2 trillion from our grandchildren, why we now need to spend another $2 trillion and why he needs to raise your taxes to do it. he's going to try to describe the legislation he wants passed as a so-called infrastructure bill when less than 5% of it is going towards roads and bridges. he's going to try to convince americans of something that is a misnomer and not a truth. what he won't tell you is that this is a recipe to kill kansas jobs and an economic catastrophe for this nation. last week president biden signed into law a bipartisan bill i introduced alongside senators bill cassidy and tina smith to lower prescription drug prices for the american people. additionally, we unanimously passed a bill out of the committee regarding carbon markets. these are both great examples of

the unity that the president spoke of in his inaugural address. democrats and republicans coming together to deliver solutions for the american people. these are good first steps and in case there is more opportunity for bipartisanship, let me tell you where we can and should start. we can start with an infrastructure package that actually rebuilds our aging roads, bridges, and waterways. invest in future generations, ensures high-speed internet for all americans, and incentivizes innovation. we can start with staying the course laid out by operation warp speed and getting more shots into people's arms so we can reach herd immunity sooner rather than later. we can start with people getting back to work and finally unleash our economy to prepandemic levels and we can start with getting all our kids back in school. as president biden said in his inaugural address, and i quote again, this is our historic moment of crisis and challenge and unity is the path forward.

end quotes. if you -- if he truly puts unity above else, we can accomplish great things for the american people. for it is unity that will see this country come roaring back, not president biden's radical partisan ways that have further divided this nation. thank you, madam speaker, and i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: sadly, the united states is in the midst of the deadliest drug epidemic in our nation's history. caused by some of the deadliest drugs ever created. it appears that more than 80,000 americans died from a drug overdose last year. by far, by far the biggest

killers were lab-made opioids such as fentanyl, which are cheap to produce and easy to mix with other street drugs such as heroin. these lethal cocktails have devastated countless communities and families across our nation. too many parents have come home to a dead child who mistakenly took a prescription pill or so-called party drug laced with this deadly fentanyl. illicit fentanyl, the kind created in underground chinese drug labs or smuggled across our porous southern border by mexican cartels is made only, only to addict and kill. for these dark, terrible purposes, fentanyl is unsurpassed in the tragic history of addiction. it is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. just two milligrams, two milligrams of fentanyl, an

amount equivalent to a few grains of salt, is enough to kill a grown man. just last december, police arrested a man in arkansas carrying seven pounds of fentanyl. depending on the pure tiff of that fentanyl, that would have been enough to deliver a fatal dose to up to 1.5 million americans. that's far from the biggest fentanyl bust that police have ever made. that means that every time our border patrol stops a drug mule coming across our southern border, every time the coast guard intercepts a drug runner's vessel in our waters, and every time a swat team raids a drug dealer's stash house, they could be averting what is in effect a mass casualty attack on our country.

unfortunately, these mexican drug cartels and chinese super labs are diabolically creative in waging this new kind of opium war against the united states. when american law enforcement started cracking down on fentanyl a few years ago, the cartels started producing so-called analogues or look-alikes. drugs that are chemically distinct from fentanyl yet have no medical uses, but which will kill you just as quickly. some of these analogues are even more powerful than fentanyl, up to 150 times more potent of a drug that i would remind you once again is itself 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. and because these drugs are chemically distinct from fentanyl, prosecuting and shutting down their creators is often prohibitively expensive, requiring law enforcement to hire expert witnesses to testify that the analogue is, in fact, a

deadly drug. so in 2018, the drug enforcement administration took the necessary and prudent step of listing the entire class of fentanyl analogues as schedule 1 prohibited substances. this decision closed a deadly loophole that drug dealers were using to escape punishment for poisoning our citizens while still allowing legitimate researchers to apply for and obtain approval to research these analogues for potential medical or scientific breakthroughs. the evidence suggests that this law enforcement action has been getting results since the classwide scheduling went into effect in early 2018, law enforcement encounters with uncontrolled fentanyl analogues plummeted by almost 90%. of course, our work to solve the opioid epidemic is far from finished. we still have much to do to dismantle the cartels and the drug trafficking networks that

spread fentanyl and its analogues and mix it with other drugs. but the d.e.a.'s efforts to control fentanyl analogues were a step in the right direction. last year, the senate voted unanimously, unanimously to extended the d.e.a.'s emergency scheduling of fentanyl, but that extension is now set to expire. so we have the opportunity -- in fact, i would say we have the responsibility to permanently control these deadly fentanyl analogues, so law enforcement has the legal backup it needs to take these dangerous drugs off the streets. if congress doesn't act, this emergency scheduling order is set to expire next week. the authority of our border patrol to seize these drugs as they cross the border will be dramatically reduced. cartels will once again be able to exploit loopholes to evade prosecution. the chinese super lab will get right back to work inventing new

and creative ways to repackage fentanyl and to kill even more americans. we cannot let that happen. i've introduced a bill to solve this problem once and for all by merely eliminating the expiration date on the law that protects us against these fentanyl analogues. i'm asking my colleagues to approve it just like we did last year, unanimously. i'd also like to urge my democratic colleagues to disregard the liberal activist groups that are lobbying against controlling these deadly fentanyl analogues because they help use it as a bargaining chip, a bargaining chip to reduce criminal penalties for the most serious drug traffickers. think about that. more americans died of a drug overdose last year than in any other year in our history, yet these liberal activists are trying to help the drug traffickers who spread these very poisons. if they succeed, drug dealers will have an easier time killing

americans for profit, and prosecutors will have to waste valuable resources proving that each new form of fentanyl they encounter is, in fact, a deadly drug. we cannot play politics with this bill. trading the lives of innocent americans for more lenient treatment for cartels and super labs, protecting americans from deadly fentanyl should not be treated as a bargaining piece or poker chip. i ask my colleagues to think of the victims and think of the urgency of this measure. i'm offering this bill on behalf of tens of thousands of americans who were with us just last year but are not today because of these deadly synthetic drugs. i'm offering on behalf of the countless americans who can still be saved if we act. so i urge my colleagues to support this measure and therefore, madam president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the

senate proceed to immediate consideration of s. 1410, introduced earlier today. further, i ask unanimous consent 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 object. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i'm deeply grateful for my colleague and my friend from arkansas to bring this to the floor of the united states senate. there is an urgency that he described that i agree with. a hundred senators here, not one state has not been touched devastatingly by the fentanyl epidemic, and these analogues present a crisis to our country. lives are at stake. and so i share his sense of urgency. i am hoping that we could work together to find a way to stop, as he put it, these cartels and these drug labs from wreaking such hasek on our country. i believe that together we can

find a solution. in fact, there has been constructive talk across the capitol, bipartisan talk about finding a way to come to some kind of accord. in addition to that, i am hopeful there are other bills out there that have the same ambition, the same goal, the same sense of urgency that i believe should be part of the discussion. for example, policies like the ones in the stop fentanyl act, which i understand senator markey will be introducing to the senate very soon. i believe that we should have time in the judiciary committee to work on a longer term solution that could not just deal with the international cartel, not just deal with these horrific drug labs, but also empower people who are addicted to begin not to be punished simply with the criminal justice system but to find ways to provide treatment and support to people who are struggling with addictions to this horrific drug. so with that, i would like to object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. cotton: madam president.

the presiding officer: the junior senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: i thank my colleague from new jersey for those remarks. i do hope that we can find a solution, but time is not on our side. this emergency scheduling order expires next week. the senate is not in session next week. i know that we want to empower addicts, as the senator from new jersey said, that we want to help get them treatment that they need to get back on their feet. that's a goal i share. we are talking, though, about drug dealers, drug traffickers, cartels, chinese super labs, and if we do not pass an extension extension -- in my bill, a permanent extension of this emergency scheduling order, it is the addicts who will be hurt because their drug dealers and these cartels and the super labs will simply begin to flood our streets once again with the synthetic fentanyl analogues, which i remind you again can be

150 times more potent than fentanyl itself, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. so i hope my democratic friends will reconsider in the short time we have this week and we will be able to pass a permanent extension of this scheduling order. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. booker: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i just want to say in conclusion before i switch to another topic, i appreciate the senator from arkansas' willingness to look not just at his bill but also the power of a potential bipartisan extension or however we can deal with this because the urgency does exist. we are in a crisis. but i rise today to speak in support of ambassador power's nomination to serve as administrator for the united states agency for international development, or usaid. now, the mission of usaid is to advance the values of democracy throughout the world on behalf of the american people.

this mission has never been more critical than today, and if confirmed, ambassador power will lead an agency tasked with responding not only to the global crisis of covid-19 and devastating impact on vulnerable people across the world, but some of the most pressing challenges facing the united states and the international community. global, democratic backsliding, human suffering caused by sexual and gender-based violence, climate change and violent conflict around the world. now, ambassador power is an extraordinary public servant. she has distinguished herself in her career and she is more than capable of leading usaid's efforts to address these global emergencies and she is clear eyed and sober that she will face, usaid will face as well.

over the past four years, experts and career professionals within the usaid was silenced, decisions were politicized and recruitment were inadequate. ambassador power is the kind of leader that they need to restore transparency and rebuild moral among those who drive usaid's critical mission. ambassador power knows that the u.s. must remain a global leader able to counter the influence of china's aggressive diplomatic and development agenda. if us airch d is seen once again by our international partners, this mission of countering china will be stronger. if usaid is seen as a competent and trustworthy partner, we will build along our coalitions to counter china's aggressive

actions. president biden could not have nominated someone more ready, more capable than ambassador power. she has had an impressive career, and she has, from her work as a pulitzer prize-writing journalist and spent time in the obama administration and ambassador of the united nations where she championed the rights of women, atrocity prevention, lgbtq and going toe to toe with our adversaries. this is one of our more experienced international diplomats from america that we have today. and by elevating ambassador powell to -- power to the national security counsel, president biden has made it clear that development and humanitarian assistance will be -- an integral important to meeting our foreign policy objectives. in a is important that we understand that development and humanitarian assistance are a

critical part of our foreign policy and so finally i want to he end with something that ambassador power shared in her most recent book. it's something that i think speaks so well to her humility, to her willingness to learn, and to why she will be the leader of the usaid and i say our entire nation and the world needs right now. ambassador power wrote about a meeting she had about the ambassador -- from the central african republic who described the horrific violence taking place in his country. she wrote about during that meeting that she told him she didn't have an agenda, she just wanted to learn from him about what was happening in her country. she then writes that he started speaking and then stops and gets very emotional. she assumes he is getting emotional about the horrific

violence in his country, but he says to her, and i quote, no, it's not that ambassador, what is happening in my country is terrible, more terrible than anything that has ever happened to us before. but i am emotional because you are here. the united states of america is the greatest country in the world and you, america, are here. that is the vision of america that is defined -- has defined ambassador power's career, that has guided her, the awesome responsibility of representing this nation and her values, her rootedness and the ideals of our nation, humility, grace, compassion, thoughtful leadership. i've known ambassador power since she and i were very young. it's been decades now, a friendship in connection. i could say many things about

her, but at her core is decency and honor. she will represent the best of us. she is exactly the leader we need right now as we navigate increasing and pressing challenges facing the world and our country. i am thankful -- it would be enough for ambassador power to retire, it would be enough for her to say i have served my country and like since -- but clearly her calling has not yet fully been answered. she will continue if this body will endorse it, to serve her country. she will continue to honor the united states of america. she will continue to be a credit to our nation and the world and that is why i urge my colleagues to support her nomination.

i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senior senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i'm five minutes late coming to the senate floor. i was supposed to be here on the fentanyl issue to support senator cotton and i know that the objection's been raised, but i want people to know how important i think this issue is. so today we were considering, hopefully unanimous consent, to pass a scheduled fentanyl substance bill, proactively scheduling fentanyl-related substances ought to be a big priority because too many americans' lives have been lost to reject this critical measure. some wrongly assert that controlling fentanyl analogues is partisan and unnecessary.

that's simply untrue. legislation to schedule fentanyl analogues is a bipartisan issue. just last year this body passed a bipartisan 15-month extension of the bill unanimously. also such authority is necessary. the c.d.c. estimates that fentanyl analogues killed 50,000 americans in the last 12 months. we must prevent overdose deaths, prevention is possible when we use our laws to force china to stop the flow of fentanyl analogues. opponents of permanent scheduling assert that the authority is broad and could result in too many arrests, but since the drug enforcement administration placed fentanyl analogues in schedule 1, the

justice department has convicted only 80 people under that authority so too many people being arrested as an argument against permanent extension is hogwash. this authority hasn't resulted in vast and wide prosecutions, rather this authority is targeted and deliberate and, of course that's the way it should be. so if controlling fentanyl analogues is, in fact, bipartisan and necessary, why isn't supporting legislation then a no-brainer? because -- perhaps because of heightened partisanship. democrats can't vote for legislation that supports police departments. this position goes against the unfortunate truth. that 50,000 measures have died

from these deadly fentanyl analogues, politics has no place above human life. as frustrated as i am by this, it's not in my nature to throw in the towel. i'll always work hard to find middle ground. that's why i'm asking every senator -- every senator to support senator cotton's permanent extension or at a minimum, my bill, the temporary extension of fentanyl analogues act. this legislation will extend the -- has the authority to schedule fentanyl analogues to 14 months. it keeps fentanyl analogues, schedule 1, until july 22, which is long enough for the administration to come to a permanent scheduling solution and allow for a deliberate and transparent dialogue with congress. so, simply put, we need to give ourselves enough time to find a

solution to this major problem causing 50,000 lives to be lost every year. as history shows us, lengthy fentanyl scheduling legislation is not controversial. i'm simply asking for a similar bipartisan approach now. my bill is the only bipartisan temporary extension bill on the table. i'm grateful for senator hassan and shaheen for teaming up with me and senator cornyn. we can't limit ourselves in the fight against fentanyl. it is with this in mind that i urge all of my colleagues to support either a permanent extension or my bipartisan bill and to extend the authority to schedule fentanyl analogues to 14 months. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the junior senator from florida. mr. scott: madam president, americans are worried about inflation. new polling shows that 87% of americans are concerned about the rising cost of household items like diapers, and gas, and groceries. that is up from 77% just last month, and they have good reason to feel that way. right now reports show that a third of american households making less than $50 to you in annual income -- $50,000 are buying less because of increasing prices and more than one-quarter of all households report that rising costs of goods is causing them to purchase less. the bureau of labor statistics reported that gas prices have risen 23%. that means since biden was elected, gas prices has increased 70 cents a gallon

across the nation. year over year consumer prices increased 2.6% in march, up from an annual 1.7% increase in february. this is from companies like procter & gamble and kimberly clark which announced they are increasing prices on a number of products, including toilet paper and diapers. the evidence of inflation is in front of us, look at the numbers, which shows the changes in average unit prices. groceries up 2.6%, household goods up 5.2%, baby care up 7%, general misdemeanors up 7.1%. wages never go up this fast. so does it hurt the most? the poorest and those on fixed incomes. businesses are expecting prices to -- price increases to continue. according to data, 47s and b

have inhigher inflation calls, that is higher than any quarter in the last ten years. procter & gamble's chief financial officer said that the commodity cost challenge we face this year will be larger next fiscal year and who gets hurt the most when the inflation rises? it's not the rich. it's working families. especially those on low and fixed incomes. i grew up poor and watched my parents struggle to put food on the table. i know how much a slight rise in prices can hurt a family because i saw it growing up. and that is what is happening now across the nation. we know the biden administration is worried about this. they know that rising costs caused by their massive spending are bad for americans, but they won't say it. while they worry in private about the effects of this their spending plans, they had a different message in public.

on april 13, "the new york times" reported that official aides have been holding private meetings for months to discuss inflation and conduct internal dayal sis for senior officials and president biden. the article said, mr. biden's aide are worried about the spending that they -- to funnel out $2.3 trillion over eight years which is slower than traditional stimulus. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the article be placed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. scott: madam president, the content and conclusions of these meetings and working groups have not been disclosed or made available to the public the while privately worrying about the same issue i have been sounding the alarm on for months. the biden administration continues to mislead the american public and ignore the threat of inflation. i asked the national economic

council to protect american families. i've written to federal reserve members asking what could be done who are seeing increasing mortgage rates. i called on president biden and commissioner powell to address the rising prices. i have yet to hear a straightforward response. i've yet to hear them acknowledge this threat or propose a solution to protect families so today senator braun and i are making a simple request that the biden administration share with the senate all of its notes, memos and reports regarding their discussions and plans to mitigate and prevent growing inflation. inflation is a very real threat to the well-being of already struggling families and the last thing american families need is to be misled by this administration. right now democrats in washington are living in a fantasy land where debt doesn't matter, spending has no consequences, inflation is impossible. but the rally is that inflation

does have consequences and it's the duty of everyone here, especially the president of the united states, to be open and transparent with the american people about what's happening with inflation. madam president, there is no reason the biden administration should be hiding this information. americans deserve to know the consequences of massive government spending and they deserve leadership that will show some fiscal responsibility when it comes to their taxpayer dollars. i look forward to all my colleagues supporting this effort to increase transparency. madam president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 185 submitted earlier today. i ask unanimous consent that resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. brown: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from ohio. mr. brown: madam president, reserving the right to object. madam president, no serious

economist across the ideological spectrum are concerned about inflation right now. no one is hiding information at the white house. i'm in meetings all the time with white house officials, talking about this package. no one believes -- first of all, no one is hiding information. no one believes what the junior senator from florida is saying about this. perhaps some millionaire senators want to make this into an issue, and i hear that over and over and over, but i talk to people like j. powell, nominated by president trump for that position, chair of the federal reserve, he of course keeps his eye on these kinds of things, but he has expressed no strong concern about inflation. and we even know that when some experts have been concerned, they have been wrong. we saw what happened in 2008 after too many elites worried about inflation, what we really needed was to increase wages and get people back to work. the result from 2008 was a

recovery that was too slow for most people, while so many of these big costs continued to rise. our economy looks a whole lot better today than it did last year, but we can't compare where we are today with where we were last year. we were on the brimpg of a once-in-a-generation health and economic crisis this time last year. millions of people, mostly low-wage workers lost their job, our economy ground to a halt as we tried to stop the spread of the virus. this year we made good progress with the american rescue plan, as the presiding officer from wisconsin knows, getting shots in arms and money in pockets and kids back in school and people back to work. but our recovery is far from over. just moments ago fed chair powell said that we're seeing some temporary upticks because things were so dire last year. we still have a, but we still have a long way to go. the bigger risk, madam president, to the economy is not doing enough to raise workers' wages and to invest in

the infrastructure that allows our economy to grow. we know corporate leaders, we know millionaire senators, we know people at the top have done very, in many cases done very, very well for this. but we know millions of workers, many of them hourly workers, have lost jobs. we know millions of workers, so-called essential workers, one essential worker said to me, works at a grocery store, i don't feel essential. i feel expendable because they don't pay me much, don't protect me at work. those are the people we should be looking after. i want to raise wages, i want to bring down costs. that's exactly what the jobs plan and the family plan will do. bring down health care costs, make child care more affordable, create more housing people can afford, bring down energy bills, make getting fo work cheaper and easier with better transit. these are the costs that have been rising and eating away at family budgets for decades. if my colleague from florida is so concerned about the cost of

living and raising a family, i hope he'll join me to allow medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies to bring down prices for seniors. i hope he'll join us in investing in child care to bring down the cost of child care. i hope he'll join us as we work to create more housing, bringing down housing costs. i hope he'll join us to raise the minimum wage. my first speech on this floor 14 years ago -- 14 years ago my first speech on this floor was to raise the minimum wage, and we did and it hasn't been raised since. that's what the senator from florida and the senator from indiana can help us with. but we know, madam president, most of the conservative elites in this country, most won't say out loud what this inflation alarmism is really about. they don't want to invest in the american people. they don't want to do anything to make americans' hard work pay off. they'd rather try to scare people, can't spend this money because there might be inflation. they don't want us to do what too many have failed to do, to put money in people's pockets

and raise wages and rebuild infrastructure. i'd ask my colleagues to listen to the words of a worker from west virginia, pamela garrison, who testified at our first ever work listening session, our dignity of work session in the banking and housing committee yesterday. she said we're seeing corporations make billions every quarter in profit. but then when we ask for a minimum wage increase, we're told no one will raise the cost of stuff, that will cost jobs. funny corporate executives never seem to say they'll have to raise prices when they give themselves bonuses. it's just we'll have to raise prices if we incur the minimum wage. this same ms. garrison also said they call me part of the working poor. the words working and poor shouldn't be in the same sentence. and she's right about that. real expenses for most families have gone up for decades along with corporate profits and the stock market, executive compensation has exploded upward, and workers' wages haven't kept up. executive compensation,

productivity is up, executive compensation is up, profits are up, workers wages are flat. that's the problem, that's what we should be working on. madam president, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. scott: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from florida. mr. scott: madam president, the decision by my colleague to block this resolution is clearly disappointing. let's remember what this was about. this was about transparency. they just blocked the senate from requesting basic information that's going to help all americans. just look at these numbers again. just in the last four months grocery prices up 2.6%, household care up 5.2%, baby care up 7%, general merchandise up 7.1%. we're clearly seeing inflation. senate democrats just objected to transparency. that means they're -- the facts against getting the american people information they need to make smart decisions as prices keep rising. 87% of americans are worried

about the rising cost of goods. apparently so is the white house. so don't the american people deserve this same information about what is happening with the economy? floridians deserve to know the truth about inflation and so do the people of ohio. why does my colleague want to keep them in the dark? this administration is telling the american people one thing but saying something else behind closed doors. that's wrong. the american people deserve the truth. inflation is real. it's happening. it's hurting american families. it's time president biden does something about it and i'm extremely disappointed in my colleague whose action today is helping the president mislead the american people. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senior senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for ten minutes. the senate for ten minutes. sorry. the senate for ten minutes. good point. the presiding officer and i were in the house together. that was like a long time ago. madam president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you. today, madam president, we mark workers memorial day when we honor and remember workers who have laid down their lives on the job. i've worn on my lapel since i was in the house, madam president, a pen depicting a canary in a bird

cage given to me at a workers memorial day rally in lorain, ohio, in the late 1990's. this pin depicts a canary going down in the mine. it suggests the mine worker taking a canary down in the mines. if the canary died from lack of oxygen or from toxic gas, the mine worker got out of the mines. he had no union strong enough to protect him and no government that cared enough to protect him in those days. to me, this pin represents the role of government to support the middle class and those who aspire to the middle class. it represents the progress we made in the society we continue to fight for every day here. we know the story coal miners took the canary down in the mines. throughout the 20th century we've worked to change that. we passed worker safety laws and overtime pay. we banned child labor, passed clean air, safe drinking water laws, we enact social security and medicare and workers rights and women's rights and civil rights. despite that progress over the last year, too many workers

have felt a whole lot like those miners. they felt like they were on their own. a moment ago i mentioned the grocery store worker in cincinnati who said they tell me i'm essential but i feel expendable. that grocery store worker and thousands of others have been on the front lines of this pandemic, risking their lives so americans could keep food on their table and get their packages delivered. they're changing linens in hospitals and driving buses and stocking shelves in supermarkets. then workers go home at night and are anxious that they might spread the virus and affect their family. we know that hundreds of thousands of workers have been exposed to the virus on the job. thousands have died. it's hard to get an exact count of how many because the previous administration didn't bother to keep track. we know the food and commercial workers reported last summer that more than 16,000 grocery store workers have been exposed. more than 100 have died. we know those numbers keep going up.

the national nurses united has recorded at least 3,200 health care workers have died. in meatpacking plants, the total has been horrific. last summer 16,000 workers have been affected. the vast majority of them, black and brown workers, more than 230 died. and yet all of last year, the trump administration and too many large corporations failed to protect their workers. the corporate lawyers that ran the labor department from the top down refused to issue workplace safety requirements. corporations ran a lot of feel-good tv ads saying thank you to essential workers, claiming these workers work hard for their companies but workers didn't ask for a p.r. campaign. they needed protections on the job. this workers memorial day today, we celebrate it every year, remember the american workers who have lost their job, their lives on the job from this virus, sometimes from gun violence, sometimes from workplace accidents. we honor them best by fighting

to protect these workers and their fellow workers to make their hard work pay off. yesterday in the banking and housing committee, we held the committee's first ever listening session. it was purely a listening session. no senators got to ask questions. we just came to listen. with workers from ohio and around the country, hear how the financial systems affects their jobs and lives. they shared powerful stories about their work, about how companies and economic policies prevent their hard work from paying off. we heard from a distribution worker in ashtabula, ohio. he told us we rarely go a few weeks without injury largely because of the insane pace we work at. we have suggested that slowing the pace even just a little would improve safety and could save money. we were told injuries don't cost this company much money. we heard from a wells fargo call center worker who talked about how the bank misclassified her to avoid paying overtime. they put her on salary.

they said she was management. they worked her more than 40 hours. they never paid her an overtime dollar. we heard from a full-time gig worker who works for multiple corntions corporations like uber and instacart. he works full time, has zero benefits because companies claim he's an independent contractor. we heard from a michigan worker who lost her job when a private equity firm bought out her company. they laid out 3,100 workers in the detroit area and they pocketed the money. we heard from a worker in west virginia who talked about working her whole life and never seeing that hard work pay off. she said working poor, the term working poor should not be two words that go together. if you work hard, you should be able to get ahead in this country. if you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work. if even a global pandemic where america's works had been on the front line, if even that won't get corporations to rethink their business model, that

treats workers as expendable, it's time to stop letting them run the company. that's what the new banking, housing, and urban affairs committee is all about. wall street had its chance. they failed. if corporate america won't deliver for its workers, then we have to create a better system centered on the dignity of work. that means safe workplaces. the biden administration is taking steps toward finally issuing an osha emergency temporary. we went a whole year in the pandemic where the president of the united states simply refused and the corporate lawyer that ran the department of labor simply refused to issue any standards on workplace safety. think about that. now it means laws and policies that reward work, like the child tax credit. the junior senator from new hampshire is here and has been a supporter of that. end an indication that robs workers of their wages and rights.

unions give people power on the job and people ought to have the option of joining a union, allowing them to join together to make their workplace safer. it is workers who make our economy successful. it is workers that allow corporations and wall street investors to rake in record profits. it is hard for that hard work to pay off for our workers, no matter if you slipe a badge or work for tips or take care of their parents or children. work that be rewarded in this country. when you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work. on workers' memorial day and the other 364 days of the year. madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, all postcloture time has expired. the question is on the nomination.

is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 68, the nays are 26, the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action.

under the previous order, the senate will resume legislative session. the clerk will read the title of the joint resolution for the third time. the clerk: s.j. res. 14, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8, title 5, of united states code and so forth. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, could we have order? the presiding officer: can we have order, please. mr. schumer: as we approach the 100-day mark of this new congress, the senate's about to take its first major step in fighting climate change. in a moment the senate will vote on reinstating commonsense rules to reduce methane emissions, it will be the first time the senate democratic majority has used the congressional review act and it's no mistake that we have chosen to use the law first

and foremost on the subject of climate change. under this democratic majority, the senate will be a place where we take decisive, ambitious, and effective action against climate change. could we have order, mr. president? the presiding officer: order, please. mr. schumer: of course reducing methane emissions is not the only thing we need to do to fight climate change, but it's a very significant and large first step. methane accounts for roughly a quarter of all the human-caused global warming that has transpired since the industrial revolution. restoring these methane-reducing rules will be one of the most significant climate actions that the senate has taken in more than a decade. i urge my colleagues to vote yes and commend senators heinrich, king, and markey for their great work on this issue. i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second?

there is. there appears to be. the question is on passage of the joint resolution. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there

any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or to change his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 52, and the nays are 42. and the joint resolution has passed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. mr. carper: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate resume consideration of s. 914 on thursday, april 29, the following amendments be reported by number and that they be the only amendments in order to s. 914. rubio-scott number 1471 as modified, shaheen number 1461,

kennedy number 1469, and lee number 1472. further that at 11:30 a.m. on thursday, april 29, the senate vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption of the lee amendment and passage of the bill. further, that upon disposition of the amendments, amendment number 1460 as amended, if amended be agreed to, the bill be considered read a third time and at 1:45 p.m. the senate vote on the passage of the bill as amended with two minutes for debate equally divided prior to each vote. and finally, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table all with no intervening action or debate.

correction -- the bill will be considered read a third time not at 1:45 but at 1:30 the senate vote on passage of the bill as amended. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. carper: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the chair appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: one moment, please. mr. carper: let's go back to 1:45. forget what i said about 1:30. i ask unanimous consent to lock it in at 1:45 as we said the first time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the

appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 186 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 186 hong kong the humanitarian -- honoring the human tehran -- humanitarian work of mendes and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed to the measure. carp cooper --. mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no

intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 187 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 187 congratulating the university of wisconsin badgers on winning the 2021 national collegiate association women's ice hockey championship. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. carper: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate recess until 8:25 p.m. today, and upon reconvening proceed as a body to the hall of the house of representatives for the joint session of congress

provided under the provisions of h. con. res. 30, and that upon the dissolution of the joint session the senate adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on thursday, april 29, 2021. that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed, and that upon the conclusion of morning business the senate resume consideration of calendar number 34, s. 914, drinking water and wastewater infrastructure act of 2021 as provided under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: we will gather in the senate chamber at 8:15 p.m. this evening to proceed as a body to the house of representatives for president joe biden's address, joe biden's first delawarean elected

president of the united states, madam president. if there is no previous further business to come before the senate, madam president, i ask that it recess under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stays in recess until 8:25 p.m.

>> this hearing will come to order. good afternoon. welcome to